G-Drive Finalizing Two-Car FIA WEC Program

Although the program is not yet finalized, OAK Racing team principal Philippe Dumas said G-Drive Racing is close to locking in a two-car lineup for the full FIA World Endurance Championship season.

“It’s a big part of my job at the moment,” Dumas told Sportscar365. “We are working to fix it before the entry deadline. I still have about 10 days, and we are working hard with G-Drive to enter two cars. That is the goal at the moment.

“It will be the main racing team project for this year. The other project is obviously to be focused on the customer side in the U.S. market and ELMS.”

Details such as the car’s engine or driver lineup are still in the process of being sorted.

It is anticipated at least one new driver will come in for 2015; the 2014 WEC lineup featured Olivier Pla, Roman Rusinov and Julien Canal, and the trio came up just short of the LMP2 Driver’s Championship.

Sales of the Ligier JS P2 chassis from OAK’s manufacturing arm, Onroak Automotive, have been solid, to build on the car’s pace and form from the 2014 season.

Dumas anticipates a strong customer focus with Michael Shank Racing in the U.S., Krohn Racing in the U.S. and European Le Mans Series, and Algarve Pro Racing, which has purchased the former Thiriet by TDS Ligier chassis.

Dumas said any OAK Racing team appearances this year in America and potentially in the WEC are unlikely at the moment.

“If the OAK Racing team is there this season, it will be there to support G-Drive, that is all,” Dumas said. “We will focus many people on the customer side to be more efficient.”

On the U.S. front, Dumas spoke highly of the new Shank relationship, and said it was important to gain a full-time presence with an established U.S. team.

“It’s just unbelievable for Onroak to have a U.S. team with such long relationships with the DP to switch over to a P2,” he said. “Moving over to a European chassis is huge.”

An Onroak crew of four to five mechanics and two engineers helped to rebuild the package for the former OAK-run Shank Ligier after its Petit Le Mans crash.

The team has impressed with its pace thus far this weekend at the Roar Before the Rolex 24, having featured in the top three in each of the first three test sessions.