Tag Archives: FIA WEC

Peugeot Unveils Its 9X8 Hypercar

The rumours were true, Peugeot Sport has not just opted to join the FIA World Endurance Championship with a standard Le mans Hypercar, it’s gone radical too!

The brand new hybrid, twin-turbo V6-powered 9X8, launched today, is set to stun fans around the world. It features plenty of nods and styling cues to the Peugeot brand, and a radical aerodynamic design that features no rear wing and a rear-diffuser capable of producing the majority of the car’s downforce.

“The new Le Mans Hypercar regulations were drawn up to level out the importance of conventional performance-boosting systems,” explains Olivier Jansonnie, Peugeot Sport’s WEC Programme Technical Director.

“Designing the 9X8 has been a passionate experience because we had the freedom to invent, innovate and explore off-the-wall ways to optimise the car’s performance, and more especially its aerodynamics. The regulations stipulate that only one adjustable aerodynamic device is permitted, without specifying the rear wing. Our calculation work and simulations revealed that high performance was effectively possible without one.”

“The absence of a rear wing on the Peugeot 9X8 is a major innovative step,” adds Stellantis Motorsport Director Jean-Marc Finot. “We have achieved a degree of aerodynamic efficiency that allows us to do away with this feature. Don’t ask how, though! We have every intention of keeping that a secret as long as we possibly can!”

The drivers all appear to approve. Travel Destinations understands that the entire roster has played a part in helping develop both the simulator and the cockpit. Work has been ongoing for months, with drivers and members of the design team interacting and working hard in the build up to the testing phase.

“The 9X8’s lines are very different to those that have been unveiled or hinted at in recent months. It will be a historic moment if we succeed in winning with this car because nothing in this style has ever been attempted before,” said Mikkel Jensen.

Loic Duval added: “There are cars that you look at and say they’re nice from the three-quarters front view, say, or from the side, from the front or from the back. The 9X8 looks terrific from every angle!”

As for the car’s powertrain, the engine has been tested on the dyno, and TotalEnergies is understood to be in the thick of the planning stage surrounding the car’s batter. Parts for the car are already being manufactured and stress-tested too, with the car still on track to begin testing in December.

What does the 9X8 monikor refer too?  ‘9’ is a nod to Peugeot’s previous topflight sportscars, ‘X’ refers to its all-wheel-drive technology and hybrid powertrain and ‘8’, the suffixed used for all of Peugeot’s current models.

The theme of brand references and nods to the past can be found across the car. The 9X8’s front and rear lights take the form of ‘three claw-like strokes’, linked to Peugeot trademarks, while the brand’s new logo features in backlit form at the front and on the sides of the car. The colour scheme too, ‘Selenium Grey’ and contrasting ‘Kryptonite’ acid green/yellow mirrors the colours selected for the new 508 and 508 SW road cars.

“Since the 9X8 is a Peugeot, the original sketch that steered our work portrayed a big cat ready to pounce, a stance which we have suggested by the slightly forward-tilting cockpit”, said Design Director Mattias Hossann. “The overall lines of the Peugeot 9X8 express the brand’s styling cues, while its sleek, racy, elegant forms inspire emotion and dynamism.”

The Peugeot is set to make its race debut during the 2022 season, though Peugeot hasn’t confirmed to the full season with its pair of 9X8s just yet. Travel Destinations understands that the leaders of this effort and keen to ensure the car is fully ready before it takes on Toyota and Glickenhaus for the first time. Whether or not it will be seen at Sebring, Spa and Le Mans early in the year remains to be seen.

What is clear is that Peugeot still sees value in sportscar racing and Le Mans, and is incredibly excited to return to the front-end at Le Mans very soon.

“There’s more to Peugeot’s involvement in endurance racing than the sporting aspect,” said Peugeot CEO Linda Jackson. “Endurance racing is a form of motorsport that provides us with an extreme laboratory, which explains why our association with Le Mans is so strong. More significant perhaps than the results we obtain on the race track are the opportunities it provides to prove our technology and the fruit of our research work in a race that throws extreme conditions at you for 24 hours.

“Le Mans gives us a competitive environment to validate the hybrid systems and technologies we are currently developing to reduce the fuel consumption – and therefore CO2 emissions – of our road cars. The teams at Peugeot Sport are proud when they see their research carried over to our production models. For our customers, Le Mans is a laboratory that testifies to the quality of our cars.”

Stephen Kilbey

If you want to be trackside at Le Mans next year call us on 01707 329 988 today and book your space. Camping spaces, hotels and certain ticket types are already limited for 2022.

Images courtesy of Peugeot Sport

Toyota Fires The Starting Gun For The Le Mans Hypercar Era

Toyota Gazoo Racing has officially kicked off the Le Mans Hypercar era by formally unveiling its brand new GR010 HYBRID challenger, which will make its global race debut in the opening race of the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship season at Sebring in March.

After years of planning, designing, developing and more recently, manufacturing and testing, the wait is almost over for Toyota. The Japanese marque, which has won the last three Le Mans 24 Hours, has moved into a new era of sportscar racing and become the first marque to make the leap with a new car. Following multiple evolutions to its 2016 TS050 HYBRID over the past four years, it is refreshing to see a brand new car emerge from TGR’s headquarters in Cologne.

The GR010 HYBRID is a prototype racer based on the forthcoming GR Super Sports concept car which completed demo laps at Le Mans last September. While elements of the design feature nods to Toyota’s hybrid LMP1 cars of recent years, under the skin, it’s a very different animal to its predecessors, as it shares fundamental DNA with its road-legal counterpart.

The car will be powered by a four-wheel drive hybrid powertrain, with a 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo engine, providing 680hp to the rear wheels, combining with a 272hp motor generator unit. With the total power output of the car capped at 680hp by regulation, the hybrid system, is being used to reduce the amount of power used by the engine through boosts of hybrid power each lap during a race.

Toyota has been hard at work on this project since it announced its foray into the Le Mans Hypercar class back in 2019 at the Le Mans 24 Hours. Using its Cologne base to design the car itself and its team of experts at Higashi-Fuji in Japan to develop the hybrid powertrain, the countless lessons learned through its eight-year WEC programme to this point have helped it create a car which it expects to be a winner from Day 1.

While it will have to wait another year to pit the GR010 HYBRID against Peugeot Sport’s new LMH chariot, this season will not be without its challenges. Competing with a brand new car is never a simple, trouble-free task, as Toyota knows from years of near-misses at Le Mans with new machinery which it expected to go the distance after gruelling test programmes. But the Toyota Gazoo Racing outfit appears to be as ready as it has ever been. As a team it has matured nicely with age and knows precisely what it takes to create and run a championship-winning car.

Toyota isn’t ready to go into too much detail about its test programme with the GR010 yet, though it has given Travel Destinations some indications of how the car has performed over the past few months. No mileage stats are available, but we know from the past that Toyota is not afraid to push a new car to its limits with lengthy endurance tests that often feature more than 24 hours of continuous running.

Over the course of Toyota’s pair of three-day tests to this point – one of which was at Paul Ricard, the other at Algarve – no major issues have been reported and driver feedback has been encouraging. The only real hiccup thus far is lost track time due to its third planned test at Aragon getting cancelled, due to heavy snow.

Those of us trackside may not notice the stark differences between the GR010 and the TS050 immediately. But over time the shift in philosophy will become clear.

The car is 162kg heavier and produces 32% less power than its TS050 HYBRID predecessor, meaning lap times are set to be significantly slower (as per the new set of regulations curbing the performance levels to mitigate rising cost). This means the days of sub 3:20 lap-times at Le Mans are over, at least for the time being, with the GR010 expected to produce times around 10 seconds slower than the outgoing LMP1 model at La Sarthe.

For the drivers behind the wheel too, there are major differences. The fighter-pilot level of multi-tasking that its selection of drivers were forced to adapt to in the LMP1 Hybrid era – which included intense management of fuel flow and hybrid boost throughout each lap – has been eased with this new machine. What we have instead is a more efficient car, which will suit the pure racers among Toyota’s roster.

