Club Arnage 2020: China

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Wednesday, 28 November 2018

Asian LMS: Spirit of Race wins 4 Hours of Shanghai

The 2018/19 Asian Le Mans Series opener has delivered a thrilling race, with the win being fought for right up until the chequered flag. Ultimately it was polesitter Pipo Derani in the Spirit of Race Ligier JS P2 that crossed the line first to claim victory alongside his teammates Côme Ledogar and Alexander West.

Series newcomers United Autosports finished 2nd with Paul Di Resta behind the wheel of the #22 Ligier JS P2 he shared with Phil Hanson. Both teams did it the hard way after they made light contact on the opening lap causing both to drop back down the order.

Another front runner to hit trouble early was the #24 Ligier JS P2 Algarve Pro Racing being driven by Andrea Pizzitola. While leading the race, Pizzitola pulled off the track with a terminal engine issue.

Having a more successful day was the second LMP2 car from United Autosports, the #23 Ligier JS P2 raced by Guy Cosmo, Patrick Byrne and Salih Yoluc finished 3rdoutright, also claiming the win in the LMP2 AM Trophy class. ARC Bratislava finished 4th outright and 2nd in the LMP2 AM Trophy class with team owner Miro Konopka joined by Ling King and Darren Burke in their #4 Ligier JS P2. The third LMP2 AM entry, the #25 Algarve Pro Racing Ligier JS P2 Nissan driven by Mark Patterson, Anders Fjordbach and Christopher McMurry finished 5th outright and third in class.

In LMP3, pole sitters Inter Europol claimed the victory in their first Asian Le Mans Series race with Jakub Smiechowski and Martin Hippe sharing duties in the #13 Ligier JS P3. The first of the two United Autosports Ligier JS P3s, piloted by Chris Buncombe, Garret Grist and Wayne Boyd finished 2nd. Eurasia Motorsport claimed the final place on the podium thanks to a solid drive from Aidan Read and Nobuya Yamanaka in the #36 Ligier JS P3.

The battle for the race victory in GT was drama filled. The race was won by Japanese newcomers Car Guy in the team’s first race in their new Ferrari 488 GT3. The #11 Ferrari was raced by Takeshi Kimura, Kei Cozzolino and James Calado. Making it a Ferrari 1-2, the Spirit of Race #51 Ferrari 488 GT3 piloted by Alessandro Pier Guidi, Francesco Piovanetti and Oswaldo Negri Jr. finished the race in 2ndplace in the GT class. In 3rdplace in the GT class was the TF Sport Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 of Johnny Mowlem and Bonamy Grimes.

After pulling away comfortably in the early stages of the race the class pole sitting #88 TianShi Racing Team, Audi R8 LMS had a difficult race that eventually ended with retirement.

At the end of a very tough weekend though, the TianShi Racing Team finished the race on top in the the GT AM Trophy with their #66 Mercedes AMG GT3. Prior to the race, the only track time the drivers Max Wiser and Xu Wei had was in qualifying after a problem with their original entry.

In Porsche Endurance Trophy, it was polesitter, Benny Simonsen and Philippe Descombe in the #16 Modena Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup that dominated the race to take a comfortable victory.

It is now just under two weeks until the second round of the Asian Le Mans Series, this time coming from Fuji Speedway in Japan on 7-9 December.

Race Results

Friday, 16 November 2018

FIA WEC: Toyota quickest in a wet Shanghai

Toyota set the pace today on a wet and slippery track in Shanghai. Where as the morning session was run on a damp and drying track, conditions in the afternoon session got worse. This caused two full course yellows that briefly interrupted the 90 minute session. The first one after James Calado went for a trip outside turn 2, the second FCY was called when the TDS Oreca lost a wheel.

The morning practice started in damp conditions with a drying track by the end of the session. It started well for the non hybrid LMP1 cars with both SMP Racing and Rebellion on top of the class. Jenson Button in the #11 SMP Racing set the pace early in the wet session with a best time of 2.00.369, holding off Neel Jani in the #1 Rebellion who was 0.2 seconds slower.

