24h Le Mans
At the 6 Hours of Fuji, the seventh round of the 2016 World Endurance Championship (WEC), the battle for overall victory went down to the wire with just 1.439 seconds separating the top two. And, in LM P2, it was tighter still as G-Drive Racing pipped RGR Sport by Morand by a mere 1.398 seconds! Championship leader Signatech Alpine took third.
With a sixth podium finish in seven races, including four wins, Signatech Alpine have taken another big step towards the FIA Endurance Trophy for LM P2 Teams. Meanwhile, G-Drive Racing finally clinched their first win of the season with their Oreca 05. As the Russian team had taken five pole positions since the start of the season, it was only a matter of time before it would all come good on race day.
At Fuji, Roman Rusinov, the current holder of the FIA Endurance Trophy for LM P2 Drivers, and Alex Brundle, a member of the lineup since Nürburgring, were boosted by the return of Will Stevens in place of René Rast who had joined Audi’s DTM squad. Stevens had made an appearance for G-Drive Racing at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The upshot of all these changes is that Rusinov stands alone in third place in the Driver table, albeit 59 points off the lead. As there are now just 52 points to be won, the Russian has no chance of catching up with leading trio Nicolas Lapierre, Stéphane Richelmi, and Gustavo Menezes.
The Signatech Alpine trio have a lead of 38 points over their closest rivals, whose second place in Japan has prolonged the suspense for at least another round. Like Signatech Alpine, RGR Sport by Morand have been on the podium five times this season. It was the 24 Hours of Le Mans that made all the difference as the Mexican outfit had to make do with tenth place, behind the class-winning Bourges-based team. Owner/driver Ricardo González’s outfit did pick up the 16 points awarded for sixth place at Le Mans however, owing to the number of non-WEC entries in the top ten.
If you were wondering why RGR Sport by Morand has three points more than their driver lineup of González, Filipe Albuquerque and Bruno Senna (136 to 133), or why G-Drive Racing has two more than Rusinov, you need to cast your mind back to Spa-Francorchamps. Manor’s second Oreca 05 finished in third spot there, ahead of the Ligier JS P2 fielded by RGR Sport by Morand and G-Drive Racing’s Oreca 05. As this second Manor car was not entered for the whole championship season, the team did not win any points, although the drivers (Rao/Bradley/Merhi) did.
The penultimate round of the season – the 6 Hours of Shanghai – will be held on 6 November, ahead of the grand finale in Bahrain on 19 November.
Full results of the 6 Hours of Fuji
Photo (credit: Gabi Tomescu – AdrenalMedia.com/FIA WEC): The pole-winning #26 Oreca 05 fielded by G-Drive Racing tasted victory for the first time this season.