“I was not expecting it to be as fun to drive as it is; I thought it would feel like a GT car,” Sebastien Buemi explains. “But we learned a lot during our LMP1 era and we used that knowledge to improve the new car, so it feels like a prototype.”

Perhaps the most important aspect from the driver feedback to this point is the drivability of the GR010. “I already feel at home,” Mike Conway adds. Though not every driver has been able to get a feel for the new car just yet, as Travel Destinations understands that neither of Toyota’s Japanese drivers: Kamui Kobayashi and Kazuki Nakajima, have been out testing.

It remains to be seen how the GR010 will stack up against its competition in Year 1 of the programme, but the expectations are (deservedly) high, even with the new Balance of Performance system governing the class with the aim of creating parity.

This year Toyota’s main competition could well come from France as it competes against Alpine’s (multiple Le Mans class and WEC title-winning) factory team, running a grandfathered Rebellion R-13 LMP1 car (below), which is a proven race winner.

There will be other Hypercars on the grid in 2021 though, which may give us more of an idea of how sophisticated the GR010 is up against cars developed to the same ruleset.

US manufacturer Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus’ new car is being assembled and readied for its first test as we speak. James Glickenhaus himself has told media members in the past two weeks that he doesn’t expect to be at Sebring to debut the car, but he has nevertheless thrown down the gauntlet by hiring 15-time Le Mans winning outfit Joest to run its effort. Anyone who witnessed the dominance of Audi Sport’s programme between 2006 and 2016 in particular, will not need reminding just how impressive Reinhold Joest’s crew are when facing monumental challenges from rival teams.

Then there’s ByKolles, which is developing its own hypercar too for 2021. The current status of the new car is unknown at present, though the Austrian team is often very secretive about its racing operations behind the scenes, so the radio silence shouldn’t be considered too much of a concern yet.

We will find out more very soon. With th full FIA WEC entry list set to be revealed next week, we’ll only need to wait a handful more days to see exactly what the field that Toyota’s new toy will be a part of looks like.

Stephen Kilbey

Want to be at the Le Mans 24 Hours this year? Act fast as availability is becoming limited for many of Travel Destinations’ accomodation options. Travel Destinations is also selling packages to FIA WEC races beyond Le Mans. You can contact our office by calling 01707 329988 or emailing info@traveldestinations.co.uk to get your next motorsport holiday booked.

Images courtesy of Toyota

FIA WEC

A Positive future for FIA WEC, IMSA & Le Mans?

What should we take away from the race weekend last week? That all-eyes are firmly on Super Sebring next month.

If the convergence announcement in Daytona was the appetiser, then Super Sebring’s LMDh technical regulations reveal will be the main course. The dessert in this metaphor will be any big announcements from OEMs that follow.

Where does IMSA-ACO convergence currently stand after Aston Martin announced that its Valykrie-based Le Mans Hypercar programme will be ‘paused’ you ask? It’s an interesting question, and one that is not easy to answer.

Le Mans Hypercar will soldier on. Toyota stressed to the media during the CoTA weekend that it is continuing as planned with its programme. Its new car is in the process of being built; the parts are being manufactured as we speak, with Toyota Gazoo Racing’s technical director Pascal Vasselon telling Travel Destinations that it remains on course to take its car testing twice before the FIA WEC official test at Silverstone ahead of the 2020/21 season opener.

The question mark surrounds the Japanese giant’s competition.

ByKolles is believed to be on course to bring its car to Silverstone to start the season (though any rumours surrounding the Austrian privateer team should be taken with a grain of salt). Glickenhaus on the other hand is now unlikely to make the races in the 2020 calendar year, and will instead debut its 007C at Kyalami in 2021.

Then there’s Peugeot. The Rebellion partnership is no more, but the French constructor is still certain to join the fun, the only question is which route it will take. Its programme is in an embryonic stage (set to debut in 2022), so senior management will be looking closely at the potential of the LMDh formula compared to Le Mans Hypercar, as it could still change to taking the route that IMSA proposes for its FIA WEC effort and still go racing without any delays.

FIA WEC

While none of this is hugely positive news, the powers at be at the FIA WEC are pressing on, disappointed, but not panicking about the state of next season. There are plenty of potential solutions, many of them being brainstormed now, to ensure that the top class isn’t a one-horse race. But much more of the creative and positive energy is being poured into the LMDh technical regulations.

Travel Destinations understands that there is still an abundance of manufacturers (some truly surprising) either ‘in the room’ when it comes to the IMSA Steering Committee gatherings, with multiple close to committing to the new formula. The issue here is that the cavalry is not set to arrive until the 2021/22 FIA WEC and IMSA 2022 seasons. However, that will not matter in the eyes of both governing bodies if the factories announce programmes in numbers this year.

There are two Steering Committee meetings remaining ahead of Sebring, one in Daytona this week, the other the week before Sebring, in Sebring. On the agenda is discussions surrounding the finishing touches on the announcement that will be made. The game of poker between the interested parties will begin to enter its final stages once these meetings are adjourned.

We don’t quite know what LMDh cars will look like, though we do know that this is meant to be an evolution of the successful DPi formula. The cars that hit the track will be prototype-based, with each constructor partnering up with an existing LMP2 chassis supplier. They will feature a spec hybrid system to reduce costs and (with more aerodynamic freedom) styling cues that IMSA and the FIA WEC hope will make the cars look more like road-going models than the current DPi challengers.

So much weighs on this set of regulations. With Aston gone (and while it says it has only ‘paused’ its effort, there is widespread belief in the paddock that it is highly unlikely that we’ll ever see the Valkyrie race), it now appears that every single car racing beyond this year in the WEC and IMSA’s top class will be prototype based. This is actually a good thing in some ways, as it will make it easier to balance the two formulas (LMDh and LMH). With nobody going down the ultra-expensive route of converting a road car into a race car, the budget levels should also be far more achievable for everyone involved.

Programmes, as ever, will not be cheap, but in the current automotive landscape, where programmes have never been harder to sign off, reducing costs necessary. The ability to take a pre-existing chassis, and race it with a bespoke (likely GT3-based) engine, with a spec hybrid system has real appeal while we wait for the next wave of technology (all-electric/hydrogen) to develop into something capable of being used in high-performance endurance racing.

FIA WEC

The window to do this is now, the opportunity to allow factories to build one car to race globally, at all the major IMSA and WEC sportscar races doesn’t come around often. So it must be grasped at. The FIA, ACO and IMSA know this.

““This week was a difficult week. We are working like crazy. When I’m thinking about Sebring, I have a weekly meeting with John (Doonan) on the phone, and Sebring will be amazing. I’m hopeful of a very good announcement of LMDh, that will be fantastic for the sport,” FIA WEC CEO Gerard Neveu told Travel Destinations, and select media at CoTA.

“We just learned a few days ago about the Aston Martin decision. We have working group sessions with Pierre (Fillon) and a few people in the ACO and FIA, so for sure you will have an exact definition of what will happen next year in the FIA WEC before we open the entry registration.
“At the same time, our first priority now is to deliver the convergence strategy at Sebring. How this announcement is received will give us an indication of how the championship will be in 2021, and will give us a chance to decide the format for 2020.

“The WEC will be here in 2020, no question and we will work on very small modifications and adaptations, the final configuration. You can understand that this discussion will involve the ACO, FIA, Toyota and a few others around the table. It’s too early to tell you something today. We are putting everything into Sebring.”

So now we wait. The plans are in motion to create something truly spectacular. We haven’t seen more than four factory teams racing in the top class of sportscar racing at a race like Le Mans for decades.
Right now it would be easy to look at the current state of sportscar racing and see only negativity. But things can change remarkably quickly. If the announcement next month is, as it is expected to be, well received by the OEMs interested, then announcements will come quickly. The prospect of something truly remarkable, the likes we haven’t seen in international sportscar racing since the Group C era, all of a sudden can become real.

Written by Stephen Kilbey
Photography by Dailysportscar

FIA WEC

FIA WEC at Silverstone; The start of the race to Le Mans

GTE Pro is back with a vengeance

Last weekend’s World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) / European Le Mans Series (ELMS) double-header at Silverstone, in racing terms, was a huge success. Both series four-hour races were exciting from start to finish and included changeable weather conditions and class wins being decided in the closing laps.

