WEC - 34 Car Entry for 1000 Miles of Sebring

Round 6 of the 2018/19 FIA World Endurance Championship will take place on Friday 15 March at Sebring in the United States of America. The grid will feature 34 cars and 99 drivers representing 28 different nations from all corners of the globe, including five American drivers for the first WEC race in Florida since March 2012.

There are seven entries in the LMP1 category, with a two car entry by Toyota Gazoo Racing with championship leaders Fernando Alonso, Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastien Buemi in the no8 TS050-Hybrid. 2017 FIA World Endurance Champion Brendon Hartley rejoins the grid in Sebring, the Kiwi joining Mikhail Aleshin and Vitaly Petrov in the no11 SMP Racing BR1-AER, replacing Jenson Button at Sebring and at Spa-Francorchamps in May.

American Gustavo Menezes will once again be joined by Thomas Laurent in the no3 Rebellion Racing R13-Gibson, with Nathanael Berthon replacing Mathias Beche, who replaces Andre Lotterer in the no1 R13-Gibson alongside Bruno Senna and Neel Jani.

A mammoth 11 car grid forms the LMGTE Pro section of the WEC in Sebring, with Chevrolet once again joining Aston Martin, BMW, Ferrari, Ford and Porsche to bring the number of GTE manufacturers to six. Porsche’s Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen will be looking to extend their championship lead while 6 Hours of Shanghai winners Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim will be joined by the highly experienced Darren Turner as the British manufacturer looks to exploit the form that saw the new Aston Martin Vantage take its first win Round 5 in China.

Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK will be fielding two American drivers with Spa-Francorchamps race winner Billy Johnson rejoining his French and German teammates Olivier Pla and Stefan Mucke in the no66 Ford GT, while Jonathan Bomarito will race at his home race alongside British duo Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell in the no67 car.

Seven LMP2s will be taking part in the 1000 Miles of Sebring with the no38 Jackie Chan DC Racing of Ho-Pin Tung, Gabriel Aubry and Stéphane Richelmi looking to continue a run of five 1st or 2nd place finishes in the opening five rounds and extend their slender 10 point lead over the no36 Signatech Alpine Matmut A470-Gibson of Nicolas Lapierre, André Negrão and Pierre Thiriet.

Former European Le Mans Series Champion Gunnar Jeannette will be the sole American driver on the LMP2 grid, racing in the no50 Larbre Competition Ligier alongside French duo Erwin Creed and Romano Ricci.

The nine car LMGTE Am grid will see Porsche, Ferrari and Aston Martin go head to head with current championship leaders, the no56 Team Project 1 Porsche of German Jorg Bergmeister, Norway’s Edigio Perfetti and American Patrick Lindsey, leading the class by 20 points. They are being chased hard by the two Aston Martin crews of Paul Dalla Lana, Mathias Lauda and Pedro Lamy in the no98 Vantage and Salih Yoluc, Charlie Eastwood and Jonny Adam in the no90 TF Sport Vantage.

Germany’s Christian Ried, who will join fellow 6 Hours of Shanghai race winners Julien Andlauer and Matt Campbell in the no77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche, will be the only driver on the WEC grid to have competed in all 56 races held since the FIA World Endurance Championship debut at Sebring in March 2012. Ried also stood on the top step of the LMGTE Am podium in that first race at Sebring alongside Gianluca Roda, who will compete in the no88 Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche in the 2019 race, and Paolo Ruberti.

CLICK HERE to download the provisional entry list for the 1000 Miles of Sebring.

The 1000 Miles of Sebring

The 1000 Miles of Sebring marks a return by the FIA World Endurance Championship to the circuit where the first race was run in March 2012.

In 2013 the US round of the FIA WEC moved to the Circuit of The Americas in Texas, but Sebring has returned to the calendar with the first race that is longer than the normal 6 hour format.

The 1000 miles of Sebring will get underway at 16:00 on Friday 15 March, with the chequered flag expected to be shown at midnight, 8 hours later.