The 6 Hours of Shanghai, the sixth round of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship, will take place on Sunday 2nd November at the Shanghai International Circuit. The impressively large 5.45 kilometre track is sure to see some exciting track action throughout all four classes and many will be racing with points and championship titles firmly in mind.
It will be a busy three-day meeting as far as track activities are concerned, as the FIA WEC will be joined in Shanghai by the cars and drivers from the FASC Super GT Festival (Boss GP), Audi R8 LMS Cup and Asian Formula Renault.
The FIA WEC’s teams will be in the People’s Republic of China in good time to re-prepare their cars following the 6 Hours of Fuji, the last round of the championship. This means stripping them of all their bodywork and inspecting, servicing or replacing all the mechanical parts to ensure they are in tip-top condition for the coming 6-hour race. All cars must then go through technical scrutineering to ensure they fully conform to the regulations, and this takes place on Thursday, 30th October.
Meanwhile, the drivers and team management will be going through the administrative checks to confirm that all the paperwork is in order before the race. Drivers must also present all their fireproof clothing, helmets and HANS devices – safety is paramount to the FIA WEC and nothing is left to chance.
The World Championship track action will start on 31st October at 10h45 for the first of two 90-minute free practice sessions to be held on the Friday – the second being at 15h30. The Audi R8 LMS Cup, Asian Formula Renault and Boss GP series will also be on track for free practice and qualifying so there will be plenty to see and experience.
On Saturday, 1st November the FIA WEC cars will be back on track at 09h30 for a final hour of free practice before qualifying in the afternoon. The LMGTE Pro and Am class cars will lead the way at 13h20 for the first 25-minute session to determine the starting positions for Saturday’s race, followed by the LMP1 and LMP2 prototypes from 13h55 – 14h20. Each of the two nominated drivers from each car must set at least two timed laps during qualifying. The average of the four best lap times (the best two of each driver) will serve as the reference time for establishing the grid. It’s also race day for the support series, with five separate 30 or 35-minute races taking place.
Sunday is race day and the stars of the FIA WEC will all be available for a 30-minute autograph session in the Fan Entertainment area from 09h10-09h40 – a hugely popular event last year. While this is going on, the pit lane is open for a Pitwalk so fans can get a closer look at the cars which will be racing from 11h00 until 17h00. The dragons will be dancing, the drums will be played, and the engines will be singing their own tunes for the 6 Hours of Shanghai. Come and join us!
Fiona Miller
Photos: SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT (SHANGHAI, CHINA), 6 HOURS OF SHANGHAI. 1 and 2) The dancing dragons in 2012 were replaced by many thousands of fans for 2013. 3 and 4) The driver autograph session was a huge success, with long lines for drivers from all teams.