Arguably the most intriguing battle of them all came in the GTE Pro class in Sunday’s FIA WEC race. Aston Martin, Porsche and Ferrari were all in contention for the class win until the final hour of the race.

FIA WEC

On the newly-resurfaced Silverstone circuit, the racing was fast and frantic. Across the weekend all WEC class Qualifying and Race lap records were shattered and drivers and teams alike gave positive feedback. In the GTE Pro class this change to the circuit threw up an interesting variable in race strategy. Heading into the weekend AF Corse selected soft and medium compound Michelin tyres, while Porsche and Aston Martin opted for the medium and hard selections. In practice this kept the race close and created a game of cat and mouse.

Once the wet weather had passed by the halfway mark, it was down to the drivers in with a chance to push as hard as possible to score the first victory of the season. AF Corse changed its tyres at each stop, while Porsche and Aston Martin were able to double stint. This meant that at each round of stops they gained a time advantage, and spent each stint trying to fend off the sole remaining hard-charging No.51 488 GTE EVO of James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi which was on fresher rubber.

There were plenty of door-to-door battles, but on this occasion, AF Corse lost out to a safety car infringement which forced the organisers to dish out a drive-through penalty to the No.51 car. This meant that AF Corse dropped from the lead, to fourth in class, and was unable to rely on its second car (which retired after a collision with a Team LNT Ginetta) to pick up the pieces. This gifted Porsche a 1-2 finish to start the season, with Richard Lietz and Gianmaria Bruni in the No.91 911 RSR 19 leading home the No.92 example. It was a dream debut for Porsche’s new chassis, which has been tasked with defending the marque’s FIA World GTE Manufacturer’s crown this season.

FIA WEC

Aston Martin completed the podium and seemed far more competitive on home soil with the Vantage AMR than it did last season. While it wasn’t quite the home-town success some in the garage had hoped for, a third place finish to kick off its second campaign with the current-spec Vantage is far from disappointing.

All this proved that, in metaphorical terms, you only need two cars to make a race. Losing Ford and BMW was a blow to WEC, financially in particular, but right there, in the opening race of the season, we saw a far more entertaining ‘battle of the brands’ than we did at any point during the ‘Super Season’. With fewer cars it’s easier to manage Balance of Performance, and with all three marques more eager than ever to collect wins and triumph at Le Mans, this season has all the makings of a classic between three sportscar giants, that will tide us over before the cavalry arrives in the top class next season.

Speaking of the top class, Toyota scored a 1-2, but the privateers were closer than ever before over the course of a race. All four challengers finished off the lead lap, but mainly down to errors and minor mechanical issues. Rebellion’s third-place-finishing No.3 R-13 was on the lead lap until late on, and Team LNT’s Ginetta’s were able to muster up-front-running pace at times. Once the ‘Success Handicap’ comes into play, it will only get closer, and that starts with Fuji, where the other classes, LMP2 and GTE Am included, promise to provide plenty of action in the WEC’s first six-hour race of the season.

Which of the many storylines in the paddock will make the headline next time out? At this point it’s impossible to tell, which is exactly what the FIA WEC needs.

Written by Stephen Kilbey
Photography by Dailysportscar

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Le Mans

The future at Le Mans

The Future at Le Mans

Upon reflection, the 2019 Le Mans 24 Hours was significant. Not necessarily for the racing, which at times was spectacular, but for what the week showed us about the future of top-level sportscar racing and the forthcoming 2019/20 FIA World Endurance Championship season which starts in August. From the ACO Press Conference held before the race, until the flag on fell on Sunday afternoon crowning the winners, a picture was painted of what is to come in Le Mans 2020 and beyond.

Much of the talk in the paddock surrounded the 2020/21 season, which will mark the beginning of the new ‘Hypercar Prototype’ era. But, before the ACO confirmed that the new regulations have been finalised, it revealed next year’s FIA WEC entry list, which is 33 cars strong for the full season. And it is a very strong selection of cars that are set to take on, what many would assume will be a rather forgettable season. But, after the Le Mans 24 Hours we’ve just seen, the next campaign looks to have real potential.

Le Mans

The key for many, will be the competitiveness of the LMP1 class. What we saw at La Sarthe marked tremendous progress, with Rebellion and SMP challengers producing blistering lap times and battling with each other throughout the race. Were the privateers able to keep tabs with Toyota come race time? Not quite. Though there are real signs of improvement.The lap time produced by SMP Racing’s fastest BR1 AER in qualifying was quicker than any Audi or Porsche LMP1 time, and Rebellion with its developmental Gibson engine was able to get close to matching that. A year on from the cars’ Le Mans debut, the raw performance was sublime and the reliability is certainly getting there. It made for a race for third overall that kept everyone guessing throughout. It looked for much of the race, especially after the No.17 SMP Racing AER had an off during the night, that Rebellion Racing would take the final podium spot on offer, but a series of errors and mechanical issues meant its chances faded late in the race for the Swiss team, leading to its Russian rival taking third.

At Toyota, there was an inter-team battle which came down to the final hour of the race when a sensor issue diagnosed a puncture, but for the wrong tyre on the leading No.7 TS050 HYBRID. This caused the Toyota team to pit Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez’s car twice for two unscheduled tyre changes, dropping the car to second. Hearts sank in the garage, after such a commanding performance could only produce a second place finish, behind Fernando Alonso, Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastien Buemi who took a second win at Le Mans and the World Drivers’ Championship in the process. It was strange to see an LMP1 podium at Le Mans such little jubilation shown from the winners.

Next season, with a fresh approach to balancing the cars in the top class, the ACO hopes we will see the privateer pack (which will include a pair of Team LNT Ginetta G60-LT-P1’s, now powered by AER engines) go head-to-head with Toyota after further development to their cars. Toyota does too, as such dominance, after a while, doesn’t add any further value to its programme ahead of its 2020/21 ‘Hypercar’ Programme.

Le Mans

And Toyota has now formally committed to a ‘Hypercar Protoype’. The Japanese marque one of two makes that are set to do battle in the first year of the new regulations. Toyota continuing its programme isn’t much of a surprise, as it has made it clear for over a year now that should the regulations support development of a hybrid system, it would carry on its sportscar programme. Thus we have Toyota Gazoo Racing hybrid-powered protyotypes, which will be styled to look like the forthcoming GR Super Sport Concept to look forward to. Excited? Those behind the programme certainly are, after a long wait for the regulations to be finalised.

The other factory that will take part is Aston Martin. The British marque is set to return to the top class of sportscar racing for the first time since prior to the Hybrid era began. Its last attempt at overall Le Mans glory was forgettable, with the AMR-One prototype not worthy of the brand’s rich history. But the brand looks very different now, inside and out, and this programme will bring together multiple parties associated with its motorsport commitments, who are all capable of delivering the goods. Aston Martin will race “at least two” non-hybrid, V12-powered Valkyries, designed by Adrian Newey, the man behind Red Bull Racing’s successes in F1, with financial support from AF Racing, which runs its new DTM programme and has been competing in the GT3 ranks in recent years. The new Aston ‘Hypercar’ programme will not affect Prodrive’s current GTE effort, which continues to win races in the FIA WEC’s GTE Pro class up against other factories. And that’s huge news, as GTE has taken a hit with the confirmed departure of both BMW and Ford in the past two months.

Le Mans

But the FIA WEC’s long-term viability will hinge on the success of its top class, which looks set to be filled with both factory and privateer teams, Glickenhaus and ByKolles are currently still insistent that they will race too. Beyond Year 1, further manufacturers are expected to join too. McLaren is still on the verge of green-lighting a programme and Porsche is also deep into the evaluation process. And that is just two of the brands still ‘in the room’.

