The Year in Sportscars

[jasonjessica09]

National/Regional Series: Tudor United Sportscar (GTLM to be specific)
International: WEC (LMP1 to be specific)
Race: 12 Hours of Bathurst
Surprise: How well Bentley did in Blancpain Endurance Series
Disapointment: 12 Hours of Sebring
Moment: Toyota victory celebration at Fuji
Car: Toyota (LMP1), Corvette DP (LMP2/DP), Dodge Viper (GTE), Audi R8 LMS Ultra (GT3)

[Aysedasi]

We'd appreciate it when posting, no matter how substantial your particular disappointment may be, if you would refrain from expressing it with thinly disguised expletives. You may think we're all adults here, but actually, quite a number of our members are not. It isn't 'big', nor (contrary to popular belief these days) is it 'adult' and it certainly isn't clever......

On with the show.....

[ederss7]

Originally Posted by Beryl

A car doesn't win any race on it's own, it requires a team and a set of drivers (and luck) to be successful.

I don't think it's wise to award such a title based on one race and without considering circumstances. If the #2 Audi had a puncture or was rear ended by a GT car in the closing stages of the 2011 24 hours of Le Mans and the lead Peugeot ended up winning, would it change your opinion of the capabilities of both the Audi R18 and Peugeot 908?

Of course it is a too radical point of view, but that is what a race like Le Mans does, glory when you win and deception when you don't, especially when you have the fastest car.

[Deleted]

Results so far (only original categories) - misc answers with multiple choices not counted unless one rised above

National Racing Series of the Year
7x World Challenge
3x Super GT
3x USCC
2x British GT

International Racing Series of the Year
11x FIA WEC
4x ELMS

Race of the Year
7x Le Mans 24 Hours
4x Bathurst 12 Hours
2x Interlagos 6 Hours
2x Spa 24 Hours
1x Dubai 24 Hours
1x SGT Fuji 300km

Surprise of the Year
2x Audi wins LM
2x ELMS
2x Bentley's Blancpain wins + Bentley's Blancpain performance
2x Nissan goes WEC
1x World Challenge
1x 'How closely things turned out in the US when compared to the predictions of some'
1x Dodge cans Viper program
1x Lotus showes up
1x ART in BES
1x Rebellion's LM performance
1x Ford GT 2016

Disappointment of the Year
5x USCC
2x AsLMS
2x SRO BoP for Spa 24
1x General BoP
1x WEC paywall
1x Sepang 12 Hours
1x Dodge cans Viper program
1x Gerard Neveu and his office
1x Kristensen didn't win LM
1x Nissan Zeod's gearbox at LM

Driver of the Year
2x Tom Kristensen
2x Gimmi Bruni
1x Anthony Davidson
1x Kazuki Nakajima
1x Laurens Vanthoor
1x Sebastien Buemi
1x Marc Lieb
1x Memo Gidley
1x Jeroen Bleekemolen
1x Toyota #8 crew

Personality of the Year
4x Tom Kristensen
1x Fred Macko
1x Rene Rast
1x Mark Webber
1x "Thurn und Taxis/Enge/Camaro"
1x Gordon Kirby and featured people
1x "Valentina"
1x Yu Omori (dbagtbag)
1x JoeB

Moment of the Year
2x Porsche's first win
2x Spa 24 red flagging and incident (+aftermath)
1x PLM 10/10 meeting
1x Bathurst 12h meeting
1x LMP1 2014 debut at Silverstone
1x First sight of LMPs at Daytona
1x 3 wide pass at Fuji
1x Toyota Fuji victory celebration
1x Computer died upon LM entry list reveal
1x Porsche #20 slows down for retirement at LM
1x First half of GTE-Pro race at LM
1x 'Dane Train bringing it home' at LM
1x Lotterer's Sunday AM stint at LM

Car of the Year
7x Toyota TS040
2x Porsche 919
2x Audi R18
2x Corvette C7.R
1x Rebellion R-One
1x Ligier JS P2
1x All hybrid LMP1s

[Rodger Davies]

National Racing Series of the Year
Continental Tire (sic) Sportscar Challenge – I’ve been thrilled by this series this year, having (re-)discovered it when I had nothing to do on the Sebring weekend and ended up watching it. Proper multi-class endurance racing, fronted by full-professional lineups and a field that any GT4 series in Europe would look at jealously. A lot of the races have been very tactical and I’m really looking forward to this one next year.

