With 104 points to play for in the remaining four FIA World Endurance Championship events, most of the points tables are wide open as the protagonists enter the crunch phase of four races in the next seven weeks.
In the World Endurance Drivers Championship table it is Anthony Davidson/Nicolas Lapierre and Sebastien Buemi who lead the way, but now, after the Circuit of the Americas race, with a much reduced points margin of just 11pts. Le Mans and COTA winners - Marcel Fassler, Benoit Tréluyer, and André Lotterer are themselves 13 points ahead of stable mates Tom Kristensen and Lucas Di Grassi, with Loic Duval, who missed racing at Le Mans after his crash, 49 points behind the no2 Audi trio.
Alex Wurz and Stephane Sarrazin are on 43pts and in a collective sixth position but Kazuki Nakajima cannot win the title this season after missing the last round at COTA. However, the #7 Toyota TS 040 Hybrid crew are sure to have a huge say in where the title rests in 2014. Should their own title charge not be enough, then taking points from the Audi Sport Team Joest entries will be high on the agenda.
In the World Endurance Manufacturers’ Championship, Audi lead Toyota by 18pts (157pts to 139pts) in what looks like being an intensely close battle for supremacy. Porsche sit third on 82pts having scored points all the races so far in their debut season with the 919 Hybrids.
The LMP1 Private Teams Drivers and Teams titles are already settled with the #12 Rebellion Racing trio of Mathias Beche/Nick Heidfeld and Nicolas Prost having scored a clean sweep of maximum points in all the races so far. With a 107pt advantage they and the Rebellion team have an unassailable lead at the top of the standings.
In LMP2 Sergey Zlobin’s consistency of one win (Le Mans), one 2nd place (COTA), one 3rd (Silverstone) and a 4th place (Spa) ensure he heads the table on 95pts. After the SMP Racing team moved their drivers around for Le Mans, with Mika Salo being drafted in alongside Zlobin, it means that the Russian heads the G-Drive squad of Julien Canal, Olivier Pla and Roman Rusinov by a healthy 27pts. G-Drive has bolstered its points tally with three pole positions this season.
Very much still eyeing a title push are COTA winners Richard Bradley and Matt Howson. The British pair is 32pts behind Zlobin but have serious momentum heading to Fuji and Shanghai, both of which are circuits very familiar to KCMG and their drivers.
Thirty-three points covers the top three in the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams. The no27 SMP Racing entry leads with 95pts from G-Drive on 68pts. KCMG is just six points behind the French team on 62pts with the Hong Kong entered team targeting a double title charge.
One thing is for sure, the mathematicians are likely to be working right up to the final laps at Interlagos on the final day of November!
CLICK HERE for the points tables after Round 4 of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship.
