After winning the last round of the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship at Fuji, the defending GT Champions Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander are hoping to carry some renewed title momentum into the 6 Hours of Shanghai this weekend.
The Italian/Finnish alliance now sits just 16.5 points behind leader Richard Lietz, but with team mates Davide Rigon and James Calado between them, just seven point in arrears in the LMGTE Pro title chase.
“We are just going for the win, it is the same philosophy we have had to have because of the early season issues we had,” said Toni Vilander. “It is tough to bounce back after the misfortunes we had; some of them came when we had the race in our pocket so it was frustrating for sure.”
Vilander, always cool under pressure, believes that he and his team are performing well as they attempt to make up for difficult races at Spa, Nurburgring and COTA.
“We have something extra which is that we have nothing to lose and we are willing to risk more than normal,” continued Vilander. “We’ve been up there the whole time this season but sometimes the problems come. They tend to even out with our competitors over a season. Remember that, although it is the Ferrari 458 Italia, this car was completely new at the start of the year and had done zero miles.”
Vilander’s ice cool nature and unshakeable confidence will be important weapons as he and Bruni aim to get back on terms with those ahead of them in the LMGTE Pro title race.
“We are quite relaxed and we know that the GT Manufacturers’ championship is the priority,” he said. “As a partnership Gimmi and I much prefer being the hunters and not the hunted. That relaxes you more and, as we saw at Fuji, Gimmi and I really put in some good performances. It suits us fine to be chasing the other guys.”
Sam Smith
