Dörr Motorsport DTM racer Clemens Schmid is set to make his FIA WEC debut this weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, after a late call-up to AKKODIS ASP Team’s LMGT3 effort to stand in for Timur Boguslavskiy.
Boguslavskiy is unable to take part in this weekend’s race after falling ill, prompting AKKODIS to draft in the Austrian, who will partner up with Arnold Robin and Ritomo Miyata in the #78 Lexus RC F LMGT3.
This means Robin will be racing with two new teammates this weekend after Miyata was brought in to replace Kelvin van der Linde. The South African has been called up to stand in for Nico Muller in the Formula E race this weekend in Berlin.
“Timur is ‘ok’, but he didn’t feel good and isn’t capable of doing a double stint for instance,” Robin explained to DSC. “So he admitted he was unable to compete in this race. It’s not good news for us before Le Mans, it makes it difficult. But he will be back at Le Mans.”
“It’s going to be a challenge. Ritomo knows the car well and has been so successful in his career, he’s a perfect teammate, while Clemens is someone I don’t know,” Robin added. “Obviously he has good experience in GT3 and currently races in DTM with McLaren. But this is a very late change, we only found out this morning and he is in the Red Bull Ring right now.
“But I trust Jerome (Policand, ASP’s team owner) and Toyota. He was on the shortlist and it was their choice.”
So far AKKODIS ASP has found life tricky in the FIA WEC, getting up to speed with new drivers and a new manufacturer following a lengthy association with Mercedes-AMG. And with this change, Robin will have to work hard with his teammates to get them up to speed for the race on Saturday.
“Last time at Imola was tricky,” Robin continued. “My stint was good and we were in P5, then we got a penalty for track limits and changed to wets later in the race when it rained, we lost so much time to that.
“I don’t know what to think about this one. Our expectations this weekend are similar to Imola. On lap time it will be difficult, but we know that if we don’t make errors, don’t suffer penalties and don’t hit anyone we could get a strong result. Maybe P5 to P10. But in Qualifying I don’t expect too much.
“I do feel that the Lexus should be better suited to Spa than Imola too, as there are more high-speed corners.”
Featured image courtesy of ADAC
