Multiple driver lineup changes for Spa WEC round
A 37-car provisional entry list for next month’s FIA WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps has been revealed that features a number of driver lineup tweaks.
Following Imola, the majority of the changes to the entry are a result of the clashing Formula E doubleheader in Berlin, with Jean-Eric Vergne and Stoffel Vandoorne from Peugeot, Norman Nato from Hertz Team JOTA and Kelvin van der Linde from AKKODIS ASP missing the WEC race.
Peugeot has opted to race with two drivers in both its new 9X8s as a result. It’s the same at JOTA, as Callum Ilott and Will Stevens will share its No. 12 Porsche 963 in Nato’s absence.
With no full-time third driver, Cadillac Racing, as expected, is down to race with just the duo of Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn for a second time this season. They will be joined by IndyCar star Alex Palou for Le Mans in June.
At Alpine, Ferdinand Habsburg — who missed Imola after sustaining two fractured lumbar vertebrae in a testing crash — is back on the entry, although it remains to be seen whether he will be fit to return. Last weekend he was replaced by reserve driver Jules Gounon in the No. 35 A424.
In LMGT3 there are two driver changes. The first comes at AKKODIS ASP Team. With van der Linde standing in for Peugeot driver Nico Muller in Berlin, Toyota Gazoo Racing reserve Ritomo Miyata will take his place in the No. 78 Lexus RC F LMGT3.
Rahel Frey rejoins the Iron Dames crew for the first of five races in the WEC this year. She fills in for Doriane Pin, who was announced as an Iron Dames Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine driver last week. That campaign will see force her to miss the WEC races at Spa, COTA, Interlagos, Fuji and Bahrain.
The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps is set for May 11.
