Formula One Testing Underway at Jerez

Drawing conclusions from the first test of the new F1 season is never a simple task, but has been made all the more difficult this year by a raft of new regulations in the most comprehensive overhaul of the rulebook in recent times.  James Newbold takes a look at the goings on in Jerez.

It’s a new look and new sound for Formula One in 2014, as out go the well-established and reliable howling V8 units, in favour of the torquey V6 turbos.  As the sport attempts to move with the times, enhanced energy recovery systems (ERS) play a more prominent role than ever before, producing around 160bhp extra boost, which, combined with reduced aerodynamics and new-spec tyres from Pirelli, makes the cars something of a handful to drive; a fact Sauber’s Adrian Sutil would discover to his chagrin on Thursday...  Meanwhile, impact safety requirements deem that the front noses have been lowered in an attempt to prevent cars launching into the air – as Mark Webber did at Valencia in 2010 – dramatically altering their appearance in the process.  Several cars, the Toro Rosso and Force India especially, have been singled out for criticism for their vulgar anteater-style noses, with Ann Summers even taking to Twitter to mock F1’s new look.

The sight of an RB10 running cleanly
was a rarity at Jerez. (Credit: Octane Photographic)

At this early stage, laptimes are largely irrelevant as the teams get their new mounts up to speed, with the Ferrari and Mercedes powered teams benefiting from favourable reliability to rack up the mileage and gather as much data as possible. But whilst Mercedes, despite a front-wing failure which pitched Lewis Hamilton into the barriers on Tuesday, were able to complete over 300 laps, Red Bull-Renault suffered a disastrous start, with myriad overheating issues restricting four-time champion Sebastien Vettel and Toro Rosso graduate Daniel Ricciardo to just 21 laps over the four days.  Considerable updates are expected from design guru Adrian Newey ahead of the season opening Australian Grand Prix on March 16^th. 

Felipe Massa showed there is life
after Ferrari after all. (Credit: Octane Photographic)

Jerez was the first chance to see some of the new team and driver combinations in action, albeit with the exception of Lotus, who were forced to skip the test and will inevitably be playing catch-up with only 8 days of testing remaining before Melbourne.

2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen got his second Ferrari career off to the best possible start with the fastest time on the opening day, despite being forced to stop on his very first lap out of the pits in the morning, while the man he replaced at the Maranello as Fernando Alonso’s team-mate, Felipe Massa, bedded in well at Williams-Mercedes by topping the times on Friday.  

After their worst season in thirty years in 2013, McLaren were quickest on Wednesday and Thursday with 2009 champion Jenson Button and rookie team-mate Kevin Magnussen respectively, although the Dane, a long-time McLaren protégé who won the Formula Renault 3.5 championship in 2013, blotted his copybook with a crash on the final day.  The Woking-based team also confirmed former Lotus team principal Eric Boullier as Racing Director, following the dramatic news that Ron Dennis will return as Group CEO.

Nico Rosberg completed the most number of
 laps, 188, for Mercedes. (Credit: Octane Photographic)

Elsewhere, GP2 graduate Marcus Ericsson and the ever-popular Kamui Kobayashi made their Caterham debuts, the latter after a year away from F1 racing for Ferrari in the World Endurance Championship, with cash-strapped star of the future Robin Frijns also making his third driver bow in the green machine.  Highly-rated DTM racer Daniel Juncadella did likewise at Force India, who welcome back Nico Hulkenberg back into the fold after a year’s hiatus at Sauber, with McLaren refugee Sergio Perez replacing Paul di Resta in the second car.

Perennial tailenders Marussia also unveiled their new mount at Jerez, and will be hoping that the retained partnership of Ferrari protégé Jules Bianchi and Britain’s Max Chilton can capitalise on others unreliability in the early races to score the team's first ever points.

