Photo: John Dagys
Change will be in store when the FIA World Endurance Championship heads to Japan this month for the Six Hours of Fuji, as the FIA Endurance Committee released Tuesday two bulletins impacting the GTE categories.
Following a proposal from a number of GTE-Am teams, the category will now enforce a minimum of two Silver or Bronze-ranked drivers per car.
The previous policy, which limited each car to one Gold or Platinum-ranked driver, had allowed teams with a two-driver lineup to use their professional driver for a longer period of time, as the minimum drive time in GTE-Am is 1 hour and 45 minutes.
Aston Martin Racing scored class victories in the last two rounds with Platinum-rated Jamie Campbell-Walter and Silver-ranked Stuart Hall, without the services of their regular third driver, Roald Goethe, who is a Bronze.
8Star Motorsports team principal Enzo Potolicchio was among the drivers who spoke out over the loophole in the rules, in which he threatened to pull out of the series because he felt the tactic wasn’t within the spirit of the gentleman driver-embraced category.
The Committee also confirmed Tuesday two Balance of Performance adjustments. The GTE-Pro class Aston Martin loses its 5-liter fuel capacity advantage it had on the competition, while the Corvette C6.R, which runs in GTE-Am, has gained a 0.6 mm larger air restrictor.
The GTE-Am class Astons remain unchanged and will be allowed to carry a maximum capacity of 95 liters.
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