WEC title race heads to Japan
Porsche tops points tables Sportscar debut for Lynn
WITH just three rounds to go, drivers from all three manufacturers in the top LMP1 class could still clinch this year’s World Endurance Championship (WEC) title.
This weekend sees the series travel to Japan’s Fuji Speedway, where Porsche’s Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley will hope to extend their current winning streak from three to four races.
A disappointing result at June’s Le Mans 24 Hours means they’re not among the top three crews in the standings, however.
In the lead going into the Fuji race are the other Porsche crew of Marc Lieb, Romain Dumas and Neel Jani, while a podium at Le Mans and one other win this season has Audi’s Oliver Jarvis, Lucas di Grassi and Loic Duval second, ahead of Le Mans runners-up Mike Conway, Stephane Sarrazin and Kamui Kobayashi in the #6 Toyota.
Meanwhile, there are some new faces and returnees in the second-tier LMP2 class, with ex-f1 man Will Stevens returning to the G-drive Racing team in place of Rene Rast, who’s on duty for Audi at the DTM finale in Hockenheim this weekend.
Stevens last raced for G-drive at Le Mans and said: “I’m delighted to return to the WEC with G-drive Racing. I really enjoyed my time with the team at Le Mans, where we showed we could mount a strong challenge for a potential victory. Fuji is a new circuit for me, but I think we have a very strong package.”
Elsewhere, Williams F1 development driver and current GP2 racer Alex Lynn will be making his sportscar racing debut for the Manor team, sharing the team’s second car with Tor Graves and former Prost and Minardi F1 driver Shinji Nakano. Lynn previously tested the Toyota LMP1 car and is looking to move to either Formula One or the WEC full-time in 2017.
In the production-based GTE class, Aston Martin’s Danish duo Nikki Thiim and Marco Sorenson currently hold sway on 109 points after strong results at the US and Mexican rounds, but both works Ferrari crews, including Brits Sam Bird and James Calado, aren’t far behind.