bigbadbrother
12-28-2014, 10:31 PM
Tony DiZinno
With one Force India driver already adding sports car racing to his repertoire in Nico Hulkenberg with Porsche next year, one former Force India driver in Adrian Sutil looks to do likewise.
Sutil, now out of a ride at Sauber for the 2015 Formula One season, has told Autosport he’s keen on racing at Le Mans and potentially in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
“I definitely want to do the 24 Hours of Le Mans in my career, and I’m looking at certain Formula 1 drivers who did that step and are very happy,” Sutil said.
“There are manufacturers there and that’s good for the future for a driver – you need a partner who is reliable and you can make a long-term contract [with] and then really work and improve.”
The catch to that theory – for 2015 anyway – is that there does not appear to be room for him with any of the three manufacturer LMP1 efforts who raced in 2014, Audi, Toyota and Porsche.
Nissan enters the WEC full-time in 2015, while Rebellion Racing could have a seat or two open depending on Nick Heidfeld’s future plans.
Toyota has relied heavily on Formula One drivers for their WEC lineups – Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi have taken this year’s World Championship – while Audi and Porsche have gathered more from within their own internal ladders to fill the spots.
With Sutil not on the F1 grid next year, if he can’t land an LMP1 ride it could behoove him to see if a GTE-Pro ride is possible, as it was for both Kamui Kobayashi and Bruno Senna in 2013.
With one Force India driver already adding sports car racing to his repertoire in Nico Hulkenberg with Porsche next year, one former Force India driver in Adrian Sutil looks to do likewise.
Sutil, now out of a ride at Sauber for the 2015 Formula One season, has told Autosport he’s keen on racing at Le Mans and potentially in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
“I definitely want to do the 24 Hours of Le Mans in my career, and I’m looking at certain Formula 1 drivers who did that step and are very happy,” Sutil said.
“There are manufacturers there and that’s good for the future for a driver – you need a partner who is reliable and you can make a long-term contract [with] and then really work and improve.”
The catch to that theory – for 2015 anyway – is that there does not appear to be room for him with any of the three manufacturer LMP1 efforts who raced in 2014, Audi, Toyota and Porsche.
Nissan enters the WEC full-time in 2015, while Rebellion Racing could have a seat or two open depending on Nick Heidfeld’s future plans.
Toyota has relied heavily on Formula One drivers for their WEC lineups – Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi have taken this year’s World Championship – while Audi and Porsche have gathered more from within their own internal ladders to fill the spots.
With Sutil not on the F1 grid next year, if he can’t land an LMP1 ride it could behoove him to see if a GTE-Pro ride is possible, as it was for both Kamui Kobayashi and Bruno Senna in 2013.