The next test takes place in Bahrain on February 19^th, where patterns should start to emerge…

Hirsch Ready For LMP2 Graduation

It’s certainly been a whirlwind year for Switzerland’s Gary Hirsch. The 26-year old from Geneva won three times from five races with Paul-Loup Chatin alongside to wrap up the European Le Mans Series LMPC championship in his first season of endurance racing last season and recently announced that he will step up to LMP2 in 2014 with Morand Racing’s Morgan Judd, a proven package which finished on the podium three times last year.  Hirsch will join experienced ex-Formula One pilot Christian Klien, who finished on the podium at Le Mans for Peugeot in 2008 and a third, as yet unannounced driver at Benoit Morand’s outfit for the full ELMS season.

Gary Hirsch will look to challenge for outright
wins with Morand Racing (Credit: Gary Hirsch.)

“It’s definitely good news, for me to step into LMP2 was the logical path,” said Hirsch.  “It’s always a fight every year to get the best opportunities and this year is about as good as I can get to be alongside Christian, who is a really experienced driver. I’m sure we can do a really good job for the team; Benoit Morand [team manager] is really passionate about what he does and everyone is making a contribution, so it’s a great feeling.

“We’re a small country, so racing for a Swiss team and being at the moment the only Swiss driver for the team is really important for my partners.  I’ve been with French teams in the past which was a nice experience, now working with a Swiss team is definitely very satisfying for me."

The ELMS is undergoing something of a resurgence at present, with the move to four-hour races and stand-alone events for 2014 – having split the bill with the World Series by Renault in the past – meaning more teams are showing an interest in joining the series, a challenge Hirsch welcomes.

“Of course we prefer longer races which are more about endurance,” said the Swiss, who will competing for outright victories this season in the series top class. “We want to win, but it will be a very tough competition; it looks like many new teams are going to join the ranks of the ELMS and I’m sure some very talented drivers will be there too.  It’s going to be hard, but it’s good to announce this early, so we can start working in the best possible conditions.”

An assault on the Le Mans 24 Hours, the jewel in the sportscar racing crown, remains a possibility for Morand and has Hirsch understandably excited.

“Hopefully yes, the target is to be at Le Mans and to do well. On a personal level it’s a dream; as young drivers we all want to do the big races and perhaps after Formula One this is one of the biggest events in motorsport, it’s really challenging and exciting so we hope to be there, we will have to wait and see.

“It’s a great chance, I’m really happy even if it’s not sorted yet, because we have to wait if we will take part or not, but I’m confident that we will sort it out. We’ll always push our limits and try to do our best.  It will be a tough challenge but I’m very happy.”

Updated: GTD Controversy Overshadows United SportsCar Opener

The 2014 Daytona 24 Hours will be remembered for many things. A Corvette DP podium whitewash, a second-successive win in a 24 hour race by the Porsche 911 RSR, a gutsy debut from the new Corvette C.7R and a horrifying shunt for Memo Gidley which caused the race to be red flagged ensured there was action wherever you looked in the first event for the new United SportsCar Championship. 

But it was the final lap skirmish between Level 5 Motorsport's Alessandro Pier Guidi and Flying Lizard Motorsport's Markus Winkelhock over the GTD class lead, and the controversial penalty retrospectively imposed on the former, which left a sour taste in the mouth of those watching and ultimately overshadowed the thrilling outright lead battle between the Action Express and Wayne Taylor Racing teams.  

While common sense eventually prevailed and Level 5 were reinstated after the prize-giving ceremony, the debacle left many shaking their heads that IMSA had allowed themselves to be embroiled in such a mess in the first place. 

Scotsman Ryan Dalziel was supportive of the
stewards decision to overturn the penalty for Level 5.

So to the incident itself. Having used the Ferrari's superior straight-line speed to retake the lead as they took the white flag, Pier Guidi took a defensive line into turn three, allowing Winkelhock to get alongside, albeit around the outside of the turn 4 kink. The Italian, sharing with Jeff Segal, Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler, used all the road to defend his position, forcing the Audi onto the grass, although no contact was actually made.

Winkelhock (left) attempts to drive around  the outside
of Pier Guidi in no. 555. (credit: @Mattzel89.)

Winkelhock's Audi scrambled over the grass and rejoined just ahead of Jan Heylen in the no. 58 Snow Racing Porsche 911 and they crossed the line in that order, before IMSA intervened to demote Level 5 to fourth behind the no. 72 SMP Racing Ferrari. 

