LM GTE-Am: 7 Cars
50 Larbre Competition Gianluca Roda Paolo Ruberti Kristian Poulsen Chevrolet Corvette C7
72 SMP Racing Victor Shaytar Andrea Bertolini Aleksey Basov Ferrari 458 Italia
77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Christian Ried Patrick Long Marco Seefried Porsche 911 RSR
83 AF Corse Francois Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Rui Aguas Ferrari 458 Italia
88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Competition Marco Mapelli Khaled Al Qubaisi Klaus Bachler Porsche 911 RSR
96 Aston Martin Racing Francesco Castellacci Roald Goethe Stuart Hall Aston Martin Vantage V8
98 Aston Martin Racing Paul Dalla Lana Pedro Lamy Mathias Lauda Aston Martin Vantage V8
There’s a minor reshuffle in the entry as Patrick Dempsey misses the season finale in the #77 Porsche, his filming commitments in London on Bridget Jones’ Baby taking precedence just this once.
He’s replaced by Christian Ried moving over from the sister #88 whilst Marco Mapelli in turn replaces Ried in the #88.
The official entry has both Roald Goethe (#96 Aston) and Kristian Poulsen (#50 Corvette) returning after recent absences.
The Championship in the class could have been settled as early as Fuji but a puncture there and a bad pit call in China means that this one will go to the wire, albeit with the #72 SMP Ferrari, the Championship leader since their Le Mans win in June, realistically only needing to finish to secure the title, their 155 points plays the #83 AF Corse 458’s 136, the Italian entered car then HAS to win and then hope for trouble for the Russians.
Kudos for the time being though to the #83 squad, a battling season peaked with a win in China when it really counted, the title still looks unlikely but how many dramas have we see in WEC six hour racing. The title is there to lose for Messrs Basov, Bertolini and Shaytar.
It could have been closer in the points were it not for a fine fight back in China which secured SMP a podium, and eliminated the #98 Aston and #77 Porsche from the mathematical possibility of title contention here.
Both Astons will be hoping for an on track boost after the off track decision was taken to reinstate their pre-Le Mans air restrictor size whilst the Larbre Corvette crew will be looking for their fortunes to turn around after awful fortune all season thus far.