Where does all this leave the other classes? LMP2 will continue to be healthy. Eight cars are on the FIA WEC entry for next season, with another strong set of drivers expected to do battle for some of the more professional prototype teams in the world. There’s a real chance that when ‘Hypercar Prototype’ takes over, then the current LMP2 cars will need to be slowed, as the pace of the ACO’s new breed are not expected to be capable of matching the supreme pace of the current LMP1s. And that’s OK, if the racing is exciting, and the formula attracts a strong number of entries, then few will complain. This will be especially true if the rule-makers can find a way to allow IMSA DPis to come and play at Le Mans and fight the ‘Hypercar Prototypes’ for the overall win. The performance window is similar and Scott Atherton insists that IMSA and the ACO’s relationship “is as strong as its ever been”.

What about GTE? Well Porsche, Ferrari and Aston Martin are all still committed with factory teams. Will Corvette bring its new C8R to Le Mans, which is currently being developed to the world stage? Unlikely, but there’s certainly a chance of some guest entries here and there. Luckily the customer ranks of GTE are booming. GTE Am will be the biggest class in the FIA WEC field next season, and the level of interest is showing no signs of waning.

After months of rumours, speculations and negativity as the ACO and FIA have put together its plans for the years ahead. We have heard positivity and plenty of it. Of course this has all come later than most would have liked, and both Aston Martin and Toyota will have to work unbelievably hard in the background during the next FIA WEC season to ensure it can make the start of the 2020/21 season with its new cars. But, a grid is forming, and if Aston Martin can take the fight to Toyota when it takes this bold step, then a new era will begin, and others will likely follow their lead.

Written by Stephen Kilbey
Photography by Dailysportscar

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Le Mans 2019: Preview

Le Mans 2019; it is time for the ‘Super-Season’ finale

After 62 hours of racing across seven rounds, the FIA WEC 2018/19 ‘Super Season comes down to this; the finale at the 87th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours. This season has had everything; close racing, drama, controversy, stars in fast cars, new machinery, dominant performances and it all ends here at Le Mans 2019.

It is easy to overlook Le Mans 2019 as the end of the current FIA World Endurance Championship season, as the Le Mans 24 Hours is an international mega-event and in many ways still stands alone. But much of the teams and drivers within the record 62-car field will be fighting not only for their places in the history of this great motor race, but for points and titles. Quite how the race will pan out with teams factoring in all important hauls of points, is a real unknown. But it can only add to the drama and intrigue that goes with Le Mans 2019.

So just how has the ‘Super Season’ panned out? and what can we expect out of the title battles? Well it all started in May of 2018, at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, which was a race that, looking back, served as a real taste of what was to come. LMP1, understandably, has been dominated from the off by the sole remaining factory team in the class, Toyota Gazoo Racing. It’s pair of thoroughbred, near bullet-proof TS050 HYBRIDs, driven by six world-class drivers, this year including Fernando Alonso, have been winning convincingly. And aside from a slip up at Silverstone where both Toyotas were excluded post-race, it has been one-way traffic.

Now, the debate surrounding Toyota’s dominance has been somewhat all consuming throughout the season, but the reality is, that whatever the ACO and FIA do to balance the cars (and it’s efforts thus far have been far from perfect), the non-hybrid privateer cars are just not ready yet to go toe-to-toe with Toyota’s tried and tested, cutting edge machines. Rebellion, SMP, DragonSpeed and ByKolles’ efforts haven’t been in vein, and at times the sheer determination from all parties has been nothing short of admirable, but they’d need a lot more development time and money to sniff wins regularly.

Le Mans 2019

That is not to say that Le Mans 2019 can’t throw up surprises, because it Le Mans often does; just ask Toyota, which until last year had a history of spectacular blunders to its name. The 2018 Le Mans 24 Hours almost went ‘too’ smoothly for the Japanese marque, which in search of its first Le Mans win was able to take a controlled approach, with no other brands throwing huge resources at the event. Le Mans 2019  may prove to be different though, as the privateer cars have had a season’s worth of work completed on them, which will help in the reliability department. And it’s been a cocktail of fragility, along with costly driver errors, that have prevented some of the races from being more competitive. If a couple of the chasing pack can keep it clean, and Toyota hits any sort of trouble, then it will be game on. If not, it will be an inter-team battle between the No.7 and The No.8 to decide which trio is crowned World Champions and Le Mans winners. The battle for third place therefore, will be the one to watch in the class. Unless of course, reliability issues hit Toyota as they did at Spa, where the No.7 spent time in the garage with an electrical issue.

The LMP2 category on the other hand has been far more entertaining on track, as Jackie Chan DC Racing and Signatech Alpine have been locked in a season-long battle for the title lead. As it stands it’s advantage Alpine. For Alpine’s trio, consistency has kept them in it. Nicolas Lapierre, Andre Negrao and Pierre Thiriet won the class at Le Mans last year and have been on the podium at every other race. JCDC’s No.38 crew of Gabriel Aubry, Stephane Richelmi and Ho-Pin Tung, meanwhile, trail by just four points after wins at season opener at Spa, Silverstone and Shanghai as well as a second-place finish at Fuji. The big blow came at Sebring, where they could only muster a sixth-place finish after a troubled race on grueling Floridian circuit. At Spa too, in the weather chaos they wouldn’t finish ahead of the Alpine. Can they bounce back at Le Mans 2019, and for one last time pull a win out of the bag and win the title? It’ll be a story line well worth following.

Elsewhere in the full-season WEC LMP2 field, while there are no other contenders for the championship. There is the intrigue of DragonSpeed’s Pastor Maldonado and Anthony Davidson-led ORECA, which has finished on the podium the last three races and looks primed for a big result after a maiden win at Spa, and the new-look No.37 JCDC squad. A mid-season driver crew change for the No.37 car has eliminated it from the title race, but the addition of Briton Jordan King, American IMSA ace Ricky Taylor and super Gentlemen driver David Heinemeier Hansson to the field means further depth for the class. And it’s a class which oozes quality and now features 20 cars at Le Mans 2019 since the late surprise announcement that two extra garages will be built for the race.

For those of you track-side at Le Mans 2019 it is the GTE ranks, that will provide much of the excitement and drama, and for good reason, as both GTE Pro and Am are stacked with quality entries and are likely to play host to the closest racing. GTE Pro this year has had it ups and downs, and its fair share of drama up and down the field, but it’s been Porsche that has led the way with consistency. The German marque, against such stiff competition has taken control of the Drivers points battles and sealed the Manufacturers’ title at Spa. The foundations for its success have been laid throughout the season, thanks to its two screaming-mid-engined 911 RSRs taking wins at Le Mans, Fuji and Sebring, and scoring further podiums at every round. While the other teams have struggled to find any form, Porsche’s GT Team has been at times dominant, which is more than just impressive in a Balance of Performance-controlled formula. Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre in the team’s No.92 911 RSR have been the stars here, and head to the finale with a 36-point lead over their teammates in the No.91.

Le Mans 2019

Le Mans is its own race though, and all the other factories will be gunning for glory. After a slow start to its life as the flagship model, Aston Martin will hope its Vantage AMRs can challenge for their first win at La Sarthe, as too will BMW with its M8 GTEs. The older Ford GTs and AF Corse-run Ferraris too will of course be in the mix here, and have to fight not only their full-season competition, but the annual slew of IMSA guest entries (including of course two thunderous Corvettes) that will also be throwing the kitchen sink at Le Mans 2019.

GTE Am on the other hand, is a tighter points battle after seven of the eight races this season. It has been a roller-coaster in the pro-am division of GTE, with some of the best door-to-door action we’ve seen of any class, and a sprinkling of controversy to keep it all interesting. It looked almost certain that the No.88 Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche was going to march to the title, after winning Le Mans and Silverstone last year and scoring well at Spa, but at Fuji, it all changed. A huge penalty was handed to the team for a data logger infraction in Japan with the WEC opting to dock the team all its points. This hammering of the reset button for the class vaulted WEC debutant Team Project 1 into the title lead. It’s drivers Jorg Bergmeister, Patrick Lindsey and Egidio Perfetti have been strong all year, and as a trio getting stronger. They’ve shown consistency with four podiums and a win at Fuji. And even when the team had its backs against the wall at Sebring, after a huge fire in the pre-event test forced it to freight a spare car from Europe on short notice during race week, they still finished third. Another big result here would seal it, but after a slip up at Spa closed the points gap, of the five teams mathematically still in the fight, Spirit of Race and Aston Martin Racing in particular will be keen to win big in France and bring the end of the season to a fitting crescendo. There will be drama, especially as GTE AM is 17-cars strong for Le Mans 2019, thanks to the additional guest cars from Asia and Europe.

