Photo: John Rourke/Adrenal Media
***FIA WEC champions were honored Sunday evening during the official awards ceremony held on the beach at the Sofitel Bahrain Zallaq. Additional awards were presented, with Nick Tandy winning “Revelation of the Year,” Francois Perrodo taking “Gentleman Driver of the Year,” Toyota’s breakfast video winning “Best Promotion of 2015” and the 2015 Excellence Award going to Alex Wurz, who retired from professional competition following the Bahrain round.
***The World Endurance Champions from LMP1 and GTE will be formally crowned at the FIA Awards Gala in Paris on Dec. 4, where they will be recognized alongside World Champions from F1, WRC, WTCC and WRX.
***ACO President Pierre Fillon is still pushing for World Championship status for GTE drivers. Currently, the top-placed GTE driver is awarded the FIA Endurance Cup, with only the prototype class awarding a Drivers’ World Championship.
***The 2016 WEC schedule is expected to be made official during the next World Motor Sport Council meeting early next month in Paris. It’s understood the contract for the new round in Mexico City, which was initially listed as to-be-confirmed, was signed last weekend.
***Head of Porsche Motorsport, Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, has ruled out a factory GT3 program for the Total 24 Hours of Spa in July, with Porsche fully focused on customer racing with its new 911 GT3 R. A works-supported effort is still planned for the Nurburgring 24, however, with the Manthey squad.
***Audi will unveil its 2016 LMP1 car on Saturday in Munich. The all-new R18 e-tron quattro is scheduled to test at Sebring International Raceway on Dec. 7-10, which is believed to mark one of its first on-track tests.
***A number of WEC teams stayed in Bahrain for a four-day Dunlop tire test. Signatech-Alpine, G-Drive Racing, SMP Racing and Strakka Racing, along with the previously confirmed Rebellion Racing, ByKolles Racing and Aston Martin Racing, all tested 2016-spec rubber from the British tire manufacturer, in both dry and artificially wet conditions.
***Of note, Roman Rusinov turned laps in SMP’s BR01 Nissan on Monday. The newly crowned LMP2 world champion had been bitter rivals with fellow Russian Sergey Zlobin, who serves as sporting director for the SMP team, making Rusinov’s appearance in the car even more surprising.
***EuroInternational has abandoned plans to enter the 2015/2016 Asian Le Mans Series with its two new Ligier JS P3 cars, with the team instead focusing on an extensive test program ahead of its debut in the European Le Mans Series next year.
***The Mercedes-AMG GT3 has continued its U.S. testing program following Daytona, with the factory AMG squad testing earlier this week at Sebring.
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