Who’s new for WEC Season 8? Part 1
One of the most popular categories in WEC Season 8 is the LMGTE Am category, which sees a total of 11 entries from the likes of Porsche, Ferrari and Aston Martin.
LMGTE Am teams must use at least one bronze-rated driver, as well as one rated no higher than silver. In a bid to keep costs down, only cars that are a minimum of one year old can be entered.
Newcomers for Season 8 in LMGTE Am include British team Red River Sport who, in collaboration with Spirit of Race, will compete in a Ferrari 488 GTE Evo. British drivers Bonamy Grimes and Johnny Mowlem are listed to drive at the official pre-season test in Barcelona.
Red River Sport co-founder and experienced sportscar driver Johnny Mowlem, explained how the new team came about: “Since Bon and I started working together on his first ever track day only four years ago, he has progressed incredibly quickly, not just in terms of his raw pace, but also his ability to cope with all the other elements that competing at the highest level in a motor race involves.”
Mowlem, who has competed at Le Mans ten times, added: “Bon has shown a commitment to this sport that is often comparable with the professional teammates that I've had in my past racing career. He has competed in a huge amount of events now in a wide variety of GT and LMP machinery ranging from Britcar and GT Cup, to the Asian Le Mans Series, and he is ready for this next challenge.”
Reigning LMGTE Am Champions Team Project 1 will be return for Season 8 in a bid to retain their teams’ title with a pair of Porsche 911 RSR cars.
Winning #LeMans24 is not only down to the drivers. It needs this enthusiastic and hard working team to win this legendary #race 🥇 Thanks to all who were part of the great story #teamproject1 #project1_93 #WEC #porsche #Superfinale #champion #winner #team pic.twitter.com/Bc8zaYohjt
— Project 1 Motorsport (@Project1_93) June 20, 2019
Ready to challenge Team Project 1 is AF Corse and two Ferrari 488 GTE Evo cars. Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci, Giancarlo Fisichella will take to the wheel of the No. 54 car while 2016 class champions François Perrodo and Emmanuel Collard will be joined by reigning Ferrari Challenge Europe Champion Nicklas Nielsen in the No. 83 car.
Regular LMGTE Am entries TF Sport, Aston Martin Racing, Gulf Racing and MR Racing will also be back for Season 8. Finally, last year’s category runners-up Dempsey-Proton Racing will return with the No. 77 and No. 88 Porsche 911 RSRs making the total number of full-season entries up to a healthy 11.