LMP1 Standings
1st.
No. 8 Toyota TS050 HYBRID – Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima: 160 points
2nd. No. 7 Toyota TS050 HYBRID – Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopex: 129 points
3rd.  No. 3 Rebellion R-13 Gibson – Thomas Laurent, Gustavo Menezes and Mathias Beche: 99 points

LMP2 Standings
1st
  No. 36 Signatech Alpine A460 – Nicolas Lapierre, Pierre Thiriet & Andre Negrao: 143 points
2nd No. 38 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA – Ho Pin Tung, Gabriel Aubry and Stephane Richelmi: 139 points

GTE Pro Drivers Standings
1st
No.92 Porsche 911 RSR – Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre: 140 points
2nd No.91 Porsche 911 RSR – Gianmaria Bruni, Richard Lietz: 104 points
3rd No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 – James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi: 98.5 points

GTE Am Drivers Standings
1st:
No. 56 Team Project 1 Porsche, Jorg Bergmeister, Patrick Lindsey and Egidio Perfetti: 130 points
2nd No. 54 Spirit of Race Ferrari, Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci and Giancarlo Fisichella: 119 points
3rd No. 98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage, Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda: 87 points

Written by Stephen Kilbey
Photography by Dailysportscar.com

FIA WEC

The FIA WEC Super Season

Half-time in the FIA WEC ‘Super Season’

With the 6 Hours of Fuji behind us, and Shanghai just around the corner we are just over halfway through the 2018/19 FIA WEC ‘Super Season’, with just one race left this calendar year. This season has been a lot of things so far this year, but boring isn’t one of them. There has been drama aplenty, controversy, some great racing and enough story-lines to warrant the season’s label. As a result, we are left with plenty of hopes and fears heading into the home straight in 2019.

Equivalence of technology blues
The FIA WEC Prologue at Paul Ricard seems like an age ago. Pre-season testing is always tough to read into. Are teams showing their hand? What programmes are they running? Is the new machinery up to scratch yet? The 30-hour test to kick off the season did however, leave us with some clues of what was to come. Whilst the “unofficial” classification saw the top of the LMP1 privateer cabal faster than Toyota (Toyota’s official best times coming supposedly while running unrestricted), any bets on the private teams having a chance at competing for wins on track were quickly quashed at Spa, when the hybrid TS050s utterly dominated the competition. And it’s been like that ever since, leading to the big debate of Equivalence of Technology ruling the headlines ever since.
The questions we are left with, and still looking for answers for are as follows:
1. Should Toyota be penalized because the privateer prototypes aren’t yet quick enough?
2. Could the privateers compete even if all was equal on a performance level?
3. Should Toyota be handed an advantage for the sake of the FIA WEC’s public-facing image?

FIA WEC

Toyota has by far the most sophisticated, tried, tested and fastest car in the LMP1 field. Toyota has the only cars that are hybrid-powered now that Porsche is gone and the most experienced set of drivers, team personnel and resources. So, making it a contest is really hard. This is more than David v Goliath, this is David v Goliath, if Goliath had far more effective weaponry as well as a dominant stature. Surely, on that basis, you can make the argument that Toyota shouldn’t be artificially hobbled because the competition isn’t up to scratch? Well, at this point it’s a tough side of the fence to sit on. That’s because, wait for it… This is a sport, it’s entertainment, and there could be real trouble if the ACO and FIA WEC let Toyota run away with the title.

Now, so far there have been multiple Equivalence of Technology changes, in an attempt to give the field more balance, but it hasn’t been nearly enough for us to see real on-track action between the hybrid and non-hybrid machinery. That wasn’t helped by the fact that going into the season the privateers were forced to spend longer in the pits, and pit more often than the hybrids, artificially!
Le Mans was no contest, not even a tiny bit, not even for a lap. And since Silverstone, with most of the manufactured disadvantages taken away, the privateers are still not able to show off the true potential of their cars, as the fuel allowances per lap and stint are such that lifting and coasting down the straights (their only real area of advantage) is still necessary. That, coupled with the fact that the TS050s have an innate advantage through traffic thanks to the hybrid punch out of corners, means that Toyota doesn’t even have to push to its limits to win each race in formation, by multiple laps.

But, and it’s a big but, there is still time. There are rumblings in the paddock, and a real appetite for change. Rebellion Racing, SMP Racing, ByKolles and DragonSpeed have all turned up as promised, shown real loyalty, and effectively saved the class from fading away. So it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the second half to this season have a completely different feel.

Star Power
It’s not all doom and gloom. Not at all. While there is no known cavalry coming in LMP1 for the remainder of the FIA WEC ‘Super Season’ or indeed the 2019/20 season, there is cause for optimism, and part of it, is already within the championship. There is time for further change, and therefore some astonishing racing between the selection of drivers in LMP1, which arguably, has never been better. Should the ACO crack the EoT code, and get the privateers fighting for wins by Sebring, then we will have a real treat on our hands in 2019, with some of the world’s best drivers going toe-to-toe in a similar fashion to the golden years of the ALMS when Audi battled Penske, or when Pescarolo battled Audi at Le Mans.

FIA WEC

It is easy to forget that in LMP1 alone, we have two Formula One World Champions in Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso, competing against one another (though not on the track thus far!) in the same field as a WTCC champion in Jose Maria Lopez, a Formula E champion in Sebastien Buemi as well as multiple FIA WEC and Le Mans winners like Neel Jani, Andre Lotterer and now Kazuki Nakajima. If changes are made then the fabulous set of cars we have, can produce racing worth of the price of admission, and keep that level of drivers wanting to keep coming back for more. Because there is real potential here, it almost feels like the class is a sleeping giant. The cars are impressive, the driver crews are, we just need either the privateers to be allowed to breathe, or the Toyotas to be pegged back so we can have a title race that lasts until next Le Mans.

Real hope for the future
As for the future beyond 2019/20; well there’s green shoots, as the ACO and FIA prepare for the most important period in the World Endurance Championship’s short history – the months between the 2020 top class regulations being ratified in December, and the start of the 2020/2021 season. During that time, the future and fate of the championship may well be sealed. Will the factories come and adopt the new formula (hybrid-powered prototypes featuring heavy styling cues), or will the rule makers need a serious re-think once again about the shape and structure of the championship, which let’s not forget, still features a strong GTE Pro class with five manufacturers?

Let’s start with the 2020 yet-to-be-named ‘hypercar’ regulations, before diving into the zero-emissions target even further down the line. There is a big group of manufacturers known to be in the room, shaping the technical regulations and considering joining the new formula in 2020. This means that there’s plenty of scope to have a healthy grid. Of course, there’s no assurance that any of them will come, though Toyota seems certain, and Aston Martin has publicly stated that it is “very interested” in the potential. That’s without digging deeper into the other potential factories that have requested presentations and pitches at board level from the ACO and FIA. A defining factor of this whole formula will be cost, and the ACO and FIA seem confident that not only will the new formula prove cost effective for both factories and privateers, but also remain a proposition for aspirant factories or teams looking to join in after Year 1, due to the performance levels being contained and the fact that all hybrid systems have to be offered as off-the-shelf, cost-capped, systems to any competitor on the grid. The cars should look stunning, and set times not too far off the current LMP1s. And if a handful of teams commit, this could turn into a hugely successful formula. What is more, is that it won’t be long until the potential field for the 2020/21 season starts to take shape. “This is the first time ever that private teams will be able to purchase all of the elements of a hybrid prototype programme, off the shelf, and then be ultimately competitive,” Toyota’s technical director Pascal Vasselon said back at Fuji. “They will genuinely have that opportunity, with no performance gap between their cars to the factory teams. We have always pushed for the technology to be of the highest level but we have to accept that for the moment the first priority is to bring more competitors to the Championship. “And, we have said repeatedly that we are here for the long-term.”