By the letter of the law, Rule 6.17.3 states: 

"Any driver who, in the sole opinion of the Race Director and or Stewards, initiates avoidable contact with another competitor, whether or not such contact interrupts the other competitor’s lap times, track position or damages other competitor’s cars and whether or not such actions result in actual contact, may be warned or penalized."

Although Winkelhock and team-mates Spencer Pumpelly, Tim Pappas and Nelson Canache Jr. were understandably supportive, the steward's decision was met with widespread disdain from the international motorsport community, who felt Level 5 had earned the win fair and square in their first race with the Ferrari GTD, having switched from the prototype class over the off-season. 

Level 5's own Townsend Bell was understandably furious with the stewards call, and was echoed by fellow competitors Marino Franchitti and Conor Daly, former Indy 500 winner Gil de Ferran, IndyCar team-owner Jimmy Vasser, Le Mans legends Derek Bell and Tiff Needell, who bemoaned the intervention of the stewards after a hard, but fair fight.  

2003 Indy 500 winner Gil de Ferran was firmly on the side of Level 5.

IndyCar owner Jimmy Vasser didn't mince his words.

The author of this blog lamented that the
controversy overshadowed the overall result.

Ganassi Racing's Marino Franchitti sympathised
with Level 5 after the controversial call.

Sportscar rookie Conor Daly added his voice those questioning the
decision, having earlier been on the receiving end of the IMSA stewards. 

Sportscar journo Tony Di Zinno was philosophical in his outlook.

Le Mans veteran Derek Bell didn't agree with the stewards either.

Tiff Needell knows what it takes to race at
Daytona and wasn't in agreement either.

After much talk of a penalty being awarded for "avoidable non-contact", justice was done when IMSA finally announced that the decision had been reversed to Level 5's relief, although there was the small question of what should be done with the engraved Rolex watches already given to the Flying Lizards...

A delighted Pier Guidi took to Twitter after the verdict was overturned.

Magnus Racing's Andy Lally felt sympathy for the Flying Lizards.

So the question remains, has any lasting damage been done? The fact remains that the decision to issue the penalty in the first instance was taken too quickly, creating unnecessary confusion that overshadowed the final result and will alienate fans new to the series, but IMSA should be applauded for listening in the wake of overwhelming disapproval. 

LMPC racer David Heinemeir-Hansson was positive after the

first race of the United SportsCar series, despite feeling the GTD

 cars had too great a straight-line speed advantage. 

What are your thoughts on the GTD finish and IMSA's response? Comment below.

Kane Excited For New Dome Project

Strakka's return to the World Endurance Championship with a new Dome coupe has Jonny Kane in high spirits ahead of the 2014 season, he told the Motorsport Journal. Following Strakka’s triumph over the Rebellion team in the privateer LMP1 class at Le Mans last year, the team withdrew its HPD-ARX-03 from competition to focus on the upcoming year in LMP2, a move Kane believes will prove beneficial.

With privateers in LMP1 unable to contend with the latest technologies pushed forward by the manufacturers, LMP2 offers a more even platform and is proving attractive to teams. Over twenty cars were entered for Le Mans in 2013 and Strakka is keen to be involved, with Kane, Danny Watts and Nick Leventis set to drive the Nissan-powered S103 chassis.

The new Strakka Dome S103 will commence testing shortly.

"It was a great sense of achievement for all of us to win the privateers cup at Le Mans and finish sixth overall, which was really the best result we could have hoped for. After that, we thought it was probably a good time to stop and take stock of things and see where the future for Strakka was going to be for the next two or three years," Kane said.

“I think LMP2 probably fits us better. One of the drivers must be silver ranked or lower and Nick is a silver rated driver where everyone in LMP1 was either gold or platinum last year, so it was a tough ask to compete against that and against the manufacturers.

"The rules are strict and very limited, so performance of the cars should be fairly close, and that's where the team can come into its own to prepare the car well and hopefully get some results. Everyone at Strakka is really upbeat and very much looking forward to getting stuck in."