By the end of the session, on a drying track, both Toyota’s emerged to the top of the leaderboard. Sebastien Buemi set the fastest time with his #8 TS050 Hybrid in 1.54.768. Jose Maria Lopez in the #7 Toyota was second fastest, just over 1.5 seconds slower.

Matevos Isaakyan was quickest of the non-hybrid cars in 1.58.880, ahead of the surprising #4 ByKolles of Tom Dillman. Dragonspeed struggled with some electronical issues on their BR1, only managing a handful of laps throughout the session and not being able to set a real reference time.

Jackie Chan DC Racing was fastest in the LMP2 class with Jazzeman Jafaar putting the #37 Oreca 07 op top with a time of 2.02.923. A surprising second was Nyck De Vries in the #29 Racing Team Nederland Dallara, the best result so far for the Dutch team in any practice session this season. His time of 2.03.551 was just over 0.6 seconds slower than Jaafar but 0.7 seconds faster than Loïc Duval in the #28 TDS Racing Oreca.

Gabriel Aubry in the second Jackie Chan DC Oreca and Enzo Guibbert in the #50 Larbre Competition Ligier completed the top 5 in the morning session.

BMW Team MTEK was on top of the LMGTE Pro leaderboard after a lap in the final minutes of the session of 2.38.830 by Martin Tomczyck in the #81 BMW M8 GTE. Richard Lietz in the #91 Porsche 911 RSR went second fastest, just under 2.4 seconds behing Tomczyck. Third fastest was Maxime Martin in the #97 Aston Martin. In his first visit to the Shanghai circuit, the Belgian set a best time of 2.12.568.

In the GTE AM class, TF Sport led the way in their #90 Aston Martin Vantage. Charlie Eastwood posted the fastest lap in 2.11.764, 1.7 seconds ahead of Matt Campbell in the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche of Matt Campbell. Keita Sawa in the #61 Clearwater Ferrari was third quickest, just 0.1 second shy of Campbell.

AFTERNOON SESSION

Conditions got worse during the afternoon session, now on a fully wet and slippery track. As a result no teams were able to set faster times than in the morning session. Toyota continued to dominate the LMP1 class with another 1-2 after 90 minutes, but the gap to Rebellion went down to 0.414 seconds.

Jose Maria Lopez was the fastest man in the wet, setting the fastest time late in the session in 2.02.259, ahead of Kazuki Nakajima in the second Toyota. Thomas Laurent in the #3 Rebellion stayed closest to both Hybrids, in a 2.02.673, ahead of André Lotterer in the second Rebellion which was 0.2 seconds further down.

Jenson Button was the fastest SMP Racing driver in his #11 BR1. The Dragonspeed BR1 had a decent run in the afternoon, managing 29 laps and finishing in seventh position behind both SMP Racing cars. ByKolls, which were fourth fastest in the morning session, now closed off the LP1 ranking.

In LMP2 it’s Jazeman Jafaar again who topped the timetable in the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca07 (2.10.869). André Negrao was just behind him in the championship leading #36 Signatech Alpine with a best time of 2.10.869. Third fastest, and third Oreca, was Matthieu Vaxiviere in the #28 TDS Racing.

Racing Team Nederland’s Dallara seems to be adapting well to the damp and wet conditions in Shanghai, Giedo van der Garde setting the fourth fastest time in the second session with a 2.12.156. Rounding out the top 5 was Gabriel Aubry in the second Jackie Chan Oreca.

3 different manufacturers make out the top 3 of the LMGTE Pro class with James Calado on top in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE. Calado set a best time of 2.14.315, 0.649 seconds ahead of Antonio Felix Da Costa in the #82 BMW M8 GTE. Maxime Martin again was the fastest Aston Martin driver in third place, only 0.019 seconds behind Da Costa.

Nicky Thiim put the second Aston Martin on fourth place, with Oliver Gavin behind him in the #64 Corvette C7.R. Gavin’s quickest lap was just under 2 seconds off the pace of the leading Ferrari. The first Porsche in the afternoon session was the #92 of Kevin Estre, followed by the #66 Ford GT driven by Olivier Pla.

