Championship Points Make World Champions
With three races left on the 8-round 2015 World Endurance Championship calendar all of the eleven titles are still wide open. Porsche leads the way in the World Manufacturers title race, while Audi’s Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer are still ahead in the World Drivers’ Championship thanks to five podium finishes, including two wins in the UK and Belgium.
2015 WORLD ENDURANCE DRIVERS' AND MANUFACTURERS’ CHAMPIONSHIPS
Porsche is currently 36 points ahead of Audi thanks to wins at Le Mans, Nürburgring and Circuit of The Americas but, with a maximum of 44 points per race available and a total of 132 points over the final three races, the championship is far from over. Toyota is 119 points behind Porsche and while it is still mathematically in the running, the reigning world champions will be concentrating on securing their first win of the season at home in Fuji.
In the Drivers’ Championship Fässler, Lotterer and Tréluyer are on 113 points, 10 points ahead of the victors in Germany and Texas Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber. With a maximum of 26 points per race available (a total of 78 points), the title fight will be shaping up nicely once the results from the 6 Hours of Fuji are known on Sunday evening. Porsche’s Neel Jani, Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas are in third spot on 77.5 points, 35.5 behind the leaders after the no18 Porsche was forced into the garage with a technical issue for a long period in Texas.
2015 WORLD ENDURANCE CUP FOR GT DRIVERS AND MANUFACTURERS
In the LMGTE the situation is even tighter with World Champion Ferrari holding a very slender 2 point advantage over Porsche after the German manufacturer scored a 1-2 finish in the last two races. Aston Martin is lying 59 points behind Ferrari with a maximum of 132 points still left to play for.
The World Endurance Cup for GT Drivers is currently being led by Porsche’s Richard Lietz on 98 points, 11 ahead of Ferrari’s James Calado and Davide Rigon (87 points), with Lietz’s teammate Michael Christensen on 80 points. World Champions Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander are in fourth place on 68.5 points, 29.5 behind the leader with a maximum of 78 points still available.
In the LMGTE Pro Teams Endurance Trophy, the no91 Porsche Team Manthey 911 is currently on 107 points with the no71 AF Corse Ferrari on 101 points.
2015 FIA ENDURANCE TROPHY FOR PRIVATE LMP1 TEAMS
In the LMP1 Private Teams Endurance Trophy standings, Rebellion Racing’s Nicolas Prost, Nick Heidfeld and Mathias Beche (69 points) hold a single point advantage over teammates Alexandre Imperatori, Daniel Abt and Dominik Kraihamer (68 points). However the no4 Bykolles duo of Simon Trummer and Pierre Kaffer have been on the top step of the podium in the last two races and are just 19 points behind. This situation is mirrored for the LMP1 Teams Endurance Trophy with a maximum of 75 points still to be won in both title races.
2015 FIA ENDURANCE TROPHY FOR LMP2 DRIVERS AND TEAMS
In the LMP2 Drivers Endurance Trophy chase, KCMG’s Matt Howson and Richard Bradley are leading the no26 G-Drive Racing crew of Julien Canal, Roman Rusinov and Sam Bird by 14 points thanks to the G-Drive crew’s triumph in Texas last time out. The two crews have each scored two wins and two pole positions in the first five races, but G-Drive has been on the podium in all five races whereas the KCMG ORECA finished 4th at Silverstone.
Howson and Bradley are currently on 122 points compared to 108 for Canal, Rusinov and Bird, with 104 points scored by the no28 G-Drive Racing Latin American trio of Gustavo Yacaman, Ricardo Gonzalez and Pipo Derani. Once again these standings are mirrored for the LMP2 Team Endurance Trophy with a maximum of 78 points still available.
2015 FIA ENDURANCE TROPHY FOR LMGTE AM DRIVERS AND TEAMS
After taking three wins in the last three races, including class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the no72 SMP Racing Ferrari trio of Andrea Bertolini, Victor Shaytar and Aleksey Basov has taken a commanding 35 point lead in the LMGTE Am Team and Driver Endurance Trophies. The Russian team is on 131 points compared to the 96 points currently scored by Rui Aguas, Emmanuel Collard and François Perrodo in the no83 AF Corse Ferrari. The winners of the Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps rounds, Pedro Lamy, Paul Dalla Lana and Mathias Lauda, are currently lying in third spot in the no98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 on 81 points, 50 behind the leaders and just two points ahead of Patrick Dempsey, Patrick Long and Marco Seefried in the no77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche, with 78 points still left to win in Fuji, Shanghai and Bahrain.
The 6 Hours of Fuji is Round 6 of the 2015 World Endurance Championship and will take place in the shadow of Mount Fuji in Japan on Sunday 11 October.
CLICK HERE for the current championship positions after Round 5 in the USA
CLICK HERE for more information on the 6 Hours of Fuji