Motorsport News

In Their first qualifying session of the season, Aston Martin’s three beauties qualified P5 and P6 in GTE Pro and P6 in GTE Am. On an extremely wet track (it had been snowing for over an hour!), the #97 of Fernando Rees and Richie Stanaway set a combined average lap time of 2m 21.626 to place them P5 in class. Richie comments ‘We are still in a learning period with our new tyres and the unique ambient and track temperatures made this session extremely difficult. We ran t

'Hugely frustrating' and 'we will urgently seek to address the issues' were phrases used in Toyota Gazoo Racing's post qualifying press release. With gaps of 4.996 for the #6 and 6.905 for #5 off the pole time, the two TS050 hybrids proved to be uncompetitive. Unsuitable control settings for the conditions gave the drivers no chance in today's wet 20 minute qualifying session. ‘It has been a challenging day weather-wise and that has put us a bit out of synch with the set

In what can only be described as challenging conditions, Audi got the best possible start to their 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship with a qualifying 1-2 for the Ingolstadt team. Sleet then snow, which in turn saw the cancellation of FP3, was not how anyone expected their day to begin but Audi played their hand perfectly. ‘The Audi R18 practically has not a single bolt in common anymore with its predecessor’ commented Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. ‘C

The two Porsche 919 hybrids will start the 6 hours at Silverstone from the second row of the grid. On a drying track the No.1 of Bernhard, Hartley and Webber qualified ahead of their teammates by a mere .116 of a second. 'The conditions were very cold and it was even snowing in the morning - we made the right call to keep our full wets on' said Hartley. German Marc Lieb of the No.2 Porsche commented 'We went in a slightly different direction on set-up to that of our sist

After a wintery start to the day at Silverstone with temperatures not peaking over 4 degrees the cars started to go out on track, with the number five Toyota of Anthony Davidson taking the first early running. A series of off track excursions be felt the early runners and the track was red flagged after 6 min with the number five Toyota being unceremoniously removed from a gravel trap on the end of a JCB. With 40 minutes of the session remaining all of the LMP1-H cars hav

The FIA World Endurance Championship’s App has received many plaudits for its range of entertaining and informative content, ease of use, and availability on multiple platforms. Now, for 2016, it has been upgraded further with a new design and features, better integration and new content so that fans of the best endurance racing in the world don’t have to miss a minute of the action. We rely more and more heavily on small screen technology in our everyday lives, with many

Aston Martin Racing is set to kick off its 2016 campaign this weekend (17 April), as the first round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) takes place at Silverstone. With the team looking to claim a strong finish in this weekend’s race, Aston Martin Racing Team Principal Paul Howarth knows the importance of claiming points consistently across what is tipped to be the FIA WEC’s most competitive season to date. “We’re in a great place ahead of Silverstone,” he comme

With the opening round of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship just around the corner, here is our quick guide to the Championship and its classes. If you have never seen a WEC race before the most important thing to know is that there are four classes of cars racing on the same track at the same time. Also, a common factor throughout the four classes is that one team of drivers compete in the same car; two or three drivers take turns in the car completing “stints” of

The FIA World Endurance Championship is back at Silverstone for its now-traditional season-opening festival of sports car racing, and there’s more than ever on offer to entertain the whole family. More cars, more racing, famous drivers and lots to see and do on and off track. The 6 Hours of Silverstone (15-17 April) is the opening round of the nine race world championship and a great opportunity to witness the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the UK. There is a full w

After 17 hours of running and thousands of kilometres track testing, the 29 cars entered for the Prologue at Circuit Paul Ricard have now parked their cars in the pit boxes and the engineers have started to analyse and study the data this evening. It is difficult to make any true conclusions, however, as the poker faces and mind games of the teams often mask the true hierarchy of pace and positions throughout the classes. What we can say is that 2016 looks set to be a ste

The anticipation and waiting is over. The FIA WEC cars and drivers blew the dust off the long winter and made sure it was a very Good Friday indeed at Circuit Paul Ricard today. Fine spring conditions in the South of France welcomed the 29 cars as they took to the track and welcomed in the fifth edition of the WEC, as preparations continued for the first round at Silverstone in three weeks’ time. The opening day was broken down in to three sessions – morning, afternoon and n

Ready for title defence: Two days before the official Prologue for the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) at Paul Ricard, France, Porsche is presenting its race car for this season. Strong development characterises the new 919 Hybrid’ technology. The powertrain became even more efficient, the aerodynamics were even more specific for the various race tracks and the weight of single components was even more reduced. “The over 900 hp strong Le Mans Prototype is ready for

The new TS050 HYBRID will wear the numbers 5 and 6 in the 2016 World Endurance Championship, it was confirmed. In a press conference in Paris, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest confirmed all entries for WEC and the Le Mans 24 Hours, including race numbers. That means that in 2016, Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima will race the #5 TS050 HYBRID while Stéphane Sarrazin, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi compete in the #6. It is the first time that a TOYOTA wi

For the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the Le Mans 24 Hours, Audi is emphasizing focal areas in the 2016 season: The Audi R18 that has been redesigned from scratch has almost nothing in common anymore with its predecessor. It features a more radical aerodynamics concept, including a new safety cell, its hybrid drive system is battery-operated for the first time, the V6 TDI engine has been revised, and new system solutions have been added. As a result, Audi’s LMP1

At the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) prologue at Le Castellet (F) on March 25/26, the new Audi R18 will be meeting with its competitors for the first time. Prior to this meeting, the LMP1 sports car will celebrate its premiere on Audi MediaTV. World premiere of the Audi R18 will be on Tuesday, March 22, 2016, 14:00, CET live on www.audimedia.tv #audi #Pro

So after a hectic month of driver signings we thought we would cover the main ones: WEC, British GT and Blancpain all in one place! FIA World Endurance Series With the press launch and Prologue just around the corner, the teams are gearing up for what will no doubt be another stellar year of driver/car performances. New team Manor announced their drivers. First up is ex-Formula 1 racer Will Stephens who joins from ‘sister team’ Manor Marrussia F1. He will join the returni

The time for talking is over! The sights and sounds of 29 of the world’s best endurance racers will soon be the focus of attention at the FIA World Endurance Championship’s official pre-season test, The Prologue. Taking place at Circuit Paul Ricard at Le Castellet in the south of France on Friday and Saturday 25/26th March, this will be the first opportunity for competitors, media and fans throughout the world to see 2016’s WEC teams on track all together. Of the 32 ful

Manor welcomes back former-IndyCar driver, James Jakes, as the team extends its 2016 driver line up. British driver, James Jakes, will return to Manor this season for his debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship. James had previously driven with the team during 2007 in Formula 3 and 2010 in the GP3 series, visiting the podium a number of times, before heading to the USA to compete in the IndyCar Series for the past 4 seasons. This will be James’ debut into

Former FORMULA 1 driver, Will Stevens, joins Manor as the team expands its entry in the WEC to two cars. Former FORMULA 1 driver, Will Stevens, joins Manor as the team expands its entry in the WEC to two cars. Only a few weeks after confirming its entry into WEC, the team is now pleased to reveal the first in a series of announcements to be made between now and The Prologue. Bringing strength, speed and an excellent working relationship with the team is former F1 dr

A lot of times we get asked to explain what the FIA World Endurance Championship is all about, so we tell people and they seem to understand - one thing that you can't get over is the passion and emotion of it. Thankfully the FIA have a video that shows this - so sit back and enjoy... Witness the spirit of Le Mans, feel the emotion, experience the state-of-the-art technological performance here in the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship action video #fiawec #wec #LeMan