Photo Credit: FIA-ACO
With an interesting qualifying session late Friday at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas now in the books, the focus now shifts toward the 5 p.m. green flag later today as the FIA World Endurance Championship returns to action with a six-hour fight, the only American stop on the 2015 tour. Set as the finale to a dramatic full day of competition, which begins earlier in the day with the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, 30 cars are set to go with at least half the distance being covered under the lights at the 3.4 mile layout designed by Hermann Tilke.
Over the last two outings of the FIA WEC, the momentum has been shifting towards the relative domination of sorts for Team Porsche in the LMP-1 division. The team’s 919 Hybrid coupe, outpaced and outlasted its rivals from Audi and Toyota at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans and then backed up the result with an equally stout run at the Nurburgring in Germany where they went 1-2. With several points still required to be made up on Audi due to an opening round DNF in England, Porsche will be keen to hold the fort when the green flag is dropped this afternoon.
The scenario is not a doom and gloom though for Audi and Toyota. Despite being a second off the Porsches in qualifying, the Audi R18 E Tron Quattros should still keep their German rival honest once the action gets going. The question is whether or not those supporting star driver Andre Lotterer can match his form today. If they can, Audi is capable of stealing a win and padding their current points table advantage with three six-hour enduros following COTA. As for Toyota, the scenario has not looked this good in awhile. Although they were two seconds off Porsche in qualifying, they were only a second off the Audis, meaning Gazoo Racing’s TS040 Hybrid could sneak in if any of the four marquee teams falter.
In LMP-2, KC Motorsport Group’s Oreca 05 coupe continues to be the rabbit after taking their third straight pole position on Friday. The tandem of Matt Howson and Richard Bradley continue to improve their resume with every performance, while Nicolas Lapierre should be on their pace likewise, despite the fact he was not part of the winning team at the Nurburgring. While KCMG is the current top dog, G-Drive Racing’s pair of Ligiers cannot be forgotten, nor can the home team from the old Stars & Stripes: Extreme Speed Motorsports. Today may mark ESM’s best hope for the big result all year. The effort of the Scott Sharp-led squad to go fourth on the starting grid Friday is a solid base to launch from, one that may allow Ryan Dalziel a chance to show the skill that he commonly releases on a racetrack in clutch situations.
While the common themes in LMP have held true this weekend, Porsche is starting to also make some waves in the GTE categories. Although Aston Martin Racing grabbed the pole in GTE-Pro, there is a Porsche Team Manthey 911 RSR starting right behind them in the capable hands of Michael Christensen and Richard Lietz fresh off a class win last time out at the Nurburgring. These two factory driving standouts need to continue pulling out the big results for one major reason. The future of Porsche’s FIA WEC factory program in the GT category is still in limbo for 2016. While Porsche is set to continue into the new GT regulations in North America next season, where their cars are on an amazing hot streak to boot, the green light has yet to be given for the world circus. A strong finish to 2015, could yet encourage Weissach to keep the greenbacks coming for another year.
While factory Porsche is a focus in GTE-Pro, the fans trackside at COTA may be even more keen on what happens in GTE-Amateur, as Patrick Dempsey’s own Porsche squad will start from pole position today. Teamed with Patrick Long and Marco Seefried, the former Grey’s Anatomy star has had maybe his best year as both an entrant and a driver. His team finished a solid second in class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and while results outside of that do not necessarily show “potential,” the home crowd boost could finally put them over the top. Still, Dempsey will face a stiff challenge from SMP Racing’s Ferrari 458, who won at both Le Mans and the Nurburgring, and from Aston Martin, who despite their lead car only qualifying fourth on the grid Friday can never be forgotten.
