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From 2020 to 2025, there’ll be a new breed of sleek hypercars running in the WEC
It’s officially official: hybrid hypercars are going to race at Le Mans from 2020. In fact, “sleek, high performance hybrid cars” will race across the World Endurance Championship – of which Le Mans forms a part – between 2020 to 2025.
Out goes the current top tier of LMP1 cars made of unobtanium, then, and in comes a raft of new hypercars backed by “much more reasonable budgets”.
Exciting, isn’t it? The FIA had long been considering changing the structure of the very sharp end of WEC racing to better resemble road-going hypercars, and has now confirmed a few regulations for this new tier of ‘hyper sport endurance racing’.
The cars, as noted before, will have to “turn the heads of experts and newcomers alike”, and embody such things as “sportiness, competition, speed, adrenaline, passion” and other effervescent buzzwords. “The regulations should encourage manufacturers to produce cars that resemble road vehicles,” explains ACO sport director Vincent Beaumesnil.
In more technical terms, the performance aim for these new cars is a 3m 22s lap time during qualifying, and a 3m 27s for the race. Long race, too.
Getting even more technical, the FIA says each car will only have one hybrid system on the front axle, delivering 200kW – around 268bhp – which can’t cost any more than €3m to develop. The battery will weigh 70kg, and the motor 50kg. “This easily achievable specification does not require expensive development,” the FIA says.
Now to the big hairy part. The internal combustion unit will produce just shy of 700bhp – 697bhp to be precise – with a minimum weight of 180kg. The FIA will, in time, denote a specific consumption amount in order to limit development costs for the engine. In total, you’re staring down the barrel of nearly 1,000bhp.
Which will only power a weight of 1,040kg. We’re told each car’s aero will get a “very restricted” window of development to avoid massive expense, and overall, each team’s budget will be set at €20m (£18m) per full WEC season, for two cars. Personnel is limited to 40 people for both cars.
There’s something called ‘success ballast’, too, for additional competitiveness – 0.5kg will be added to each car per marked point, up to 50kg. The cars will carry this weight right up until Le Mans, at which point it all comes off and everyone goes bananas. Given the controversy caused by ‘Balance of Performance’ regs elsewhere on the Le Mans grid, that’s welcome news indeed.
The FIA still hasn’t figured out a name for this new breed of aero-restricted, cheaper hybrid hypercars, but will announce it in January next year following a popular vote. And, we already know one particular manufacturer who – upon hearing the news months ago – declared a very strong interest in running a team. Koenigsegg.
“We would love to go and race,” company boss Christian von Koenigsegg told TG earlier this year. “Finally, there is a chance. This new class is fantastic. If it really comes to fruition in a good way, it will be amazing.”
Toyota too, at the start of this year, showed us a rather delightful hybrid hypercar in the shape of the Gazoo Racing Super Sport concept : a car with - that’s right - 1,000bhp…
The FIA still hasn’t figured out a name for this new breed of aero-restricted, cheaper hybrid hypercars, but will announce it in January next year following a popular vote. And, we already know one particular manufacturer who – upon hearing the news months ago – declared a very strong interest in running a team. Koenigsegg.
“We would love to go and race,” company boss Christian von Koenigsegg told TG earlier this year. “Finally, there is a chance. This new class is fantastic. If it really comes to fruition in a good way, it will be amazing.”
Toyota too, at the start of this year, showed us a rather delightful hybrid hypercar in the shape of the Gazoo Racing Super Sport concept : a car with - that’s right - 1,000bhp…
I'm liking these renders. It's kind of a mashup of the old LMGT1, with LMP1, and modern GT1 cars. I actually drew similar prototypes back in my student days in the late 90's.
Ferrari is close to confirming a full FIA World Endurance Championship program for the upcoming ‘Hypercar’ regulations, RACER understands.
Multiple industry sources close to the Italian manufacturer have confirmed to RACER over the past few weeks that the Italian supercar maker is actively evaluating a program for the second season of the aforementioned regulation cycle, which begins at the start of the 2020/21 season.
Red Bull could target Le Mans 24 Hours success with an Aston Martin Valkyrie-based hypercar instead of Formula 1, if it does not see a viable post-2020 grand prix future.
The energy drinks company took over Jaguar's works entry for the 2005 F1 season and blossomed into the dominant force from 2010-13, winning four consecutive drivers' and constructors' titles.