Facing up against well-established chassis ran by experienced teams, Kane accepts that the Dome’s potential will take time to bear fruit and is hesitant to make predictions before the car turns a wheel in testing, but the Northern Irishman is hopeful that Strakka can avoid the persistent teething troubles which plagued the Kodewa Lotus team’s new T128 last season and be in a position to challenge.

“We're up against cars that have been out there for a few years and they've got through their reliability problems, the cars are fast, they're run by good teams, so it’s certainly not going to be an easy feat to be competitive straight off,” he said. “But with the people we've got at Strakka, it is achievable and I'm sure the car is going to be good, it’s just how we develop it over the first couple of months we've got before the first race.

“Hopefully we won't have too many problems, but the nature of endurance racing is that the races are long and they're hard on the drivers and machinery, so any problems we do have will likely show themselves pretty quickly. Obviously Le Mans is the jewel of the season and to take a car to Le Mans in its first year as a private team will be difficult, but we'll give it our best and hopefully come away with another good result.”

Walker Anticipates Strong Run at Daytona

James Walker has spoken of his optimism ahead of his return to the Daytona 24 Hours, the opening round of the newly-merged United SportsCar Championship.  The Jerseyman, who last raced around the fabled banking in a Porsche in 2011, joins Fall-Line Motorsports in the GTD class, racing an Audi R8 LMS alongside the factory-contracted Oliver Jarvis.

"It was really good, it was a bit last minute, I found out on Christmas Day actually, so that was a nice present," said Walker at the Autosport International. "The test was interesting, the car was completely new to me, it was a bit up in the air with the regulations for the new Tudor Championship but the Audi GTD is fantastic, quite difficult to drive, there's no ABS and no traction control. I'm very impressed with the team, Fall-Line are very well run, they've got a two car team in the Continental series as well, so it's an impressive set-up.

Walker will campaign this Fall-Line Motorsports
Audi R8 LMS at Daytona in the competitive GTD class.

"We had two days of really cold temperatures, hopefully it won't be like that when we go back for the race but it could be in the dark. It was very productive, the feeling in the paddock is really good with that new merger between the ALMS and Grand-Am, the timing is really good to go back, to be there at the start of something is great.

"We hadn't really seen each other since 2006 when we did Formula 3 together, but I got on well with [Jarvis] really well, his experience in that car is really valuable and my pace against him was good, so hopefully we'll keep improving for the race, but it’s going to be tough, the Porsche's and Ferrari's around the banking are looking very, very quick."

Walker's deal is for the one race only, but is hopeful that further opportunities will come in the future, either in the US or in the World Endurance Championship, having proven his adaptability with a win first-time out in the WEC season-opener alongside Antonio Pizzonia and Tor Graves in the G-Drive Oreca at Silverstone last year.

"I'd love to carry on, at the moment it’s just a one race thing, but my main aim is just to get to know everyone, do a good job and if there's an opportunity there then hopefully my name will be on the list.

"Stepping straight in having never driven it, my first time on slicks was actually halfway through the race, it was straight in the deep end but I'm getting to like these situations because people realise you're up against it, so when you perform well it works in your favour.

"The deal wasn't including Le Mans where they had paying drivers, but I did the test there and then we had a fourth place at the Circuit of the Americas. We also had a few reliability issues which cost us massively; we were looking really good in Brazil but then we had misfires. It was a tough one, but the championship is top notch and I want to be back in WEC next year either in P2 or GT. We're working flat out to try and get a seat so we'll see what happens."

Rolex 24 Preview

The future is here. The United Sportscar Championship, the result of the merger between Grand-Am and the American Le Mans Series, gets underway this weekend with the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, the start of a new era of optimism for sportscar racing both in North America and internationally. With a colossal 67 car field of international drivers and marques set to take the start, James Newbold takes a look at the key combinations to keep an eye on.

There will be plenty of this over the course of 24 hours...

P-Class

The battle for outright honours between DP and LMP2 looked to favour the former after the ‘Roar before the Rolex 24’ test was dominated by the Corvette DP, but Balance of Performance alterations made since then could even things up come the race.  A frightening puncture-induced accident for Richard Westbrook during testing in November prompted organising body IMSA to sanction Continental to revise the tyre compound for the test, negating the advantage of the nimbler P2 cars which proved incapable of heating up their tyres and struggled to get near the more powerful DPs around the banking.  The advantage afforded to the DPs prompted IMSA to step in once again, with the DP teams given smaller diameter engine-restrictors, which will reduce their top speed by an estimated four miles per hour.

