Sebring 1000M Preview: Part 1, GTE AM

The 2023 FIA WEC season is upon us and there is so much to talk about. The new-look Hypercar class will grab most of the headlines, but there is intrigue up and down this field.

First up on the schedule is the Prologue test at Sebring this weekend before the season gets properly underway a week later as part of the double-header with IMSA with a 1000-mile race, the 79th race in WEC history.

It is going to be unmissable.

Before the cars hit the track for the first time though, let’s take a look at the runners and riders set to embark on Season 11, starting with GTE Am.

GTE Am is the sole remaining GTE class left in the championship following GTE Pro’s swansong at the end of last season. With Porsche and Ferrari taking their factory efforts to Hypercar, it leaves Corvette to move to GTE Am, the sole remaining GT class for the four active makes to take part in this year before GT3 machinery makes its debut in the FIA WEC next season.

Until then, it’s time to make the most of GTE’s farewell tour.

Aston Martin

The three teams from last season all return to fly the flag for Aston Martin this season, though one is entered under a different name, TF Sport’s Vantage now running under the ORT (Oman Racing Team) by TF Sport banner.

Competing with TF this year, in the wake of Ben Keating moving to Corvette Racing’s factory effort, is Ahmad Al Harthy, along with American Michael Dinan and Charlie Eastwood. This will be Al Harthy’s debut in the FIA WEC, but not his first time competing in a GTE car, as last season he enjoyed a race win and a further podium competing in the ELMS with TF.

This effort, the first in WEC history with the Omani flag, marks a clear progression for Al Harthy, who has been competing with Aston Martins for many years in GT3 competition. It will be interesting to see how he fares with Dinan, who has GT experience in World Challenge America and IMSA, and Eastwood, who has impressed throughout his first two WEC seasons with the TF outfit.

The other two Vantage AMRs come from D’Station Racing and Northwest AMR.

The D’Station car, which is again being run by Tom Ferrier’s outfit, will be driven by owner Satoshi Hoshino, and regular Tomonobu Fujii, along with WEC debutant Casper Stevenson. As an outfit, the Japanese team will be looking to build on last season’s effort which featured a single podium on home soil at Fuji.

Stevenson may also be one to watch in the class, the 19-year-old Briton steps into the world of GTE racing for the first time after competing in GT World Challenge Europe last year with AKKodis ASP and 2 Seas.

Northwest AMR meanwhile sees Paul Dalla Lana back for another crack at the GTE Am title and Le Mans. Clearly, the focus will be on scoring a maiden class win at La Sarthe, something which has eluded him since his debut in 2013. At present, we only know that he will race with factory ace Nicki Thiim. The third seat in the car is not yet filled, we will have to wait until the track action starts to find out who will complete the trio.

Corvette

Corvette’s factory effort for the FIA WEC has a new look to it this year. Gone is the all-pro line-up, in its place is what promises to be a contending pro-am combination of Ben Keating, Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone, who are tasked with representing the American marque on the world stage in the 25th anniversary season for Corvette Racing.

This effort, which is being run out of Larbre’s base in Europe but is staffed by Pratt Miller personnel in the shop and at the track, brings not only variety to the class, but an entry with title aspirations.

Keating needs no introduction as a Bronze driver. The Texan, who was flagged by the FIA for a rating upgrade review over the winter, is defending both his Am title and Le Mans win this season driving what will be his sixth GTE car. He’s quick, consistent and is bouyed by the chance to represent Corvette for the first time in 2023. Though he admitted to DSC this week that it was difficult to move on from TF Sport after so much success.

Catsburg is also a known quantity in this company. The Dutchman, who was part of Corvette Racing’s endurance line-ups between 2020-2022, is now the lead driver for this effort. It’s a role which he says he is really looking forward to fulfilling. He’s as versatile as he is quick. This weekend at Sebring will see him drive his third different GT car in three months to kick off the year, as he drove a Mercedes at Bathurst and a BMW in the Asian Le Mans Series, winning the class title with Walkenhorst (and he’ll add a fourth with the Frikadelli Ferrari 296 GT3 in NLS too).

Varrone is the newcomer here. The Argentinian along with Keating turned his first laps in a Corvette during the post-season Rookie test in Bahrain, and is new to the WEC. However, he has valuable GTE experience to draw from. Last year he formed part of Rinaldi Racing’s ELMS effort with Ferrari, winning on his series debut at Paul Ricard. He also raced at Le Mans with Iron Lynx.

Interestingly, the car in use for this programme is not the GTE Pro chassis that was campaigned by Corvette last season, instead, Corvette tells DSC, this is a brand new build car.

