Vergne-led G-drive team in driver-ratings rumpus

THERE’S A NEW TWIST IN THE ONGOING DRIVER rankings controversy in sportscars. G-drive Racing has entered an all-pro line-up for the European Le Mans Series and may yet get clearance to race without a silver-rated driver in the six-race series and at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

G-drive, which is fielding an ORECA-GIBSON 07 together with TDS Racing, has registered Jean-eric

Vergne, Roman Rusinov and Matthieu Vaxiviere for the car. That’s a platinum-gold-gold line-up.

The Russian entrant, winner of the World Endurance Championship LMP2 crown in 2015, has exploited a clause added to the sporting regulations for the ELMS and the WEC that allows a dispensation on the composition of a driver line-up. Most teams interpreted it as a means to allow a suitably qualified bronze-rated driver to race an LMP1 car after the Dragonspeed squad stepped up to the higher division with primary backer Henrik Hedman.

The G-drive trio has been marked with an asterisk on the ELMS entry and its line-up will have to be signed off by a special committee. The new rule states that a line-up outside of the regulatory requirements can be allowed if it “does not generate a sporting advantage in relation to the other crews entered in the same category”.

That will probably depend on how Rusinov’s talents are regarded by the committee. The Russian, who was promoted to gold status for 2017, has long argued that he is a bona fide silver.