From Hypercars and world circuits to GT vehicles and the last word road racing problem – WEC high class racers on Macau expertise

The entry checklist for this weekend’s FIA GT World Cup, which co-headlines the 71st working of the Macau Grand Prix together with the FIA FR World Cup, encompasses a plethora of FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar class regulars, who’ve shared their views on the variations between their full-time drives and the problem of the weekend that lies forward

The seventh version of the FIA GT World Cup enjoys arguably the strongest entry within the historical past of the occasion held yearly on the streets of Macau. Out of 23 drivers, 16 are platinum-ranked, which interprets to almost 70% of the grid being top-level sportscars professionals. Out of those 16, 10 have competed within the FIA WEC this season, with eight representing the Hypercar class, which is the head of endurance racing.

Lower than two weeks faraway from the 2024 FIA WEC season finale, the 8 Hours of Bahrain, WEC Hypercar class racers face the prospect of speedy recalibration to what’s a drastically totally different problem to what they been used to over the course of the eight-round season on this planet’s premier endurance racing sequence.

The Herman Tilke-designed Bahrain Worldwide Circuit options huge run-off areas and gravel traps, whereas the tight and twisty format in Macau is confined by guardrails on all sides of the 6.12-kilometre Guia Circuit – the 2 couldn’t be additional aside. The identical could be stated when evaluating the purebred high-downforce, hybrid-powered Hypercar prototypes with the a lot heavier manufacturing car-based GT3 racers that rely much more on mechanical grip and will likely be used on this weekend’s FIA GT World Cup.

The newly-crowned Hypercar World Endurance Drivers’ Champion, Laurens Vanthoor is trying ahead to complete off his 2024 racing season on a excessive, eyeing success on this planet’s most prestigious dash for GT3 equipment.

“I do like the concept of profitable a World Championship in a Hypercar and a World Cup in a GT. That might be one thing very particular. I like Macau and I like this race” admits the Belgian.

“You’ve drivers who drive in a GT automobile all yr in contrast with me or the opposite Hypercar drivers, however I don’t see it as a problem. The most important distinction is that the automobile is loads easier. There’s no hybrid, loads much less programs and so forth. Ultimately it’s a automobile with pedals, steering wheel, 4 wheels and engine. You simply have to deal with it the most effective you may,” he concludes, taking part in the problem down.

One GT3 specialist who’s comparatively new to Hypercar competitors is Mercedes-AMG’s Jules Gounon who made 4 FIA WEC outings with Alpine Endurance Group this yr, along with his finest end being fourth place in Bahrain’s season finale.

The three-time Bathurst 12 Hours winner behind the wheel of a GT3 automobile finds the 2 kinds of vehicles vastly totally different.

“For me it’s all the time simpler to return to GT, however each time I am going from GT to a Hypercar, it’s an enormous step that takes a number of laps to get again to hurry,” admits the 29-year-old.

“Driving clever, it’s the brakes,” he identifies the most important distinction between the 2. “With ABS it’s essential to be very aggressive on the pedal, placing over 130 bars of strain, whereas within the Hypercar you set 70 or 80 bars. With ABS you are able to do just about what you need and within the Hypercar it’s essential to be very single-seater model,” he explains.

The Andorra resident additionally praised the problem represented by the Guia Circuit. “Whenever you do a quali lap in Hypercar they ask you to do one push, one cool, one push [lap]. Right here you do it as a result of it’s a must to relax after flirting with the partitions. The monitor is so tight, you may’t make any mistake. I believe that’s why we have now such a depth within the area. It’s a spot that may outline nice drivers.”

Ferrari elevated its Macau presence from two to 3 vehicles for this yr’s version of the FIA GT World Cup, with its effort headlined by this yr’s total winner of the 24 Horus of Le Mans winner Antonio Fuoco, who returns to the Guia Circuit for the primary time in a decade, having earlier competed right here in Components 3.

The Italian spent the majority of his profession driving excessive downforce vehicles however has additionally confirmed to be a pressure to be reckoned with whatever the equipment at his disposal and is predicted to be among the many front-runners this weekend.

“The automobile is a bit totally different,” admits the Italian. “Within the Hypercar you’ve a bit extra downforce, so you’ve higher feeling in medium and high-speed corners.”

“Once I swap from the Hypercar to GT throughout the season was OK, so I’ll take a little bit of time, however I believe it’ll be OK,” he assures.

Returning for the second time behind the wheel of a BMW is Sheldon van der Linde. In contrast to within the earlier years, this yr the South African is a part of the Bavarian producer’s Hypercar class effort, which, in his personal phrases, makes his FIA GT World Cup outing more difficult than prior to now.

“Usually you’ve a fairly a protracted and intensive take a look at programme earlier than the race to attempt to put together your self in a GT3 automobile, which hasn’t been the case for me this yr,” reveals the South African.

“Final time I used to be in a race automobile was in Bahrain [in a Hypercar]. It’s going to be an enormous problem for me. I’ve by no means been on this state of affairs earlier than, nevertheless it’s not solely me, however a number of others as properly,” he provides.

Talking of the variations between the 2 kinds of vehicles, he says: “I believe it’s the burden that makes the most important distinction. You are feeling that the automobile is loads larger, every thing occurs like in gradual movement. You’ve much more time to think about what you’re doing, which is a bonus, however on the identical time you may’t overdrive the automobile – it’s a must to break earlier, it’s a must to speed up later, so it’s a really totally different driving model and mindset.”

Final however not least, probably the most adorned Macau racer, Edoardo Mortara who triumphed right here a powerful seven occasions throughout totally different competitions, arrived to the Guia Circuit paddock off the again of the FIA Components E pre-season take a look at, preceded by Bahrain’s WEC season finale, that means that he’s set to drive a 3rd totally different automobile in as many weeks.

“I used to be by no means actually a GT specialist,” admits the Swiss racer. “That is just about the one race I do in GT yearly. It’s clearly fairly robust to leap from one automobile to a different, however what’s serving to me is that right here understanding the monitor helps you fairly a bit, nevertheless it’s positively difficult for me to adapt to this automobile and driving it round this monitor.”

The opposite Hypercar class racers aiming for the FIA GT World Cup this weekend embody the likes of WEC’s youngest-ever race winner, Yifey Ye, two-time FIA GT World Cup winner Raffaele Marciello and his BMW stablemate Dries Vanthoor.

Augusto Farfus and Daniel Juncadella are additionally FIA WEC regulars, though in LMGT3 class, which ought to make this weekend’s problem a bit extra simple for them.