Of all the teams, defending Rolex 24 winners Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sebates are perhaps best equipped to deal with the changes. Always a threat at Daytona with their rapid Riley DPs, Ganassi will however be wary that their unproven new Ford engines could hamper the chances of Memo Rojas and Scott Pruett, three times and five times a winner of the event respectively, who are joined in the 01 by 18-year old Indy Lights champion Sage Karam and Jamie McMurray, a winner at Talladega last year with Ganassi’s NASCAR arm.  IndyCar champion Scott Dixon heads up the 02 attack, with defending Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan, up and coming NASCAR racer Kyle Larson and Marino Franchitti, brother to the now-retired triple IndyCar champion Dario providing more than capable support.

The mulleted Jordan Taylor won three races on the
spin to wrap up the 2013 Rolex Grand-Am title.

With three wins on the bounce at the business end of the 2013 season to give them the championship, Wayne Taylor Racing are undoubtedly the form team heading into the 24 Hours. Champion pairing Jordan Taylor and Max Angelelli are joined by Jordan’s younger brother Ricky and father Wayne, the eponymous team owner coming out of retirement as he looks to add to his 1996 and 2005 victories.

2012 winners Michael Shank Racing again call on the services of AJ Allmendinger and Justin Wilson – having recovered from the pelvic fractures he sustained in the IndyCar finale at Fontana – to partner regular pairing Ozz Negri and John Pew, while the GAINSCO Racing partnership of double Grand-Am champions Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty continues into its ninth season, with 2009 Rolex 24 winner Darren Law and Memo Gidley joining.

Quick straight out of the box in testing, Action Express are sure to be in the mix with experienced Christian Fittipaldi anchoring the no.5 car alongside Joao Barbosa, IndyCar star Sebastien Bourdais and Burt Frisselle, who will also pull a shift in the second car, ran in partnership with WEC outfit ADR-Delta for John Martin, Fabien Giroix and Brian Frisselle.

Brendon Hartley’s stellar performances aboard the Starworks Riley last season helped him win a factory contract with Porsche, and he returns alongside Scott Mayer, Alex Popow and IndyCar racers Sebastien Saavedra and EJ Viso for the 24 Hours, while 2010 Daytona winner and DTM champion Mike Rockenfeller joins Spirit of Daytona Racing on loan from Audi, sharing with Michael Valiante and Richard Westbrook.

Brendon Harley was a winner in the Starworks Chevy last year and is one to watch.

The Extreme Speed HPD of Ryan Dalziel, Scott Sharp and David Brabham was consistently the quickest LMP2 package during testing and looks most likely to capitalise on any DP slipups, but will have to contend with double ALMS champions Pickett Racing for that honour, with Nissan-contracted Alex Brundle completing a strong lineup alongside Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr, who step down from the now-defunct LMP1 class.

Over from Europe, LMP2 victors at Le Mans and WEC champions Oak Racing will run a Morgan-Nissan for single-seater convert Oliver Webb, former Grand-Am bad boy Gustavo Yacaman, Russia’s Roman Rusinov and Olivier Pla, the Frenchman consistently one of the quickest drivers in LMP2 last year at Le Mans and surely worthy of a manufacturer drive in the not too distant future.

Elsewhere, the ever-improving DeltaWing, now a coupe, driven by Andy Meyrick, Katherine Legge, Caterham F1 junior Alexander Rossi and Indy Lights graduate Gabby Chaves, will look to continue its upward trajectory having troubled Pickett at times last season, while the Speedsource Mazda, running the venerable Lola B12/80 chassis will look to spring a surprise with James Hinchcliffe joining Sylvian Tremblay and Tom Long in the no. 70.

The unique DeltaWing coupe showed well in testing.

