FIA WEC, 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps - Race Preview – Part Three GTE

GTE-Pro

#51 M AF Corse Giancarlo Fisichella/ Gianmaria Bruni Ferrari 458 Italia
#59 M Luxury Racing Frédéric Makowiecki/ Jaime Melo Ferrari 458 Italia
#71 M AF Corse Andrea Bertolini/ Olivier Beretta Ferrari 458 Italia
#77 M Team Felbermayr Proton Richard Lietz/ Marc Lieb Porsche 997 GT3 RSR
#97 M Aston Martin Racing Stefan Mücke/ Adrien Fernandez/ Darren Turner Aston Martin Vantage V8

The success of LMP2, and the ongoing GT Wars elsewhere have restricted the GTE Pro field in the WEC to just five cars in its inaugural year – But whilst it lacks in numbers it certainly doesn’t in quality.

All five of the WEC cars led the field at some point at Sebring with the new for 2012 version of the Porsche 997 GT3 RSR rather closer to the pace of the Ferrari 458s than in 2011.

Felbermayr Proton field the solo ‘Pro Porsche’ with their now ‘usual’ line up of Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz – GT superstars both and if anyone can take the fight to the Ferraris through a combination of pace and racing nous it is surely this combo.

The surprise package in GTE last time out though was AMR’s Vantage GTE, quick in qualifying it was downright fast in race trim and led the field on merit until a lost wheel left the team playing catch up – It’s great news that AMR are getting back on form!

The remaining trio in this class are all Ferraris, Luxury racing’s Pro car pairs coming man Fred Makowiecki with returning superstar Jaime Melo and they looked difficult to beat at Sebring until the car found someone else’s oil – At Spa this should again be a force to be reckoned with.

As will AF Corse with a pair of fast Ferraris with world class driver line ups – The #51 car hit most un-AF-like reliability problems at Sebring and Bruni was most un-Gimmi-like discourtesy in his behaviour towards Joey Hand in the great Ferrari misidentification show in the final laps.

Olivier Beretta was the unwitting verbal victim of that episode but the ex Corvette man could have won the race on merit, his pairing with Andrea Bertolini kept the #71 car in contention throughout and with no factory Vettes or BMWs here this time the taks should, in theory, be simpler.

Somehow though it never really turns out like that does it!

GTE Am

#50 M Larbre Competition Patrick Bornhauser/ Julien Canal/ Fernando Rees Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1
#55 P JWA-Avila Joel Camathias/ Paul Daniels/ Markus Palttala Porsche 997 GT3 RSR
#57 D Krohn Racing Tracy Krohn/ Nic Jönsson/ Michele RugoloFerrari 458 Italia
#58 M Luxury Racing Pierre Ehret/ Frank Montecalvo/ Gunnar Jeannette Ferrari 458 Italia
#61 M AF Corse-Waltrip Robert Kauffman/ Rui Aguas/ Brian Vickers Ferrari 458 Italia
#67 M IMSA Performance Matmut Nicolas Armindo/ Raymond Narac/ Anthony Pons Porsche 997 GT3 RSR
#70 M Larbre Competition Christophe Bourret/ Pascal Gibon/ Jean-Philippe Belloc Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1
#81 M AF Corse Piergiuseppe Perazzini/ Marco Cioci/ Matt Griffin Ferrari 458 Italia
#88 M Team Felbermayr Proton Christian Ried/ Gianluca Roda/ Paolo Ruberti Porsche 997 GT3 RSR  

Nine GTE AM runners are listed, Seven full season WEC entrants and a pair of Le Mans bound ELMS runners.

The Ferraris are numerically dominant in this class too with 4 of the 9 runners running the now year old 458 Italia. 

AF Corse have a pair of cars in this class too, the WEC car operated under the AF-Waltrip banner, but Michael is cup-tied elsewhere so regular pilotes Rob Kauffman and Rui Aguas are joined here by none other than NASCAR’s Brian Vickers, filling in for the boss!

The second AF Corse 458 is the ELMS regular #81 car for Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Marco Cioci and Matt Griffin, a trio that will be keen to test themselves against the established WEC GTE AM order.

The Am Ferraris have an altogether very ‘American’ look about them with the familiar Krohn Racing squad back for more this season, joined now on the grid by the #58 Luxury Racing Ferrari, looking to put its Sebring woes behind it with Pierre Ehret now joined by Gunnar Jeannette and Frankie Monticalvo.

On pace the red car should be the quicker, but the Krohn squad have done a great job of employing strategy to good effect – Don’t bet on the #57 car being too far away from a podium finish.

The Porsche attack features a trio of 2011 spec 997 GT3 RSRs with the ELMS and Le Mans entered IMSA Performance car fielding its regular crew, matched against the pair of WEC regulars from Sebring winners Team Felbermayr Proton and JWA Avila.

Sebring class winners Christian Ried, Gianluca Roda and Paolo Ruberti crew the #88 car and will certainly be in contention over a race distance thanks in no small part to Ruberti’s pace.

Paul Daniels will join his own team’s crew after missing Sebring and should be ably supported by Joel Camathias and the busiest Finn in the world Markus Palttala.  The JWA/ Avila squad will be looking to do better than they managed in Florida where clutch problems delayed their chase.

Finally the two car Larbre Competition Corvette squad will be looking to unleash the potential of their big V8 powered beasts in pursuit of points after their 2,3 Sebring finish.

The #50 car sees Fernando Rees replace Pedro Lamy after Sebring with Patrick Bornhauser and Julien Canal continuing whilst the The #70 driver squad is unchanged.

Spa’s combination of long straights and quick corners should suit the Vettes, but it suits the Ferraris too – This one is wide open.