Red Bull has been reduced to a sporadic race winner in the V6 turbo-hybrid era that began in 2014, but will switch from being a Renault engine customer to having de facto works Honda status for 2019 in a bid to fight for titles again.
F1 owner Liberty Media is targeting a commercial and regulatory revolution once the current Concorde Agreement expires after the 2020 season, but has failed to make significant progress.
Red Bull motorsport advisor Dr Helmut Marko says his team is not interested in becoming a customer again and has made it clear that Red Bull will not be held to ransom over planned rule changes.
"We have an agreement until 2020," Marko told Motorsport.com. "As long as there is no engine regulation and no Concorde Agreement, neither Red Bull nor Honda will make a decision.
"However, we will certainly not become dependent again, as we have been in the past, when we were begging others and statements and promises were not kept."
Red Bull's current Honda deal includes the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Beyond then, Red Bull's choices appear limited if there are not favourable terms to continue.
"Stop is the option," said Marko. "Or do something else, other racing series.
"With the Valkyrie, Le Mans could be an option with hypercar rules. We went through with it, and it's a sensational success.
"The cars were all sold out immediately. That's another good pillar for Red Bull Technologies."
Red Bull helped Aston Martin developed the Valkyrie, a limited-run road hypercar, with its F1 technical director Adrian Newey a key part of the project.
A track version of the car has already been produced.
The WEC is working on new regulations to replace LMP1 as the top division, with the inaugural season for hypercar-based entries taking place across 2020 and 2021.
One of the fundamental parts of F1 owner Liberty Media's vision for 2021 onwards is reduced costs, and Marko suggested Red Bull's interest World Endurance Championship's flagship race does not depend entirely on a complete withdrawal from F1.
"If there was a cost cap in Formula 1, we would have to cut people," he said. "We don't necessarily want that.
"We could then use them in such projects [as Le Mans]. It still looks like you can run in the WEC at a reasonable cost with the base of our Valkyrie.
"Although Red Bull has never been to the 24 Hours, that's something we're thinking about.
"The main financial burden would be on Aston Martin, which is also clear, because at Le Mans the manufacturer wins. But that would fit into our concept."
Almost two months have passed since the FIA approved the Hypercar regulations for Le Mans, and to date there have been no statements of intent from any motor manufacturer that sat at the table and thrashed them out.
This is a worry; not even Toyota has offered a positive statement, although it is known that two car makers have already scoped out their engine and cooling requirements for their cars and are actively working behind the scenes, and that one of them is likely to be Toyota.
However, there are some serious concerns; Aston Martin is one of the key elements to the future of these regulations. While its chairman David Richards has confirmed that the company is interested in racing at Le Mans with a road car-based product, and that the company has started its engine programme for the Hypercar rules, the share price of Aston Martin has fallen since it floated on the stock exchange in October, and questions have to be asked whether or not it is worth them producing a racing version of a car that will almost certainly sell out anyway.
Aston’s involvement in Hypercar is key; without them, Ferrari and McLaren may take their decisions not to compete. Ferrari has yet to make its presentation to the board for its Hypercar which would succeed the LaFerrari, while McLaren, or indeed Lotus, would only be able to commit if it was guaranteed that there was more competition than only Toyota.
Mazda and Acura attended the last working group hosted by the FIA, but feedback at Daytona was, at best, luke-warm over the opportunities offered by the FIA and the ACO. Ford is known to be considering a DPi programme in IMSA, and at Daytona it appeared that BMW is in the same position. No decisions have been taken, but interest in the US style of racing from both manufacturers is high.
The racing programmes must start soon if they are to be ready for the start of the 2020/21 season, and be publicly announced if there is any hope for these regulations to be implemented and be successful. Right now, the silence is deafening.
Aston Martin Racing will not take part in this year's Nurburgring 24 Hours, Motorsport.com has learned.
Team sources confirmed at last weekend's second round of the VLN championship - which was called off due to bad weather - that there will be no factory-supported Vantage GT3 in this year's edition, due to the sheer number of orders for the new-generation car.
Aston Martin would have had to enter the second VLN race after missing the first one in order to comply with the Nurburgring 24 Hours regulations for the SP9 class for FIA-spec GT3 cars, which state that a car has to be entered in three Nordschleife races before the main race itself.
