Round 1 of 8: 6h of Silverstone
We are finally here, at the start of the next chapter in the history of the World Endurance Championship. A season sports-car fans has been dreaming about since that week after Le Mans in June 2011 when THIS was officially announced!
PORSCHE are back at the top class of international sports car racing!
The Champions
Once again AUDI is the squad to beat. The pair of R18 Quattros is the main favorites for the titles which they have sealed for every single year this series has run in it's current format (2012,2013).
Sadly Allan McNish has left the No.1 car but in has come Lucas Di Grassi who impressed during last years 24h of Le Mans.
The Challenger
TOYOTA will not have been resting during the winter. To win in 2014 has been the objective from the start of the programme - with the new technical regulations allowing them to catch up on Audi which has had a bit of a head start for the last couple of years.
The car, Toyota TS040, sporting horsepower in the quadruples at 1000bhp from it's brutal sounding 3,7L V8 and hybrid system is definitely on everyone's lips when talking about the possible winner this season. Will they be victorious on Silverstone?
The Underdogs
Every year the factory teams take all of the glory, while the privateers say "pleeeaase" to the ACO and tell them they would like to challenge the might of Audi, Porsche and Toyota on a good day. Don't get me wrong, I do agree that they should.
For this season it might come true! By not having to run a complicated Hybrid system which may cause reliability issues and are allowed to use more fuel, we might see one of the two new Rebellion R-One or Kedowa Lotus T129 (none present at Silverstone) break the factory streak of podium positions from time to time. Here's to more success for the backbone of racing, the privateers!
LMP2, GTE-Pro and GTE-Am
For Silverstone, only 4 LMP2 entries are confirmed for the 27 car strong field, and that is not going to make anyone happy with regards to the total 7 for the full season. What is going to make our heads turn though is the field of 15 GTE cars where 7 are from from the all Pro class and 8 from Pro-Am.
New for this season is that the Pro-Am teams are allowed to use essentially the same spec cars as the factory Pro teams, which will make some stints in the races a real cracker with potentially 15 Pro drivers duking it out at the same time! Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin are represented but unfortunately no Corevette before the 24h of Le Mans.
The race starts at 13:00 GMT on sunday, what are we waiting for? DISCUSS