Revised Driver Ratings, Categorizations Revealed

Photo: John Dagys

The FIA Endurance Committee released Wednesday a revised list of driver ratings for 2014, along with confirming changes to the categorization requirements for the GTE-Am class in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Beginning next year, each GTE-Am entry in the WEC will be required to have one Bronze and one Silver-rated driver, or two Bronze-rated drivers.

Previously, the class enforced a maximum of one Gold or Platinum-rated driver per car, with a recent bulletin mandating three-driver lineups, which has effectively forced teams to use two Silvers.

While subject to approval by the FIA World Motorsport Council, the new ruling will also go into effect in the GTE and GTC categories of the European Le Mans Series.

No changes are expected to be made to the categorizations for LMP1, LMP2 and GTE-Pro, but a number of drivers have received revised ratings for 2014, some in part due to the change in GTE-Am.

More than a dozen previously rated Silver drivers have been downgraded to Bronze as a result, including the likes of Tracy Krohn, Paul Dalla Lana, Enzo Potolicchio, Joe Foster, Seth Neiman and Jacques Nicolet.

Additionally, a handful of existing Silvers have been boosted to Gold status. It includes Rui Aguas, Stuart Hall, Matt Griffin, Roman Rusinov, Richie Stanaway and Jann Mardenborough.

Both Marino Franchitti and Fred Makowiecki, meanwhile, have gone from Gold to Platinum.

Drivers have until Nov. 15 to submit a revaluation request to the Endurance Committee.

In addition to the WEC and 24 Hours of Le Mans, the driver ratings will be used in the European and Asian Le Mans Series.

IMSA is expected to have its own set of ratings, based off the FIA’s list, for next year’s TUDOR United SportsCar Championship and Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge.

Notable Driver Rating Changes for 2014
Rui Aguas – Silver to Gold
Bill Auberen – Platinum to Gold
Klaus Bachler – Silver to Gold
Patrick Bornhauser – Silver to Bronze
Christophe Bourret  – Silver to Bronze
Tony Burgess – Silver to Bronze
Jay Cochran – Gold to Silver
Ben Collins – Gold to Silver
Paul Dalla Lana – Silver to Bronze
Matt Downs – Silver to Bronze
Tomy Drissi – Silver to Bronze
Pierre Ehret – Silver to Bronze
Joe Foster – Silver to Bronze
Marino Franchitti – Gold to Platinum
Pascal Gibon – Silver to Bronze
Matt Griffin – Silver to Gold
Stuart Hall – Silver to Gold
David Hallyday – Silver to Bronze
Keiko Ihara – Silver to Bronze
Francois Jakubowski – Silver to Bronze
Tommy Kendall – Platinum to Gold
Tracy Krohn – Silver to Bronze
Frederic Makowiecki – Gold to Platinum
Jann Mardenborough – Silver to Gold
Seth Neiman – Silver to Bronze
Jacques Nicolet – Silver to Bronze
Karim Ojjeh – Silver to Bronze
Pierguiseppe Perazzini – Silver to Bronze
Enzo Potolicchio – Silver to Bronze
Henri Richard – Silver to Bronze
Christian Ried – Silver to Bronze
Gianluca Roda – Silver to Bronze
Roman Rusinov – Silver to Gold
Alex Sims – Platinum to Gold
Richie Stanaway – Silver to Gold
Kuno Wittmer – Platinum to Gold

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John