Only one more VLN race is scheduled before the qualification race for the 24 Hours in May.
Aston Martin is struggling to meet the demand for its latest challenger, its first new GT3 car for seven years. At last week's ADAC GT Masters test, the PROpeak Performance squad had to settle for one car, with the second set to be delivered just before the start of the season.
In last year's Nurburgring 24 Hours, Aston Martin Racing fielded an old-generation V12 Vantage, with Nicki Thiim, Darren Turner, Maxime Martin and Marco Sorensen only narrowly missed out on a podium, finishing fourth.
No plans for Bentley N24 return
Fellow British marque Bentley has also stated it has no plans to return to the German endurance classic with its second-generation Continental GT3 after skipping 2018's running.
Bentley Motorsport boss Brian Gush told Motorsport.com in February: "At the moment we have no plans to do the Nurburgring this year, but we'd definitely like to do it next season.
"If we do it, we'd really have to set up a programme to do the full VLN. It is such a specific race, which needs its own specific development because of its different tyre rules and the aero changes, so you can't just pitch up at the 24 Hours."
Bentley opted not to take part last year because it was the development year for the new Continental. It previously contested the event in 2015-17 using the original Continental GT3 in a joint campaign with the HTP Motorsport squad and then in partnership with the Abt team.
Bentley's best Nurburgring results were an eighth place on debut in 2015 and then a seventh the following year.
Fernando Alonso is looking unlikely to remain with the Toyota LMP1 team for the 2019/20 FIA World Endurance Championship season.
The Japanese manufacturer is refusing to comment on speculation that the two-time Formula 1 world champion will not be part of its line-up when the first edition of the WEC run to a 'winter series' format kicks off at Silverstone in September.
A spokesman for Toyota Motorsport GmbH told Motorsport.com: "We expect to announce our drivers for next season relatively soon."
He said that he could not comment further when asked if Brendon Hartley was in the frame to replace Alonso alongside Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima in 2019/20.
It is understood that two-time WEC title winner and ex-Toro Rosso Formula 1 driver Hartley could be in place at Toyota as a reserve driver as early as the Le Mans 24 Hours in June.
Alonso, who joined Toyota for the 2018/19 WEC superseason while he was still racing for McLaren in F1, has been non-committal on his plans.
The Spaniard has outlined an ambition to compete in "iconic races" around the world in the future, while not ruling out an F1 comeback or a full campaign in IndyCar after his return to the Indianapolis 500 this year.
"I feel that I need to recharge the batteries a little bit," Alonso said at the Shanghai WEC round last November. "But in 2020 it could be a full season in IndyCar, a full season in F1, a full season in a different series."
He has also achieved the second leg of unofficial triple crown of motorsport by winning Le Mans last year and leads the WEC points with two races to go.
It appears that Alonso's desire to keep his options open for next year doesn't fit with Toyota's need to get its driver line-up in place for a season that is only four and half months away.
The FIA and ACO are looking to implement success ballast into the LMP1 class for the 2019-20 FIA World Endurance Championship season, in an effort to close the gap between the hybrid and non-hybrid machinery.
ACO technical director Thierry Bouvet has suggested that a “slightly different” Equivalence of Technology system is being developed for next season that will likely incorporate on-track results.
Bouvet explained that a combination of factors have resulted in less competitive races between the Toyota TS050 Hybrids and non-hybrid LMP1 cars, including the privateer’s relative inexperience with its new-for-2018 machinery, the advantage of Toyota’s four-wheel drive in the wet as well as the Japanese manufacturer’s “complex” suspension which benefited them at Sebring.
“We would have liked closer races between the hybrid and non-hybrid cars,” Bouvet said.
“We are already working on a slightly different system for next season which could also take race results into consideration.”
Bouvet added they have suggested a success ballast system and says it “seems to be a good solution.”
Such a change in the 2019-20 regulations would have to be first approved by the FIA Endurance Committee before being put to the FIA World Motor Sport Council, which meets next on June 14.
The FIA and ACO also reserve the right to make adjustments to the published EoT.
“We have published the EoT for Le Mans Test Day and have left the physical parameters for the non-hybrids (engine power and vehicle mass) at their potential maximum,” Bouvet said.
“The Toyota will also be 10 kg heavier than last year for Le Mans.