HM: TUSC
Pirelli WC


International Racing Series of the Year
Blancpain Endurance Series – the numbers might be slightly down on the previous year as a result of ELMS’ hypocritical move to grab entries, but it needed to have a smaller grid to get back to great racing. And it did. The Pro class was arguably the strongest it’s been, with a pair of works cars from Audi, Bentley, Mercedes and McLaren, and each race was compelling viewing for one reason or another. May it continue for years to come.

HM: ELMS
GT Asia


Race of the Year
Tough choice between N24 and Spa 24. Spa had it’s ridiculous BoP tweaks beforehand, but with the strength of the works cars from Audi I can’t pin their win on that. The VDS second car came within a couple of gremlins of toppling them, and that was after the disappointment of losing their lead car the evening before, and the closing race drama meant I very nearly missed my return plane as I refused to leave until the chequered flag came out.

HM: Nurburgring 24
TUSC Laguna Seca


Surprise of the Year
Stadler Motorsport winning Dubai 24 Hours. When looking at the entry list, I would not have put the usually unreliable car with a crew consisting almost entirely of gentlemen drivers in the top 10 favourites to win.

HM: Audi winning LM
Grasser RT in Blancpain Sprint
Mortara being beaten at Macau


Disappointment of the Year
SRT’s withdrawl from LM. Yes, their official withdrawl came at the end of the year, but this was the signal that all was not well with the programme and it was not going to get a second appearance at La Sarthe in the hands of the works team.

HM: MMPR pulling out of TUSC before Laguna Seca (where I believe they would have won).
Early season TUSC officiating
Still no Jaguar GT3 announcement!


Driver of the Year
Tough one, especially in sportscars. Struggling even to narrow down nominations. I want to say Gustavo Yacaman, because he was one of the most improved drivers out there but actually I’ve got to go with Rene Rast. This year, he won the Nurburgring 24 Hours, Spa 24 Hours and GT Masters championship, also racking up fastest laps in Blancpain Sprint Series and finding time to come 4th in class at Le Mans. I rooted for his opponents in pretty much every race I watched, because I always support the underdog, but will be cheering him on at Le Mans next year.

HM: Jeroen Bleekemolen (everything, everywhere, all the time)
Gustavo Yacaman (most improved, more consistent than most of his teammates)
Kevin Estre (8:10 – that’s all)
Anthony Davidson
Gianmaria Bruni


Personality of the Year
Andy Lally – representing the rest of the Magnus team. Every year, the Magnus webcast is one of my highlights and Mr Lally always takes the time to answer all sorts of ridiculous questions thrown at him, often in the most obscure ways.

Craig Lowdnes (for tireless interaction with fans everywhere he went)
Mike Hedlund (for depleting my tequila supply via the #mikehedlunddrinkinggame)


Moment of the Year
I’m biased, because I was there, but the roar that went up around the grandstands as the Bentley took the lead towards the end of the BES event at Silverstone was pretty special. Until then, I thought I was the only spectator there…

HM: Pier Guidi vs Winkelhock at the end of Daytona
Shane van Gisbergen’s (2nd?) stint at Bathurst


Car of the Year
Audi R8 LMS ultra – yes, it got a break before Spa, but that was arguably a result of two years of being penalised for being the best. After Mercedes' year of dominance, the R8 returned to win Blanpain Sprint (teams) and Endurance, GT Masters, N24, Spa 24 and plenty more that I will have forgotten. It's successor will have a lot to live up to.

