24h Le Mans
Out of a total 31 cars entered in the 6 Hours of N
For the first time ever, the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) will visit the circuit in the Eifel mountains that is, though not the oldest circuits in Europe, one of the most famous with its north loop (Nordschleife) more than 20 kilometers long and its 24 Hours race gathering 160 cars at the start this year.
The championship's presence in Germany is in no way trivial since the three constructors entered in LM P1 - Audi, Porsche and Toyota - will be racing on their home turf. Though Toyota is of course Japanese, its motorsports base in Europe is located in Cologne, a city closer to the Nürburgring than to Ingolstadt at which is situated Audi's stronghold, or Weissach, where Porsche's (one-two winners at Le Mans this year) base is located.
If one adds to the two Audi R18 e-tron quattros and Porsche 919 Hybrids the two official Porsche 911s in the LM GTE Pro class and the two sister cars entered by Dempsey Proton Racing and Abu Dhabi Proton Racing in LM GTE Am, the total comes to eight cars.
In terms of drivers, more than half of the locals will compete in LM P1: Timo Bernhard - winner at the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans - and Marc Lieb will represent Porsche, André Lotterer will do the same for Audi, Pierre Kaffer will race for the Austrian team Team ByKOLLES, and Nick Heidfeld and Daniel Abt will be at the wheel of an R-One for Rebellion Racing.
No German representative figures on the entry list in the LM P2 class and only one German driver is entered in LM GTE Pro: Stefan Mücke, at the wheel of an official Aston Martin Vantage. The last three German drivers can be found in LM GTE Am, with first of all Roald Goethe also in an Aston Martin Vantage, Christian Ried in a Porsche for Abu Dhabi Proton Racing and Marco Seefried at the wheel of Dempsey Proton Racing's Porsche - recently second in the class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans along with the two Patricks, Long and Dempsey.
After a more than two-month break, the FIA WEC will resume on August 30th at the 6 Hours of Nürburgring.
Cécile Bonardel / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO
PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, SATURDAY JUNE 13 2015, RACE. German driver Marc Lieb racs for German manufacturer Porsche.
