Seven of the drivers new to the FIA WEC today came to meet the media and talk about their hopes and thoughts for the season ahead.
The group included Porsche LMP1 hybrid driver Brendon Hartley from New Zealand (24) who was a 2013 ELMS race winner; Hong-Kong based Briton Richard Bradley (22) who will represent KCMG in the LMP2 category, driving an ORECA 03 Nissan, in only his fourth year of racing; Viktor Shaitar (31) who is the reigning ELMS GTC Champion and now moves to LMP2 in the WEC with SMP Racing, also in an ORECA 03 Nissan.
Briton Alex MacDowall (23) last year raced in the World Touring Car Championship and now makes his debut in endurance with Aston Martin Racing in the LMTE Pro category, driving a Vantage V8. Former British F3 and World Series by Renault Champion, Alvaro Parente of Portugal (29) will also be competing in the competitive, factory-led LMGTE Pro category in Ram Racing’s Ferrari 458 Italia.
LMGTE Am will also welcome several new faces including Ben Collins – better known to many as ‘The Stig’ from the well-known British Top Gear programme – who makes a return to racing after several years away. The 39-year-old will be competing in Ram Racing’s Ferrari 458 and will be up against another newcomer, Matthieu Vaxiviere (19) who will be competing with Prospeed Competition in its Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.
The WEC extends a very warm welcome to them as well as to all our other newcomers for 2014.
Fiona Miller
Photo: 1) Brendon Hartley, Alex MacDowall, Matthieu Vaxiviere of Prospeed Competition, Richard Bradley (partly hidden), Alvaro Parente and Ben Collins of Ram Racing, Viktor Shaitar; 2) Brendon Hartley of Porsche Team; 3) Hartley, Alex MacDowall of Aston Martin Racing, Richard Bradley of KCMG; 4) SMP Racing's Viktor Shaitar.
Briton Alex MacDowall (23) last year raced in the World Touring Car Championship and now makes his debut in endurance with Aston Martin Racing in the LMTE Pro category, driving a Vantage V8. Former British F3 and World Series by Renault Champion, Alvaro Parente of Portugal (29) will also be competing in the competitive, factory-led LMGTE Pro category in Ram Racing’s Ferrari 458 Italia.
LMGTE Am will also welcome several new faces including Ben Collins – better known to many as ‘The Stig’ from the well-known British Top Gear programme – who makes a return to racing after several years away. The 39-year-old will be competing in Ram Racing’s Ferrari 458 and will be up against another newcomer, Matthieu Vaxiviere (19) who will be competing with Prospeed Competition in its Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.
The WEC extends a very warm welcome to them as well as to all our other newcomers for 2014.
Fiona MillerXXXXXX
Briton Alex MacDowall (23) last year raced in the World Touring Car Championship and now makes his debut in endurance with Aston Martin Racing in the LMTE Pro category, driving a Vantage V8. Former British F3 and World Series by Renault Champion, Alvaro Parente of Portugal (29) will also be competing in the competitive, factory-led LMGTE Pro category in Ram Racing’s Ferrari 458 Italia.
LMGTE Am will also welcome several new faces including Ben Collins – better known to many as ‘The Stig’ from the well-known British Top Gear programme – who makes a return to racing after several years away. The 39-year-old will be competing in Ram Racing’s Ferrari 458 and will be up against another newcomer, Matthieu Vaxiviere (19) who will be competing with Prospeed Competition in its Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.
The WEC extends a very warm welcome to them as well as to all our other newcomers for 2014.
Fiona MillerXXXXXX
