Keating to Continue with TF Sport Aston in 2022

Photo: MPS Agency

Ben Keating will continue with TF Sport in the FIA World Endurance Championship next year although with a reshuffled driver lineup that’s to-be-determined.

The Texan confirmed to Sportscar365 that he will be back with the Tom Ferrier-led operation for his third full season WEC campaign and second consecutive with the UK-based squad in one of its Aston Martin Vantage GTEs in GTE-Am.

“I’m planning on being with TF again in WEC. It’s great,” Keating told Sportscar365.

“I was with Bill Riley for seven years and I love him as a friend. I think he runs a great team.

“I don’t think anybody knows what kind of compliment this would be but I think Tom [Ferrier] is the English Bill Riley. I think he’s a good guy.

“That’s something very important for me. Clearly they run a great team. I think because I learned how to race in a Viper, I think the Aston suits me pretty well. It’s pretty similar in terms of front-engined race cars.

“I like the car. I look back at this year and feel like we could have had wins in three other races.

“It’s my hope to win the championship this year still but if we don’t then that will definitely be the main goal for 2022.”

While teaming with Felipe Fraga and Dylan Pereira this year, Keating confirmed there will be at least one change to the driver lineup, due to Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup driver Periera’s FIA driver rating moving from Silver to Gold for 2022.

Additionally, Keating said he’s been offered an Aston Martin factory driver, which could take Fraga’s seat.

“That’s yet to be seen,” he said. “There are a lot of moving pieces and has not been figured out yet.”

In addition to his full-season WEC duties, Keating will also continue racing for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, although only focusing on the Michelin Endurance Cup races in the team’s Oreca 07 Gibson in LMP2.

Keating Hopeful of “Role Reversal” in GTE-Am Title Fight

Keating, Fraga and Pereira are coming off their long-awaited first class victory of the season in last weekend’s 6 Hours of Bahrain that has tightened the points race.

The trio sit 21.5 points behind AF Corse’s Francois Perrodo, Nicklas Nielsen and Alessio Rovera heading into the 1.5x points-paying eight-hour season finale on Saturday.

“It’s long overdue,” Keating said of the win. “I feel like we had the pace to win Spa and I got [hit] by Juan Pablo there that basically made our lead disappear.

“We had a huge lead at Monza. That one’s on me. I locked up [the brakes] really badly and had a blowout that took us out of that race.

“Then we had a freak puncture — ran over something — at Le Mans.

“We’ve been really, really close and it’s very nice to finally get a win.

“I’m excited to see what happens next Saturday.

“If you remember last year, the 90 TF Sport Aston had a big lead and they lost brakes in the race and the 83 car ended up winning the championship.

“I’m hopeful that we have a role reversal. I don’t want to wish anything bad on them but they got it last year, it’s our turn!”

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