Sean Gelael And WRT Independent, Winning The Fifth WEC Round In Japan

Sean Gelael (central) with two WRT team riders Robin Frinjs and Dries Vanthoor celebrated their victory in the fifth round of the FIA World Resilience Championships (WEC) FIA LMP2 Race 6 Hours of Fuji/VIA BETWEEN

JAKARTA - Indonesian racer Sean Gelael appeared to skyrocket with the WRT team to ensure victory in the fifth round of the FIA World Defense Championship (WEC) FIA LMP2 Race 6 Hours of Fuji at Fuji International Speedway, Japan, Sunday, September 11. Sean, who is trusted to be the starting driver, immediately skyrocketed. Starting from the 4th position of the LMP2, the mainstay of Team Jagonya Ayam KFC Indonesia immediately led the race past three riders at once. Sean not only took the lead, he even immediately opened the gap up to three seconds in front of Roberto Gonzalez (JOTA #38) who was in second place. Sean maintained that condition until the pit stop. During the pit stop, Sean did not replace the tires and the impact of the rear tire was largely degraded. Sean also struggled, even though he was still in second place when he changed steering with Robin Frinjs. The good foundation that Sean made was really used by Robin. The Dutchman is still in second place, but he approached Edward Jones (JOTA #28) although he couldn't just follow him he had to hold on to the performance of the tires. But a good pit stop from the WRT crew, where Robin is served 3 seconds faster, puts him out in front of Jones. When already in front of it, Robin widened the time difference from 5 seconds, then 7, 10, 12, 14, 17, to about 22 seconds when he entered the pit and was replaced by Dries Vanthoor. The Belgian, Rene Rast's replacement, is battling Jonathan Aberdein (JOTA #28) for P1. Gap was successfully trimmed by Aberdein into about 1.5 seconds before the pit stop for each, but again the good pit work made Vanthoor go out and into the track about 4 seconds in front of Aberdein. Vanthoor took advantage of that distance to even increase it more than 14 seconds until the reins shifted again to Robin. Even before the pit stop, Aberdein was followed by Antonio Felix da Costa (JOTA #38). With the speed it had as in the first appearance, Robin maintained that first position until finishing. This is WRT's second win #31 after a similar success at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium. And they are also the first team to win twice this season. "We started well so that we could lead and stay in that position until we finished. Good work from the team and also Robin and Dries. We really wanted to win this victory after failing at Le Mans and Monza. I am very happy to finally be able to make it happen," said Sean in a written statement received in Jakarta, Antara, Sunday, September 11. "Inauguration and excitingness. Sean started really well and then opened the gap, while Dries maintained the team's level of performance. And I was worried that there would be a vibration in the car, but after knowing everything was safe I was able to bring the car to finish," said Robin. The final round of the FIA WEC is 8 Hours of Bahrain on 12 November. LMP2 standings 1. JOTA #38 - 114 points 2. United Autosports USA #23 - 86 points 3. Realteam by WRT #1 - 80 points 4. WRT #31 - 78 points