The 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship season enters the final quarter with the seventh of the 8- round World Championship being held in the economic capital of China, Shanghai, on Sunday 1 November. Thirty-two cars across the four classes are due to take part in the fourth edition of the 6 Hours of Shanghai, with 18 cars split evenly in LMP1 and LMP2 and 14 entries across LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am, with seven cars competing in each class.
While all eyes will be on the battle at the front as Porsche and Audi fight it out for the World Endurance Manufacturers Championship in China, local fans will also be able to cheer on two Chinese entries. Hong Kong-based KCMG, the first Chinese team to win at the world famous 24 Hours of Le Mans, will be challenging for the LMP2 title in China. In addition there is an additional entry for this race from European Le Mans Series regulars Pegasus Racing in LMP2 for Chinese drivers David Cheng and Ho Pin Tung.
LMP1 – Advantage Porsche
The race for the World Endurance Drivers Championship couldn’t be closer with the no17 Porsche 919 crew of Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber leading the championship for the first time in 2015 after scoring three wins from the last three races. They currently lead the no7 Audi R18 crew of Marcel Fässler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Tréluyer by a single championship point. The Audi trio has consistently scored points, claiming six podium finishes in six races, including two wins at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps.
In the race for the World Endurance Manufacturers title Porsche holds a 53 point advantage over Audi and, as long as it is 44 points ahead of Audi following the race on Sunday afternoon, the German manufacturer could be crowned World Champion.
The second Porsche 919 Hybrid of Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb was a strong contender in Japan and the trio will be hoping that a first win of the year will come in China. However, the crew of the no18 car are team players and they will put their team’s chances of securing the world titles above their own glory, as they clearly demonstrated in Japan last weekend.
The no8 Audi R18 e-tron quattro will once again be raced by Loic Duval, Lucas di Grassi and Oliver Jarvis, while reigning World Champions Toyota Gazoo Racing will be represented by Sebastian Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima in the no1 TS040 HYBRID and Mike Conway, Stephane Sarrazin and Alex Wurz in the no2 Toyota.
In the LMP1 Privateer category the two Rebellion Racing R-One-AERs will once again facing the challenge of the Team ByKolles CLM-AER. The no12 crew of Nicolas Prost and Mathias Beche scored their first class victory of 2015 in Japan ahead of double race winners Simon Trummer and Pierre Kaffer in the no4 ByKolles.
Photo: FUJI INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY (FUJI, OYAMA PREFECTURE, JAPAN), 6 HOURS OF FUJI, SUNDAY 11 OCTOBER 2015. The battle in LMP2 was tense and intense.
LMP2 – Battles all the Way to the Flag
The LMP2 class has also been providing action and drama all season. The no26 G-Drive Racing Ligier of Sam Bird, Julien Canal and Roman Rusinov is now heading the class by 12 points in front of the no47 KCMG ORECA of Matt Howson and Richard Bradley thanks to its third win of the season in Japan. However, the Hong Kong-based KCMG team, with Howson and Bradley once again joined by 24 Hours of Le Mans overall champion Nick Tandy, will be determined to close the gap on home soil in Shanghai.
The nine car LMP2 grid has strength in depth and any one of the remaining seven cars could provide an upset and take the win in China, including the Latin American-crewed no28 G-Drive Racing Ligier of Gustavo Yacaman, Pipo Derani and Ricardo Gonzalez.
The all French no36 Signatech Alpine trio took their first WEC podium in Japan, finishing second behind the G-Drive Ligier and ahead of the KCMG ORECA. The team will be hoping to take the extra step up the podium in China.
The Tequila Patron Extreme Speed Motorsport team has been getting stronger throughout the season, and the Honda-powered no30 Ligier of Ryan Dalziel, Scott Sharp and David Heinemeier Hansson has finished 4th in the last two races in the USA and Japan. The American team will be pushing hard for that elusive first podium of 2015 in Shanghai, a venue it competed at in 2014.
The no43 Team SARD Morand Morgan of Oliver Webb and Pierre Ragues has scored one podium finish at Spa-Francorchamps and was a strong contender in Japan. The team will joined in Shanghai by Canadian Chris Cumming for the second time this season.
