WEC races into the night at COTA this weekend

Time for the fifth round of the World Endurance Championship 2015, this time at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

The Lone Star Le Mans weekend is all about endurance racing with not only WEC on the menu but also the IMSA Tudor United Sportscar Championship.  Including support races with the Continental Tire Sportscar Challenge, Porsche GT3 Cup USA and Lamborghini Trofeo, the weekend will be packed with exciting races.

The Circuit of the Americas, built in 2011-2012 is the only FIA certified grade 1 track in the USA.  It's  5.5 km long and runs counterclockwise.  20 turns in total with a steep run uphill into Turn 1 and some very fast sweeping sections all over the track.  Turns 12-15 have a real stadion atmosphere, twisting in front of the grandstands.  The 77 meter high observation tower gives amazing views of the track and its surroundings.

Audi has won all three previous races at COTA, and actually hasn't been beaten on US soil in WEC as they also won the opening race at Sebring in 2012.  Aston Martin has the same unbeaten record at COTA after winning both GTE classes in 2013 and 2014.  

31 cars will race in Texas this weekend, home race for the US based Extreme Speed Motorsports team in LMP2.  9 entries in LMP1 with Porsche on a high after winning back to back at Le Mans and the Nüburgring last month, and eager to score their third win in a row.  KCMG also won the last 3 races in LMP2 but will face tough competition from G-Drive racing, ESM and the other teams on the 8-car grid.  The winning Le Mans crew is reunited at KCMG with Nicolas Lapierre taking his seat again in the Oreca05.  Seven entries in LMGTE-Pro, with works teams of Porsche, Ferrari and Aston Martin.    No Stefan Mucke at Aston Martin as he has to race in Germany this weekend, Jonathan Adam will take his seat in the #97.  Last minute change in the #96 Aston Martin with Benny Simonsen taking Roald Goethe's place.  IN GTE it's the Larbre Corvette against Aston Martin, Porsche and Ferrari once more, with a seven car grid.  Aston Martin changed a few liveries on their cars, the #97 Vantage will race in the yellow/red Hanergy livery; the #99 returns to its blue/yellow Valero livery.

Jim Hall has been named Grand Marshal for the 2015 Lone Star Le Mans event.  Hall has built and created the concept of the iconic Chaparral racecars in the 60's, introducing aerodynamics into the racing world. Chaparral cars were most known in endurance racing, Can Am and later on made the switch to Indycar.

On Monday, the announcement was made that Gibson Technology has been selected as the sole supplier for LMP2 engines in 2017 when the new LMP2 regulations come into force.  This applies to WEC, ELMS, Asian LMS and the IMSA championship (in IMSA teams will though be allowed to use other engines).  At the same time Cosworth Electronics has been selected as the supplier for electronics in all LMP2 championships.  The new engine will be a 4 liter V8, with approximately 600 hp, about 50 hp more than now in LMP2.  After the announcement of the 4 manufacturers in July (Onroak Automotive, Oreca, Rileytech/Multimatic and Dallara), the renewed championship for 2017 seems to be right on schedule.

It will be hot in Texas this weekend.  The forecast for Saturday afternoon goes up to 38° Celsius.  Free practice sets off (local times) on Thursday at 2.45 pm and 8 pm, final practice Friday morning at 10.30 am with qualifying Friday afternoon at 5.45 pm.   The green flag for the 6 hours of the Americas will be given on Saturday afternoon 5 pm.

Check out the Club Arnage blog, facebook group and forum for regular updates and pictures during the weekend !

Useful links :

Timetable
Entry list
Spotters guide by Andy Blackmore
TV Schedule


Kristof Vermeulen.

Anti climax for JOTA Sport at Le Castellet.

Nothing but smiling faces at JOTA Sport after what seemed to be a perfect weekend for the British team. Pole position, first place after 4 hours and an 18 point lead in the championship before the final race at Estoril next month.  

Untill a decision of the stewards was posted concerning the driving time of Felipe Albuquerque. He exceeded his maximum time with 1 minute 57 seconds (say 1 lap !), resulting in a 45 second penalty for the JOTA team leaving them with third place and only 1 point bonus in the championship ahead of Greaves Motorsport.  The final race at Estoril next month now surely announces itself as a cracker with JOTA, Greaves and Thiriet all having the championship in their reach and the fast AF Racing BR01's looking out for their first win with the new and blimingly fast chassis.

This morning, Harry Tincknell scored the third consecutive pole for the "mighty 38" this season, holding off both AF Racing's BR01-Nissan.  At the start, Mikhail Alashin charged through to first place with Leo Roussel in the Pegasus Morgan behind him and Nicolas Minassian in the second BR01-Nissan in third position, leaving Simon Dolan (who took the start of a race for the first time in years) behind in 4th.  Minassian quickly took over second place after which both BR01-Nissan's steamed away from the competition and built up a comfortable lead in the opening stages of the race.  

70 minutes into the race, the first safety car was deployed after the #2 Team LNT Ginetta spun off track.  Meanwhile the #46 Thiriet Oreca fell back after a visit to the stands with brake problems.  Dolan had a spin in the #38, giving both BR01's the chance to build up their lead again.  With 2 hours to go, the safety car came out for a second time as the #48 Murphy Prototypes went hard into the barriers at the end of the Mistral straight. Michael Lyons got out safely but the race for Murphy's men was over.  