Giancarlo Fisichella was the quickest man in the LMGTE Am class this afternoon with a 2.16.835 in the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari. Matt Griffin set the second fastest time in the Clearwater Ferrari, 0.043 seconds slower than the Italian. Ben Barker in the #86 Gulf Racing UK Porsche completed the top 3.

Results FP1
Results FP2

Kristof Vermeulen

Thursday, 15 November 2018

FIA WEC: 35 cars for the 6 Hours of Shanghai

35 cars will be on the grid this Sunday for the final race of the FIA World Endurance Championship of 2018. After the 6 Hours of Shanghai, the season will restart in Sebring mid March. A nice addition to the grid in LMGTE Pro is the #64 Corvette, which makes its return in the class for the first time since 2014. Will Toyota keep on dominating in China, or will the privateers close the gap after a few more adjustments in the EoT ?

Toyota arrives in China with a comfortable lead in the championship. After finishing second at Fuji last month, Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Fernando Alonso have collected 84 points in 4 races with their #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid. The #7 sister car of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez is second, with a total of 71 points so far.

After crashing out of the 6 Hours of Fuji, the #3 Rebellion R13 of Gustavo Menezes, Mathias Beche and Thomas Laurent now has to make up 21 points to the leading Toyota. The #1 Rebellion lays fourth in the championship with 63 points. After an encouraging race in Fuji, with a fourth place finish, SMP Racing might be at the heels of Rebellion this weekend. The AER powered BR1’s are becoming faster and more reliable every race. Dragonspeed struggled with their BR1 in Fuji last month, with another DNF as a result. They will also be out for a good result in Shanghai, with Renger Van der Zande returning after having to miss out Fuji due to clashing with Petit Le Mans. James Rossiter in the #4 ByKolles is also in for his second race of the season, joining Oliver Webb and Tom Dillman in the ENSO CLMP1/01.

There’s no sign of Ginetta anymore on the entry list and the question remains whether we will see their LMP1 back in the championship next year in Sebring. Although the team claims the car to be ready to race with the new AER engine since Silverstone, they haven’t return to the championship.

There has been a new EOT adjustment ahead of this weekends race for the non hybrid teams, whether this well decrease the gap between the Toyota’s and the competition still has to be seen. After the adjustments for the Fuji race, the gap was still up to four laps by the end of the race.

LMP2

In LMP2 all eyes will be on the Jackie Chan DC Racing team for which the 6 hours of Shanghai is their home race. After two 1-2 finishes in Silverstone and Fuji, they seem to be the team to beat in this stage of the championship. Both Oreca’s have scored 86 points so far, putting then on a shared second place in the championship. Gabriel Aubry, Ho-Pin Tung and Stéphane Richelmi won the 6 Hours of Silverstone in the #38, ahead of the sister car. Jazeman Jaar, Nabil Jeffri and Weiron Tan did the same in the #37 in Fuji.

Signatech Alpine is still leading the championship though with just 1 point over both Jackie Chan Oreca’s. Andre Negrao, Nicolas Lapierre and Pierre Thiriet have a total of 87 points, also after inheriting the Le Mans win due to the G-Drive disqualification. The fourth place, with 55 points so far, is for the Dragonspeed Oreca of Pastor Maldonado and Roberto Gonzalez. Anthony Davidson scored just 21 points, due to missing out the first 2 races of the season.

LMGTE Pro

After another cracking race in Fuji, Porsche leads the manufacturers championship in the Pro class with 152 points, already giving them a big lead of 56 points over Ford in second (96 points) and 68 points over Ferrari (84 points) in third.

Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen are the leading drivers in their #92 Porsche with 96 points after 4 consecutive podium finishes and their win in Fuji last month. The #66 Porsche of Olivier Pla and Stefan Mücke lost quite a lot ground to the Porsche after 2 minor results in Silverstone and Fuji. They still stand second in the championship so far with 61 points. Third place is for the #51 Ferrari of Silverstone winners Allesandro Pier Guidi and James Calado with 55,5 points.