LMPC

While the LMPC class for the one-make Oreca FLM09 was poorly supported in the European Le Mans Series last year, with only four regular entries, its American counterpart boasts nine entries ahead of Daytona, headed up by a two-car effort from Peter Baron’s Starworks Motorsport outfit. DP racer Alex Popow will also drive the no. 7 PC entry alongside WEC regular Pierre Kaffer, Kyle Marcelli, Isaac Tutumlu and Martin Fuentes, while the no. 8 entry of Eric Lux, Renger van der Zande, Mirco Schultis and GP2 graduate Sam Bird will be among the class favourites after a strong run in testing.

Treble championship-wining outfit CORE Autosport are also present, with Colin Braun, Jon Bennett, Mark Wilkins and James Gue looking to take the fight to PR1/ Mathiasen Motosport, who ran Mike Guasch to the driver’s championship last year.  Guasch is joined by Frankie Montecalvo, Gunnar Jeanette – who won the 2011 PC title with CORE – and Asian Le Mans Series champion David Cheng.

Conor Daly will make his sportscar debut
in the one-make LMPC category.

RSR Racing’s two-car lineup is another potential class winner; former Champ Car star Bruno Junqueira enters his fourth year with Paul Gentolozzi’s team with Duncan Ende, Gustavo Menezes and rapid amateur David Heinemeir-Hansson joined in the second car by IndyCar veteran Alex Tagliani, Chris Cumming – who lost the title by just a single point to Guasch in 2012 – Rusty Mitchell and F1 hopeful Conor Daly, making his endurance racing debut.

The ambitious 8-Star Motorsport squad enters its second season of competition after a successful first year produced the team’s championship in the GTE-Am category of the WEC, and has reunited 2012 Le Mans winning pairing Tom Kimber-Smith and owner-driver Enzo Potolicchio in a bid for a further success. Mike Marsal and 2012 WTCC champion Rob Huff complete the lineup.

GTLM

The mean-looking new Corvette CR.7 will be competitive
straight out of the box in the capable hands of Magnussen.

Corvette Racing’s new CR.7 and the North American debut of the Porsche 911 RSR are just a few of the treasures thrown up in an ultra-professional GTLM field, which benefits from a few notable WEC interlopers. 

Having signed off the venerable CR.6 with a second successive manufacturer’s crown, the Pratt & Miller squad will look to hit the ground running in pursuit of three in a row in 2014 as Ryan Briscoe joins reigning champions Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia in no. 3 and Robin Liddell partners Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner in no. 4.  Corvette will be sure to face stiff competition from the Porsche North America team, which will field last year’s Le Mans-winner for Britain’s Nick Tandy, Richard Leitz and Patrick Pilet, with Pat Long, Michael Christensen and Jorg Bergmeister campaigning a second car.

Aston Martin will put all their eggs in one basket at Daytona, with five drivers fielded in the no. 97. Darren Turner and Stefan Mucke were perennial bridesmades in last year’s WEC, just missing out on victory at Le Mans to Porsche after a race-long duel, and lost their chance at the title with a final-round retirement, so look out for a resurgence from Aston at Daytona, as Pedro Lamy, Richie Stanaway and Paul Dalla Lana also come on board.

Rumour has it that the go-faster stripes
are worth a few tenths per lap.

Their chief rivals in the WEC last year, Ferrari, are also well represented; ex-Formula One star Giancarlo Fisichella moves across from the WEC to join Matteo Malucelli at Risi Competizione for the full season with WEC champion Gianmaria Bruni and Olivier Beretta also on board for Daytona, while Tracy Krohn’s customer team will benefit from the considerable talents of Andrea Bertolini and Peter Dumbreck, who will share with owner Krohn and regular partner Nic Jonsson.

After taking the title fight to Corvette to the final round last year, Bobby Rahal’s fleet of BMW Z4s are back in 2014 with a beefed-up driver lineup, with DTM regulars Joey Hand and Maxime Martin joining Bill Auberlin and triple WTCC champion Andy Prialux, who switches to sportscars full time in no. 55, and Dirk Muller and John Edwards sharing the no. 56 with IndyCar star Graham Rahal and Dirk Werner.  Meanwhile over at Viper, Rahal’s regular IndyCar sparring partner 2012 champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, has signed to partner Dominik Farnbacher and Marc Goosens, with Kuno Wittner, Jonathan Bomarito and Rob Bell in a second car.  SRT will also run its brand-new GT3-spec Viper in GTD for Jeroen Bleekemolen, his brother Sebastiaan, Emmanuel Collard and Ben Keating.