HM: Toyota TS-040
Bentley Continental GT3
Oreca 03R

[ederss7]

National Racing Series of the Year: none.
International Racing Series of the Year: WEC.
Race of the Year: Le Mans.
Surprise of the Year: Toyota not winning Le Mans.
Disappointment of the Year: WEC paywall.
Driver of the Year: TK.
Personality of the Year: TK.
Moment of the Year: Porsche leading Le Mans and Lotterer's stint.
Car of the Year: Audi R18, still the best when the race lasts 24h.
Team of the Year: Audi Sport Team Joest, they won Le Mans again...

[FIRE]

National Racing Series of the Year
ADAC GT Masters

International Racing Series of the Year
Blancpain Endurance Series

Race of the Year
Le Mans

Surprise of the Year
Nissan joining LMP1

Disappointment of the Year
SRT/Dodge Viper soap

Driver of the Year
Jeroen Bleekemolen

Car of the Year
Toyota TS040

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

Good shout for livery of the year. There's no contest for me.

I'll vote for that! One of the best schemes I've seen in years.

[GT3.14]

National Series of the Year
British GT for quality and quantity

International Race Series of the Year
FIA WEC

Race of the Year
Le Mans for being a race of reliability and not just a 24 hour sprint. The most enjoyable Le Mans in ages.

Surprise of the Year
Jota Sport's Le Mans victory for the lone Zytek when the Ligiers failed in the final hours. .

Disappointment
Volvo, Viper, and Trackspeed ending their respective programmes are obvious but I am going to go with Maxime Martin's limited sportscar outings. Hope we will see more of him in 2015.

The WEC paywall a close second. All of the exposure that Webber and Porsche brought in shut out by a paywall.

Driver
It would be nice if Laurens Vanthoor let someone else win every now and then.

Personality
Mark Webber for doing what he loves and letting everyone know sportcars are better.

Moment of the Year
Lotterer's Sunday AM stint at LM. Happy hour at Le Mans was fantastic this year.

Car of the Year
I will rule the TS040 out as it was a disaster in the race it was designed to win. I will go with Ligier JS P2 for nearly winning at Le Mans and being the car that took the fight to the DPs despite IMSA's efforts to hammer it into the ground.

Team of the Year
The Bentley Boys M-Sport goes circuit racing.

Livery of the Year
The Viper returning to its nostalgic red and white.

[Mechanic Z]

National Series of the Year
Like many others, I've got to say Pirelli World Challenge. Their growth this year has been unparalleled, and it's become a truly awesome racing series.

International Racing Series
Audi vs. Porsche vs. Toyota. Aston Martin vs. Ferrari vs. Porsche. Can only be the FIA WEC

Race of the Year

The 24 Hours of Le Mans. Attrition, Endurance, rain, this year's Le Mans was a classic.

Surprise of the Year

Pirelli World Challenge. I'd watched PWC races last year, and a few prior to that, and they were fun to watch, but this year, the series came into it's own. I don't think many of us saw that coming.
I attended the Road America event, and it was incredible!

Disappointment of the Year

It'll sound like a broken record, but it's the Tudor United SportsCar Championship. I loved the ALMS, and I had hoped the new series could somehow work out, but after Daytona, and more so after Sebring, it was pretty clear there was issues.
Heading to Road America in August cemented that.
And there's still no traveling Safety Team.
The series has been disappointing for fans and, very obviously, also participants.

Driver of the Year

Tom Kristensen

Personality of the Year
Memo Gidley, for his long recovery from that horrific crash at Daytona, and for keeping race fans up to date with his progress in that recovery.
Hope he gets well soon.
Moment of the Year

Got to get up close to the KPAX McLarens at the PWC Road America round in June, thanks to Alex Figge, Robert Thorne and KBru Communications, so that would probably be the high point!

