Ex-F1 race director Wittich returns for GTWCE finale

Niels Wittich oversaw the ultimate spherical of the GT World Problem Europe Endurance Cup in Jeddah, after his shock departure from the FIA as Method 1’s race director.

Wittich had served as an F1 race director since 2022, initially on a part-time foundation alternating with Edoardo Freitas, following the departure of Michael Masi in acrimonious style following the contentious 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

However in a improvement that Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc stated “got here out a little bit of nowhere” and world champion Max Verstappen remarked “is a bit bizarre with three races to go”, the FIA introduced Wittich’s departure forward of the Las Vegas Grand Prix with out giving an evidence.

It’s extensively believed that Wittich was dropped on the behest of FIA president Mohamed Ben Sulayem, with F2 race director Rui Marques appointed in his place for the ultimate three F1 races of 2024.

Autosport understands that it was the primary time Wittich had labored with sequence promoter the Stephane Ratel Organisation within the function sometimes fulfilled by Alain Adam.

An SRO spokesperson defined that the German was sought out for his earlier expertise of Jeddah, since he grew to become unexpectedly out there following the Brazilian Grand Prix, because the championship made its first go to to the Corniche Circuit which has hosted F1’s Saudi Arabian GP since 2021.

Maro Engel, Lucas Auer and Daniel Morad claimed victory aboard their Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3 in Saturday’s six-hour Jeddah race, which introduced down the curtain on the GTWCE sequence for GT3 vehicles. This options most of the main lights from the World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar class and has the Spa 24 Hours as its most prestigious occasion.

The outcome additionally sealed the general GT World Problem Europe crown for Dash Cup champions Engel and Auer, who headed the Grasser Racing Lamborghini of Franck Perera, Jordan Pepper and Marco Mapelli by 7.971s on the flag.

Third place within the AF Corse-run Ferrari 296 GT3 they shared with Davide Rigon was sufficient for Alessandro Pier Guidi and Alessio Rovera to assert the Endurance Cup title over the aforementioned Lamborghini trio, going some approach to making up for the frustration of dropping the Spa 24 Hours when a damaged down automotive blocked Pier Guidi’s entry to the pits within the closing phases.