Every bit as exciting as its Pro big brother was the LMGTE Am category, featuring entries from Ferrari, Aston Martin, Porsche and Corvette. In another tightly fought and emotionally charged battle, which went down to the wire in Bahrain, it was 8Star Motorsport which emerged at the head of the classifications, winning the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Am Teams three points ahead of Aston Martin Racing. IMSA Performance Matmut’s Porsche entry took third place.
The contest for the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Am Drivers was even closer. The popular Aston Martin Racing duo of Jamie Campbell-Walter and Stuart Hall claimed the championship crown, finishing just a single point ahead of 8Star Motorsport’s Rui Aguas and Enzo Potolicchio. This was in no small part thanks to their victories in Brazil and the USA, at which their driving partner and owner of the No.96 Vantage V8 Roald Goethe was unable to be present due to business commitments, but also to consistent performances throughout the entire season. Johnny Adam was a solid stand-in at the two Far Eastern rounds, with Goethe re-joining the British pair for the final race in Bahrain.
Also with two wins was the Portuguese-Venezuelan pairing in the No.81 8Star Ferrari 458 Italia, a car which was run in conjunction with AF Corse. Aguas and Potolicchio had no fewer than four different driving partners through the season (Philipp Peter, Matteo Malucelli, Jason Bright being the first three), settling with the young and talented Italian, Davide Rigon in latter part. Wins at Spa and Shanghai were undoubtedly the highlights, backed up by 2nd place finishes at São Paulo and Bahrain and a further podium at Silverstone. The commendably consistent results allowed the amiable and enthusiastic Venezuelan to pick up his second successive FIA WEC championship title following last year’s LMP2 crown with Starworks.
Also in with a shout at the Championship going into the final round was the No.76 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of Jean-Karl Vernay and Raymond Narac, propelled to the front of the standings by their superb victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans – Porsche once again proving itself to be masterful in the wet/dry, tricky conditions experienced. Podium finishes at Sao Paulo and Austin helped the French pairing on its way, with fellow countryman Christophe Bourret joining them early season and Finland’s Markus Paltalla in the latter part of the year.
In a year of highs and lows for many, no one experienced such depth of feelings as Danes Christoffer Nygaard and Kristian Poulsen in the No.95 Aston Martin Vantage V8. They endured the tragedy of losing their popular, fast and supremely talented countryman, Allan Simonsen, at the 24 Hours of Le Mans – an incident which marred the race for every single competitor. The dignity, professionalism and courage shown by Aston Martin Racing in the face of such an event were both heart-breaking and heart-warming to behold.
Bravely returning to the FIA WEC after Le Mans, Nygaard and Poulsen were joined by another equally rapid Dane, Nicki Thiim. The No.95 marked up three victories (Silverstone, Fuji and Bahrain) and two second places in 2013, plus a remarkable six class positions from the eight rounds, and these results placed them fourth in the classification for LMGTE Am Teams.
Larbre Compétition, running a solo Corvette C6R ZR1, started the year well with two podium finishes for Julien Canal, Patrick Bornhauser and Fernando Rees at Silverstone and Spa, but they were to be the last for the year – the big American muscle car not able to match the Ferraris, Aston Martins and Porsches at the other venues. Also struggling to make as strong a mark as it did in the European Le Mans series was the No.88 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of Christian Ried, Gianluca Roda and Paolo Ruberti, its high point being a podium finish in São Paulo.
The No.61 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia entry of Matt Griffin, Marco Cioci and Jack Gerber claimed a well-deserved podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans but were unable to score any victories or further podiums until the revised line up of Griffin, François Perrodo and Emmanuel Collard climbed on the third step at Bahrain.
One of the stalwarts of international competition, the No.57 Krohn Racing Ferrari 458 Italia of Tracy Krohn, Nic Jönsson and Maurizio Mediani had, frankly, a year they might prefer to forget. Despite a good package which included the Ferrari, a solid team and a consistent driver line up, luck deserted them on more than once occasion and they were left with 5th place in Brazil as the highlight of the year.
With the revised driver rankings for 2014 having now been published, there is no guessing who will be lining up for the opening round of the new season at Silverstone on 20th April. One thing is guaranteed, however, and that is that the competition in 2014 will be every bit as fierce as it was in 2013 in LMGTE Am.
Fiona Miller
Photos (from top): 1) The No.81 Ferrari 458 drove to Championship honours in Bahrain; 2) Jamie Campbell-Walter, Stuart Hall and Johnny Adam in Shanghai; 3) Rui Aguas strapping in Davide Rigon to the No.81 Ferrari at a pit stop; 4) Raymond Narac and Jean-Karl Vernay of the IMSA Performance Matmut team; 5) Allan Simonsen is much missed but will always be remembered; 6) The Nos.95 and 96 Vantage V8s were always contenders; 7) The Larbre Competition Corvette C6R ZR1; 8) Matt Griffin and Marco Cioci of the No.61 Ferrari 458 conferring; 9) Maurizio Mediani, Nic Jonsson and Tracy Krohn at the very busy autograph session in Shanghai.
