It will be a 36 car grid for the FIA WEC 2022 season-opener at Sebring with the season set to get underway this weekend with a two day ‘Prologue’ test ahead of next Friday’s opening race, the Sebring 1000 Miles.
The major news on the list comes with confirmation that Algarve Pro Racing will race in the USA and for the remainder of the WEC season albeit on a race-by-race basis, their #45 Oreca will contest LMP2 Pro-Am with IMSA Championship-winning LMP2 driver Stephen Thomas joining Rene Binder and James Allen in the car.
This entry replaces the G-Drive Racing effort that was initially a full-season LMP2 entry, G-Drive, together with Russian ex F1 driver Dani Kvyat withdrawing in the wake of FIA moves to respond to economic sanctions designed to respond to Russia’s ongoing military action in Ukraine.
Confirmed too, as reported on DSC, is the withdrawal from Sebring for GR Racing’s GTE AM Porsche effort, again Ukraine-related as Mike Wainwright opts to stay in Europe to assist colleagues in the stricken country.
Elsewhere the grid is comprised of the four Hypercars, two factory Toyota GR010s, the Alpine A480 and a solo Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus SCG 007 LMH, 15 LMP2 Orecas, including the debut in the WEC from Team Penske, 5 GTE Pro cars with the newly re-liveried AF Corse Ferraris and Porsche teams’ 911 RSRs ready to do battle again, but joined for the season by the #64 Corvette Racing C8.R of Nick Tandy and Tommy Milner.
A 12 car GTE Am entry completes the grid with a couple of noteworthy matters on the entry – the #46 Team Project 1 car confirming Matteo Cairoli and Mikkel Pedersen whilst the #98 NorthWest AMR Aston Martin has a gap in the seat which was due to be filled by David Pittard, this after controversy over Pittard’s Silver ranking after being initially named as an Aston Martin factory driver, an appointment that was later withdrawn, replaced by a revised description of him as a “Northwest AMR driver”
