FIA WEC, 6 Hours of Fuji - Race Preview - Part 4 GTE Am

50 LARBRE COMPETITION M Chevrolet Corvette C6-ZR1 Patrick Bornhauser/ Julien Canal/ Fernando Rees
55 JWA-AVILA P Porsche 911 RSR (997) Joël Camathias/ Paul Daniels/ Kenji Kobayashi
57 KROHN RACING M Ferrari F458 Italia Tracy Krohn/ Niclas Jönsson/ Michele Rugolo
61 AF CORSE-WALTRIP M Ferrari F458 Italia Rob Kauffman/ Brian Vickers/ Rui Aguas
70 LARBRE COMPETITION M Chevrolet Corvette C6-ZR1 Chistophe Bourret/ Pascal Gibon/ Jean-Philippe Belloc
88 TEAM FELBERMAYR-PROTON M Porsche 911 RSR (997) Christian Ried/ Gianluca Roda/ Paolo Ruberti

The top four teams can still, mathematically, clinch the title though with two Larbre Vettes to throw their shoulders to the task the only realistic challenger is the #88 Felbermayer Proton Porsche.

Let’s deal with the Vettes first though, the #50 car has lost two class wins to disqualifications and both Vettes suffered accident damage in the dark at Bahrain, some inflicted upon them, others rather more self induced.  All in all the Larbre attack has been struggling, and this in a season when they have the advantage of numbers.

In fact the figures tell a surprising tale  - The only race the Corvettes have won is Le Mans (albeit at double points) whilst the #88 Porsche has scored 4 wins and a second place, their season would be a runaway Championship win had it not been for a disaster at Le Mans – nul points in June though means they still trail Larbre, but not by much!  

Whilst there seem to be two teams left in it for the Championship, there are certainly others capable of taking a race win – Both Ferraris, the #61 AF Waltrip car and the #57 Krohn Racing version have shown ace, Rui Aguas is as quick as anyone in the class but the green machine has the better crew on balance perhaos, and they are overdue a really good result this season.

Finally the JWA Avila team, they had a good run at Bahrain, running well up the order despite the known disadvantage of their Pirelli rubber, young Benny Simonsen did the team proud but he steps back for this one, replaced by GT300 racer  Kenji Kobayashi.