Nick Cassidy’s long-awaited FIA World Endurance Championship debut has been put on the back burner with Eurasia Motorsports confirming they are seeking a replacement for the Kiwi ahead of next month’s Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
The reigning Super Formula Champion was slated to partner fellow Kiwi Daniel Gaunt and Nobuya Yamanaka in the outfit’s LMP2 entry.
The trio formed one of two Eurasia Motorsports entries in this year’s Asian Le Mans Series. The team were unfortuantely beset by a myriad of technical dramas leading to three consecutive DNFs in the opening trio of rounds before a best finish of fourth at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand to conclude the four-round championship.
However, the global pandemic saw WEC and Cassidy’s Super Formula and Super GT commitments temporarily shelved.
The Six Hours of Spa was rescheduled to August 15 and Super Formula kicks off its truncated season on August 30 while Super GT got the ball rolling on its newly revised calendar last a fortnight ago at Fuji.
While there are no clashes between commitments, if Cassidy were to leave Japan for Spa he would be barred from returning due to the country’s travel ban on foreign residents.
Consequently, the team has since sourced a viable replacement for Cassidy with the to-be-announced driver set to remain with the team for both the 24 Hours of Le Mans and season-concluding 8 Hours of Bahrain.
“The problem has been travel bans,” Eurasia team boss Mark Goddard told SportsCar365.
“I don’t think it’s a secret that Nick Cassidy was meant to be in the car — he’s based in Japan and earns a living out of doing Super GT and Super Formula and right now if he leaves Japan he won’t be allowed back in.
“So that is him out of the equation. We do have a driver now but it will be announced on Wednesday.
“He’s European-based so he doesn’t have a problem with getting out or back into his home country.”
Meanwhile, Kiwi GT ace Gaunt will join two-time Le Mans victor Brendon Hartley on the WEC grid in Spa as New Zealand’s sole representatives.
Hartley will reunite with his Toyota LMP1 stablemates next week after announcing his surprise split with Formula E squad GEOX Dragon just five races into the shortened season.
Japan-domiciled Cassidy now turns his attention to the second round of the Super GT calendar slated for August 8-9 around Fuji International Speedway.
