8 Hours of Bahrain: Ryan Briscoe reinforcing Vanwall team
The Vanwall stable, with its only Vandervell N°4, has been the most changeable concerning its crews. After thanking Jacques Villeneuve and then seeing Tom Dillmann leave, the Australian Ryan Briscoe will be present for the WEC finale in Bahrain.
The 2023 season has been splendid in every respect: a sumptuous Hypercar category, extraordinary 24 Hours of Le Mans, an LMP2 field as high as ever, and a highly contested final year of the GTE-Am.
It is during the 8 Hours of Bahrain, on November 4th, that the WEC 2023 will close, before a 2024 chapter that promises to be even better. But these celebrations have not been of the same quality for everyone: faced with the big factories, Glickenhaus capitulated from Monza and will probably not return. Which is a shame, because Jim’s team had all the public’s sympathy.
So there is only the little Vanwall left, which only had a very brief preparation before arriving this year. It’s been hard to maintain the team over time: the presence of Jacques Villeneuve promised a lot, but the 1997 F1 world champion was shown the door after Spa.
From then on, the trio kept moving, with the departure of Tom Dillmann, aware that opportunities may open up for him elsewhere.
One last trio before retirement?
Vanwall’s trust will once again be given to the Tricolors Esteban Guerrieri, former WTCC driver, and Tristan Vautier. Their teammate will be a driver who went through Glickenhaus at the end of the lean periods of the WEC: the Australian Ryan Briscoe.
The Sydney native had made it to the podium in 2022 with the American team (3rd) and had taken other paths before he was recalled. Of course, his years spent in IndyCar, his role as a tester for Toyota in F1 and his recent participations in the WEC will only be welcome before this last round of the season.
This arrival, however, does not clear up the doubt on the future of Vanwall in the world championship: life for small manufacturers is not at all facilitated by the return en masse of large car factories. The presence of Vanwall has been confirmed for next year, but the great lack of performance of the English prototype does not play in its favor.
In any case, the Bahraini track will be an opportunity to see if this Vandervell 680 still has it in its belly and if, in the long term, a climb up the hierarchy is conceivable.
