With three races remaining in the WEC season, much of the attention is focused on the Hypercar title battles, which were shaken up at Lone Star Le Mans when neither Toyota nor BMW placed a car in the top five and Ferrari claimed its first victory in more than a year.
But the LMGT3 title fight is proving every bit as intriguing, with nine hours of racing still to run.
The Drivers’ standings retain an unusual look, with the three #33 TF Sport Corvette drivers occupying first, second and third, albeit on different points totals. Nicky Catsburg and Ben Keating trail Jonny Edgar, the only driver to have contested every race this season.
The #33 Corvette consequently leads the Teams’ standings, having taken second at Imola, victory in the double-points Le Mans round, and further points at Spa and Interlagos.
COTA proved a tougher proposition for Corvette, however, with neither TF Sport-run Z06 LMGT3.R making the top 10. The pair lacked pace in part because of the BoP swing for the event, while both cars also carried success ballast.
The result has closed up the standings and brought a number of outsiders into contention.
Aston Martin Racing partner team Heart of Racing is among those to have quietly closed the gap, following victory for the #27 and a podium for the #23 in Austin.
Neither car can take the championship lead with a maximum score this weekend, but the strength of the COTA performance on home soil has brought renewed momentum and optimism to the camp, with both crews now pushing to remain in title contention through to the Monza finale.
The #23 sits fourth, 27 points from the lead, with the #27 a further five points adrift in sixth. Another difficult weekend for the leading Corvette, coupled with a strong result for the Vantages, could bring the Aston Martin pair firmly into the multi-car fight taking shape for the final two races.
“We’re always pushing; we will until the end of the season,” Mattia Drudi, who won at COTA with Ian James and Zach Robichon, stresses. “We lost so many points, especially at Le Mans when we were fighting for the lead with Corvette and could have had a podium. It won’t be easy, but we’re going to try, because the car is quick and it was quick here in Fuji last year. Then Barcelona and Monza are question marks for everyone, because they’re new for LMGT3 in the championship. We have a shot.”
The renewed optimism is shared by the drivers of the sister #23 Vantage, which has already scored two podium finishes this season.
“COTA was pretty much a perfect weekend, and we had a feeling it would be, as the car is strong there,” factory driver Jonny Adam, who shares the #23 with Gray Newell and Dudu Barrichello, reflects.
“Ultimately it’s still up for grabs for us, and it makes a difference for the team now we’ve had a weekend like that. I’m really pleased because I expected it to be a learning year for the team, with two cars in the class for the first time, but we’ve been in the mix and to get a podium at Le Mans, whatever happens, was special.”
Fuji, as ever, has presented its own set of challenges.
Finding a set-up that delivers sufficient straight-line performance for the long pit straight while retaining drivability through the twisty, uphill sequence of Sector 3 demands compromise. The weather forecast has added another layer of difficulty, with engineers having to prepare for bone-dry, changeable and fully wet conditions during the practice sessions.
For Heart of Racing, the success ballast carried by both cars adds another complication. Robichon, however, is keen not to use it as an excuse should the weekend fail to produce another strong result.
“Hypothetically, this is a track which you’re affected by,” the Canadian says. “It’s got slow-speed corners, uphill, so that’s exactly what you don’t want, but I think it’s easy to blame that. It’s on us to make it work, and work with what we’re given.
“And maybe a bit of rain wouldn’t be so bad? The Vantage is a versatile car…”
A strong result in tomorrow’s race would give the THOR team further encouragement ahead of the penultimate round of the season at Barcelona next month.
The team has already done its homework ahead of the WEC’s first visit to the Spanish Grand Prix track, testing there recently to give its Bronze drivers, Gray Newell and Ian James, their first experience of the fast, flowing venue.
“It was important, and quite helpful to get a feel for it,” Newell says. “The degradation there is really aggressive, so managing it is going to be difficult, as we’ve struggled with our car in that area. But I like the track; it’s super fun. And having tested there makes me look forward to the visit.”
For Adam, however, the immediate priority is simply to keep the points coming.
“From now on, it’s all going to be about consistency,” Adam concludes. “This weekend it feels like we may not be as strong as we were at COTA, but if we can fight through whatever the weather throws at us and keep scoring points, who knows for Barcelona and Monza what we can achieve?”
Images courtesy of Andrew Lofthouse & DPPI
