FIA WEC, 6 Hours of Silverstone - Race Preview - Pt 2 - GTE

GTE-Pro (5 Cars)

51 AF Corse Giancarlo Fisichella/ Gianmaria Bruni Ferrari 458 Italia
66 JMW Motorsport James Walker/ Jonny Cocker Ferrari 458 Italia
71 AF Corse Andrea Bertolini/ Olivier Beretta Ferrari 458 Italia
77 Team Felbermayr-Proton Richard Lietz/ Marc Lieb Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (997)
97 Aston Martin Racing Stefan Mücke/ Adrian Fernandez/ Darren Turner Aston Martin Vantage V8
 
Five cars again for the GTE Pro category but there’s been trouble for one of the full season entries.
 
Luxury Racing have lost a principal backer and won’t be at Silverstone.  Word from a team source is that they are in discussions with a potential replacement sponsor and hope to be back at Interlagos – At the moment that is a big ask but we wish the team well.
 
They are replaced in the order by the JMW Motorsport team’s very yellow Ferrari.
 
The #66 car will be a popular addition to the grid, a necessity as the team look for their own Plan B after the collapse of the 2012 ELMS.

 
They bring Dunlop rubber to the party, and their usual Jersey/ Yorkshire combo of James Walker and Jonny Cocker will be in the saddle.  With the #66 car now fitted with the latest spec paddleshift it will be interesting to see the relative pace of this car against the established WEC pack.
 
Their Ferrari opposition will be the pair of AF Corse cars, #51 and #71, the Italian superteam lead the teams Championship convincingly and Ferrari lead the GTE Manufacturers order too but not by a wide margin.

Both AF Corse Pro cars have had indiscretions this season that have blunted their edge – if both cars bring their best form to Silverstone they’ll be very tough to beat, particularly bearing in mind their almost uncanny fuel economy  – If they falter again though the door could be wide open to allow one of the opposition a real opportunity.

Felbermayer Proton had great early season form with their 2012 spec Porsche 997 GT3 RSR but an early bath at Le Mans has cost them dearly in the teams order, the #77 car now props up the order courtesy of a nil points finish in a double points scoring round!

Better finishes in France from other 997s though mean that in the Manufacturers standings Ferrari and Porsche are separated by a mere 7 points – But with three Ferrari bullets in the gun to Porsche’s solo effort the odds are stacked against Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz – But then again that’s the way they seem to like it!

The final GTE Pro car really doesn’t deserve to be described as a dark horse for a win – But that’s exactly what the #97 Aston Martin Racing Vantage is! – The pace of the 2012 Vantage has been good all season, and with the exception of Spa reliability has been exemplary too.

Mucke and Turner know Silvers tone well and Adrian Fernandez has been picking up real pace in this his first year in a GT car.

Don’t bet against this car for leading this race – and possibly providing an upset!
 
GTE-Am (8 Cars)
 
50 Larbre Competition Patrick Bornhauser/ Julien Canal/ Fernando Rees Chevrolet Corvette C6-ZR1
55 JWA-Avila Joël Camathias/ Markus Palttala/ Paul Daniels Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (997)
57 Krohn Racing Tracy Krohn/ Niclas Jönsson/ Michele Rugolo Ferrari 458 Italia
61 AF Corse-Waltrip  Piergiuseppe Perazzini/ Marco Cioci/ Matt Griffin  Ferrari 458 Italia
70 Larbre Competition Christophe Bourret/ Pascal Gibon/ Jean-Philippe Belloc Chevrolet Corvette C6-ZR1
88 Team Felbermayr-Proton Christian Ried/ Gianluca Roda/ Paolo Ruberti Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (997)
98 Aston Martin Racing Roald Goethe/ Stuart Hall Aston Martin Vantage V8
99 Aston Martin Racing Andrew Howard/ Jonny Adam/ Paul White Aston Martin Vantage V8
 
There are plenty of changes to report up and down the 8 car GTE-Am grid

Luxury’s #58 Ferrari is reportedly still in post Le Mans condition with the team’s fiscal woes biting hard.  That car is withdrawn from the entry but happily we have a couple of additions to the grid in this class of which more later.

Larbres’s Corvettes first and Fernando Rees rejoins the #50 Larbre squad in place of Pedro Lamy – Larbre hold a convincing 30 point advantage over the Krohn Racing squad in the points chase so consolidation may well be the order of the day on Sunday.

Krohn meanwhile have switched from Dunlop to Michelin in search of some missing pace – They’ve tested in the UK (at Snetterton - Pic below from Richard Leach) ahead of this one – Hopes are high in the (very) green corner that they can run closer to the ultimate pace.

The #88 Felbermayer Proton team proved at Le Mans that you are only ever one bad result away from a major issue – After winning runs at Sebring and Spa the Porsche was an early retirement in what was, let’s not forget, a double points scoring round – Cue a tumble down the points order to third and a mighty 36 point mountain to climb! 

JWA Avila’s Pirelli shod Porsche meanwhile has had a season with its down (not enough pace and poor reliability at Sebring) and ups – consistent points scoring has kept them in the hunt.  They’ll need to see a pretty sizeable step forward at their home race though to maintain that momentum.

The #61 AF Corse Waltrip Ferrari is another car that has a distinctly different look to the driver line-up – in fact the car has the full GTE-Am line-up from the now moribund ELMS – Matt Griffin should fly here, a circuit that he knows better than any other, and Marco Cioci too should be a force to be reckoned with too.

The major addition to the grid though are a pair of Aston Martin Racing entered V8 Vantages which, together with the #97 Pro car makes a trio of Gulf liveried Vantages.

The #98 car is the car entered last year in the ILMC by Gulf Racing, car owner Roald Goethe is joined by the ever competitive Stuart Hall.

The #99 car meanwhile is the car that showed real pace at Le Mans in the hands of Allan Simonsen – In place of the all-Danish squad there though there’s an all British squad at Silvers tone with Beachdean Motorsport pair Andrew Howard and Jonny Adam joined by the owner of the similar ex Jota machine, Strata 21s Paul White.

The Astons have proved to be quick, and have proved too to have improved reliability.

GTE-Am looks set to be a very interesting battle indeed with some quick pros and the odd inexperienced Gentleman driver in the mix.