The Asian squads at Le Mans in 2017 – GTE

We finish the presentation of the Asian squads participating of the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year, now turning to the GT side. The two GTE teams on it with three cars use the same car, being it the Ferrari 488 GTE, and are allocated in the LMGTE-Am class, with one of them having special chances for a class win.

Clearwater Racing – Singapore – LMGTE-Am

Entries – 2x Ferrari 488 GTE

Drivers – Richard Wee, Hiroki Katoh and Álvaro Parente (No. 60)

Mok Weng Sun, Keita Sawa and Matt Griffin (No. 61)

The chrome-filled dragons are back for more after finishing in fourth last year in LMGTE-Am, now with two entries as the No. 60 car comes as an Asian Le Mans Series representative while the No. 61 is the regular FIA WEC entry. The team basically relies on the long time combo of Mok and Sawa, dating back from the GT Asia days and who also got achievements in the Asian Le Mans Series, but also in the integration between Wee and Katoh, Clearwater's pair for the Blancpain GT Series Asia this year.

The third drivers in each have lot of experience with Ferraris in the GTE class as Matt Griffin is with Mok and Sawa for quite a time, and Álvaro Parente is reliable and fast in a Ferrari GTE car even though he is a regular McLaren GT man, as the other McLaren guy with links with Clearwater, Rob Bell, will be competing with TF Sport this year. Their recent FIA WEC experience may be useful so a class win is possible and expected.

DH Racing – Hong Kong – LMGTE-Am

Entry – Ferrari 488 GTE

Drivers – Tracy Krohn, Niclas Jönsson and Andrea Bertolini (No. 83)

DH Racing is coming from a 1-2 in the Asia Le Mans Series GT standings, but while the operation remains mostly from Hong Kong with support of AF Corse behind it, what will race at Le Mans is essentially Krohn Racing with another banner, a lot like what Team AAI did with a Corvette C7R GTE.

With the Asian LMS GT champion drivers not being exactly regulars in the team, Tracy Krohn got back to GT racing in this car after a brief stint in the LMP2 class, bringing as always his long time team mate Nic Jönsson in while Andrea Bertolini completed the trio. Nomadic Ferrari guy Bertolini is still fast enough to help DH Racing as he did with past Ferrari clients at Le Mans, but everything depends on how clean Krohn's drive will be, so it's hard to place the car in the favorites list.

PHOTOS: FIA WEC, Krohn Racing