Fuji Super Subs Ready for Action
A quartet of replacement drivers are ready to shine at
Several driver swaps have been activated for the 6 Hours of Fuji this weekend as teams have had to get creative to maximise their potential for the WEC’s return to Japan for the first time since 2019.
In LMP2 a familiar face will slot into the Vector Sport team as Nico Mueller competes in the DTM event at Spa this weekend.
Renger van der Zande joins his IMSA teammate Sebastien Bourdais and Ryan Cullen in the new to WEC team that made its debut at Sebring in March.
The Dutch ace is very familiar with the WEC having made his debut in the first season a decade ago with the Lotus LMP2 team at Spa. He then went on to compete for DragonSpeed in the Super Season before switching to the Inter Europol Competition squad last season where he took five point scoring finishes including third placed points at Le Mans.
Also, in LMP2 there is a significant change with the reigning LMP2 champions WRT. With Rene Rast joining Nico Mueller in racing at Spa this weekend, the Belgian team has drafted in Dries Vanthoor to join Robin Frijns and Sean Geleal in the No.31 Oreca-Gibson.
This is the first WEC race outside of the 24 Hours of Le Mans that Vanthoor has competed in. The Belgian, who is the younger brother of 2018 Le Mans LMGTE Pro champion Laurens, raced with WRT at La Sarthe in June, sharing one of the teams Oreca-Gibson cars with Mirko Bortolotti and Ralf Ineichen and taking 11th in class.
Davide Rigon joins Francesco Castellacci and Thomas Flohr in the No.54 AF Corse entered Ferrari at Fuji to deputise for Nick Cassidy, who like Rast and Mueller is racing at Spa.
Rigon has 54 starts to his name in WEC and has enjoyed notable successes, such as LMGTE Pro victories at Silverstone and Spa in 2016 and again at Spa a season later.
He formed a strong partnership with Sam Bird at AF Corse and came close to title success in ’16 but ultimately just lost out to Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen.
A late change came on Thursday morning when Takeshi Kimura was confirmed as a replacement for American driver Brendan Iribe.
Kimura raced four times at Le Mans with Kessel, Car Guy and MR Racing, taking a best result of 12th in LMGTE Am this season.
Main photo with thanks to Brecht Decancq/WRT