As for the zero-emissions target, the foundations have been laid. We have seen the Project H24 Adess-based prototype turn laps at Spa-Francorchamps back in August, and a pit stop demo too. The technology for hydrogen power is coming, and it’s coming fast. That too, could breathe further life into the ACO’s top class come 2024, when there is the aim for teams running both zero emissions and hydrogen prototypes against one another. That will be sight to see!

GTE hotting up
It is safe to say that the start to the season saw a real imbalance in GTE Pro, with Porsche, Ford and Ferrari racing with a clear performance advantage over BMW and Aston Martin’s new machinery.
Now, with GTE racing, there’s always the question mark surrounding team tactics, and the impact of Balance of Performance, but Are the BMW M8s and Vantage AMRs good enough to win races and titles? The answer is yes, and we are starting to see just how competitive they can be, after strong showings from Aston Martin in certain conditions at Silverstone and Fuji, and BMW’s podium run in the last race.

FIA WEC

With Aston Martin and BMW up to speed, and the other three marques still just as competitive, we could be in for a barn-storming second half to the season. This is especially mouth-watering when you consider how much of it is left: we have Shanghai next week, then next year, Spa, and two rounds which award more than the standard haul of points at Le Mans at Sebring. “We’re just hitting our stride,” BMW driver Tom Blomqvist said after Fuji. “It has taken a while for the MTEK crew, which is new to the FIA WEC and endurance racing to get up to speed, but now we feel comfortable and know the car. Aston Martin look good now too, so the rest of the season should be really fun.”

The moments that mattered in the opening rounds
• Toyota Gazoo Racing’s No. 7 Toyota TS050 HYBRID was forced to start at the back of the field in the opening race of the season at Spa; penalized after setting pole in Qualifying for an incorrect declaration of its fuel flow meter. This was key for two reasons: One, it meant that the stars aligned and FIA WEC debutant Fernando Alonso was promoted to pole for his first race, which he would go on to win. And two, it showed just how much of an advantage Toyota had over the privateers. Despite the No. 7 starting from the pit lane, a lap behind the field in the race, it finished second, on the lead lap and two laps ahead of the privateer pack!

• G-Drive Racing’s antics at Le Mans have been a big talking point since June. The Russian-flagged team was found to have gained an unfair advantage in the pits during the 24 Hours by tampering with the fuel rig. This cost the team its Le Mans LMP2 class win the day after the race, and sparked an appeal and hearing process that would drag on until October. Alpine inherited the win as the result, but had to wait until the weekend at Fuji to celebrate. And they weren’t even awarded the original trophy, that’s supposedly still in Russia!

• Say what you will about Fernando Alonso, but he’s stayed classy, kept a smile glued to his face, and adapted quickly to life at Toyota since the start of the year. The two-time F1 champ came of age at Le Mans, embarking on a night stint in the No.8 during the Le Mans 24 Hours which ultimately turned the tide of the race and laid the foundations for the No.8 crew to win the race, scoring the Japanese marque a huge, momentous and historic result. It was certainly one of the more impressive drives we’ve seen at Le Mans in recent years. Also of note is that the Spaniard’s triple crown run is alive and healthy.

• The retro-liveried factory Porsches at Le Mans went down an absolute storm. As part of the 70th anniversary of the brand, the team put their corporate image and decision making to the side and went all out to impress the fans. That in turn translated into a lot of publicity and big win for the 911 RSR, which is easily one of the most impressive GT cars in the modern era. It looks the part, sounds incredible too, and in ‘Pink Pig’ colours, it looked fabulous, taking a controlling win after a metronomic run, which put Porsche in the driving seat of the GTE Manufacturers World Championship race, and scored the marque another famous win at the Grand Prix D’Endurance. Bravo!

FIA WEC

• Rebellion winning at Silverstone was a real landmark victory. Rebellion Racing’s No.3 R-13 officially scored the team its first overall FIA WEC victory and the first ever for a privateer in the championship, and the first non-hybrid win since 2012. It wasn’t in ideal circumstances (the team benefiting from Toyota losing its 1-2 finish for a skid plant infringement), but crucially it’s kept the title race tighter than you might imagine as the season wears on.

Voices in the paddock
“Obviously it wasn’t the ideal way to do it, but ultimately, winning a race is winning a race, no matter how it comes and we will grab this result with both hands,” Rebellion Racing’s Gustavo Menezes said after winning at Silverstone. “All the boys at Rebellion have worked so hard to get the whole LMP1 project off the ground and to develop the car to the stage where it is now, and they really deserve this 1-2 finish. I’m immensely proud of everybody involved in the programme.”

FIA WEC

“It’s a cool team,” Matt Griffin said when asked to reflect on his time spent driving with Clearwater Racing. “It’s a little bit like Reservoir Cats! Clearwater is a team where the people involved are very proud of what they can do. We have fun, we have crazy parties after the races. Weng loves his wine, and stuff like that. And that’s the thing, I’ve been with them since 2011. The only thing I would say though is that the Matt Griffin you might see at ELMS races, or in Blancpain, is different to the Matt Griffin with Clearwater. There’s a different vibe there, and it’s a team that relies more on sponsors and partners.”

“We’re not ruling anything out,” revealed Corvette Racing’s Doug Fehan when asked about his opinion on the 2020 regulations. “An overall win at Le Mans is a unique achievement, and when you look at the intent of the past efforts to create something unique, it became too expensive This move, to the credit of the sanctioning bodies, is to find something that’s more affordable and technologically representative of where you want to go, with proper brand identification, so it would stand a better chance of attracting manufacturers. But I’m sure that there will be manufacturers who continue to run both (GTE and LMP1). Porsche is a prime example, with a big customer race programme, and they’ve shown in the past that they can do both.”

“The atmosphere in the team is amazing. Everyone is really friendly,” Fernando Alonso said when asked about racing with Toyota. “We have a Whatsapp group and we are always chatting. We were taking pictures of each other today. The atmosphere is so friendly and so nice – this is one of the best things.”

“I have had a great career to this point, not only in F1 but also in the junior categories,” DragonSpeed’s Pastor Maldonado stressed when asked about his public persona. “I have won in every category I have raced in and I hope to carry that record forward into this new challenge. For me it is about the racing, about the driving I don’t care what people say, it’s part of the game. I just go out there, do my best and hope to win.”

“What a character, and what a legacy, a real innovator and a visionary,” Richard Dean said, when asked to pay tribute to the late, great, Dr Don Panoz. “He was a man who truly invested in the sport, in his series, his circuits and his cars. The American Le Mans Series showed the way, it is still my favourite race series. There are so many that owe their careers in this sport to the opportunities that Don’s investments and projects provided. At Le Mans (in 2006, with a Team LNT Esparante), it seemed coming into the race that everything was against us, engine issues at the test, we were allocated Garage 13, but his enthusiasm never wavered, he tried for 10 years to get the win and was just ecstatic when we did it. And he was given the Spirit of Le Mans award by the ACO that same weekend! I grabbed a Panoz flag from someone on my way to the podium, I see that picture every day in my gym. Without Don that wouldn’t have been possible, a simply huge part of my career.”

Written by Stephen Kilbey
Photography by Dailysportscar

FIA WEC

FIA WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps review

Five things we learned from the FIA WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps

1. Alonso already looks impressive
While there wasn’t an enormous amount of wheel-to-wheel racing in LMP1, or a true battle for the overall lead, it was still nevertheless pleasing to see two-time Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso get up to speed so quickly in his debut race in the FIA WEC. The Spaniard, along with teammates Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima didn’t put a foot wrong all weekend, and went on to win. Alonso, during his stints was nothing short of impressive, multiple times he was shown clearly pushing hard through traffic, and at the end of the race when the car suffered a gearbox temperature issue he managed his pace well, ensuring it made the finish.

FIA WEC
Despite the fact that team orders were clearly at play, preventing the No.7 Toyota, which came from a lap down at the start to within striking distance of the No.8 towards the end, this was still a significant moment. Alonso is up to speed, already, and will head to Le Mans confident. If he wins that, not only is it a global story, but a very strong start to what could be a World Championship-winning season.

