LMGTE:  Can Ferrari win big in Shanghai?

If the excitement is palpable in the battle for LMP1 and LMP2 honours this season, then the fight for LMGTE Pro and Am glory is reaching fever pitch.
The LMGTE Pro category has seen its most competitive season ever, with multiple winners and some classic battles throughout each of the seven rounds held so far.

The first ever GT FIA World Endurance Drivers Championship currently sees Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado enjoy a 5-point advantage over Porsche duo Frédéric Makowiecki and Richard Lietz.

The No.51 AF Corse Ferrari pair has the momentum at present after back-to-back wins at COTA and Fuji but has never won in LMGTE Pro in Shanghai over the past five seasons. 

Remarkably, all of the eight entrants in the LMGTE Pro class could still mathematically take the title this season.

However, it seems increasingly likely that a four-way shootout between the aforementioned Ferrari and Porsche entries will be joined by leaders for most of the season – the No.67 Ford GT pairing of Harry Tincknell and Andy Priaulx, together with Calado and Pier Guidi’s stablemates in the AF Corse squad, Sam Bird and Davide Rigon.

Just 17.5 points separate all four pairs of challengers, three of which have at least one victory to their name this season.

The battle is so close that the importance of the additional point for pole position could be crucial. So far in 2017 it is Bird and Rigon who have shone the most with three pole positions.

The manufacturers’ championship sees Ferrari enjoy a 47-point advantage over Porsche. Porsche must score at least three more points than the Prancing Horse this weekend otherwise the title is heading Maranello way for a second successive season.

In the LMGTE Am class the Drivers’ battle is even closer as just six points covers the top three protagonists.

After wins at Nürburgring and Mexico City, the Dempsey Proton Porsche team of Matteo Cairoli, Marvin Dienst and Christian Ried have a mere single point advantage over the Aston Martin Racing squad of Paul Dalla Lana, Mathias Lauda and Pedro Lamy.

Making it three manufacturers in the mix for AM glory is the Clearwater Ferrari team with Keita Sawa, Matt Griffin and Weng Sun Mok just six points adrift of the leaders after a stellar debut WEC campaign in 2017.

It seems highly unlikely that the title can be taken this weekend and that a final race duel in the desert is guaranteed in two week’s time at the Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain and, as it is even closer in the teams’ stakes with just three points covering the top three, this too will run on to the final round.