Further down the order we find the first Aston Martin (#98) with 30,5 points and BMW (#82) with 28 points. The latest BoP adjustments seem to have levelled the field, with all manufacturers able to fight for victory at a certain point in Fuji. Aston Martin took pole in Fuji, while BMW finished second behind the winning Porsche. There have been a few further adjustments in the Balance of Performance ahead of this weekend’s race, so this class should be in for some more exciting door to door battles over 6 hours.

Corvette returns to the FIA World Endurance Championship this weekend with a one off appearance for the C7.R in the GTE Pro category. Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner will be at the wheel of the silver “Redline” livery Corvette. For the American team, it’s the first race in the FIA WEC outside Le Mans since the 6 Hours of the Americas in Austin back in 2014.

LMGTE Am

Dempsey-Proton competition leads the LMGTE Am championship with the #77 of Christian Ried, Julien Andlauer and Matt Campbell. Despite their dramatic race in Fuji and all the post race controversy, Ried & co have a total of 80 points, giving them a lead of 14 points over the Team Project 1 Porsche. The German team that debuts in the FIA WEC has moved up the standings quietly since Le Mans. Podium finishes at Le Mans and Silverstone and winning in Japan put them halfway the championship on second place. Egidio Perfetti, Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Lindsey managed to collect 66 points so far.

The #90 Aston Martin Vantage of TF Sport is third halfway the championship with Salih Yoluc and Charles Eastwood on 54 points. 2 points down is the second Aston (#98) in the class of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda with 52 points. The first Ferrari is the #61 Clearwater Racing who are in for an emotional weekend in their home race. The 6 Hours of Shanghai will be the final race of Wen Sun Mok, who has decided to end his racing career on Sunday. The team will continue to race in the Super season with Matt Griffin and Keita Sawa, no news has emerged yet about a new third driver.

The #88 Dempsey-Proton Competition Porsche has 2 “new” drivers on board with Khaled Al Qubaisi and Ricardo Pera who will join Matteo Cairoli for the weekend.

The first free practice session is scheduled for 11h on Friday morning, the second 90 minute session at 15h30 in the afternoon.

Track action in China will however start at 8h00 in the morning with an LMP1 exclusive Michelin tire test for 1h45’. Only LMP1 cars are eligible for this session, and it’s not likely that all cars will come out.

Sunday, 12 November 2017

FIA WEC - 6 Hours of Shanghai - Third win for Toyota, championships for Porsche and Ferrari

In a dominant performance by Toyota the #8 TS050 of Anthony Davidson, Sebastian Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima took the overall win in last weeks 6 Hours of Shanghai by a lap over the #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Timo Bernhard, Earl Bamber and Brendon Hartley.

Despite the Toyota win, second place was comfortably enough for the #2 Porsche trio to seal the World Endurance Driver’s Championship.

“It’s an awesome feeling” Hartley said at the end of the race, “Not the best race for us but we will celebrate anyway and I will remember this forever”. Today’s Championship title gives the trio their ‘endurance double’ being crowned both Le Mans and World Champions in a single season.

Until the final 40 minutes of the race it looked as if Toyota were on course for a 1-2 finish which would have pushed the race for the Manufacturer’s World Championship title to the final round in Bahrain next week. However, in his second incident of the day, while leading the race, Jose Maria Lopez hit the #91 Porsche 911 RSR GTE of Richard Lietz, damaging both front & rear suspension of the #7 Toyota which required a 13 minute tip to the pits to rectify, ending Toyota’s chances of a double podium win and handing the Manufacturers LMP1 Championship crown to Porsche.

Lietz’s 911 fared slightly better from the incident and required just the two right side tyres replacing, however, the collision ended his hunt for Harry Tincknell in the #67 Ford GT, resigning the Austrian to second place in class. Although scant consolation to the Porsche GTE team, Lopez received a 10 second penalty for the incident which was added to his overall time.

Rounding out the podium in Shanghai was the No.1 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Neel Jani, André Lotterer and Nick Tandy. Their race was compromised in the first hour when Tandy slowed with a throttle sensor issue.

In the LMP2 class China provided us with arguably one of the best races of the season. The class was eventually won by the #31 Vaillante Rebellion squad of Bruno Senna, Nicolas Prost and Julien Canal, who also took over the lead in the championship from the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca.