“We shall analyze fuel consumption data on Test Day to calibrate the different amounts of fuel for the race. The cars will be very close in terms of lap times.”
Goodyear is set to return to international sportscar racing and will soon debut a new range of tires for the FIA World Endurance Championship, which includes the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Goodyear will therefore go toe-to-toe with Michelin from the 2019/20 season onwards, which includes next year’s 88th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours. Its initial target is LMP2, however the company is known to have been in conversation with teams in other classes.
RACER understands that Dunlop (owned and operated by Goodyear in Europe and elsewhere) will step back from supplying tires for the WEC and instead focus solely on its European Le Mans Series effort, where it supplies rubber in both LMP2 and GTE.
In preparation for this move, Goodyear has been developing a new range of sportscar tires at its facilities in Hanau, Germany, and at Colmar-Berg in Luxembourg.
“The nature of the races (varying from 4 hours to 24 hours) means tire choice and strategy are critical, and that provides a motivating challenge for the technology teams in our European innovation centers ahead of exploring other racing opportunities for the brand,” said Goodyear’s motorsport director Ben Crawley.
Goodyear has a long history of competing in sportscars, supplying tires in IMSA for several decades. The brand has 14 Le Mans wins, the most recent being in 1997, when it supplied Joest Racing’s No. 7 TWR Porsche.
“Motorsport continues to be one of the most popular global sports,” Crawley continued. “It is an ideal platform for us to engage with consumers around the heritage, passion, innovation and technology that make up Goodyear’s story in racing.”
“We will focus on sportscar racing at first, before applying learnings to other categories of racing, which could be within the endurance arena or in other racing series.”
Earlier this year at the Geneva Motor Show, Toyota Gazoo Racing showed the world the Supra GT4 Concept, a preview of its GT4 race car.
Now it’s time to see the real thing as Toyota’s racing division has announced it will enter two cars in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring Endurance Race: a GR Supra and a Lexus LC.
For obvious reasons, we’ll focus our attention on the Supra race car which will run its first Nürburgring 24 Hours from June 20 to June 23. Toyota released two photos of the car which seems to feature an identical aero package with the Supra GT4 Concept.
The grueling endurance race won’t be the Supra’s first race on the “Green Hell”, however. The car also competed in shorter races from the VLN Endurance Championship Nürburgring last autumn even before the road car launched — which is why it featured a full camouflage livery at the time.
Now, however, there’s no need for camouflage anymore. That doesn’t mean the racing Supra no longer has secrets, quite the contrary. Toyota says both the Supra and the Lexus LC that will compete in the 24-hour race “will incorporate and refine parts and advanced technologies intended for future road cars.” That sounds exciting, doesn’t it?
The Supra will carry number 90 and will compete in the SP8T class which allows body modifications and is for cars featuring engines with up to 4.0-liters of displacement with forced induction. The racing Supra packs a turbocharged 3.0-liter straight-six closely related to the production car.
Toyota’s goal for the Nürburgring 24 Hours this year is to complete the race. The Supra will be driven by a team of four drivers consisting of Masahiro Sasaki, Uwe Kleen, Herwig Daenens, and Hisashi Yabuki. The Lexus LC competing in the SP-PRO Class with number 56 will feature an all-Japanese crew including Takeshi Tsuchiya, Naoya Gamo, Takamitsu Matsui, and Yuichi Nakayama.
TDS Racing has inherited the LMP2 class pole for the Le Mans 24 Hours after the rival Graff squad had its best times deleted.
Tristan Gommendy had put the #39 Oreca on pole in Thursday’s third and final qualifying session with a 3m25.073s, but the team has had all its times from that session deleted.
This was due to Gommendy’s teammate Vincent Capillaire “failing to stop at the weight bridge when instructed to do so”.
In addition to losing its pole time, the stewards slapped Graff with a 1,000 euro fine.
That promoted the #28 TDS Racing Oreca to pole by virtue of Loic Duval’s 3m25.345s effort in the car he shares with Francois Perrodo and Matthieu Vaxiviere, ahead of the #31 DragonSpeed Oreca and the #36 Signatech Alpine Oreca.
Graff will start from 14th in class based on its best time from Thursday’s second qualifying session.
The FIA and ACO have released a 33-car entry list for the upcoming 2019/20 FIA World Endurance Championship season.