Car of the Year

Audi R18 e-Tron Quattro. Yeah, they were slower than Toyota and Porsche for much of the season-but hey, they won LE MANS, and that is, after all the point! And it was the cars serviceability that won them the race.

Team of the Year

Toyota Motorsports. it was a dominant year for them in the WEC.

Livery of the Year

KPAX's McLarens' Livery. The cars looked incredible.

[isynge]

I suspect I'm going to be crap and totally extemporise on this, which does mean a lot of my calls on this are open to change - but some very much aren't.

National Racing Series of the Year
I didn't watch any, so I'm not in any position to comment.

International Racing Series of the Year
ELMS. Large grids and a complete inability to really predict who was going to win, plus a title that went down to the wire. Everything a long distance sportscar series should be. Needs a headline serious long distance event to be truly great, but in the context of 2014 impossible to really fault.

Race of the Year
Le Mans. Cliched, but running up to the final hour with questions front and centre as to who was going to win it clinched it. Had it not been for the final safety car at Sao Paulo that might have made it, but being there and being on the edge of my seat in June clinches it for me

Surprise of the Year
Porsche at Le Mans. I'd confidently predicted they'd qualify at the front, do well in the "Grand Prix" of the first couple of hours, and maybe hit the lead at some point like Toyota did in 2012, but be gone by sunset. That they ran it so close to the end is still something I shake my head in wonderment at.

Disappointment of the Year
TUSC in general and Sebring in particular. I wanted to like it, expected a bit more from Daytona but wrote it off as early days. Sebring should have been great, and it just plain wasn't - that by early evening UK time I wished I'd gone to the pub says it all. Then TUSC didn't get much better - a combination of rubbish officiating, a BoP between P2 and DP I can't really agree with, and declining car counts meant by the time of PLM there wasn't any real doubt - I went to the pub instead.

Driver of the Year
Amazingly hard to tell. Appreciating that this may well lead to massive complications of any attempts by John-Mark to run any scoring off the back of this I want to give it to Harry Tincknell, Olivier Pla, Christian Klien, Nelson Pantiaticci, and probably a whole host of others; and if you're spotting a pattern here you're right - that Gary Watkins exclusively picked his top LMP drivers from WEC LMP1 this year annoyed - I don't think that's right at all.

Personality of the Year
Close second to David Heinemeier Hansson for his wry commentary on how he saw things throughout the season, but for my money it's Bart Hayden, for being approachable and open, but mainly for having the guts to try in LMP1L.

Moment of the Year
The one I remember for all the wrong reasons is Loic Duval's crash - standing in a bar with DjComix and falling silent seeing the footage because it was obvious this was a very big one was one of the horrible horrible moments you never want to happen.

Taking a more positive and more drawn out one though - the final stint at Estoril showed everyone trying to do what was needed and made for an entirely absorbing experience, showcasing what racing should be about.

Car of the Year
Ligier JS P2. Still wish it followed the old Ligier naming nomenclature, but leaving that aside was the most exciting debut of the year, and the standout performance at Le Mans massively outweighed some of its more disappointing performances later in the year. It showed what a new model P2 was all about and was lovely to look at too.

Team of the Year
Toyota. WEC winners and total dominance in the face of profound factory opposition.

Livery of the Year
Signatech Alpine with its Big A. Wish it was more than badge engineering - but I'll take what crumbs I can.

[TF110]

National series- Super GT.

International- WEC.

Race of year- LM and Brazil wec.

Surprise of the year- Audi choosing to scale back to 2mj from 3.5mj in 2013.

Disappointment of the year- Nico Lapierre at LM and the fia sensor failure on the #7.

Driver of the year- Kazuki Nakajima (pole at LM, on average the fastest driver in Toyota, Super Formula champ, near gt500 champ) Sebastian Buemi and Anthony Davidson (wec champs, nearly as fast as Nakajima sometimes faster, low mistakes).

