6H Silverstone: Increased racing action and close competition in store

The 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship is almost upon us with the annual WEC season-opener at Silverstone, the Home of British Motor Racing.  Extremely close competition, more passing and more on-track battles among the 27 competitors are expected in the 6 Hours of Silverstone (14-16 April), and a packed timetable of on and off track entertainment has been programmed for the huge crowds which traditionally enjoy the world championship’s only visit to Great Britain.

Fans coming over this Easter weekend will be able to see not only the WEC, but also the opening round of the European Le Mans Series, the new-look World Series Formula V8 3.5 and the start of the FIA F3 Championship.  Non-stop action and entertainment!

Strong pre-season testing results offer thrilling LMP1 encounter

Four British drivers will be among those going for outright honours in the LMP1 category, which carries the added prospect of winning the coveted Royal Automobile Club Tourist Trophy. The oldest trophy in motorsport has only been won once by a British driver, Anthony Davidson, since the WEC launched in 2012.

Porsche LMP Team and Toyota Gazoo Racing both revealed their new-for-2017 prototypes in Monza, Italy last week, and had a productive two days of testing at the high-speed track.  While outright lap times were not necessarily representative of the season ahead, Silverstone will see both teams using their high-downforce aerodynamic packages in public for the first time, and laps times will undoubtedly be spectacular and extremely close.  

Toyota’s Mike Conway (with Kamui Kobayashi and José Maria Lopez) and Anthony Davidson (alongside Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima) will face stern competition from Porsche’s strong line up which includes fellow Briton Nick Tandy, who is making his first attempt at the outright victory at Silverstone after previous outings in LMGTE Pro and LMP2. Tandy will drive the No.1 Porsche 919 Hybrid with two-time Tourist Trophy winner André Lotterer and defending WEC champion Neel Jani, with 2015 championship-winners Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley being joined in the No.2 by Earl Bamber.

Oliver Webb completes the quartet of British drivers in LMP1, campaigning the Nissan-engined ByKolles CLM P1/01 with four-time British GP starter Robert Kubica. 

Tight at the top in LMP2

Nine of the new Gibson-engined LMP2 cars will be at Silverstone, with just one Alpine A470 among the ORECA 07s.  The second Signatech Alpine Matmut entry will return for the second round of the championship in Belgium.

At The Prologue in Monza there was little to choose between TDS Racing, Vaillante Rebellion, Jackie Chan DC Racing, G-Drive Racing, Signatech Alpine Matmut and CEFC Manor TRS Racing – just half a second separating all these teams in the final analysis of fastest lap times.  Some excellent nose-to-tail racing is promised, with exciting young talent among the driver line ups.

Among these will be 22-year-old Briton Matt Rao who joins reigning LMP2 champions Signatech-Alpine for his second season in the WEC.  He will be seeking his first victory in the WEC, and will benefit from the experience and speed of team mates Nicolas Lapierre and Gustavo Menezes.

Former Williams F1 reserve driver Alex Lynn moves to G-Drive Racing for 2017, while the Sino-British Jackie Chan DC Racing team has two British drivers: Alex Brundle and ex LMP1 star Oliver Jarvis.  Thai/British competitor Tor Graves’ CEFC Manor TRS Racing teammates will include former F1 driver Jean-Eric Vergne who will be making his WEC debut at Silverstone. 

A full entry list for the 6 Hours of Silverstone is available to download HERE.

Practice and qualifying at the 5.901 km circuit which is based in Northamptonshire, approximately 70 miles north west of London, takes place on 14/15 April, with the 6-hour race itself getting underway on Sunday 16 April at 12h00 local time.

For more ticketing information, click HERE.