Strakka Racing has shown that the Nissan-powered Gibson has the speed to compete at the front of the field and the all-British line up of Nick Leventis, Jonny Kane and Danny Watts will be determined to turn that potential into a podium finishing performance as the season enters the final quarter.
Photo: NURBURGRING (NURBURG, GERMANY), 6 HOURS OF NURBURGRING, SUNDAY 30 AUGUST 2015. Competition in LMGTE has been incredibly close all season.
LMGTE Pro – Ferrari v Porsche
The battle between Ferrari and Porsche for the honours in the World Endurance Cup for GT Manufacturers has been one of the many highlights of the 2015 season. In Japan Ferrari bounced back after Porsche took control in Le Mans, Nürburgring and at the Circuit of The Americas. The battle for the 2015 title is finely poised with just 13 points splitting the two GT manufacturers, with Aston Martin lying some way back from leaders Ferrari.
While Ferrari lead the Manufacturers championship, Porsche’s Richard Lietz, driving the no91 Porsche Team Manthey 911 RSR with Michael Christensen, is at the head of the Drivers' Championship table, just 7 points ahead of Ferrari’s Davide Rigon and James Calado (no71 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia) and 16.5 points ahead of reigning World Champions and 6 Hours of Fuji race winners Gimmi Bruni and Toni Vilander (no51 AF Corse Ferrari).
Patrick Pilet and Fred Makowiecki will pilot the no92 Porsche Team Manthey 911 while the line ups of the three Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8s will feature a couple of changes. The no95 Vantage will be crewed by Christoffer Nygaard and Marco Sørensen, and they will be joined in Shanghai by fellow Dane and WEC race winner, Nicki Thiim. The no97 Aston Martin will be raced by British duo Darren Turner and Jonny Adam while in the no99 Vantage Stefan Mücke is replaced by Richie Stanaway, the New Zealander joining Fernando Rees and Alex MacDowall once again.
Photo: CIRCUIT DE SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS (SPA, BELGIUM), WEC 6 HOURS OF SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, SATURDAY 2 MAY 2015. SMP Racing has had a strong and consistent season.
LMGTE Am – SMP Racing Going For Victory
SMP Racing’s Alexey Basov, Victor Shaytar and Andrea Bertolini are closing in on their first world title with a 29 point advantage over their nearest rivals ahead of the 6 Hours of Shanghai. The Russian Ferrari needs to finish the race in Shanghai with a 26 point advantage to add the world title to the 2014 European Le Mans Series LMGTE and the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans LMGTE Am crowns.
The no83 AF Corse Ferrari of Rui Aguas, Emmanuel Collard and François Perrodo is the Russian’s nearest rival for the LMGTE crown and the line up has scored six podium finishes from six races. Just 7 points behind the Franco-Portuguese trio is the Fuji-winning Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche of Patrick Dempsey, Patrick Long and Marco Seefried. The US-German team moved up the rankings after securing its first ever WEC victory in Japan much to the delight of renowned US actor Dempsey.
The 6 Hours of Fuji saw a return to the podium for double race winners Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda in the no98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage with a second place finish behind the Dempsey-Proton Porsche.
The no50 Larbre Competition Chevrolet Corvette was back on the pace in Japan, only to lose its first pole position since 2012 due to a technical infringement. However Gianluca Roda, Paolo Ruberti and Nicolai Sylvest will take the positives that came their way in Japan and look for another good performance in China.
Austrian Klaus Bachler returns to the no88 Abu-Dhabi Proton Racing Porsche crew, joining Khaled Al Qubaisi and Christian Ried for the last two races of 2015. The LMGTE Am grid is completed by the no96 Aston Martin Racing Vantage of Francesco Castellacci, Stuart Hall and Liam Griffin.
The 6 Hours of Shanghai will take place on Sunday 1 November and is Round 7 of the 2015 World Endurance Championship.
CLICK HERE for information on the 6 Hours of Shanghai
CLICK HERE for the provisional entry list for the 6 Hours of Shanghai.
