The entry list for March’s FIA World Endurance Championship 1,000 Miles of Sebring has been updated to include Corvette Racing for their second WEC entry outside the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The American manufacturer will enter a single car into the race, following their first appearance in a WEC-only round since 2014 at last year’s 6 Hours of Shanghai. In the rain-effected Chinese round, the Corvette duo of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner brought the sole Redline-liveried C7.R across the line for 8th in GTE Pro, 17th overall.
The team will, once again, field one car in March, with Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia and Mike Rockenfeller confirmed as the three drivers who will share duties in the cockpit.
With the addition of the Corvette, the Sebring grid rises to be 35 cars strong. LMP2 is the smallest category, fielding seven cars, with the largest now being GTE Pro, at eleven. Corvette is the only car joining the regular WEC grid, but further driver changes can be seen up and down the classes.
Sergey Sirotkin will be making his WEC racing debut at the 1,000 Miles of Sebring with SMP Racing, but it is not- as predicted – to replace Jenson Button, who will not return to WEC until the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Instead, Sirotkin will take the seat of Matevos Isaakyan in the #17, alongside Stephane Sarrazin and Egor Orudzhev. SMP have yet to announce who will be filling Button’s seat in the #11.
Rebellion Racing have shuffled their driver line-up ahead of round six of the WEC ‘Super Season’, as Mathias Beche has stepped away from his LMP1 Privateer seat. Nathanael Berthon will take the third spot in the #3, whilst the #1 line-up will not change.
In LMP2, Jackie Chan DC Racing has announced they have also mixed up their driver line-ups for the second year of this WEC season. Will Stevens, Jordan King and David Heinemeier Hansson replace the all-Malaysian team in the #37, who had been third in the LMP2 championship.
The GTE Pro teams look to be returning to three drivers per car ahead of the Sebring race, as Daniel Serra and Miguel Molina have been confirmed in the AF Corse entries, and BMW Team MTEK have added Alexander Sims and Bruno Spengler to their two M8 GTEs.
Aston Martin Racing have returned Darren Turner to the Dane Train #95, but Jonny Adam is listed in the GTE Am Aston Martin-running TF Sport rather than returning to the works #97. Only Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK have indicators in the entry list that they will be adding additional third drivers to their cars, suggesting that the two Porsche GT Team cars and the #97 Aston Martin will be racing the 1,000-mile event with two drivers.
The only driver changes in GTE Am come from the two Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsches. Matt Campbell and Julien Andlauer are confirmed to stay in the Le Mans-winning #77, with Matteo Cairoli the only remaining driver in the sister #88. The remaining three drivers for the Dempsey-Proton cars are yet to be confirmed.