Personality of the year- no clue.

Moment of the year- finish of Brazil WEC. Porsche win, TK finals with podium, Toyota wins championships.

Car of the year- TS040. Aside from bad driving and an FIA sensor fail, theyd have been unbeatable.

Team of the year- Toyota. Honorable mention to Dodge/SRT.

Livery of the year- The simple but classic Red with White stripes Vipers in gte and PWC;

[joeb]

Originally Posted by CyberMotor

Personality of the Year

[/U][/B]JoeB for moderating us through this acrimonious year

Moment of the Year

Meeting the Tentenths guys at turn 4 at PLM and we all got along.[B][U]

You are too kind, but thanks!

[rich07]

National Series of the Year

British GT for both big fields and great racing.

International Series of the Year

European Le Mans Series

Surprise of the Year

The lone McLaren in the Bathurst 12hr making it all the way through the race without problems and finishing just off the podium. I didn't expect it to last three hours. I was happy to be proven wrong.

Dissapointment of the Year

Tudor Series officiating decisions. Spoiled a good series for me.

Driver of the Year

Rene Rast

Personality of the Year

Mark Webber. For enjoying himself in sportscars and photo bombing the Toyota boys on the podium at Silverstone

Race of the Year

Bathurst 12hrs. Being there and watching the build up to the race and then the almighty battle between HTP and Maranello Motorsport will stick in my mind for a very long time.

Team of the Year

Grasser Racing for punching well above their weight in the Blancpain Sprint Series. The way they consistently performed against much higher resourced and funded teams was remarkable and great to watch.

Car of the Year

Bentley Continental GT3

Livery of the Year

The red and white retro Viper scheme. Magnificent. Pity they've left the building .

[Deleted]

2015

National Racing Series of the Year
Umm. Super Taikyu for broadcasting (brand new word for the series) this sponsor intro, or whatever typical japanese acid hallucination it's supposed to be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1NI-rkocNY&t=0m31s

International Racing Series of the Year
Ehh guess ELMS again, specifically for being proactive and starting to fix some issues, certainly towards end of the year, unlike other series

Race of the Year
Le Mans

Surprise of the Year
It was supposed to be easy evolutionary decision based on stability (isn't that what they repeat all the time????) but ACO decided to cash-in and ruin LMP2 of the future. Did not see this coming, honestly, I though they hadn't sunk THAT low.

Disappointment of the Year
Project #eatsleepPRrepeat

Driver of the Year
Don't care

Personality of the Year
Carlton Kirby's empty seat @ Eurosport's LM booth

Moment of the Year
DP doesn't win Petit Le Mans and Michelin destroys Hoosier-Conti in same instant

Car of the Year
Porsche 919 Hybrid

Livery of the year
Rebellion Racing #13 metallic red, but Paul-Ricard-private-testing + Test-Day-prior-scrutineering only (prior unneeded copycat Porsche stripes). Well even afterwards I'd prob still choose that, but the initial was so awesome.

[MaskedRacer]

2015

National Racing Series of the Year
Don't know enough about this

International Racing Series of the Year
Blancpain Endurance Series. Great stuff from those races this year

Race of the Year
Le Mans

Surprise of the Year
Petit Le Mans: Porsche GT overall win

Disappointment of the Year
Nissan LMP and Pirelli World Challenge

Driver of the Year
Nick Tandy

Personality of the Year
Not sure. Certainly not Tommy Drissi

Moment of the Year
Has to be Tandy/Bamber/Hulkenberg Le Mans win

Car of the Year
Porsche 919 Hybrid (LMP1), Corvette DP (DP/LMP2), Porsche 911 RSR and Corvette C7R (tie, GT)

Livery of the year
Mustang Sampling Corvette DP

[Mechanic Z]

National Racing Series of the Year
Pirelli World Challenge, because McLarens, Porsches, Bentleys, Ferraris, Nissans, Cadillacs, Audis, Acuras, Aston Martins, Mercedes, etc in the GT class.
And GTS was pretty great too.

