On the 8 and 9 November the seventh round of the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship will take place on the Shanghai International Circuit in China.  A multi-national grid representing 23 different nations, including China, will compete in 28 cars on the impressive Grand Prix track which is situated an hour from the centre of Shanghai.

Fresh from its win at the rain-shortened sixth round of the FIA WEC, Toyota Racing has announced that it will field two LMP1 TS030 Hybrids in China and Alexander Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre will join the grid in the No.8 entry.  This ensures an equal battle against the No.1 and No.2 Audi R18 e-tron quattros from newly crowned FIA World Endurance Manufacturers Champions Audi Sport. With the drivers’ title still to be decided, the inter-team battle will be interesting between current points’ leaders Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Loïc Duval in the No.2 who hold a 40.75 point advantage over reigning World Champions Marcel Fässler, Benoît Tréluyer and André Lotterer in the No.1.

Rebellion Racing is once again the only LMP1 Privateer team with its Toyota-powered Lola Coupé, Andrea Belicchi and Mathias Beche once performing the driver duties for the Swiss team but this time joined by Nicolas Prost who returns to the team after winning the final ever ALMS race in the United States, Petit Le Mans.

After its success at the last round, OAK Racing has retaken the lead in the LMP2 Teams’ Trophy battle but, with a margin of only 5.5 points ahead of the Argentinian entered Pecom Racing, the battle will be intense.  The gap in the LMP2 Drivers’ title fight is equally close, with Bertrand Baguette, Martin Plowman and Ricardo Gonzalez holding an 11.5 point lead over the Pecom trio of Luis Perez Companc, Nicolas Minassian and Pierre Kaffer.  OAK Racing’s No.24 line up of Olivier Pla, David Heimeimeier Hansson and Alex Brundle remains unchanged, as does that of the No.26 G-Drive Racing entry of Roman Rusinov, John Martin and Mike Conway.

The class features the only Chinese driver in the race, David Cheng, who is joining the line up in OAK Racing’s distinctive Art Car, the No.45 Morgan Nissan of Jacques Nicolet and Keiko Ihara.  After his appearance in Sao Paulo, Briton Robbie Kerr will be returning to the FIA WEC in the No.25 Delta ADR ORECA 03 Nissan alongside Tor Graves and a yet-to-be-announced third driver.

Greaves Motorsport rejoins the LMP2 grid in Shanghai, bringing the total to nine cars in the category.  Former LMP2 class 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Tom Kimber-Smith headlines the No.41 Zytek Z11SN Nissan line up alongside Eric Lux of the USA and Mark Shulzhitckiy of Russia.

The Lotus-Praga team will be once again fielding two of its Lotus T128s with Kevin Weeda and Vitantonio Luizzi driving the No.31 car with third driver to be announced soon, while Dominik Kraihamer, Jan Charouz and Thomas Holzer travel to China determined to repeat their Texan podium success.

Ferrari’s Gianmaria Bruni and Giancarlo Fisichella’s second place in Japan in the LMGTE Pro class allowed the Italian AF Corse duo to maintain their lead in the World Endurance Cup for GT Drivers with a 6 point advantage over Porsche’s Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz.  Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner are very close behind, just 8.5 points adrift of the Italians following their win (with Fred Makowiecki) and the last round.   In the Manufacturers’ title chase Ferrari is now just 4.5 points ahead of Aston Martin and 19.5 ahead of Porsche and there is all to play for in China.

Several places in Aston Martin’s driver line ups are still to be announced for the Chinese round, and the British manufacturer will once again be fielding just two entries in the LMGTE Pro class.  Mucke and Turner will be with a third driver in the No.97, and Pedro Lamy awaits the naming of two team mates in the No.99 Vantage V8.  Ferrari’s Kamui Kobayashi and Toni Vilander will be hoping for a less troubled run in Shanghai in the No.71 Ferrari 458 Italia, and both Porsche AG Team Manthey entries – Bergmeister and Pilet in No.91 and Lieb/Lietz in the No.92 – will be looking for a strong performance.

Once again there is an eight car grid for the LMGTE Am grid.  Success in the last three rounds has kept Aston Martin’s Jamie Campbell-Walter and Stuart Hall at the top of the Drivers’ Championship table, now 8 points ahead of 24 Hours of Le Mans class winners Jean-Karl Vernay and Raymond Narac in the IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche.  Campbell-Walter and Hall will be re-joined by German Roald Goethe in the No.96 Aston Martin Racing Vantage.  Nicki Thiim also re-joins his fellow Danish drivers in the Fuji-winning No.95 Aston Martin.

The line up in the sole Chevrolet Corvette is unchanged with French drivers Patrick Bornhauser and Julien Canal being joined once again by Brazil’s Fernando Rees.  The driver line-ups also remain unchanged for the No.57 Krohn Racing Ferrari, the No.61 AF Corse Ferrari, the No.81 8Star Motorsports Ferrari and the No.88 Proton Competition Porsche.

Track action begins on Friday 8 November with the first of two 120-minute Free Practice sessions and qualifying for the 6 Hours of Shanghai. The race itself gets underway at 11:00 on Saturday 9 November.