2. BMW & Aston’s cars look reliable
The two new GTE cars for this year also had an impressive showing at Spa, not in speed, but far more importantly, in reliability.  The M8 GTEs and Vantage GTEs spent the entire weekend far off the pace of the front-running Fords and Porsches. But at this stage, that means little, partly because Balance of Performance can turn the fortunes of a manufacturer quickly, and even if BoP wasn’t to blame, it’s more than likely that political game-playing was.

FIA WEC
The key here is that all four cars finished their debut FIA WEC races, and without any notable niggles; a far cry from the debuts of some GT cars of old. The extensive pre-season testing programmes have paid off, because both MTEK and Aston Martin Racing will head to Le Mans full of confidence. Both can be in the mix, and like Ford in 2016, have a chance to win at La Sarthe in the first year of the car’s life. We just need to hope now, that the race organisers don’t mess up the Balance of Performance for Le Mans, because if it’s anything like Le Mans 2016, it will leave a sour taste in the mouths of everyone track-side and at home watching.

3. GTE Am didn’t disappoint
Going into round 1, looking at the entry list it was easy to come to the conclusion that the expanded nine-car GTE Am category could produce the best racing in the FIA WEC. At Spa, despite a few silly driver errors, it produced the goods, especially at the end after the last safety car. New teams Project 1 Racing and TF Sport impressed mightily. The former had its hopes dashed by an off from Egidio Perfetti, but when the team’s 911 RSR was kept between the white lines, it was competitive, and was odds on for a podium.

FIA WEC
TF Sport, which many UK fans may know from its championship-winning form in the British GT Championship, also produced the goods. Euan Hankey, on his WEC debut was the star here, battling reigning champion Pedro Lamy all the way to the flag for the class lead in the final hour. He didn’t score the team a historic win in its first race, but he did, along with Charlie Eastwood and Salih Yoluc showed off that Tom Ferrier’s team mean business this year, and that its ambition to win the world title in the ‘Super Season’ is not unrealistic. The only issue may turn out to be the Porsche 911 RSRs in the class, as so far, on pace they’ve been head and shoulders above the Ferrari and Aston teams. Porsche’s customers could have dominated at Spa, but due to a cocktail of poor luck and driver error none of the four found the podium. Le Mans is therefore going to be very interesting indeed!

4. LMP2 looks open
This year’s LMP2 field in the FIA WEC has a fresh look about it, with new teams, new drivers, new chassis and a tyre war. The racing, while far from thrilling for most of the race at Spa, did show some really positive signs. The main signal for positivity, was just how open this year’s title race is. DragonSpeed, Jackie Chan DC Racing, G-Drive Racing and Alpine all look capable of winning races this year and challenging for the title. Even Racing Team Nederland’s Dallara, with its 2018 Joker package, looked pacey too, and could make waves later in the year when hot-shoe Nyck DeVries steps into the car’s third seat.

FIA WEC
Michelin’s tyres also appear to be capable of going toe-to-toe with Dunlop, so it could be interesting to see if anyone else makes a switch mid-season to gain an edge, as in raw pace, the French rubber does look to have an advantage at this stage.

5. Shaky start for the non-hybrids
Spa provided fans with their first chance to see the new LMP1 non-hybird challengers, though it was a somewhat fractured showing from the eight-car group, only five of which started the race. CEFC TRSM Racing’s weekend unfortunately never got going, financial issues preventing Ginetta from releasing its G60-LT-P1s for the race. DragonSpeed’s BR1 meanwhile, had a monster shunt at Eau Rouge, Pietro Fittipaldi going straight on into the tyres at full-speed, fracturing both his legs, and ending his chances of an Indy 500 birth just a month out from the race.

The cars that did take the start however, did put on a bit of a show, ByKolles CLM, SMP Racing’s BR1s and Rebellions pair of R-13s did all enjoy some thrilling on-track battles, giving us a glimpse into what could be a very competitive race for third place each weekend during the season.

FIA WEC

There were two issues though, one being that SMP Racing’s No.17 BR1 failed to finish after a big shunt at Raidillon, and that other that none of the Privateers came even remotely close to challenging the Toyotas in pace or efficiency, the whole field getting lapped, not just by the eventual winners in the #8, but by the No.7 crew, which started a lap down.  That’s not very encouraging, especially given the promises made to the privateers that they would have a chance should they run a perfect race. Rebellion’s No.3 R-13, which finished third, did indeed enjoy a perfect race debut, and wasn’t even in with a slim chance of securing second or first.

Equivalence of Technology, is crushingly difficult to understand and indeed work out if you’re a rule-maker. But so far, it’s not hard to spot that it appears to be skewed very much in the favour of Toyota, which could mean it goes one of two days at Le Mans: either the EoT swings back the other way – or Toyota run away with the French classic.  The only saving grace here, is that there are rumblings in the paddock that due to the what’s capable for the non-hybrids in terms of top speed, could mean that they are far closer to the Toyotas in June. A number of the cars, are perfectly capable of blowing by the Toyotas on top speed, once the Hybrid cars’ superiority under acceleration peters out. The wide open spaces at Mulsanne and the run down to Indianapolis could prove to be happy hunting grounds for a well sorted and well driven non-hybrid LMP1.

We’ll have to wait and see…

Written by Stephen Kilbey
Photography by Dailysportscar

FIA WEC

FIA WEC 6 Hours of Spa Preview

Looking Ahead to the FIA WEC  6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps

After months and months of intrigue and speculation, the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 2018/19 ‘Super Season’ is finally here. This weekend, the teams and drivers will head to Spa-Francorchamps to kick off the season with the traditional Le Mans dress rehearsal in the Ardennes Forest. But with so much new technology up and down the order, just what can we expect? Will it deliver and what should we be keeping an eye on as the countdown to the 86th edition of the Grand Prix D’Endurance enters its final stages?

Up at the front, the LMP1 class looks completely different, and far bigger, than it did in 2017. In fact, what we have, for better or for worse, is the biggest LMP1 field in the FIA WEC’s six-year history. It is packed with privateer cars, fresh and still unproven, and just two hybrid entries from Toyota after Porsche’s withdrawal. But don’t let the lack of factory competition for the Japanese marque put you off. This is very much a David vs Goliath situation, and there is still far more questions than answers at this time.

FIA WEC

Toyota’s big news story this year, isn’t concerning the car. Instead, the headlines surround the driver crew which will feature two-time Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso. It is no secret he’s coming this year, and it is no secret that he is taking on the FIA WEC as part of a ‘Triple Crown’ run. But just how will he fare? Well, we don’t know yet, but what we do know, is that his supreme talents in an F1 car aside, when he stepped into an IndyCar last year he was quick straight away. You would also think that his performance at Daytona this year (for his sportscar debut) would give a good indication. But his car wasn’t up to the task, resulting in a rather quiet run to the finish for the Spaniard. Time will tell just how quickly he can adapt to what is a very different style of driving required in LMP1 H.

Can Toyota’s pair of mildly-revised TS050 HYBRIDs be challenged by the slew of private competition? In truth, especially at this stage, it seems unlikely. There is still plenty of creases to be ironed out in the class’ EoT (Equivalence of Technology), and in the new cars themselves. So we may have to wait a little before we see the true potential of SMP and DragonSpeed’s BR1s, CEFC TRSM’s Ginettas, ByKolles upgraded CLM and Rebellion Racing’s R-13s. The FIA WEC Prologue though, was if nothing else, encouraging; Toyota setting its fast times running outside the rules, leaving some hope for a competitive race at the start of the season.

FIA WEC

Who should we be looking to at this stage to challenge for the final podium spot? SMP Racing and Rebellion Racing look to hold the advantage at this stage in the pace department. The Russian BR1 AER’s look quick, and at the Prologue they didn’t suffer any major troubles. Not surprising, as the car, designed by Dallara, has had the most running of the new breed, and has a good set of drivers to get the most out of its cars. This will include Jenson Button this year, but unfortunately not until after the Spa round.