International Racing Series of the Year
I guess the Blancpain Endurance Series, as the races I watched of it were extremely entertaining.

Race of the Year
Torn between Pirelli World Challenge Round 2 at COTA, and Round 18 at Sonoma. COTA for the utter dominance in the rain by Estre and the KPAX w/ Flying Lizard McLaren (rare to see that level of dominance these days, especially in the PWC sprint races). Sonoma for the epic battle between Estre in the McLaren, and Renger Van Der Zande in the EFFORT Porsche. Hard fought but super clean racing. (Round 19, race 2 at Sonoma, was pretty good too)
Special mention to Le Mans, because it's Le Mans, and Porsche winning for the first time since '98.

Surprise of the Year
Porsche's huge speed edge with the 919. Expected Audi to be closer.

Disappointment of the Year
Pirelli World Challenge. As good as it was this year, there was a lot of problems and, as a result, paddock unrest. On the positive side, they've made changes (new pres, rolling starts) and it sounds like the paddock is much happier.

Driver of the Year
Difficult call, O' Connell, Dalziel, Estre and Tandy all come to mind.

Personality of the Year
Hard to pick an answer on this one.

Moment of the Year
Personally, once again it's paddock tours. The KPAX/Lizards tour at Road America, and the EFFORT tour at Mid-Ohio, which had the added bonus of getting a RA photo of the EFFORT cars signed by both Ryan Dalziel and Michael Lewis. Both tours were awesome. For The Fans lives on.

Car of the Year
Porsche 997 GT3-R. Won PWC Manufacturers & Teams championships. Another accomplishment for the already legendary 997 series 911.

Livery of the Year
K-Pax Racing with Flying Lizard Motorsports' McLaren 650s GT3s' liveries. Simple, but combined with the McLaren it looks absolutely gorgeous.

[J Jay]

National Racing Series of the Year

For the second year running JAF and the GT500 teams have shown that the people in charge of DTM are doing it wrong in every way possible. The season-long battle between the car and the car ebbed and flowed right up until the last stint of the final race, aided by strong outings from the rest of the field at every race. It is also the last true tyre war at a time where specification is increasingly a byword for mollification.

And if you're disappointed by the lack of utterly "out there" promos, don't worry - they've got you covered.

International Racing Series of the Year

Usually I find that this is shoe-in for either the WEC or Blancpain, but perhaps as a reward for listening to and acting on it's participants suggestions, the ELMS has had a stellar season. Not only was each race a 4-hour story in itself, but the championship was also as close as it could have possibly been without sharing honours.

There are a number of organisations that could learn from the way the ELMS has dealt with the issues that have arisen since its nadir.

Race of the Year

The Phillip Island MotoGP. Wait a minute - that's two wheels, not four...

For cars, the Spa 6 Hours provided everything you could want from the best of motorsport into one race - cars and drivers going flat-out and wheel-to-wheel offensively and defensively, strategy calls that played out over both a number of hours and a number of laps, drivers and pit crew finding the limit and crossing it a couple of times and a result that was in the balance until the last few laps.

Surprise of the Year

Nissan's excellent showing at Le Mans.
Darren Cox's continued employment.
Torotrak's vastly enhanced reputation.
The fear in Enzinger's/Ulrich's/Vasselon's faces.

... okay, I'll drop the sarcasm. Had there been a PWC weekend without a FCY that would have been the automatic choice, but this one goes hand-in-hand with what is immediately below so there's no point covering it here.

Disappointment of the Year

It's a damning enough statement that the GT-R LuMP isn't my disappointment of the year, but it was ousted by the 2017 LMP2 regulations, a jaw-dropping decision that flies in the face of competitive spirit, technological advancement and the formula that finally turned LMP2 from a class teetering on the edge into a desirable and viable product that held its own wherever it raced.

