20 WEC Facts and Figures Ahead of the 6 Hours of Circuit of The Americas
Round 5 of the 2015 World Endurance Championship will be held at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas on 17-19 September. This will be the third visit by the WEC to the Lone Star State and the fourth race in the United States of America.
We’ve put together some facts and figures about the event, the WEC and the 3.4-mile circuit near Austin.
1. The first ever FIA World Endurance Championship race was held in the USA at Sebring, Florida in March 2012. In 2013 the date of the North American round was moved to September and the race would be held at the Circuit of the Americas.
2. The event was named the Lone Star Le Mans in 2014. The WEC race is the 6 Hours of Circuit of The Americas.
3. The Lone Star Le Mans event features a round of the Tudor United Sports Car Championship and is one of three ‘super endurance’ weekends on the 2015 WEC calendar. At Silverstone in April the WEC and the European Le Mans Series raced on the same weekend and in October the WEC and the Asian Le Mans Series will also race at the same event at Fuji Speedway in Japan
4. Audi is unbeaten at Circuit of the Americas, in fact they are unbeaten in the USA after winning the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2012. Tom Kristensen / Loic Duval / Allan McNish won in 2013 and Marcel Fässler / Andre Lotterer / Benoit Tréluyer won last year.
5. Aston Martin are also unbeaten after winning both the LMGTE Pro and Am classes in 2013 and 2014. In GTE Pro Bruno Senna / Fred Makowiecki won in 2013 and Darren Turner / Stefan Mücke won in 2014. In GTE Am Stuart Hall and Jamie Campbell-Walter won in 2013 and Paul Dalla Lana / Pedro Lamy / Christoffer Nygaard won last year.
6. Oreca is unbeaten in LMP2. Honours are shared between G-Drive Racing and KCMG. Roman Rusinov / John Martin / Mike Conway won in 2013 and current LMP2 championship leaders Richard Bradley / Mark Howson, along with Tsugio Matsuda, won last year. Both teams raced an ORECA-Nissan – G-Drive with an 03 in 2013 and KCMG an 03R in 2014.
7. LAP RECORDS
- LMP1 B. Tréluyer Audi R18 e-tron quattro 1m47.375 184.9kph 22 Sept 2013
- LMP2 M. Conway Oreca 03 - Nissan 1m54.559 173.3kph 22 Sept 2013
- LMGTE Pro K. Kobayashi Ferrari F458 Italia 2m03.520 160.8kph 22 Sept 2013
- LMGTE Am N. Thiim Aston Martin Vantage V8 2m04.830 159.1kph 22 Sept 2013
8. 31 WEC cars will compete in Texas, representing 10 different nations - AUT, CHE, DEU, FRA, GBR, HKG, ITA, JPN, RUS, USA
9. 86 drivers will be on the grid at CoTA, from 19 countries - ARE, AUS, AUT, BRA, CAN, CHE, COL, DEU, DNK, FRA, FIN, GBR, ITA, JPN, MEX, NZL, PRT, RUS, USA
10. The 6 Hours of Circuit of The Americas is only one of two night races on the WEC calendar (excluding the 24 Hours of Le Mans), the other being the 6 Hours of Bahrain in November.
11. Since March 2012 Audi have taken the most victories in the WEC with 15 wins in LMP1.
12. In LMGTE Aston Martin have taken 22 wins since March 2012, with 9 in LMGTE Pro and 13 in LMGTE Am
13. Gianmaria Bruni is the driver with the most WEC victories, with 11 so far since March 2012.
14. Marcel Fassler, Benoit Treluyer and Andre Lotterer have scored 10 overall wins since 2012
15. Roman Rusinov is the most successful LMP2 driver since 2012 with 9 wins for G-Drive Racing.
16. The Circuit of the Americas is the only FIA-certified Grade 1 track in the United States.
17. The Circuit of The Americas track is a 3.4-mile circuit track with an elevation change of 133 feet / 40.5m.
18. Construction of the track began in January 2011
19. The track is 20-turn, counterclockwise and draws inspiration from the best circuits around the world. There is a steep, uphill run into the hairpin Turn 1, which has become the venue's signature corner. Turns 3 through 6 look not dissimilar to Silverstone's high-speed Maggotts/Becketts; Turns 12 through 15 give a nod to Hockenheim's stadium section.
20. Construction of the 375-acre Circuit of The Americas project cost approximately $400 million in private investment and created approximately 1,700 construction jobs.