Singapore-based Clearwater Racing has announced that it is applying for a full-season entry into the FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMGTE Am class.
Clearwater Racing is currently defending its GT title in the 2016/17 Asian Le Mans Series with its Ferrari F488 GT3 driven by Team Principal Mok Weng Sun, Keita Sawa and Matt Griffin. As a result of winning the GT crown in the 2015/16 season, the team was invited to the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans where it finished 30th overall and fourth in class.
“We’ve been thinking about this for a while, but it’s a big commitment, financially as well as time wise,” said Team Principal Mok Weng Sun. “ I’ve been waving back and forth on the idea, and then this weekend I just had a good chat with the team and said ‘Let’s go do it’.”
“I was actually planning on retiring from racing after this season in the Asian Le Mans Series,” continued Mok Weng Sun. “I’ve been doing it for 11 years and I’ll be turning 50 next year, so I thought I’d wind it back. But the lure of being able to race in the premier GT championship in the World was just too much of a lure, and of course I want to go back to Le Mans, and so to have a guaranteed entry as well as the ability to race on the greatest circuits on the planet with top rated teams, I just said – Let’s go do it!”
Asian Le Mans Series Managing Director Cyrille Taesch Wahlen is delighted that Clearwater racing is moving up to the world stage.
“It’s great to see one of our teams taking the next step on the endurance racing ladder,” said Wahlen.” It goes to show that the Asian Le Mans Series is doing what it set out to do, which is to give teams the opportunity to work their way up to competing in a World Championship. We will of course miss them in our paddock, but we wish them the best of luck with their endeavour.”
The first round of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship takes place at Silverstone on April 16.