But Pierre Fillon gets to cop while he inserts many Euronotes into Hugh de Chaunac's back pocket so it's not entirely without merit.

Driver of the Year

Not many drivers have won Le Mans and Petit Le Mans overall in the same year, but only Nick Tandy can say he's done the double in two different classes with his mega stints being vital to both victories. Nick led the vanguard of factory GT drivers showing that they had speed and consistency equal to their prototype counterparts, with every car he drove reaching the top step at least once.

Personality of the Year

In the absence of any outstanding candidates I suppose Marc van der Stratten is a good shout. Normally you're supposed to grumble and moan but ultimately acquiesce to the demands of <insert series that holds prestigious race here>, so it takes a brave person to stick that middle finger up. Looking at the current events in the VLN it might even have had a bigger impact then first expected.

Moment of the Year

There have been a number of moments that made their mark on me this year: a reminder of how stunning proper night racing looks with the opening laps of the Bathurst 12 Hours; the perfect storm (pun intended) of circumstances and performances that led to a GTLM Porsche 911 winning Petit Le Mans overall; the numerous stories of redemption and comebacks that littered Le Mans - Porsche, #64 'Vette, Lapierre to name but a few.

But one stands out as something I don't think I will ever see again - the ELMS Silverstone post-race press conference. While I would highly recommend watching it to get the full experience, here's the digest version:



Car of the Year

Porsche 919 Hybrid - It started out blindingly fast in a straight line and not quite so quick in the corners. After the summer break it was massively quick in the corners and still blindingly fast in a straight line. Compared to its main rival Porsche gave the 919 a big K.I.S.S., and they have the victories and titles to prove that they made the right choice.

Livery of the Year

The GoodSmile Racing SLS GT3. In my opinion the livery designer didn't really put the increased bonnet area to great use, but who can resist a Vocaloid riding a mechanical unicorn? (If you can you obviously haven't played enough Robot Unicorn Attack)

[Starfish Primer]

National Racing Series of the Year

I don have enough info, but I enjoyed the British Gt.

International Racing Series of the Year

The ELMS are looking strong, good races with thrill in all the categories.

Race of the Year

Spa and Silverstone 6hr
The CTSCC Mosport race with the epic Pumpelly-Carbonell dogfight.

Surprise of the Year

The SMP racing team taking the GTE Am championship.
The Petit Le Mans Porsche overall win.
Chevrolet strong results at long races.

Disappointment of the Year

Nissan for the LMP1 program, so much hype and so less performance.
Toyota LMP1 performance, very far from Porsche and Audi. They were so strong on 2014 and looked very bad in 2015.
Patron racing at WEC. They were completely out of the WEC teams pace.

Driver of the Year

Nick Tandy and Dane Cameron.

Personality of the Year

For the good and for bad, Ben Bowlby and Darren Cox.
Magnus Racing PR department

Moment of the Year

PWC last laps drama.
ELMS Silverstone last laps.
The fights between Audis and Porsches P1, each one using a different approach on performance.
Yacaman-Bradley at Fuji

Car of the Year

Porsche 919 and 911

Livery of the Year

KCMG and Rebellion racing red.
Dempsey Proton WEC livery

[TheDude]

National Racing Series of the Year

ADAC GT

International Racing Series of the Year

BES. Ultra competitive, lots of brands and huge grids

Race of the Year

Spa 24H

Surprise of the Year

Porsche LMP1 dominance .
The Petit Le Mans Porsche overall win.
The Von Rayan wins in BES .
RJN Bes Title

Disappointment of the Year

Nissan LMP thingy

Driver of the Year

Kevin Estre and Nick Catsburg .

Personality of the Year

Nissan PR, not for good reasons .