After a promising development year, year two is time to deliver for SRT.

GTD

The GTD class for GT3-based machinery has a monster 29 car field for Daytona, with the GTC Porsche field from the ALMS mixed with the Grand-Am GT field. 

Winners in GT at Daytona and ALMS GTC champions in 2013, Alex Job Racing are strong favourites to run away with GTD honours, the no. 23 Porsche of V8 Supercars star Shane van Gisbergen, Cooper MacNeil, Leh Keen, LP Dumoulin and Shane Lewis having shown impressive pace in testing. But they won’t have it all their own way; fellow Porsche outfit Magnus Racing took the spoils at Daytona in 2012 and only lost their chance at the Rolex GT title when they were involved in an incident in the final round last season; team owner John Potter and Andy Lally will be looking to make amends and are joined in the no. 44 by Porsche factory racer Wolf Henzler and Dumoulin, pulling double-duty in the AJB Porsche.  

Can Flying Lizard defend their 2013 win?

After years running Porsches, Flying Lizard Motorsports switches to Audi for 2014 and will have high hopes for defending winners Dion von Moltke and Filipe Alburquerque – newly promoted to Audi’s LMP1 lineup – and Seth Neiman and Allesandro Latif in the no. 35, and Spencer Pumpelly, Markus Winkelhock, Tim Pappas and Nelson Canache Jr., in no. 45. Elsewhere, the Paul Miller Audi of Bryce Miller and Matt Bell will certainly be a contender for victory with factory drivers Rene Rast and Christopher Haase on board, while Fall Line Motorsport’s British axis of James Walker and Oliver Jarvis – who joined von Moltke and Alburquerque in the winning AJB Audi last year – should ensure the Charlie Putman and Charles Esplenaub’s regular mount will be there or there abouts come the finish.

After their surprise victory in the Dubai 24 Hours, Konrad Racing Porsche trio Christian Engelhart , Klaus Bachler and Rolf Ineichen will be viewed with a new respect at Daytona, but will do well to receive the attention reserved for Hollywood actor Patrick Dempsey in the sister no. 27 Dempsey Racing Porsche. Dempsey, who will share with Joe Foster, Andrew Davies and factory ringer Marc Lieb, finished a credible fourth on his second visit to Le Mans last year and is no pushover at this level. 

In an emotional subplot, following the tragic death of runaway Porsche Supercup leader Sean Edwards coaching in Australia, the unchallenged eventual champion Nicki Thiim will share with Edwards’ former partner Henrique Cisneros in the NGT Porsche, which could yet spring a surprise with Kuba Giermaziak and Christina Nielsen completing the lineup. 

Scott Tucker's Level 5 outfit make the switch to the GT ranks.

Double LMP2 champions Level 5 Motorsport step across to GTD with two new Ferrari 458s, one of which team-owner Scott Tucker and Jeff Segal will share with former IndyCar racer Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler, with Guy Cosmo announcing a late deal to drive a second car.  Of the other Ferraris, the no. 63 Scuderia Corse Ferrari 458 could be a potential winner in the hands of GT champion Allesandro Balzan, Lorenzo Case, Jeff Westphal and factory driver Toni Vilander, while Davide Rigon will look to extract the maximum from the no. 51 he shares with Gianluca Roda, Paolo Ruberti and Piergiuseppe Perazzini.  Mika Salo and Mikhail Aleshin will do well to keep the SMP Racing 458 in the mix with ELMS regulars Boris Rotenberg, Sergey Zlobin and Maurizio Mediani co-driving.

Finally, the no. 94 Turner Motorsports BMW Z4 package looks terrific on paper, with DTM star Augusto Farfus joining rapid Team Sahlen-refugee Dane Cameron, experienced BMW hand Markus Paltalla and team regular Paul Dalla Lana, but will be reliant on a performance break for the Bimmer to show its true potential.

