It’s been a busy time for many within our WEC paddock since the 6 Hours of Shanghai but, as the days tick by until the final round of the 2015 season, focus turns towards the race into the night at Bahrain and the championship titles to be settled.
A glimpse into 2016
Ferrari’s traditional end-of-season event for its Challenge series, Finali Mondiali, took place last weekend at Mugello in Italy in front of 50,000 passionate tifosi.
All of the legendary marque’s GTE drivers were present, and the car which they will be racing in 2016 was officially unveiled for the first time. The Ferrari 488 GTE is equipped with a turbo-charged engine and transverse gearbox, for a more even distribution of the weight, and testing has been taking place over the last few months in preparation for next season.
Heat training in Malaysia
A number of WEC drivers went straight from Shanghai to Malaysia for the second round of the FIA Formula E Championship. Congratulations to Audi Sport’s Lucas di Grassi for keeping a cool head in temperatures around 35oC to take victory, and to G-Drive Racing’s Sam Bird for second place. Six of the top seven in the championship standings are from our paddock, clearly demonstrating the class and talent regularly on display in endurance racing. The heat of Malaysia will be good training for the 6 Hours of Bahrain, but no one will miss the high humidity!
Audi v Toyota in Japan!
Audi factory driver André Lotterer celebrated a triumphant end to the Super Formula season, claiming his third victory of the season in the finale at Suzuka. The triple Le Mans winner started the first of the two races from pole position and also set the fastest race lap on his way to finishing third in the overall standings of the hard-fought Japanese single-seater series…just 5.5 points behind Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Kazuki Nakajima.
Photo: (Top) copyright Ferrari.com: Gianmaria Bruni, Toni Vilander, Davide Rigon and James Calado unveiling the new Ferrari 488 GTE at the Finali Mondiali, Mugello, Italy on Saturday 7 November 2015.
(Middle): Audi Sport Team Joest's Lucas di Grassi. (Bottom): Toyota TS040 HYBRID and Audi R18 e-tron quattro battle it out at the 2015 WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday 2 May.