Ferrari

Four Ferrari 488 GTE EVOs will line-up on the grid this season, three of which are being run by AF Corse, that lest we forget is competing in Hypercar this year with the 499P, meaning five cars run by the Italian outfit will be travelling the world with the FIA WEC.

Remarkably, a Ferrari didn’t win a single Am race in the 2022 season, though AF Corse did claim the GTE Manufacturers World Championship in its final GTE Pro campaign. AF Corse’s customers will be looking to change that this year.

The GTE Am teams standings last year didn’t make for good reading for the Italian make, as the bottom three teams were all from Ferrari and the best placed 488 in the standings – in third – was entered by Iron Dames, which has switched to Porsche for this season.

Of the four Ferraris which one has the greatest chance to challenge? The #21 may emerge as a contender. Stefano Constantini impressed in the Asian Le Mans Series last month, Ulysse de Pauw is a GT World Challenge Silver Cup Champion and Simon Mann now has a full WEC season under his belt and an Italian GT Championship Pro-Am title to his name.

The #54 will also hope to be in the mix at each event. Last year the crew netted three top five finishes but failed to find a way onto the podium. Thomas Flohr and Francesco Castellacci will hope that the addition of Ferrari factory driver Davide Rigon improves its fortunes.

Rigon has been a familiar face in the WEC paddock over the years, with six full seasons driving Ferraris on his CV. While keen observers will have become used to seeing him in AF Corse’s Pro line-up, this season isn’t Rigon’s first in Am, as he made four appearances with 8 Star Motorsport back in 2013 driving a 458 Italia.

The Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari also has the potential to turn heads with the punchy combination of Alessio Rovera, Lilou Wadoux and Luis Perez Companc put together for this season. Rovera will be one to keep an eye on, the Italian moving back into the FIA WEC’s GTE ranks after a year spent with AF in LMP2, winning the Pro-Am Cup in 2022. We hear too that Lilou Wadoux has impressed in testing!

Outside of the AF Corse Stable, Kessel Racing has a single 488 entered for the season. The Swiss team brings CarGuy founder Takeshi Kimura, young American Scott Huffaker (who has recent IMSA LMP2 experience) and 2017 Le Mans class winner Daniel Serra for the season.

Porsche

Porsche has strength in numbers this season, with six 911 RSR 19s on the entry for the car’s final season in GTE competition, and four quality customer teams set to do battle.

The headline here is the Iron Lynx/Iron Dames effort, which makes a switch to the German marque from Ferrari. This move comes before the team’s forthcoming factory-supported Lamborghini LMDh programme that will see it compete in both the FIA WEC and IMSA’s Michelin Endurance Cup in 2024.

For this year though, alongside its packed GT schedule outside of the WEC in World Challenge Europe, IMSA, Le Mans Cup and Super Trofeo, it brings two Porsche to the class, both with aspirant driver line-ups.

In the #60 Claudio Schiavoni and Matteo Cressoni return, and will be joined by Belgian ace Alessio Picariello who brings a wealth of Porsche experience to the outfit.

The Iron Dames-flagged #85 sees Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Sarah Bovy all return to the team and will look to contend for podiums throughout the season after a planned reshuffle due to proposed driver grading changes for both Bovy and Gatting was cancelled when both had their 2022 gradings restored on appeal.

For this WEC programme, Iron Lynx is set to benefit from the support from Proton Competition, which itself is running a pair of Porsches in Am to start the season.

Proton’s 2023 season is going to be a landmark one, as alongside its GTE commitments the size of the operation will expand later in the season, when when it takes delivery of its 963 and joins the Hypercar class.

For 2023 the #77 Dempsey-Proton labeled 911 will be driven by team owner Christian Ried, Dane Mikkel Pedersen and rapid Frenchman Julien Andlauer. The #88 sees season start with the North American duo of Ryan Hardwick and Zacharie Robichon compete with Harry Tincknell, who will be keen to improve on last season’s campaign which saw him challenge for the title with Ried and Seb Priaulx.

The remaining pair of Porsches come from GR Racing and Project 1. Project 1 – AO, which has been in the FIA WEC since 2018, returns with a single car and an intriguing crew of Bronze-rated software developer turned racer PJ Hyett, ELMS, ALMS and Grand Am class champion Gunnar Jeanette and 2021 Nurburgring 24 Hours winner Matteo Cairoli. Certainly one to watch!

Finally, GR Racing is back and with an identical line up to last season, with longtime teammates Ben Barker and team owner Mike Wainwright sharing the car with Ricardo Pera.

Last year’s highlight for the team came at Le Mans when it finished fourth in the class and third of the full-season runners. Can it better that result this year?

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