Much has changed since Audi trio Allan McNish, Tom
Kristensen and Loic Duval hoisted the Tourist Trophy aloft on the World
Endurance Championship’s last visit to Silverstone on April 14th. McNish,
for one, has stepped aside, his shock retirement from motorsport after winning
the world title he had so long craved creating a vacancy for Lucas di Grassi, who
enters his first full-season of sportscar racing with the number one on his
door. No pressure then.
For another, the long-awaited return of Porsche to top level
motorsport has finally arrived. 9-times Grand Prix winner Mark Webber heads the
billing in the new 919 Hybrid, with Neel Jani and Brendon Hartley brought into
the fold from Rebellion and Murphy Prototypes respectively, while Marc Leib,
Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas are all promoted from the GT ranks.
Not wanting to miss out on the fun, Toyota have shuffled
their pack too, with Nicolas Lapierre moving across to partner Sebastien Buemi
and Anthony Davidson and Stephane Sarrazin taking his place alongside Alexander
Wurz and Kazuki Nakajima in the new TS040 Hybrid.
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| Porsche will look to take centre stage in this year's WEC, but will have to fight off the attentions of Audi and Toyota. (Credit: WEC Media) |
With all three LMP1 manufacturers running new hybrid systems
and testing proving inconclusive due to different aerodynamic setups and
undisclosed fuel flow levels – for the record, Hartley was quickest at The
Prologue for Porsche – there are numerous unknowns heading to Silverstone,
although ferocious level of competitiveness is sure to remain as high as ever.
Overlooked somewhat amid all the clamour over Porsche’s
return and McNish’s retirement is that which remains the same. Though they were
beaten to the title, the Marcel Fassler, Benoit Treluyer and Andre Lotterer trio
were arguably the quickest Audi crew over the course of last season, as three
poles attest, and were only denied victory at Le Mans through poor reliability,
which also resulted in a forty point swing in the championship in their team-mates’
favour with double points awarded for victory.
The inaugural WEC champions are not about to let that disappointment
stop them though, and that continuity could prove crucial if the new e-tron
Quattro holds down its end of the bargain.
Another change for 2014 sees the top class divided into
hybrid and non-hybrid categories, LMP1 – H and LMP1 – L. This latter class will be contested by
Rebellion Racing, back in the familiar red and white of the Swiss national flag,
persisting with their venerable Lola Toyotas for the time being until
development on the new R-One is completed. Nick Heidfeld, Nicolas Prost and
Mathias Beche return, with GP2 champion Fabio Leimer signed to a second entry
alongside Andrea Belicchi and Dominik Kraihamer, who switches from Lotus. Colin Kolles’ team are on the provisional
entry list for Silverstone with their new T129, an upgraded version of the T128
which was debuted in LMP2 in 2013, although the machine slated to be driven by
Christijan Albers, James Rossiter and Thomas Holzer has yet to break cover with
less than two weeks until the season gets underway.
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| Rebellion will continue with their old Lola in LMP1-L. (Credit: WEC Media) |
With the 2013 champions Martin Plowman, Bertrand Baguette
and Ricardo Gonzalez going their separate ways, the LMP2 title is once again up
for grabs and new Toyota reserve driver Mike Conway will look to continue his terrific
run of form with the newly renamed Millennium Racing squad. The Briton, who
will again race road and street courses in IndyCar alongside his sportscar
commitments, is be joined by Japanese Shinji Nakano and Stefan Johansson, the
Swede returning to the cockpit for his first full-season of racing since 2007,
while ELMS stand-out Oliver Turvey moves across from Jota Sport to head up the
second entry alongside Fabien Giroix and Aussie John Martin. G-Drive Racing – a
moniker which confusingly last year adorned the Delta Motorsport team – has now
entered into partnership with the Oak-Morgan team, which sees Roman Rusinov
join Olivier Pla and Julien Canal.
Following their premature withdrawal from the 2013 season
after Le Mans, Strakka Racing are back with their brand new Dome coupe.
Teething troubles are expected early on, but Jonny Kane, Danny Watts and Nick
Leventis will surely benefit in the long run having switched from the LMP1 HPD.
Elsewhere, the Chinese KCMG team are gearing up for their first full-season of
WEC competition, with Brits Matt Howson and Richard Bradley set to be joined by
double Super Formula (nee Nippon) champion Tsugio Matsuda at Silverstone, while
SMP will enter two cars, headed by the irrepressible Frenchman Nicolas
Minassian.
In GTE, Gianmaria Bruni and AF Corse will face stiff
competition if they are to defend their titles, and have moved to strengthen
their two-car lineup over the off-season.
With Giancarlo Fisichella transferring to the United SportsCar programme
and Kamui Kobayashi opting to return to Formula One with tailenders Caterham,
Ferrari switched Toni Vilander to partner Bruni, promoted Davide Rigon
following an impressive spell with AF customers 8-Star and after much
deliberation, signed British prospect James Calado, who tested extensively for
Force India last season and finished third in GP2. Fellow Ferrari team and last year’s runaway ELMS
champions RAM Racing have made the step up to the world stage, and in Alvaro
Parente and Matt Griffin have two of the best GT drivers around, although it
remains to be seen how a privateer will fare taking on the manufacturers.
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| Davide Rigon and James Calado won't be difficult to spot in their brightly-coloured AF Corse Ferrari. (Credit: WEC Media) |
Buoyed by its perfect record in 24 hour races following
victories at Le Mans 24 Hours and Daytona, 2014 is time for the Porsche 911 RSR
to start delivering across a season. Given the remarkable success the
new-for-2013 model has already achieved, it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise
to see the Mathey-run cars, which topped the times at Paul Ricard with Richard
Leitz, near the front again come Silverstone. In Patrick Pilet, Jorg
Bergmeister and Nick Tandy, and Marco Holzer, Leitz and prized new signing Fred
Makowiecki, Porsche can lay claim to being Ferrari’s closest threat.
That’s not to say Darren Turner would agree. The Brit will
again spearhead Aston Martin’s assault with Stefan Mucke in no. 97, and after winning
the season opener in 2013, would be a good bet to do so again. Joining AMR in
the Pro ranks are Bamboo Engineering, which has made the switch from the World
Touring Car Championship with drivers Alex MacDowell, Darryl O’Young and
Fernando Rees to run a second V8 Vantage GTE.
GTE-Am also throws up some spicy combinations, with the
Danish Aston Martin crew in no. 95 again likely candidates. New signing David
Heinemeier-Hansson is about as quick as silver-rated drivers come and will be
an enormous asset to Nicki Thiim and Kristian Poulsen, while Christoffer
Nygaard, Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana will also threaten in another Aston.
Ferrari also have some excellent candidates for Am honours,
with Enzo Potolicchio’s 8-Star Motorsport operation, narrowly beaten to the
2013 title, gunning for revenge with Paolo Ruberti and Gianluca Roda on board,
while the experienced Johnny Mowlem will head RAM Racing’s assault alongside
Ben Collins, better known in some circles as Top Gear’s ‘The Stig’ and Mark
Patterson. Like GP2 rival Calado, Sam Bird will also be making his GT debut at
AF Corse, alongside Michele Rugolo and Stephen Wyatt, while Luiz-Perez Companc
and Marco Cioci are joined by Mirko Venturi in a second car.
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