After the second safety car, the race exploded with battles going on all over the place.  Tristan Gommendy flew through the field and took top position in the Thiriet Oreca05.  Behind him Felipe Albuquerque, who took over from Simon Dolan, passed Gary Hirsch in the Greaves Motorsport Gibson to second place and started to close the gap to Gommendy.  About an hour before the end of the race, Thiriet took over from Gommendy, handing Albuquerque the lead ahead of the #21 BR01 with Victor Shaytar behind the wheel.  What followed was a nailbiting battle for third between the Oreca and BR01 with John Lancaster in the Greaves Gibson joining in.  

Lancaster was flying and went on to second place, closing in to JOTA ahead of the final pitstops.  Tincknell took over in the #38 and headed out with fresh rubber for the remaining 45 minutes.  Lancaster pitted soon after the leading car but was held up when the SVK LMP3 came in at the same time, taking his chances for the win away.  Behind him, Kyril Ladygin steered the #21 AF Racing to third place, again showing the big potential of his new car.  Further down the field, the #20 AF Racing came in fourth, ahead of the Krohn Ligier and the misfortuned Thiriet Oreca. 

Sir Chris Hoy and Charlie Robertson took the win in the LMP3 class, and with that the first ever LMP3 championship. As to this morning they didn't have a clue to get a shot at the championship if they won the race, but kept their head cool and brought the #3 Team LNT Ginetta-Nissan safely to the chequered flag. Gaëtan Paletou took an early lead in the #2 Team LNT car, but after a spin and contact with the barriers almost halfway the race, Robertson and Hoy had the championship in their hands. Ultimately they won the race with nearly a lap advantage to the second placed Villorba Corse Ginetta driven by Roberto Lacorte & Giorgio Sernagiotto.

Formula Racing took their second win of the season in LMGTE with the #60 Ferrari F458 Italia.   After strong stints of all three drivers, Johnny Laursen, Mikkel Mac and Andrea Rizzoli they won the race with a lap advantage to second placed BMW Z4 GTE from Marc VDS who finally got away from their collection of fourth places this season. The battle for third went to the wire, with JMW Motorsport taking a hard fought and well deserved podium in their yellow #66 Ferrari ahead of the #88 Proton Porsche.

In GTC the #63 Ferrari took the best start and the lead in the first part of the race, ahead of the #59 Thiriet BMW and the #62 Ferrari.  After the final stops, the BMW was lying first with enough margin to hold of the charging #62 AF Corse Ferrari.  The all Danish Aston Martin Vantage took third place and scored their second consecutive podium after Austria in July.  

The final race of the ELMS season will take place in Estoril on 18 October.  With the LMP2 and both GT titles still undecided, tension will be high and we should be in for an exciting weekend !

Mistral wind takes part in Saturday practice sessions at Paul Ricard

Blue skies and a strong Mistral wind over the Paul Ricard circuit on Saturday for both free practice sessions ahead of the 6 Hours of Le Castellet.

The morning session was dominated by the #21 AF Racing (ex SMP) BR01-Nissan, ahead of Murphy Prototypes Oreca03. The Murphy team always scores well at Paul Ricard, winning the race in 2013. The #41 Greaves Gibson was third fastest, ahead of the green Ligier JSP2 of Tracy Krohn. In LMP3 both Team LNT Ginetta's were fastest with the #2 outpacing #3. The #15 SVK by Speed Factory was third fastest, almost 2 seconds off the pace.

LMGTE saw 2 Ferrari's at the top of the timetable with the #51 AF Corse just faster than the #56 AT Racing Ferrari F458 Italia. The BMW Z4 GTE by Marc VDS was third fastest in the morning session. GTC was dominated by Thiriet with their #59 BMW Z4, outpacing the #68 Aston Martin and #62 AF Corse Ferrari with almost 2 seconds.

In the afternoon, Thiriet by TDS Racing took the honours and lapped quicker than anyone else. With the Mistral wind blowing even harder than this morning giving the cars a big tail wind on the Mistral (what's in a name) straight, Tristan Gommendy put in a very fast 1.47.837. Behind the Thiriet Oreca, the Krohn Ligier-Judd with Olivier Pla at the wheel was second fastest, ahead of the Gibson of JOTA Sport. Eurasia Motorsport who already impressed at the Red Bull Ring last month were fourth fastest and continue to show their good form.

LMP3 saw the same result as Saturday morning with the #2 ahead of #3. This time however the LMP3's didn't manage to hold off the GTE's, with the Ferrari's of AT Racing (#56) and AF Corse (#55) switching places compared to this morning, ahead of the two fastest LMP3's. Proton Competition was third fastest in GTE with the #17 Porsche 911 RSR. In GTC we also saw 2 Ferrari's on top, the #63 AF Corse 1.3 seconds faster than the #62 sister car. TDS Racing, fastest this morning, was third in the afternoon.

Qualifying is Sunday from 9.00h, the 4 Hours of Le Castellet will start at 13.00h (local time).