FIA WEC - 6 Hours of Fuji: Friday free practice sessions

Audi and Porsche were fastest in today's free practice sessions in Fuji.

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Marcel Fässler was fastest this morning in the first free practice at Fuji. Fässler drove a 1.25.030, half a second faster than Kamui Kobayashi in the #6 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TS050. Loïc Duval was third fastest in the second Audi R18, followed by the second Toyota and both Porsches. The championship leading Porsche #2 of Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb suffered from an oil leak and had to install a new gearbox, causing it to miss most of the session.

© Gabi Tomescu - AdrenalMedia.com

Alex Brundle topped the LMP2 class with a 1.33.204 in the #26 G-Drive Oreca. Second fastest was Ryan Dalziel in the #31 ESM Ligier ahead of Jonny Kane in the again impressive #42 Strakka Gibson.

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Andy Priaulx set the benchmark in GTE-Pro, putting a 1.39.216 on the timesheets (just 0.032 faster than his co-driver Harry Tincknell) in the 67 Ford GT. Michael Christensen was second fastest in the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche 911, ahead of Gianmaria Bruni in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488.

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Emmanuel Collard was fastest in the GTE-Am class in his #83 AF Corse Ferrari in 1.40.775, which was 0.160 seconds ahead of Pedro Lamy in the #98 Aston Martin. Ricky Taylor was third fastest in the #50 Larbre Corvette.

© Porsche AG

Porsche was fastest in the second free practice which saw the #7 Audi going off and into the barriers again after contact with the #31 ESM Ligier. Bad luck again for Andre Lotterer who was able to get the car back into the pits for repairs, suffering damage on the front.

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Mark Webber set the fastest time with a 1.24.074, almost a second faster than Oliver Jarvis in the #8 Audi R18 (1.24.968). Before his accident, André Lotterer was able to set the third fastest time in 1.25.000. Marc Lieb put his #2 Porsche 919 on fourth, ahead of both Toyota TS050's. The session didn't end well for Toyota either, Kamui Kobayashi coming to a standstill in his #6 TS050 on the track with a hybrid issue.

Rebellion outpaced byKolles again in the second practice, as they did this morning.

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In LMP2, championship challengers RGR Sport were fastest, Felipe Albuquerque putting in a 1.31.909 in the #43 Ligier/Nissan. Alex Brundle was second fastest in the #26 G-Drive Oreca, although 0.833 seconds behind. Richard Bradley came in third fastest in the #44 Manor. Rounding out the top 5 were Lewis Williamson in the #42 Strakka Gibson and Sean Gelael in the #30 ESM Ligier.

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Ford was fastest in GTE again, Stefan Mücke now leading the field in his #66 Ford GT (1.38.743), ahead of both AF Corse Ferrari's. Gianmaria Bruni in the #51 just faster than Davide Rigon in the #71.

© Aston Martin Racing

Pedro Lamy now topped in the Am class (1.40.112), outpacing the 150 Larbre Corvette of Ricky Taylor and Patrick Long in the #88 Proton Competition Porsche.

Results FP1

Results FP2

Kristof Vermeulen.

FIA WEC news roundup

2017 FIA World Endurance Championship calendar confirmed

The FIA WEC 2017 calendar has been approved by the FIA World Motorsport Council this week. As expected, the 24 Hours of Le Mans will clash again with the European GP F1 at Baku. 2 more raceweekends will run on the same time as F1: 6 Hours of the Americas & F1 Malaysia and 6 Hours of Shangai & F1 Mexico city.

Another, and more important “date clash” could be the one between the 6 Hours of the Nürburgring and the Formula E race in New York on 15th and 16th July. Several WEC drivers are active in both championships, it will be interesting to see which race they will be allowed to race. Loic Duval, Lucas Di Grassi, Stéphane Sarrazin, Sam Bird ... all are factory drivers in the WEC. The clash between FIA WEC and Formula E was inevitable as the 6 Hours of the Nürburgring couldn't be scheduled on another date (at least 4 weeks after Le Mans, and ahead of the preparations for the GP F1 two weeks later). 

Rebellion ends LMP1 privateer program

After withdrawing the #12 car from the FIA WEC earlier in the season, Swiss team Rebellion Racing has announced they will end their LMP1 privateer program at the end of 2016 and switch to the LMP2 class in 2017. 

With the new and more powerful LMP2 cars arriving next season, the gap with the privateer LMP1 class will be much closer than this season. Rebellion decided tot stop delevoping their R-One prototype and concentrate on 2017. No decision has been made yet about which chassis the team will use, but it's known that their current Oreca built R-One can be upgraded to the 2017 Oreca LMP2.

It's not clear in which championship the team will race next season.  Both WEC and ELMS (maybe in a joint venture with Thiriet by TDS racing) could be in the mix. There's also a possibility to return to the States next season, knowing that Rebellion loved to race there. Especially after winning Petit Le Mans in 2012 and 2013. 

Manor returns with second Oreca05

Manor will race with 2 cars again from this weekend on. The #45 Oreca05/Nissan will be back on the grid for the first time since the Nürburgring. Tor Graves, who already raced the car in the beginning of the season wil be behind the wheel again. He will be joined by Japanese driver Shinji Nakano who has raced in Asian LMS and this years 24 Hours of Le Mans (with Race Performance). The third driver is Alex Lynn, a young British driver active in  GP2 and Williams testdriver since 2015. 