Rebellion meanwhile, was unable to get its pre-season test programme underway before the Prologue, due to the lead time from ORECA of its new Gibson-powered chassis. The team, has been out testing since the trip to Paul Ricard, but its R-13s are still very new. The pace appears to be there, so it’s all down to durability this weekend in Belgium if the Swiss-flagged effort is to leave with silverware at this early stage. Elsewhere, ByKolles, DragonSpeed and CEFC TRSM showed flashes of what is to come in France, but there is still a long way to go for all three teams. The focus at this stage is very much on using Spa as effectively as possible as preparation for Le Mans, which is going to be a far harder, but more important task in the long run.

While LMP1 may hold the most interest to those in the stands, let’s not forget that there is plenty to look for in the other three classes too. GTE Pro is stacked. Now with the addition of a full BMW factory effort, the category is 10-cars strong, and oozing talent. While little has changed at Ferrari, Porsche and Ford in the off-season, that is by no means a bad thing. With the added value of BMW’s new M8 GTE and Aston Martin’s new Vantage, with fresh driver crews, there’s going to be a real fight for the podium spots this year.

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Both new cars set to grace the class have been out testing for months now, and have completed some serious mileage. Both cars look strong, not bullet proof, but certainly further down the line in their development than you might expect considering neither have a FIA WEC start to their name.

Aston Martin’s driver crew sees two newcomers set to debut at Spa; Maxime Martin, who’s astonishing performance at the 2013 Nurburgring 24 Hours still lives in the memories of many, and Alex Lynn, who’s won races in GP2, LMP2 and in DPi. Both are rapid, and are already up to speed with the car and their new surroundings. BMW meanwhile, will start the season with a quartet of FIA WEC new-boys: Martin Tomczyk, Nicky Catsburg, Tom Blomqvist and Antonio Felix Da Costa. There’s no weak link there, it is hot-shoe central in the BMW garage!

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Then there is both the LMP2 and GTE Am classes which are set to deliver quality racing all season long, as they did in 2017. LMP2 has variety, with a Dallara P217 from Racing Team Nederland (driven by none other than Dutch hero Jan Lammers at Spa and Le Mans) and a Ligier JS P217 fielded by Larbre Competition. That means  we don’t have an an ORECA spec-class, instead we have a division with three of the four LMP2 global chassis present, and two tyre brands, with Michelin entering the class to go head-to-head with Dunlop.

FIA WEC

DragonSpeed’s 07 Gibson may well prove to be the class of the field. At the Prologue it ran fastest, courtesy of a rapid lap by the polarising figure that is Pastor Maldonado, the Venezuelan signed up for his sportscar race debut at this weekend too, with Mexican Roberto Gonzalez and Frenchman Nethanael Berthon.

FIA WEC

GTE Am meanwhile, may have been consistently the best class on the wheel-to-wheel racing front in 2017, and that could well be exacerbated this season, as the car count has grown significantly to nine cars, up from five last year. There is plenty of familiar faces in the class too. Aston Martin Racing return as champions with the same line-up and the older, rumbling V8-powered Vantage, Clearwater Racing looks to be everyone’s favourite team again with its all-chrome Ferrari 488, and the ageless Jorg Bergmiester rejoins the series with Team Project 1 – the most successful Porsche one-make team, which expands its programme with a debut FIA WEC run this year. As unpredictable as ever in 2018/19, GTE Am should continue to throw some real surprises throughout the season. At the moment, going on the form from the Prologue, which saw the new Porsche 911 RSRs in the class look clearly faster in pure lap time, it’s advantage Stuttgart. But with BoP set to be tweaked throughout, nobody is crowning any winners just yet.

So sit back, and enjoy the ride. This weekend, the FIA WEC, with its new look grid and new calendar is back, and some might say, better than ever. The new era, starts now.

Written by Stephen Kilbey
Photography by Dailysportscar

FIA WEC

Confusion & Controversy at FIA WEC Prologue

More questions than answers after the FIA WEC prologue

With the 30 hours of FIA WEC testing at the Paul Ricard circuit now in the books, it is clear that the 2018/19 “Super Season” will be an intriguing one across every class. 35 cars were present, and all of them got a good number of laps in, with no teams suffering any major dramas. We saw many new teams enjoy the experience of competing in the world endurance championship; new cars put to the test, and notable new faces turn heads in their respective machinery.

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In the LMP1 class, there is reason to believe that it may not be quite the Toyota whitewash that many are expecting. In fact some of the running indicated plenty of reasons for optimism that it may turn into a fierce contest. The final time sheets after the two days of running had concluded, showed that the Toyotas were far ahead of its privateer competitors on pure lap time. But that wasn’t the full story. On Saturday morning, long after its fastest times were set, Toyota revealed that it had been able to achieve such quick times, because it was running its TS050 HYBRIDs un-restricted and so outside of the current LMP1 regulations. This Toyota said was to stress test a new cooling system.

What conclusions can we draw from this?
One; the gap between Toyota and the rest of the LMP1 field come the first race at Spa-Francorchamps may not be as big as the time sheets indicated here.
Two;  it appears that real politics are already at play. Toyota were accused by some of trying to see just how fast the privateers could lap by secretly pushing its own cars beyond the enforced limits. If that wasn’t their game, then there is a legitimate question as to why they didn’t make it clear it was running un-restricted before the test began?
Three; Toyota are not beyond causing a little controversy to obtain their goals this season. Namely winning the FIA WEC championship and most importantly winning at Le Mans.

FIA WEC
Despite Toyota’s debatable actions, all five privateer teams left either encouraged, or extremely positive. SMP Racing turned in a lot of laps with its BR1 AERs, Rebellion Racing showed its (brand new, and untested) R-13 had both pace and real potential in the reliability department, ByKolles’ enjoyed a near faultless run with its new revised Nissan engine, DragonSpeed’s new BR1 Gibson was in the mix on pace and the CEFC TRSM team were pleased with the output of its very new team of drivers, three of the five, lacking any prior LMP1 experience. So all boxes ticked.

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Whether at Spa and Le Mans, the LMP1 privateers will prove to be as reliable and quick enough to challenge Toyota, and or whether or not Toyota has a lot in reserve, remains to be seen. But at this stage, fans of the FIA WEC should be excited, because all of the new LMP1s are clearly quicker than the LMP2s, and at the very least were able to produce very similar lap times. The fact that there are so many unknowns can only be a good thing. Even if Toyota do run away with it at times, there is sure to be a titanic battle for the third podium spot.

In LMP2, and GTE Pro too, it appears we have a real war on our hands. The secondary prototype division produced a major surprise, DragonSpeed’s ORECA 07 Gibson pacing the field with Michelin tyres; notable, considering last year the whole class ran with Dunlop. There is a tyre war breaking out, which will only add to the spectacle throughout the FIA WEC season.

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GTE Pro meanwhile, saw Porsche and Ford lap fast, with Ferrari, BMW and Aston Martin leaving a little concerned. With almost a two-second gap between the top two and the bottom three, many in the paddock were left wondering whether the Balance of Performance, which Le Mans aside is fixed until after Silverstone, is way off, or whether there are some games being played. It must be noted though, that the three models off the pace are still being developed at this stage. AF Corse’s 2018 evo-spec Ferrari 488s had a tough time, the No.71 catching fire and missing a day’s worth of running, and the No.51 struggled with tyre degradation (an issue nobody else suffered). Aston Martin and BMW’s cars meanwhile, are brand new, so their true pace is likely yet to be unlocked.

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We have seen all of this before. In a Balance of Performance formula like GTE, there is little point in showing what you’ve got until the last possible minute. The big takeaway here is therefore that Aston Martin’s new Vantage, and BMW’s new M8 GTE both seem up to the task. They proved near-bullet proof, and managed hundreds and hundreds of laps, which bodes well for the rest of the FIA WEC super season, that includes two Le Mans 24 hours races.

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Over all this was a good FIA WEC prologue weekend; tinged with a little controversy, confusion over the real pace of much the field, but ultimately pointing the way to the excitement yet to come.

Written by Stephen Kilbey
Photography by Dailysportscar

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