The provisional entry list has been announced for what will be the second American round of the 2019/20 FIA World Endurance Championship: the 1,000 Miles of Sebring.
The top LMP1 class remains unchanged for the 1,000 mile endurance event, leaving Gustavo Menezes as the home favourite with a chance of taking the top step of the podium. With the new success ballast system in LMP1, the Rebellion Racing car that Menezes races in will likely be the car with the best shot of challenging for the win, looking for their second victory of the season.
LMP2 sees its grid drop down to seven cars as Cool Racing have dropped out of the Super Sebring round due to ‘operational reasons’. The team is fully expected to return for the penultimate round in Spa-Francorchamps in April and will be at next month’s 6 Hours of COTA.
The remaining seven usual hitters in LMP2 will return to battle it out on track. Prior to the 6 Hours of COTA, Jackie Chan DC Racing have a small advantage over the field with Ho-Pin Tung, Will Stevens and Gabriel Aubry leading the class. However, the top four teams in the class are covered by just ten points, suggesting that this will be one of the championships that goes down to the wire and will be decided at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
As of the moment, Antonio Felix Da Costa will not be appearing in the 1,000 Miles of Sebring due to the sole remaining clash between WEC and ABB FIA Formula E Championship. The continued spread of coronavirus, however, has put the Sanya ePrix in jeopardy as governments are shutting down travel to China. If the electric race goes ahead as currently scheduled, JOTA will need to find a replacement for the Portuguese racer, but if not Da Costa will be back in the WEC paddock.
The only car joining the WEC grid is the LM GTE Pro Corvette Racing. This will mark its second appearance in WEC this season after it will also take to the track for the COTA round in February. The line up for this car has not yet been confirmed for either round, but it is suspected that the two drivers who race in COTA will also appear in Sebring.
Interestingly, AF Corse have ‘to be announced’ markers for third drivers in both cars. If the Ferrari team go ahead with this move, it looks like they will be the only Pro cars to have three-driver line ups, with the other teams of Porsche, Aston Martin and Corvette electing to have only two drivers.
All eleven Am cars will take to the grid, with most retaining their usual line up. Only the #88 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche has drivers to be announced, with the two drivers who will join Thomas Preining in the cockpit yet to be decided.
Teams still have a couple of months to make their final decisions on line-ups, but the 1,000 mile event is already shaping up to be as exciting as it was last year.
