Motorsport: Neel Jani is number 1
SPORTWAGEN It's official since Thursday: World champion Neel Jani will be racing his Porsche 919 Hybrid in the 2017 World Endurance Championship and at Le Mans with start number 1. Arch rival Toyota will field three cars for the first time in the classic 24-hour race on June 17/18. Of course, it was no longer a surprise that Porsche had been selected to win the drivers' and [...]
Of course, it was no longer a surprise that Porsche would be allowed to keep the starting numbers 1 and 2 for winning the 2016 drivers' and teams' world championships. But this is only ever official when the starting lists for the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the 24 Hours of Le Mans are published.
As in the last few years, the classic race counts as the third round in the World Endurance Championship after the six-hour races at Silverstone (GB) in April and Spa (B) in May. This is the first time that Neel Jani has been given car number 1 in a world championship. Like Marcel Fässler before him, who achieved the double World Championship/Le Mans in 2012 with Audi, and Sébastien Buemi after winning the title with Toyota in 2014, this is always a reminder of his great success last year.
Porsche will field two cars in the World Championship and at Le Mans, as in the previous year. These will be a further development of the 919 Hybrid. The Biel native's new colleagues in the number one team are ex-Fässler partner André Lotterer (D), who comes from Audi, and Briton Nick Tandy (GB), who won at Le Mans in 2015 in Porsche's third team as a partner of GP driver Nico Hülkenberg.
Toyota: All or nothing
Following this pattern, Toyota will try to finally win the world's biggest sports car race on June 17/18. In 2016, they literally failed at the last minute due to a defect in Buemi's car, which was sovereign leader. A third factory car will therefore be fielded at Le Mans. The only driver named so far is Stéphane Sarrazin (F), who has been a Toyota works driver since 2012.
As AutoSprintCH has learned from a reliable source, two Japanese are to be added. Thus, at least one Japanese will be used in each Toyota, which would apparently make a success of the brand from the Land of the Rising Sun even more valuable. The new Toyota driver in the team of Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi instead of Sarrazin is touring car world champion José María López from Argentina, once Jani's opponent in the Formula Renault V6.
Following Audi's withdrawal and Rebellion Racing's move to LMP2, the premier LMP1 class now has only five sports cars in the World Championship and six at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The private team ByKolles with its CLM in-house design is virtually the fifth wheel on the wagon. The Germans have been able to recruit the GP-experienced Pole Robert Kubica as their driver.
Rebellion will have to deal with eight opponents in the WRC and no fewer than 23 at Le Mans. Traditionally, one car of the Swiss-flagged British team runs with start number 13, the other with 31. The only Swiss drivers are still Mathias Beche from Geneva and Nicolas Prost from Vaud, who starts for France and is a naturalized citizen here. Mathéo Tuscher and Alexandre Imperatori are looking for new tasks.
In addition, only 13 GT cars are entered for the World Championship, but 29 for Le Mans.
