From South to North America, the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship has left the land of samba and Brazilian churrascaria steakhouses and is now installed in North America’s Southwest heartland – in Austin, Texas. Stetson and cowboy boots are definitely a big part of the local flavour!
The fifth round of the WEC will be the 6 Hours of The Circuit of The Americas on Sunday, 22nd September at the track’s new and highly impressive facilities. The series forms a central part of the International Sports Car Weekend, sharing the billing with the American Le Mans Series so there is a true feast of racing available for fans.
Administrative checks for the teams begin from 08:00h (all timings are local, Central US Time which is -7 hours CET) on Wednesday, 18th September and from 10:00h for the drivers, whilst the cars started moving through Technical Scrutineering from 08:30h until 19:00h.
As this is a new track, there are two two-hour acclimatisation sessions for all FIA WEC entries on Thursday, 19th September so that drivers have plenty of opportunity to familiarise themselves with the track. These take place from 09:30-11:30h and from 14:45-16:45h. Before this time, drivers and their engineers will have two opportunities to walk or cycle around the track as, for most this is a first visit to COTA.
A track walk is the perfect opportunity for drivers to closely inspect the height of curbs, check the camber (slope) of the track or – in some cases – see which way the track goes! The Drivers and Team Managers’ briefings with FIA WEC Race Director Eduardo Freitas are at 18:00h and 18:15h respectively on Thursday, 19th September.
The first track action for the FIA WEC starts at 09:15h for a 90-minute free practice session, followed by a further 90 minutes in the afternoon from 15:25- 16:55 hours. As per the usual schedule, a third and final practice session will take place on Saturday morning. It will be an early start for the WEC teams and drivers as they are on track from 08:40-09:40 h – the WEC being part of a very busy weekend of racing at Circuit of The Americas (see full timetable here).
The LMP1 and LMP2 prototype and LMGTE Pro and Am classes separate for the afternoon qualifying session and each will be on track for 25 minutes. Just as a reminder, the grid is made up by the car's best four lap average: two laps from Driver A and two laps from Driver B. LMGTE Pro and Am class cars will lead the way with 25-minutes of fierce track action from 13:00-13:25h, while the LMP1 and LMP2 cars will follow on from 13:35-14:00h to see who will claim overall pole position for Sunday’s race.
Sunday is the big day for everyone as spectators will be able to get up close to the teams and cars spread over the length and breadth of the pit lane during the Pit Walk, which is scheduled from 08:30-09:40h, while the FIA WEC drivers will also be available for 30 minutes of photos and autographs from 09:00-09:30 hours.
Preparation time for the race follows, and the drivers will be on the grid for the 6 Hours of Circuit of The Americas which begins at 11:00 hours. With the ups and downs of the exciting track, it’s a race which should be captivating throughout all four classes.
Fiona Miller
Photo: CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS (AUSTIN, TEXAS, USA), 6 HOURS OF THE CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS.