In a race packed full of incident and excitement, Brazilian driver Senna laid the foundations for the team’s eventual win taking him and Canal to the lead of the LMP2 championship by four points (Prost having missed a race earlier in the year). Their chief rivals during the race were the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing trio of Oliver Jarvis, Ho-Pin Tung and Thomas Laurent. The three-time category winners had seemed to have built a race-winning platform after a stellar double stint from Jarvis, but then a fraught final two hours saw a collision between their Oreca 07 and the #26 G-Drive Racing car. Damage to the front of their car meant they eventually finished off the podium in fourth position.

Runners-up in the LMP2 category were the Signatech Alpine crew of Nicolas Lapierre, Gustavo Menezes and André Negrão; today’s result keeping Menezes in outside contention for the LMP2 Drivers’ crown.

Making it two Vaillante Rebellion cars in the top three was the #13 car of Nelson Piquet Jr, David Heinemeier-Hansson and Mathias Beche. They recovered from contact on the opening lap to score their second podium position of the season, with Heinemeier Hansson arguably being crowned ‘driver of the day’ as he defended throughout his stint against factory Audi DTM driver Nico Müller in the #26 G-Drive Oreca.

In the GTE ranks, Ford scored a hard-fought victory as Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell claimed their second LMGTE Pro win of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship season for their #67 Ford Ganassi Team UK Ford GT. The win for Ford’s ‘Britpack’ car thrust the British duo thrust back into contention for the FIA GT World Endurance Championship Driver’s title with 127,5 points. The win came after Tincknell performed a heroic rear-guard action when he came under intense pressure from the #91 Porsche in the fifth hour. When Lietz’s 911 RSR was hit by the #7 Toyota, driven at the time by José Maria Lopez, it freed up Tincknell and he brought the car home to claim the maximum points haul.

Second spot on the podium went to the #91 Porsche 911 RSR of Frédéric Makowiecki and Richard Lietz who now lie second in the driver’s championship with third place going to the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE of James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi. The final spot on the podium coupled with the 6th place finish for the #71 car was enough to give the Italian manufacturer the FIA GT Manufacturer’s Title one race before the final round.

In the GTE AM category, Aston Martin turned its pole position into their 50th class win with the #98 V8 Vantage GTE of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda taking the chequered flag a lap ahead of the #86 Gulf Racing UK Porsche 911 of Khaled Al Qubaisi, Ben Barker and Nicholas Foster. The final spot on the podium went to the #77 Dempsey – Proton Racing Porsche.

Dalla Lana & co now lead the championship going into the final race of the season. Clearwater Racing had a disastrous race losing 6 laps in the box after being hit by the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca early in the race, taking out also the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari. All is still to play for though in Bahrain next week with the Aston leading the Porsche with 10 points and the Ferrari 1 point further behind.

Race highlights

Race results

Kristof Vermeulen

This article originally appeared on Sportscarglobal

Saturday, 4 November 2017

FIA WEC - 6 Hours of Shanghai: Toyota takes pole position

The #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050 of Conway, Kobayashi and Lopez will start from Pole for tomorrow’s penultimate round of the WEC, the Six Hours of Shanghai after Kamui Kobayashi set a stunning lap of 1.42.526 giving the car an average qualification time of 1.42.832.

“I'm really pleased even if the lap itself wasn't perfect. I didn't try new tyres before qualifying so it was tricky to adjust. But overall the car was really good and I was 100% confident in it. We have been strong all week; the team has done a great job so far.” said Kobayashi after the session.

Despite suffering traction problems Nick Tandy put in a spirited time to place the #1 Porsche 919 Hybrid onto the second of the front-row spots helping towards an average laptime of 1.43.272, just 0.4s behind the Toyota. The #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050 will start third with a 1.43.445 average and final place on the LMP1 grid goes to the #2 Porsche 919 with a qualifying average time of 1.43.497.

