With the last round still fresh in everyone’s minds, the WEC now finds itself in the United States of America, more precisely at Austin (Texas) for Lone Star Le Mans whose headline event is the 6 Hours of COTA (Circuit Of The Americas). The points standings have been recently narrowed throughout the four categories and this sixth round will be undoubtedly very challenging as the race will be held in the heat of the day instead of into the night like in recent years.
After their victory one week ago, Hartley / Bamber / Bernhard (#2 Porsche 919 Hybrid) are now in the lead of the Drivers’ championship with 134 points. Their closest opponents are Davidson / Nakajima / Buemi (#8Toyota TS050 HYBRID, 93 points) and Lotterer / Jani / Tandy (#1 Porsche 919 Hybrid, 64 points). Porsche has now 198 points in the Manufacturers’ classification and Toyota 141,5, thus the American round will be very important for scoring valuable championship points. Last year, the #1 Porsche 919 Hybrid driven by Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber won in Texas.
The standings in the LMP2 are much closer but Ho-Pin Tung, Thomas Laurent and David Cheng (#38 ORECA 07 – Gibson Jackie Chan DC Racing) are still leading, 23 points ahead of Senna / Canal (#31 ORECA 07 – Gibson Vaillante Rebellion). From now on, nobody can afford to trip up as every point will be critical. Jackie Chan DC Racing still dominates the Teams’ classification with 118 points, ahead of Vaillante Rebellion (95) and Signatech-Alpine Matmut (76).
In LMGTE Pro, after an awesome Mexican round, Ferrari arrives in the lead of the Manufacturers’ championship ahead of Ford by nine points and Aston Martin, 22. For the drivers, Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell (#67 Ford GT) are leading the charge in front of Richard Lietz and Frédéric Makowiecki (#91 Porsche 911 RSR), eight points behind.
In the LMGTE Am class, thanks to two consecutive victories, Dempsey-Proton Racing is leading ahead of Clearwater Racing, 8 points behind. For the team co-founded by the American film star, Patrick Dempsey, it might almost be counted as a home race! The trio of Ried / Dienst / Cairoli (#77 Porsche 911 RSR) is leading GTE Am with 114 points ahead of Lauda / Dalla Lana / Lamy (#98 Aston Martin Vantage, 104 points).
The track as described by Nicolas Lapierre
The Circuit of The Americas (COTA), more than five kilometers in length, is in Austin, Texas. Besides being a demanding track, the weather conditions will not help the drivers as confirmed by Nicolas Lapierre, Signatech Alpine Matmut driver (#36) in the LMP2 category : “The most difficult element is the heat. In 2016, it was the toughest race of the season with a start at 4 pm. Starting at noon means driving at the peak of the heat. Drivers as well as tyres will have to be watched. It is an amazing circuit with very nice combinations of corners, several places to overtake and big braking zones. The “Esses” are certainly the key part of the track. You need to have a well balanced car to be able to push. It is one of my favourite tracks of the season. We won last year with Signatech Alpine Matmut, I hope we will do it again !”