WEC wows Liege to promote the 6 Hours of Spa

An impressive line-up of three prototypes and one works GTE brought the ‘Spirit of Le Mans’ to Liege today for a promotion and press conference at the Hotel de Ville for the WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on the 3 and 4 May 2013.

Aston Martin Vantage V8, Audi R18 e-tron quattro, Toyota TS030-Hybrid and Oak Racing Morgan Nissan

Photo by: World Endurance Championship

Four of the leading drivers, one from each of the four classes, attended the press conference in the city centre in the presence of the city Mayor, Mr Willy Demeyer, before posing for photographs and signing autographs for visitors in the historic Belgian city.

Joint championship leader Loic Duval, fresh from his Tourist Trophy win at Silverstone one week ago, represented Audi and the LMP1 class and was happy to pose for a few photographs with the 2012 World Championship winning Audi R18 e-tron quattro that was on display in the square outside the Hotel de Ville alongside the main rival for the 2013 world crown, the race winning Toyota TS030-hybrid.

Belgium’s only driver on the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship grid Bertrand Baguette looked pleased to be part of the event to promote his home race as he also posed for photographs alongside the car he will race on the 7km Spa-Francorchamps circuit on the 4 May, the LMP2 class Oak Racing Morgan Nissan.

The LMGTE pro class will feature seven works cars from Porsche, Ferrari and Aston Martin and Porsche works driver Patrick Pilet was on hand to represent the class and sign a few autographs. The nr97 Aston Martin Vantage V8 of Silverstone race winners Darren Turner, Stefan Mucke and Bruno Senna, resplendent in the famous blue and orange Gulf livery, attracted a lot of attention from the public.

Jean-Karl Vernay was the second Porsche driver to attend the press conference for the WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the French driver racing in the LMGTE Am class for the IMSA Performance MATMUT team.

Gerard Neveu, CEO of the FIA WEC, said: “We would like to thank all the teams and drivers for coming to Liege to help us promote the second WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and to the Mayor Mr Demeyer, and the city of Liege for the warm welcome. The World Endurance Championship is a new world championship but in just one year has already grown to be an important part of the sporting calendar here in Belgium. We are certain that by events such as this we will attract an even bigger crowd to come and watch 35 of these fantastic cars race at Spa on Saturday 4 May.”

World Endurance Championship