In the LMP2 class it was the #31 Rebellion team who claimed class pole setting a 1’49.217, closing down the gap with the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing to 9 points in the championship. Recently crowned European Le Mans Series LMP2 Champion Léo Roussel shone in practice today as he graduated to the WEC, clocking in a 1:49.460 in the #26 G-Drive Oreca he shares with Roman Rusinov and Nico Muller, to give a qualifying average of 1’49.472, 0.2s behind the Rebellion car. Roussel and Müller both qualified the car. The second Rebellion, the #13 car will start third in class (1’49.694) with the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca starting fourth.

In GTE PRO, Aston Martin will start at the front of the grid with the #95 car of Nicky Thiim and Marco Sorrenson clocking in a 1.59.697 average. Despite setting the fastest individual time by Michael Christensen (1.59.578) the #92 Porsche GT Team could only manage an average of 1’59.916 which placed them in second place for tomorrow’s race. Third grid position went to the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 with the #67 & #68 Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK GT's taking fourth and fifth grid positions respectively. The #97 Aston Martin of Darren Turner and Jonny Adam had a terrible time run nearly 1.5s off the pace and will start at the back or the class grid.

Aston Martin also took class pole in the LM GTE AM grid with the #98 car of Paul Dalla Lana and Pedro Lamy setting a 2’02.357 qualifying average. That's 7 out of 8 pole positions for the team and an extra point for the championship. The #77 Dempsey – Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR will start second and the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari starts third.

Clearwater Racing’s #61 Ferrari starts fourth in class and the final spot on the grid goes to the #86 Gulf Racing UK Porsche 911 RSR which struggled throughout and finished 17 seconds down on the leaders.

Qualifying highlights

The race will be green flagged at 11.00h tomorrow morning in Shanghai.

Results qualifying LMP

Results qualifying LMGTE

Kristof Vermeulen
Part of this report was published at www.sportscarglobal.com

Friday, 3 November 2017

FIA WEC - 6 Hours of Shanghai: Toyota dominates Friday practice

Mike Conway was the fastest man on track in Shanghai today, topping both free practice sessions in his #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid. With a 1.47.182 in the first session and 1.44.741 in the second session, the British driver outpaced all other drivers in the LMP1 class.

Both Toyota's showed their strenght in both sessions, finishing first and third in the morning session and taking both top places in the afternoon. Anthony Davidson on the #8 TS050 was second fastest in the second session, 0.390 seconds behind. “It has been a decent first day. We have been continuously improving the car and working out which tyres to use. This circuit is very hard on tyres so that is an important point for us. We still have some homework to do in a few areas but it’s been an encouraging day overall.” said Conway.

The Porsches couldn't match the pace of the Toyota's today. Nick Tandy was second fastest in the morning session in his #1 919 Hybrid, just 0.2 seconds behind the Toyota. In the afternoon session it was Brendon Hartley in the #2 Porsche who set the third fastest time, but 0.528 seconds slower than the leading Toyota.

Porsche arrived in China with an advantage of 58,5 points over rivals Toyota, to won the 2017 manufacturers title, they have to finish ahead of both Toyota's. After their 1-2 finish in Fuji and beating the Porsches today, Toyota will be out for another strong finish and China and take the title battle to the wire in Bahrain.

The stakes are high in the LMP2 class this weekend. After a strong start of the season the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca of Oliver Jarvis, Ho Pin Tung and Thomas Laurent is still on top of the leaderboard but has seen its lead reduced to only ten points after Fuji. It's the home race for Jackie Chan and his team, they will be out to get back into winning form and take an option on the 2017 teams and drivers titles.

The #13 Vaillante Rebellion of Nelson Piquet Jr, Mathias Beche and David Heinemeier Hanssen was fastest in both sessions today. Beche set the benchmark this morning with a lap of 1.52.533, Piquet Jr took the honours in the afternoon in 1.50.556.

Both title contenders, the Mighty 38 and the #31 Rebellion of Julien Canal, Nicolas Prost and Bruno Senna settled for a time in the middle of the pack in the morning session. Later today, both teams upped their game and completed the top 3 behind the leading Rebellion. Thomas Lauren was second fastest in the DC Racing Oreca in 1.50.884, a mere 0.062 seconds faster than Julien Canal in the second Rebellion.

