MOTORSPORT.COM6 AUTOSPORT.COM 18 APRIL 2019PIT + PADDOCKWORLD ENDURANCEFord won’t be on the World
Endurance Championship grid
with a full-factory team in
GTE Pro beyond the end of this
season. But an evolution of the
Ford GT could be racing at the
front of the field in the hypercar
concept ranks come 2020-21.
The US manufacturer has
admitted that it is evaluating
how its carbon-chassis GTE
car could become a hypercar
WEC contender after the rules
were opened up last month
to incorporate road-going
supercars to race alongside the
lookalike prototypes for which
the class was conceived. The
admission came at the same
time as Ford finally confirmed
that there would be no overt
factory programme with the
GTE car beyond the end of the
2018-19 WEC and the 2019
IMSA SportsCar Championship.
“It was a very interesting
development last month when
we learned what was happening
with the hypercar rules,” said
Ford Performance Motorsports
boss Mark Rushbrook. “It would
give us the opportunity to race
our GT as a road-based car in
that class. It is something we
are looking at and asking what
it would take to compete with
our car in that class and
whether it makes sense.”
But Rushbrook stressed that“no decisions had been made” at
a time when Ford is formulating
its motorsport future.
Ford was a player in the
process that led to the hypercar
concept prototype rules
published last December.
But it stressed on multiple
occasions that it was only
interested in the category if
it could build a car that could
be raced in both the WEC and
IMSA in the same way as it
does with its GTE contender.
Rushbrook has previously
insisted that there was no
decision about whether to
continue the Ford GT racing
programme under the Chip
Ganassi Racing banner beyond
its current commitments. But
now he has stated that there will
be no full-factory involvement
beyond those campaigns,
without ruling out some kind
of continuing works assistance
for the cars. “In these coming
months we will be making
decisions about what we do
with our GT race cars,” he
explained. “Do we continue
to support them racing in
some way or do we sell them to
private individuals to go racing?”
Ford has been undertaking
a wide-ranging review of its
motorsport activities. It has
stressed the importance
of what Rushbrook calls
“electrification” in its future.
GARY WATKINSFord evaluates
hypercar future
after GT pullout
LEPAGENew era dawns in
Japanese racing
SUPER FORMULAA new era in Japan’s Super Formula series kicks off
this weekend at Suzuka. The new Dallara SF19 – halo
included – makes its competition debut in place of
the much-loved SF14, while the series’ silly season
has been more volatile than ever.
Honda’s reigning champion Naoki Yamamoto
switches teams from Team Mugen to Dandelion
Racing, while his close runner-up Nick Cassidy has
secured what is ostensibly a promotion from Kondo
Racing to flagship Toyota squad TOM’S – but
actually steps into a team with a lot of work
to do following its dreadful season in 2018.
Following a pair of two-day pre-season tests at
Suzuka and then Fuji, Yamamoto (below) is looking
good for another title attack as he bids for his third
crown. “I think he’s quite clearly the favourite,” Cassidy
told Autosport. “At the Suzuka test he was quickest by
seven tenths, and at Fuji he was quick out of the box
straight away.” Although Kondo’s Kenta Yamashita- Cassidy’s mate who he leaves behind on his switch
to TOM’S – narrowed the gap to 0.056s by the end of
the Fuji test, there have been whispers that Honda’s
engines were turned down for the remaining sessions.
Cassidy, who replaces James Rossier alongside
Kazuki Nakajima at TOM’S, rates Yamashita as
“probably the strongest guy at Toyota at the moment.
I’m sure he’ll be up there challenging and we’ll have
to be at our absolute best to beat him. Obviously it
was a disastrous year for TOM’S last year by their
own standards. Performance-wise, when I joined for
the [December] test it was noticeable that it wasn’t
where it needed to be. But I’ve been fortunate that the
direction I went in last year [at Kondo] was strong
and we’ve made some good improvements.”
Of the rookies, it’s been the low-profile Alex Palou
at Nakajima Racing who’s looked best in testing. Other
European newcomers are Red Bull Junior Dan Ticktum
(Team Mugen), whose form has been middling, and
F2 star Artem Markelov (Team Le Mans), who has
been off the pace. B-Max with Motopark pair Lucas
Auer and Harrison Newey have flown below the radar,
but have not gone for glory runs in testing.
MARCUS SIMMONS