This weekend's 4 Hours of Silverstone marks the start of the 2019/20 FIA World Endurance Championship. In a four-part series, Motorsport Week takes a look at all of the four classes in detail. Who are the title favorites? Who will spring a surprise? In the penultimate part, we take a look at GTE Pro. The top GT class has been struck hard by the departure of two major manufacturers, which leaves just three. Which of the remaining teams will win this season's fight for supremacy?
After the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the World Endurance Championship was struck by a number of high-calibre withdrawals. And nowhere have these withdrawals had a bigger impact than in GTE Pro.
SMP Racing and Dragonspeed left in LMP1, but the departure of two hugely influential and historical manufacturers in BMW and Ford has left GTE Pro reeling. BMW ended its WEC programme after just a single season, while Ford’s ending of the factory GT program means that we’ll not be seeing the Ford GT in WEC for the first time in three years.
In their absence, Porsche, Ferrari and Aston Martin are left to pick up the pieces, entering two cars each. Porsche dominated the class during the Super Season, but now return to defend their two titles with a brand new car: the 911 RSR-19. The two driver pairings remain unchanged, with Richard Lietz and Gianmaria Bruni in the #91, and defending champions Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen in the #92.
The old RSR proved mighty last season, and their line-up continues to be near flawless, so everything will come down to the new weapon of choice. How quick will the RSR-19 be straight out of the box? BMW and Aston Martin’s experiences tell us that it isn’t easy to immediately compete for wins with a new car.
With Porsche possibly not able to hit the ground running, that presents Ferrari and Aston Martin with an opportunity to make a significant impact early on. Ferrari is entering its third season with the 488 GTE, and with a class win at Le Mans under their belt arguably are in the best position to make a dent early on.
Their driver line-up remains almost unchanged. The #51 is driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado, while Sam Bird will not be driving the #71, possibly due to Formula E clashes. His seat will be taken up by fellow factory ace Miguel Molina. The Spaniard partners Davide Rigon.
Aston Martin, meanwhile, enter their second full season with a Vantage AMR that is now much more competitive than it was at its debut. This was evidenced by a win at Shanghai, a strong showing at Sebring and a second win at Spa, before grabbing class pole at Le Mans. The team was then hit with a late BoP adjustment and had an anonymous race, but the car has proven itself to have become a lot quicker compared to Spa 2018.
Driving duties remain unchanged for the British marque. Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim reform the Dane Train in the #95, while Spa victors Maxime Martin and Alex Lynn return to the #97.
With Porsche bringing a new car, Aston Martin having improved greatly and Ferrari arguably having the strongest package, a slimmed down GTE Pro could still be a very interesting one at the end of the day.
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