2 new faces in the #26 G-Drive this weekend with Frenchman Léo Roussel and German youngster Nico Müller. Roussel secured the ELMS title with G-Drive 2 weeks ago in Portimao after a strong season in the Oreca, showing his speed and reliability. Müller is one of the rising stars in the DTM championship and almost immediately showed his outright speed this morning, setting the second fastest time in the first session.

In GTE Pro it was Ford and Ferrari each leading the way in a session. Ferrari leads the championship now both as a manufacturer as in the drivers standings, so Ford (manufacturers) and Porsche (drivers) both need a strong race this weekend to keep their title hopes alive.

The #66 Ford of Stefan Mücke and Olivier Pla was fastest in the first session with a 2.02.693, almost half a second faster than the #97 Aston Martin who seemed to be back on the pace again after struggling in Japan. Fréd Makowiecki in the #91 Porsche was third fastest, while both Ferrari came in last in the session, a second off the pace of the Ford.

Another story in the second session when the #51 Ferrari of James Calado & Alessandro Pier Guidi came out on top in 2.01.913, almost 2 seconds faster than their morning time. Lietz & Makowiecki got up to second fastest now, 0.626 seconds behind the F488. Olivier Pla took third place in his Ford GT. The second AF Corse Ferrari kept on struggling though, leaving Davide Rigon & Sam Bird dead last in their #71, even slower than the GTE Am Ferrari of Clearwater Racing. Both Astons struggled for pace too, going slower round the track than Pedro Lamy in the Am car.

The GTE-Am class is – with 12 hours of racing left in 2017 – really too close to call. Clearwater got back in the lead after their second place in Japan last month. Only 3 points separate the first 3 cars in the championship: Clearwater Racing has 149 points after 7 races, Dempsey Proton Competition 147 and Aston Martin 146.

Miguel Molina set the pace in the first session, putting the Fuji winning #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari in top in 2.04.789. Matteo Cairoli was second fastest in the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche 2.05.165; both drivers nestling themselves in between some of the Pro cars. Pedro Lamy in the #98 Aston Martin drove the third fastest time. Championship leaders Clearwater Racing only managed a 2.05.911, just over a second slower than the #55 Ferrari.

Title challengers Dempsey-Proton were impressive in the afternoon session, Cairoli fastest again in the Porsche in 2.03.353, a time that would have put him on fifth place in the Pro class. Pedro Lamy was second quickest in his Aston Martin, Matt Griffin now got into the top three with the championship leading Clearwater F488 GTE.

There's one driver change to be noted in the class: Khaled Al Qubaisi returns to the FIA WEC this weekend in the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche. He replaces Mike Wainwright and joins Ben Barker Nicholas Foster at the wheel of the 911 RSR.

Useful links for the weekend:

Timetable
Entry list
Spotter guide

Thursday, 3 November 2016

FIA WEC - 6 Hours of Shanghai: weekend preview

After a highly entertaining race in Fuji last month, 31 cars will race in the second to last race of the 2016 FIA WEC season in Shanghai. Only Rebellion Racing already secured their title in the LMP1-L class, in the other classes all is still to play for under the Chinese sun this weekend.

LMP1

No changes in driver line-ups in LMP1, with 8 cars on the grid and the same driver pairings. Shangai is the penultimate race for the Audi R18, and with the Toyota's back in the mix after Fuji, we could be in for another classic endurance race.

Porsche arrives in China with a 59 point lead over Audi in the manufacturers championship. If both Porsche 919's can get onto the podium, the team from Stuttgart can claim their second munfacturers title in a row, even if Audi takes the win in Shangai.

A different game in the driver rankings. Neel Jani, Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb are leading the championship with a 23 point bonus over Toyota's #2 crew Stephane Sarrazin, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi. The drivers of the Audi #8, Oliver Jarvis, Loic Duval & Lucas Di Grassi are currently third, 28,5 points behind the leaders. Everything is still to play for the drivers honours.

Rebellion racing already secured their LMP1-L title in Japan last month after another win for the #13 R-One over the ByKolles car which suffered from engine problems again.

