Club Arnage 2020

Saturday, 5 November 2016

FIA WEC - 6 Hours of Shanghai: Pole position for Porsche

After an intense and tight qualifying session, Brendon Hartley & Mark Webber claimed pole position for the 6 Hours of Shanghai tomorrow.

Hartley was fastest early in the session but saw his laptime deleted for abusing track limits. Nakajima was flying in his Toyota #5 and took provisional pole ahead of the driver changes. Right before the checquered flag fell, Hartley drove an outstanding 1.44.307. Fastest lap of the session and an average time with Mark Webber of 1.44.462, just enough to claim pole position. Next to the Porsche #1 on the front row of the grid will be the #5 Toyota TS050 of Sebastian Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima. Buemi was second fastest in the session, their average time just 0.060 seconds behind the Porsche. Oliver Jarvis & Loic Duval were third fastest with an average time of 1.44.610. Toyota #6, Audi #7 and Porsche #2 fill the rest of the LMP1 grid. Neel Jani and Marc Lieb also saw their first fast lap deleted for excess fuel consumption.

In the privateer LMP1 class Rebellion Racing scored another pole postion, ahead of ByKolles which had to deal with some technical gremlins during the session.

Manor took its first ever pole position in the LMP2 class with the #44 Oreca05/Nissan. Alex Lynn showing his pace again together with Matt Rao in an average time of 1.54.225. Signatech Alpine scored second place, Nicolas Lapierre & Gustavo Menezes were 0.157 seconds behind pole. Third place on the LMP2 grid is for the #30 ESM Ligier of Tom Blomqvist and Sean Gelael. Bruno Senna was quickest overall, but Ricardo Gonzalez only managed to be 15th fastest after a spin, dropping the RGR Sport Ligier to fifth place in class, behind the G-Drive Oreca. Gonzalez & co will have a hell of a job tomorrow to keep their title dreams alive.

Ford dominated the qualifying session in GTE-Pro, sweeping out the front row. Harry Tincknell was the fastest man on track during qualifying. Together with Andy Priaulx he managed an average time of 2.01.240 in the #67 Ford GT. The #66 Ford of Stefan Mücke & Olivier Pla was second fastest, 0.137 seconds behind their teammates. Third place was for the #95 Aston Martin of Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen in an average time of 2.02.040, 0.649 seconds slower than pole position. The #51 AF Corse Ferrari and #97 Aston Martin completed the top 5. Both AF Corse Ferrari's had to revert their power increase they got ahead of the weekend, pushing them back the order after dominating yesterdays practice. Discussions have been going on between Ferrari and the FIA, but it's clear AF Corse isn't happy about how the BoP is being managed.

In the GTE-Am class, Pedro Lamy & Paul Dalla Lana took pole position with their #98 Aston Martin Vantage. With their pole position they close in 1 point to the championship leading #83 AF Corse Ferrari who was second fastest today. Three Porsches follow both championship contenders (#88 Abu Dhabi Proton Racing, #78 KCMG and #86 Gulf Racing). The #50 Larbre Competition Corvette has the final spot on the grid tomorrow.

The green flag for the race will be waived tomorrow at 11.00h local time in Shanghai.

Qualifying results LMP
Qualifying results GTE
Starting Grid

Kristof Vermeulen

Friday, 4 November 2016

FIA WEC - 6 Hours of Shanghai: Porsche quickest on Friday

Porsche topped the time sheets at Shanghai today, Brendon Hartley fastest in both free practice sessions in China.

Hartley drove a 1.46.979 in the first session on a sometimes slippery track, 0.198 seconds faster than Lucas di Grassi in the #8 Audi R18. Sébastien Buemi was third fastest in his #5 Toyota TS050, 0.664 seconds behind the leading Porsche #1. Misfortune for the other Porsche when the #2 car of Neel Jani, Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb quickly got back into the pits. Just like in Fuji a precautionary battery change had to be done on the 919 Hybrid. By the end of the session Dumas got back out again, finishing in sixth place.

Track conditions improved in the second free practice session in the afternoon. Hartley was quickest again in his #1 Porsche 919, improving his time to a 1.44.594. The #8 Audi R18 was second fastest again, driven by Loic Duval. With a time of 1.46.211 Duval also improved from this mornings time, but was 1.617 seconds adrift from the Porsche.

After the battery change this morning, the Porsche #2 had an uneventful session finishing third fastest, just behind the Audi (0.053 seconds). Both Toyota's were fourth and sixth fastest, split up by the #7 Audi R18.

Rebellion was fastest in the first session this morning, ByKolles put in the quickest time this afternoon in the privateer LMP1 class.

G-Drive Racing was fastest in both sessions in LMP2. Alex Brundle quickest in the morning session in a 1.55.953, which put him 0.155 seconds ahead of Stéphane Richelmi in the championship leading #36 Signatech Alpine. Nicolas Minassian was third fastest with his #27 SMP BR01/Nissan, ahead of championship challengers RGR Sport with Felipe Albuquerque at the wheel of the #43 Ligier.

In the afternoon Will Stevens set the benchmark in the G-Drive Oreca, over a second faster than the morning session in a 1.54.627. Both Manor Orecas now made their way to the top of the table, Alex Lynn second fastest in the #44, 0.229 seconds behind Stevens. Mathias Beche was third fastest in the #45 Manor, completing a lap of the Chinese track in 1.55.208. Both championship contenders rounded out the top 5 in the afternoon. The RGR Ligier now just ahead of the Signatech Alpine.

GTE Pro was close again, as is has been in most of the races this season so far. After the morning session, Gianmaria Bruni was fastest in his #51 AF Corse Ferrari F488. Richard Lietz got himself in second place, the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche 0.115 seconds slower than Bruni. Stefan Mücke was the fastest Ford driver in the #66 Ford GT, just 0.043 seconds behind the Porsche. Nicky Thiim in the #95 Aston Martin Vantage took fourth place. All seven cars in the GTE Pro class finished within a 0.735 second margin in the morning session.

James Calado was fastest in the second session, putting the #51 Ferrari on top again in 2.02.481. The #71 sister car got into second, 0.260 seconds slower. The #66 Ford GT was third fastest, now ahead of the #97 Aston Martin. The gap between the fastest (#51) and slowest (#77) car in class got up to 2.6 seconds in the afternoon.

Pedro Lamy impressed (again) in the GTE Am class this morning, even mixing with the Pro cars at a certain time. By the end of the session, the Portuguese driver was fastest in his #98 Aston Martin in 2.04.503. Wolf Henzler was second fastest in the #78 KCMG Porsche, but over a second slower than Lamy. Patrick Long in the #88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing Porsche ahead of the #83 AF Corse Ferraro of Emmanuel Collard.

Porsche was fastest in the second session, Patrick Long on top of the timesheets in the #88 (2.05.428) Wolf Henzler in the KCMG Porsche was second fastest, 0.133 seconds behind. The #98 Aston Martin fell back to third position, just 0.037 seconds slower than the #78 and a mere 0.004 seconds ahead of the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche.

Results FP1
Results FP2

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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