© Gabi Tomescu - AdrenalMedia.com

New livery & driver squad for ESM Ligier #30

Tequila Patron Extreme Speeds Motorsports has announced its return to the IMSA series next season, and won't start in the FIA WEC in 2017. For the final three races of the season, the #30 Ligier JSP2 of the American team will feature a whole new livery and driver line-up. There will be no changes in the #31 car.

Ed Brown, Johannes Van Overbeek & Scott Sharp will be replaced by Antonio Giovanizzi, Giedo van der Garde and Sean Gelael. The livery of the #30 will also change significantly, now with Jagonya Ayam, KFC's Indonesian branch as the main sponsor. It looks a lot like the second SMP BR01 which raced at Silverstone at the beginning of the season. 

Driver changes in LMP2

Besides the changes above, there are a few other driver changes to be noted in the LMP2 class this weekend. Will Stevens returns to G-Drive Racing in the #26 Oreca05, replacing Rene Rast who has to race in the German DTM championship at Hockenheim this weekend. 

At Strakka Racing, Nick Leventis won't race in Japan this weekend. Leventis is suffering from a severe lung infection and has already returned to the UK earlier this week. Jonny Kane and Lewis Williamson will share driving duties between them both this weekend.  Paul Loup Chatin returns to the WEC championship in the #35 Baxi DC Racing Alpine. He will replace Nelson Panciatice for the remaining 3 races of the season.

New Balance of Performance & driver changes in GTE

The GTE Pro Aston Martins who dominated the last races get a 0.4 mm air restrictor reduction and will have to run a 30 mm rear wing gurney. The #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche now gets a 20 kg weight reduction for the race in Japan. No adjustments were applied to the Ferrari 488 and Ford GT. In GTE-Am the only change in BoP is for the F458 Ferrari's who have been given a 15 kg weight reduction.  

Ford Performance has altered the driver line-up for the #67 Ford GT. Marino Franchitti won't race the Ford GT in the final three rounds of the championship. Franchitti won't be replaced by another driver, so Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell will complete the season. This means the whole GTE-Pro field now has two drivers in their cars. 

Richie Stanaway takes his seat back in the #97 Aston Martin Vantage. Stanaway was replaced by Fernando Rees in Texas last month. After the race at COTA, Ricky Taylor has been confirmed in the #50 Larbre Corvette for the three final races of the season. He will be joined by team regulars Yutaka Yamagishi and Pierre Ragues.

Kristof Vermeulen.

Mark Webber ends racing career at Bahrein next month

Today, Mark Webber announced his retirement from racing at the end of the 2016 FIA WEC season.

The FIA WEC 6 hours of Bahrein next month will be the last time Mark Webber will race his Porsche 919 Hybrid as a works driver. After ending his active racing career, the Aurstralian will represent Porsche at global events and as a consultant will contribute by lending his experience to the motorsport programmes of the sports car manufacturer from Stuttgart. Webber will be Porsche's second representative, next to Walther Röhrl.

“Mark Webber stands for everything what Porsche implies: sportsmanship, power of endurance, straightforwardness and focused work for success. He is full of beans and always a thoughtful listener. I want to thank Mark for his great performance in the World Endurance Championship and am pleased he will remain tightly connected to Porsche in the future”, says Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Executive Board of Dr. Ing h.c. F. Porsche AG.

Fritz Enzinger, Vice President LMP1, is sorry to see the driver retire from the cockpit. “Already in the important period of building up the programme, Mark has strengthened us with all his experience and he seamlessly integrated himself into the team. Behind the wheel he is a fair fighter, never shy of even the toughest wheel-to-wheel battle. At the same time, he thinks strategically and is team orientated. This mixture makes him invaluable as an endurance racer. Winning the 2015 drivers’ world championship together with Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley almost seemed to be a logical consequence. Also thanks to his performance, we hope to win the world championship titles for manufacturers and drivers again in 2016.” Currently the Porsche Team ranks first in both classifications. In the manufacturers’ world championship Porsche leads with 238 points ahead of Audi (185) and Toyota (137). Romain Dumas/Neel Jani/Marc Lieb have a 37.5 lead ahead of the best placed Audi trio. There are still three races remaining.

Webber started his racing career in 1991;  from karting, Formula Ford, Formula 3, Formula 3000, nine victories in 215 Formula One Grand Prix to his world title in the FIA WEC last year together with Marc Lieb and Brendon Hartley in the Porsche 919 Hybrid. This summer he married his long-time partner Ann and turned 40 at the end of August. 

His biggest triumph came last year after a nerve-wrecking finale at the WEC finale in Bahrein.  Both throttle barrel levers of his 919 were broken and had to be locked at full throttle. The Porsche was only able to finish the race thanks to outstanding engineering performance in the background and a driver sensitivity that looked superhuman. The title was at stake. “To have scored my first World Championship title with Timo and Brendon with Porsche means a great deal to me,” says Webber who never talks about this feat without mentioning his teammates.

Kristof Vermeulen.