LMP2

2 teams are still in the running for the 2016 FIA WEC title in the second prototype class. Alpine is leading the class in the #36 of Gustavo Menezes, Nicolas Lapierre and Stephane Richelmi. They have an advantage of 35 points over the #43 RGR Sport Ligier of Ricardo Gonzalez & Bruno Senna. The Alpine needs to finish third to secure the championship, even if RGR wins and takes pole position. RGR has to set its hopes on a poor run for Alpine this weekend, as this will be the only way to take the title fight on to Bahrain.

Will Stevens returns to G-Drive Racing this weekend, filling in again for Rene Rast who just became father of a son, Liam James. Rast will be back in the cockpit of the Oreca05/Nissan at the final race in Bahrain later this month. G-Drive is out of contention for the title, but will be eager to win again after their first win of the season in Fuji and end the season on a high.

No Strakka Racing in the final 2 races of the season, the team forced to draw back from China and Bahrain due to engine issues. The engine problem they had in Japan is the fourth one the team suffered from since last years rookie test and left the team without spare units for the final rounds. Replacing the engine again in China would result in a 3 minute stop-and-go penalty in Bahrain, preventing any chance to be competitive. As it was also almost impossible to get a new engine on time in China, the team has decided not to race anymore in 2016. Their plans for 2017 should be revealed by the end of November.

With the Gibson 015S missing Shangai, the race in Fuji was the last one of an open top prototype in the WEC. The Gibson especially has made his marks in the past five seasons, remaining competitive with all new LMP2's, fighting for a podium place in WEC and victory in ELMS. Winning the ELMS finale and championship 2 weeks ago in Portugal was a more than appropriate goodbye for an iconic car.

Manor is back with its 2 Oreca05/Nissan's again but with a few changes in their driver line-up. The #44 will be driven again by Matt Rao and Richard Bradley, who will be joined by Alex Lynn in Shangai. Tor Graves is at the wheel of the #45, sharing driving duties with Roberto Gonzalez and Mathias Beche. This means Roberto Merhi stays behind without a seat in any of the Manor cars.

Another driver change is to be noted in the #30 ESM car. Tom Blomqvist replaces newly crowned ELMS champion Giedo van der Garde in the Ligier. In the second Alpine of Baxi DC Racing and both SMP BR01/Nissan's no changes have to be expected compared to Fuji last month.

LM GTE Pro

In the GTE Pro class, the fight for the championship is still wide open with Ferrari, Ford and Aston Martin still able to clinch the title. AF Corse has the lead in the championship with 236 points, just 3 points ahead of Aston Martin Racing. Ford has scored 177,5 points so far putting them in third place but already 58,5 points behind.

Ford dominated the race in Fuji but will be too far away to play a role for the championship, unless Aston Martin and Ferrari have 2 disastrous races to come. Between Ferrari and Aston Martin it's still all to play for. One bad result in the final 2 races of the season might blow their chances to win the title.

Nicky Thiim and Marco Sorensen lead the drivers table with 119 points, an advantage of 10 points to Sam Bird and Davide Rigon in the #71 Ferrari and 15 points over Darren Turner. Gianmaria Bruno & James Calado have scored 95 points so far.

LM GTE-Am

The fight for the title in the GTE-Am is down to two or three cars. François Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard and Rui Aguas lead the championship in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari with 155 points after the race in Fuji. They have a 33 point lead over the #98 Aston Martin of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda. Mathematically, the #88 Abu Dhabi Proton Racing Porsche of Khaled Ai Qubaisi, David Heinemeir Hanson and Patrick Long also has a chance to take the title, but they are already 41 points behind. To win the championship both other contenders must hit severe trouble in the 2 final races of the season.

If the #83 takes pole position and finishes second, the 2016 title is theirs. Even if the Aston Martin wins the race. If the Aston doesn't win the race, finishing 4th will be enough for the AF Corse team to clinch the title.

The #50 Larbre Corvette has the only driver change in the class, Romain Brandela replacing Yutaka Yamagishi.

Free Practice will start on Friday 11h local time in China.

Useful links :

Entry List
Timetable
Spotterguide
Event Map

Kristof Vermeulen.

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