The fight for the LMGTE Manufacturers World Cup went down to the wire at the end of the 2013 season and there’s every chance this could happen again. Winning at the third round of the FIA World Endurance Championship gives a significant advantage, but there is a maximum of 130 points available to the GTE manufacturers and points are scored in both the Pro and Am categories.
LMGTE Manufacturers World Cup
Ferrari won’t be resting on its heels as both Porsche and Aston Martin will be more determined than ever to close the gap in the standings. Ferrari’s single point advantage going into the 24 Hours of Le Mans is now extended to 12 after a 71 point haul at the jewel in the crown of the FIA WEC. The Italian manufacturer now has 135 points to Porsche’s 123, with Aston Martin trailing on 85 points.
World Endurance Cup for GT Drivers
The picture is better still for the No.51 Ferrari 458 Italia pairing of Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander – the 51 points they scored at Le Mans now giving them a total of 90 points. This extends their advantage to 27 points over the nearest Porsche pairing of Fred Makowiecki and Marco Holzer from the No.92 Porsche 911 RSR.
In third and fourth places are Porsche’s Richard Lietz and Ferrari’s Giancarlo Fisichella, the two being endurance driving partners and therefore holding fewer points than their team mates, 61 and 51 points respectively (Lietz having also participated in, and won, the 6 Hours of Silverstone).
In fifth place are the first of the Aston Martin Racing drivers, Kristian Poulsen and David Heinemeier Hansson and their No.95 Vantage V8 actually representing the LMGTE Am category (team mate Nicki Thiim missed Spa) on 40 points. The second Porsche crew of Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Pilet from the No.91 is in sixth place on 37 points and, following Thiim, is the Aston Martin Racing pairing of Darren Turner and Stefan Mücke on 29 points.
Just half a point behind the British-German duo is the AF Corse Ferrari line up of Luiz Perez-Companc, Marco Cioci and Mirko Venturi, the LMGTE Am crew having scored at every round so far.
FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Pro Teams
AF Corse’s No.51 car crew leads here too, currently on course for a strong defence of all three of its 2013 titles. The Italian team’s 90 points gives it a 21 point edge over the No.92 Porsche crew with the No.91 911 RSR nine points further back in third place. The No.97 Aston Martin Racing team is only three points away and fourth in the standings with 57 points but there are bigger gaps after this for the No.71 Ferrari and No.99 Aston Martin to catch up on.
Fiona Miller
