24h Le Mans
The entry list for the 6 Hours of Fuji, seventh round of the 2016 World Endurance Championship (WEC) season, which will take place in a little more than two weeks, includes several differences in the four classes as compared to the 6 Hours of the Circuit of The Americas.
In LM P1, the leader in the standings of which is currently Porsche and the winning trio at Le Mans, Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb, the only change concerns Pierre Kaffer who will return in ByKOLLES Racing Team's CLM P1/01. The German driver was unable to go to Texas due to a conflict with another championship the same weekend.
It's the same situation in LM GTE Am since Patrick Long, kept at a race in California during the Austin race, will drive Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing's Porsche 911 after the freelancing of French driver Kévin Estre.
In LM GTE Pro, Richie Stanaway will return to join Darren Turner in the #97 Aston Martin Vantage, and the #67 Ford GT, which was the only one in the class driven by three drivers, will now follow its rivals' example. The American manufacturer having determined the presence of three drivers was a disadvantage, Harry Tincknell, initially supposed to serve as the third driver, will now be the head driver instead of Marino Franchitti, along with Andy Priaulx for the last three races of the season.
Most of the changes concern the LM P2 class which will climb to 11 competitors subsequent to the return of Manor's second Oreca 05 which did not participate in the 24 Hours of Le Mans because of a late entry. Supporting head driver Tor Graves will be local driver Shinji Nakano, former F1 driver with eight participations in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and who competes in the Asian Le Mans Series, and Alex Lynn, 2014 GP3 Series champion who participated with Toyota in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) tests reserved for newcomers at Bahreïn last year.
Other drivers making their debut in the championship include Antonio Giovinazzi and Sean Gelael, competitors in the latter part of the 2015-2016 season of the Asian Le Mans Series, in Extreme Speed Motorsports' #30 JS P2-Nissan. They will be supported by Giedo van der Garde, a member of Russian team G-Drive Racing in the European Le Mans Series and in the 24 Hours of Le Mans (unranked).
Lastly, Mikhail Aleshin, whose IndyCar Series season is finished, will join Russian outfit SMP Racing with which he claimed the third step on the LM P2 podium at Le Mans in June, for the last three rounds of the season, and Will Stevens will support Roman Rusinov and Alex Brundle in G-Drive Racing's Oreca 05-Nissan as the replacement for René Rast, detained in DTM by Audi.
The start of the 6 Hours of Fuji will be given on Sunday, October 16th at 11:00 a.m. (3:00 a.m. in the U.K.).
