Sebastien Buemi (SUI) / Kazuki Nakajima (JPN) / Fernando Alonso (ESP) #08 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TS050 Hybrid leads at the start of the race. 15.03.2019. FIA World Endurance Championship, Round 6, Sebring, USA, Friday. – www.xpbimages.com, EMail: [email protected] – copy of publication required for printed pictures. Every used picture is fee-liable. © Copyright: Price / XPB Images
37 cars feature on the FIA World Endurance Championship 1000 Miles of Sebring entry list, split across the now-three classes in the series.
As expected, there are 11 cars entered for the headline Hypercar class. Peugeot, Porsche, Toyota and Ferrari have two cars each, while Cadillac, Glickenhaus, and Vanwall (formerly known as ByKolles) have one car.
The Toyotas and Peugeots have unchanged driver lineups compared to last season, in the #7/#8 Toyota GR010 and #93/#94 Peugeot 9X8.
The Porsches will feature, in the #5 Porsche 963, Dane Cameron, Michael Christiansen, and Fred Makowiecki, all making their top class WEC debuts. In the sister #6 is Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor, and 3-time Le Mans overall winner Andre Lotterer.
In the two Ferrari 499Ps, #50 and #51, we will see Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, and Nicklas Nielsen in the former, with Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, and Antonio Giovinazzi in the latter.
The Cadillac V-Series.R will have Alex Lynn, Earl Bamber, and Richard Westbrook behind the wheel. All these drivers have a race’s worth of experience in the car, as they drove it at Daytona during the Rolex 24.
Meanwhile, in the Vanwall Vanvervell 680, Jacques Villenueve, 1997 F1 world champion and 1995 Indy 500 winner, will race in WEC for the first time, alongside Tom Dillmann and Esteban Guerrieri. The team formerly known as ByKolles have been out of WEC for a couple of years, with legal issues over the use of the Vanwall name, but these appear to have been sorted and the car is scheduled to race.
It is important to note neither the Ferrari or Vanwall have been homologated yet, but this is not expected to be a problem.
In LMP2, 12 cars are entered. Jota, United Autosports, Prema, WRT, and Alpine — returning to LMP2 for this year only — have two cars each, while Inter Europol and Vector Sport have one a piece.
Jota will race two cars in LMP2 until the team’s customer Porsche 963 is ready, although it is not certain when the team will make its debut in the Hypercar class — either at Portimao or Spa later in April.
Finally, GTE-Am, the only GT class in WEC with the demise of GTE-Pro, will see 14 cars take to the starting grid. As with last year, three manufacturers have had cars entered, with Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin all represented. However, Corvette Racing has also entered a car in the class for the first time, with American amatuer Ben Keating set to drive the car, adorned in the Wynn’s livery.
Other highlights include an Iron Dames Porsche, with the Iron Lynx team having switched to Porsche machinery in light of the deal to be the factory Lamborghini squad starting this year. The usual female crew of Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting and Rahal Frey will drive the car.
The race will take place at Sebring International Raceway on Friday 17th March, starting at 11am local time.
Keyword: 37 cars entered for WEC season opener at Sebring