21 July 2016
Nurburg, 21 July – The World Endurance Championship (WEC) resumes with its fourth round on the short track at the Nurburgring, just over a month after the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
GTE-Pro. Two AF Corse 488 GTEs will be on track in the GTE-Pro class. The Piacenza based team needs to put the disappointment of the 24 Hours of Le Mans behind it and get back to the route plan of the first two races of the season, both won by car no. 71 of Sam Bird and Davide Rigon, who presents the round in this video. The pair are second in the drivers' standings and at the Nurburgring will be endeavouring to retake the first position they held until Le Mans. Ferrari is itself second among the manufacturers. James Calado and Gianmaria "Gimmi" Bruni, crew of 488 GTE no. 51, are even thirstier for revenge after a very complicated start to the season.
GTE-Am. Emmanuel Collard, François Perrodo and Rui Aguas are in a much stronger position in the GTE-Am class where they are competing at the wheel of the 458 Italia no. 83 of AF Corse. The trio, on the podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and first among the WEC permanent entries, hold a 38-point lead over David Heinemeier-Hansson and Khaled Al-Qubaisi in a Porsche and have more than twice as many points as Mathias Lauda, Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana in an Aston Martin.
Programme. Free practice sessions are on Friday while qualifying in the GT class will be at 2:15 pm on Saturday. The race is due to start at 1 pm on Sunday. Ferrari has chalked up over 60 previous victories at the Nurburgring, in its various configurations. Piero Carini was the first winner, driving a 340 America in 1952. The most recent success happened last week with the 458 Italia of NGK Spark Plug by Racing One of Mike Jager, Christian Kohlhaas and Stephan Kohler in the VLN Endurance championship.