Albuquerque and Robert Kubica leave Japan tied on points going into the final round.
Filipe Albuquerque won the Goodyear Wingfoot Award at the 6 Hours of Fuji. The win puts him level with Team WRT driver Robert Kubica at the top of the Goodyear Wingfoot Endurance Award standings going into the final round at Bahrain on 4th November.
Introduced this year and awarded after every FIA World Endurance Championship race, the Goodyear Wingfoot Award celebrates the art of maximising performance and executing a consistent pace across multiple stints. After each round, the award is given to the LMP2 driver who achieves the fastest stint average, measuring their average lap time over two consecutive stints, and three at Le Mans.
The team of the winning driver from each round is awarded a set of Goodyear racing tires. Every LMP2 entry competes for the Goodyear Wingfoot Award, which uses the same points system as the WEC to determine the winner over the course of the season.
United Autosports driver Filipe Albuquerque won the award in Japan with an average lap time of 1:35.524, helping his team finish second in the LPM2 category.
With a 16-point lead back to Albert Costa in third place in the Goodyear Wingfoot Award standings, only Albuquerque and Kubica have a realistic chance of taking the overall honours for 2023.
Ben Crawley, Goodyear EMEA Motorsport Director: « We’ve witnessed a close battle in the fight to take the inaugural Goodyear Wingfoot Award for 2023 and, with the top two drivers going into the final round tied, this will add another exciting element for teams and fans to follow in Bahrain. »
The origins of the Wingfoot
The idea of speed inspired Goodyear’s selection of the Wingfoot symbol soon after the formation of the company 125 years ago. Goodyear’s Wingfoot symbol is derived from the famous god of mythology known to the ancient Romans as Mercury, and to the Greeks as Hermes. Mercury was known as a swift messenger for all the gods of mythology, making it a perfect fit for Goodyear’s ethos of performance.
James Bailey,