From Hypercars and world circuits to GT vehicles and the final 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, incorporates 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 top 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 fast recalibration to what’s a drastically completely 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 structure in Macau is confined by guardrails on both sides of the 6.12-kilometre Guia Circuit – the 2 couldn’t be additional aside. The identical might be mentioned when evaluating the purebred high-downforce, hybrid-powered Hypercar prototypes with the a lot heavier manufacturing car-based GT3 racers that rely way more on mechanical grip and can 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 thought of successful a World Championship in a Hypercar and a World Cup in a GT. That might be one thing very particular. I really like Macau and I really like this race” admits the Belgian.

“You might have drivers who drive in a GT automotive all 12 months in contrast with me or the opposite Hypercar drivers, however I don’t see it as a difficulty. The largest distinction is that the automotive is so much easier. There’s no hybrid, so much much less programs and so forth. Ultimately it’s a automotive with pedals, steering wheel, 4 wheels and engine. You simply must deal with it the perfect you’ll be able to,” he concludes, enjoying 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 Crew this 12 months, 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 automotive finds the 2 kinds of automotive vastly completely different.

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

“Driving clever, it’s the breaks,” he identifies the most important distinction between the 2. “With ABS it is advisable be very aggressive on the pedal, placing over 130 bars of stress, 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 is advisable be very single-seater model,” he explains.

The Andorra resident additionally praised the problem represented by the Guia Circuit. “Once 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 you need to relax after flirting with the partitions. The observe is so tight, you’ll be able to’t make any mistake. I feel that’s why we’ve got 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 12 months’s version of the FIA GT World Cup, with its effort headlined by this 12 months’s general 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 Formulation 3.

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

“The automotive is a bit completely 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 change from the Hypercar to GT through the season was OK, so I’ll take a little bit of time, however I feel 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 12 months 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 previously.

“Usually you’ve a fairly a protracted and intensive check programme earlier than the race to attempt to put together your self in a GT3 automotive, which hasn’t been the case for me this 12 months,” reveals the South African.

“Final time I used to be in a race automotive was in Bahrain [in a Hypercar]. It’s going to be an enormous problem for me. I’ve by no means been on this scenario earlier than, but it surely’s not solely me, however a couple of others as nicely,” he provides.

Talking of the variations between the 2 kinds of vehicles, he says: “I feel it’s the load that makes the most important distinction. You’re feeling that the automotive is so much larger, every thing occurs like in gradual movement. You might have much more time to think about what you’re doing, which is a bonus, however on the similar time you’ll be able to’t overdrive the automotive – you need to break earlier, you need to speed up later, so it’s a really completely different driving model and mindset.”

Final however not least, essentially the most embellished Macau racer, Edoardo Mortara who triumphed right here a powerful seven occasions throughout completely different competitions, arrived to the Guia Circuit paddock off the again of the FIA Formulation E pre-season check, preceded by Bahrain’s WEC season finale, that means that he’s set to drive a 3rd completely different automotive 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 automotive to a different, however what’s serving to me is that right here understanding the observe helps you fairly a bit, but it surely’s undoubtedly difficult for me to adapt to this automotive and driving it round this observe.”

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.