Keating moves to TF Sport Aston Martin for 2021 WEC season
Ben Keating has joined the TF Sport Aston Martin team for his second full season in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2021.
Bronze-rated Keating will share TF Sport’s #33 Vantage GTE Am entry with Felipe Fraga and Dylan Pereira, forming an all new driver line-up at the British outfit.
The American driver moves across from the Project 1 Porsche squad with which he finished sixth in the championship last season, scoring a maiden WEC win along the way in the first of the two Bahrain races during the 2019/20 campaign.
Brazilian driver Fraga has previously partnered Keating at several endurance races, including the Le Mans 24 Hours for the past two years, and the Rolex 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours in 2019. The duo were also teammates for much of the 2019/20 WEC season at Project 1, with Dutch driver Jeroen Bleekemolen in the other seat.
Pereira, meanwhile, will make his full-time WEC debut in 2021 after replacing Fraga at Proton in last year’s Bahrain finale and finishing on the podium at the first time of asking.
Keating, who is also racing for TF in this month's Rolex 24 at Daytona in a Vantage GT3, said: “I am very excited about 2021!
"The whole program, Daytona and WEC, came together at the same time and joining TF, along with Aston Martin meant that I had great options for many of my goals.
“This will be my seventh year in a row at Le Mans and it will be my seventh different car to drive! This sport, this series, and this class is so awesome.
“It is the only place I know of where a guy like me can compete on the same field, at the same time, in the same game with the best in the world, and still be crowned World Champion, which is the ultimate goal for this season!”
TF Sport finished second in the standings last season, its first in the category, with Jonathan Adam, Charlie Eastwood and Salih Yoluc behind the wheel of its sole Aston. The British outfit notably won in its class at Le Mans, beating the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche and the #83 AF Corse Ferrari which claimed the overall GTE Am crown.
Yoluc and Eastwood will remain with TF for the team's previously-announced expansion into LMP2 in the European Le Mans Series this year.
“There aren't many bronze drivers in the world that can top Mr Keating," team owner Tom Ferrier said. "He’s fast, fit and hungry.
“He brings two great teammates in Dylan and Felipe to the party. I hope with our car, team and drivers we can deliver the World Championship title that eluded us in 2020 and repeat the Le Mans victory. Everyone at TF is really excited to get started!”
GTD Race winner #33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3, GTD: Ben Keating
Photo by: Art Fleischmann
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