The full entry list is available below.

http://www.imsa.com/sites/default/files/races/entry_lists/Daytona%20Entry%20List%201-16_0.pdf

A new era of sportscar racing starts on Saturday.

Craig Dolby Pushing For WEC Return in 2014

Craig Dolby has spoken of his intention to return to the World Endurance Championship, after a promising sportscar debut with the ADR-Delta team at China and Bahrain.

Leicestershire racer Dolby, a former winner in the Superleague Formula single-seater championship for Tottenham Hotspur, had spent two years on the sidelines without a drive before receiving the call from his Superleague engineer Simon Dowson, now team manager at ADR, to race in the final two rounds of the WEC and only missed out on a podium in Bahrain when mechanical dramas struck.

Having come back from the brink of career obscurity, Dolby wants to continue his current trajectory to the Le Mans 24 Hours, the pinnacle of the sportscar calendar.

Dolby getting to grips with the ADR-Delta no. 25 in Bahrain.

“For sure, I thought it was over,” admits Dolby. “The two year gap of not driving anything was very difficult; when everyone tells you that you need to bring a series amount of money, there’s nothing you can do. Everyone I spoke to wanted money and I did think my whole career was over. So to get the call to drive in China was fantastic; it was a real honour for me. Luckily I’ve kept myself fairly fit and ready just in case I got that phone call, and over the winter I’ve worked a lot harder to make I’m even stronger than I was for China.

“Ever since I was three years old when I started in go-karts, I always said to my dad that I want to win the Indy 500, Monaco Grand Prix and Le Mans 24 Hours, so even when I went down the single-seater route I still thought about Le Mans. To get that taste of a prototype has made me even hungrier to make it to Le Mans and try to achieve one of those three goals.

Despite not having raced a high-downforce racing car in two years, let alone a prototype, Dolby acquitted himself well against his more experienced team-mate Robbie Kerr, and benefitted enormously from sharing data with G-Drive stablemates Mike Conway and John Martin. Pulling a triple-stint in China with Kerr suffering from food poising helped Dolby get quickly up to speed, although the eventual results, a fourth and sixth in Bahrain – with Fabien Giroix replacing Tor Graves – doesn’t accurately reflect the crew’s true pace.

“Because you’re sharing the car you don’t get that many laps and trying to get comfortable in such a short period of time when you’ve got two other drivers as well was tough,” says Dolby.  “We were on the back-foot because we had a problem in FP1 with the car going off the track so I didn’t get to drive, and then FP2 was in the dark, which I’ve never driven in before, so we didn’t do many laps before qualifying.

“In the race we got up to second and we thought a podium was on, but unfortunately we had a problem with the battery terminal. It’s no-one’s fault, we did everything we should have done, I just wish we’d got that podium because it definitely would have been a help for 2014.”

After the crushing blow of losing the 2010 Superleague championship to Davide Rigon in the final round – he would have comfortably won the title had the Beijing street race, which he won, counted for points – Dolby has his confidence back and feels he has a score to settle.

“The day I lost the championship in Navarra plays on my mind every single day, especially to lose by two points when I led for most of the season. Looking back over the season at where two points could have come from, it does play on my mind. I’ve got unfinished business in motorsport, to win something like Le Mans or the World Endurance would put my mind at rest a little bit.”

BBC Formula One commentator Ben Edwards describes Dolby as a “natural racer”, reminiscent of 1992 World Champion Nigel Mansell. Edwards watched Dolby at length during his time commentating on Superleague and was full of praise when approached by The Motorsport Journal.

BBC F1 commentator Ben Edwards spotted Dolby's talent early on.

"I believe that Craig is one of the most underrated drivers we have in the UK," Edwards said. "He reminds me a little of Nigel Mansell, in that he has a huge determination to succeed and is prepared to go for and succeed in overtaking moves that other people wouldn't consider. But he also manages to do it with a smile on his face and a positive attitude, which gets the team behind him.

"Some of his drives from the back of the reverse grid races in Superleague were simply outstanding and he was up against ex-F1 drivers and GP2 champions. He lives for racing, and I'm sure he will make an outstanding career for himself, given the right opportunities."