Moment of the Year
#45 breaking down at Spa
#19 GRT exclusion and inclusion at monza
#63 crash during practice at LM


Car of the Year
Porsche 919
Corvette C7.R


Livery of the Year
#50 Larbre Competition (WEC)

[rich07]

National Racing Series of the Year

Super GT. Big grids, fantastic battles on awesome tracks.

International Racing Series of the Year

World Endurance Championship

Race of the Year

In my eyes it was the last round of the Blancpain Endurance Series at the Nurburgring. A tense battle between Nissan and Bentley for the title, a win for Von Ryan Racing with Shane Van Ginsbergen onboard and the Emil Frey Jaguar winning popularly in Pro Am despite some last corner shenanigans from the second placed Ferrari team all combined to make this an immensely enjoyable treat for sportscar fans.

Surprise of the Year

Porsche winning Petit Le Mans outright with the 911 RSR but a welcome surprise none the less for us non lovers of the DP lol

Disappointment of the Year

The Nissan LMP1 project is a stand alone winner in this category for so many reasons. The hype, the lack of humility in entering the lions arena that is LMP1, the failure of the car to be fast and reliable, the lack of race milage. It was all a recipe for disaster. Wasnt amused with their lack of humility but wanted them to succeed anyway.

Also Falken pulling out of GTLM And Im a Ferrari fan....


Driver of the Year

Nick Tandy

Personality of the Year

Marc Van De Stratten. In coming out and announcing his team's demise in the four wheel categories he didnt sugarcoat it, his bluntness with prose to somewhat explain why this was happening and his disatisfaction with SRO was brilliant.

Moment of the Year

Marc VDS winning Spa 24 at long last.

HTP duo Abril and Buhk winning a very tense battle at Zandvoort to win the Blancpain Sprint Series drivers title with Abril getting emotional and dropping certain four letter words on a live international broadcast.

Car of the Year

Porsche 919

Livery of the Year

The retro liveried Nissan GTR LM #21
Clearwater Racing McLaren 650S GT3

[Miguel]

Based this on "my" 2015 season:

National Racing Series of the Year

VLN. For obvious personal reasons, but also because I saw some amazing races this year, hardly ever a dull moment.

International Racing Series of the Year

Blancpain GT. Still growing stronger every year and 2015 was no exception. Big names, big brands, big races, big winners.

Race of the Year

Blancpain Sprint Series finale race in Zandvoort. Excitement from start to finish in the championship battle.

Surprise of the Year

Black Falcon's Porsche 991 GT3 Cup BF with drivers Manuel Metzger and Gerwin Schuring. Metzger was so fast he was awarded a GT3 drive in the last races of the season with Black Falcon, and Schuring impressed everyone by getting up to speed in the SP7 car without serious race experience and in spite of being a gentlemen driver. Challenged and often beat Manthey with Porsche works drivers and a GT3R mule to the win, including in the 24 hours of the Nürburgring. They won the final VLN race of the season outright together with Philipp Eng, where Metzger and Eng both equalled GT3 lap times. Metzger scored most points outright (but there's no championship for that) and he would've won the VLN championship if he didn't had a couple of zero scores that were outside of his influence. All of that in their first season in any SP class.

Disappointment of the Year

Robin Frijns losing the Blancpain Sprint Series title. Because he had practically already taken the trophy home before everything fell apart.

Driver of the Year

Chris Mies. Won the 24h race on "his" Nürburgring, won Australian GT, almost brought Robin Frijns the Blancpain Sprint title. Also performed very strong in every other race in 2015.

Personality of the Year

Liam Talbot. Because everyone loves Liam and he shows that gentleman drivers can be an additional to the field.

Moment of the Year

Metzger, Schuring and Eng's VLN10 win. Couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of guys, who worked hard all year long and then had luck on their side to stun everyone with an impossible win.

Car of the Year

#92 Porsche 991 GT3 Cup MR. Beautiful, fast and mysterious. And my friend worked on it, so I can hardly choose anything else

Livery of the Year

Always Evolving GT-R