The FIA WEC entry list for the Season 8 Prologue, which will be staged at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the very first time, has been released today.
The list features 30 WEC cars. The two-day Prologue will comprise of a total of 16 hours track time, with two four-hour test sessions scheduled for both Tuesday 23 July and Wednesday 24 July (10h00-14h00 and 17h00 – 21h00).
The headline LMP1 category will see six entries attend the official pre-season test, with recently-crowned FIA World Endurance LMP1 Teams’ Champions Toyota Gazoo Racing bringing its full 2019-2020 line-up including Brendon Hartley who has replaced Fernando Alonso in the No.8 Toyota TS050 HYBRID.
Rebellion Racing are yet to confirm which drivers will be present in Barcelona, with Team LNT bringing British drivers Charlie Robertson and Michael Simpson to test a pair of Ginetta G60-LT-P1 – AER cars.
A total of five LMGTE Pro cars will be at the Prologue, with two Ferrari 488 GTE Evo cars from AF Corse and three of its regular drivers: James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Davide Rigon. Porsche GT team has a total of four drivers coming to Barcelona to test its newly upgraded Porsche 911 RSR-19 cars: Gianmaria Bruni, Richard Lietz, Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre. Meanwhile, Aston Martin Racing will bring four drivers (Alex Lynn, Maxime Martin, Marco Sørensen and Nicki Thiim) to test the No. 97 Aston Martin Vantage AMR.
In LMP2, there will be four new teams making their full-season debut in the WEC at the test: United Autosport, High Class Racing, Cool Racing and Cetilar Racing, with all four proving themselves in the highly-competitive European Le Mans Series but now stepping up to the world stage.
Italian team Cetilar Racing will run a Dallara P217 – Gibson with Andrea Belicchi, Roberto Lacorte and Giorgio Sernagiotto named as its drivers while High Class Racing will bring Mark Patterson to test the Oreca 07 – Gibson.
Cool Racing will field a similar car, with drivers Nicolas Lapierre, Antonin Borga and Alexandre Coigny. Meanwhile, American team United Autosport will bring drivers Philip Hanson, Filipe Albuquerque and Paul Di Resta to Barcelona.
Finally, Anthony Davidson, Pastor Maldonado and Robert Gonzales will drive for JOTA Sport – the trio having made the switch from DragonSpeed at the end of the Super Season. Regular LMP2 teams Signatech Alpine Elf (formerly Matmut) Jackie Chan DC Racing and Racing Team Nederland will also bring their Oreca 07 cars all powered by Gibson to the Season 8 test.
Newcomers in LMGTE Am include British team Red River Sport who, in collaboration with Spirit of Race, will bring a Ferrari 488 GTE Evo to Barcelona. British drivers Bonamy Grimes and Johnny Mowlem are listed to drive.
Reigning LMGTE Am Team Champions Team Project 1 will bring two cars with Egidio Perfetti and Patrick Lindsey the two named drivers to test the pair of Porsche 911 RSR cars.
AF Corse will also send two Ferrari 488 GTE Evos with its full team line-up of six drivers: Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci, Giancarlo Fisichella will take to the wheel of the No. 54 car while 2016 class champions François Perrodo and Emmanuel Collard will be joined by reigning Ferrari Challenge Europe Champion Nicklas Nielsen in the No. 83 car.
Regular LMGTE Am entries Aston Martin racing, Gulf Racing and MR Racing will also be present in Barcelona, while last year’s category runners-up Dempsey-Proton Racing will be there with both the No. 77 and No. 88 cars.