In LMP1, Rebellion Racing, Toyota and SMP Racing all return for another season, joined by a pair of Team LNT Ginetta G60-LT-P1s. Absent are ByKolles Racing, which is known to be trying to put together a Hypercar program for 2020/21, and DragonSpeed, which will focus on its budding IndyCar effort.
However, ByKolles said in a statement that it will lodge race-by-race entries in the European rounds of the WEC in 2019/20, including the 2020 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.The team “keeps the hope to see entries granted as per its requests” despite the fact that WEC Sporting Regulations specifically prohibit LMP1 teams from race-by-race entries.
Meanwhile, DragonSpeed will not race in LMP2, either. The eight-car LMP2 class has a fresh look, with multiple newcomers joining some of the more seasoned teams. Only Signatech Alpine, Jackie Chan DC Racing and Racing Team Nederland Return albeit with a TDS-run ORECA and not a Dallara) return from the current crop competing in the ‘Super Season’.
Joining the returnees are ELMS regulars Cool Racing, High Class Racing, Cetilar Racing and United Autosports, all of which have stepped up from the huge ELMS LMP2 field to join the WEC. Jota Racing, which helped run the JCDC effort during the ‘Super Season’, will also enter a car.
GTE Pro has taken the biggest hit; Ford and BMW’s departure leaving just six cars on the grid. Aston Martin Racing, AF Corse and Porsche GT Team are all back with two cars apiece. No customer Fords are among the category, despite much work behind the scenes by Multimatic to get a program off the ground in the run-up to the entry list deadline.
Porsche, however, will bring a pair of brand-new 911 RSR 19s to the grid; the car an evolution of the hugely successful Le Mans and championship-winning 911 RSR.
The biggest class is GTE Am, which has grown yet again. Eleven cars across three brands make up this list, with plenty of teams returning to be joined by new programs.
Team Project 1, gunning for the ‘Super Season’ Am title this weekend at Le Mans, expands to a two-car effort. Dempsey Proton (two cars) and Gulf Racing also bring Porsches to the class.
Johnny Mowlem’s Red River Sport program adds to AF Corse’s Ferrari pack, which is four cars strong and features another entry from MR Racing, alongside two AF Corse-entered 488 GTE EVOs.
TF Sport and Aston Martin Racing will both race with new Vantage AMRs, marking the end of the old Vantage’s time in the FIA WEC.
The season begins with the FIA WEC Prologue at Barcelona (Spain) next month.
LMP1 (8 cars)
No. 1 – Rebellion Racing – R-13 Gibson
No. 3 – Rebellion Racing – R-13 Gibson
No. 5 – Team LNT – Ginetta G60-LT-P1 AER
No. 6 – Team LNT – Ginetta G60-LT-P1 AER
No. 7 – Toyota Gazoo Racing – TS050 HYBRID
No. 8 – Toyota Gazoo Racing – TS050 HYBRID
No. 11 – SMP Racing – BR1 AER
No. 17 – SMP Racing – BR1 AER
LMP2 (8 cars)
No. 22 – United Autosports – Ligier JS P217
No. 29 – Racing Team Nederland – ORECA 07 Gibson
No. 33 – High Class Racing – ORECA 07 Gibson
No. 36 – Signatech Alpine Matmut – Alpine A470 Gibson
No. 37 – Jackie Chan DC Racing – ORECA 07 Gibson
No. 38 – Jota Sport – ORECA 07 Gibson
No. 42 – Cool Racing – ORECA 07 Gibson
No. 47 – Cetilar Racing – Dallara P217 Gibson
GTE Pro (6 cars)
No. 51 – AF Corse – Ferrari 488 GTE EVO
No. 71 – AF Corse – Ferrari 488 GTE EVO
No. 91 – Porsche GT Team – Porsche 911 RSR 19
No. 92 – Porsche GT Team – Porsche 911 RSR 19
No. 95 – Aston Martin Racing – Aston Martin Vantage AMR
No. 97 – Aston Martin Racing – Aston Martin Vantage AMR
GTE Am (11 cars)
No. 54 – AF Corse – Ferrari 488 GTE EVO
No. 56 – Team Project 1 – Porsche 911 RSR
No. 57 – Team Project 1 – Porsche 911 RSR
No. 62 – Red River Sport – Ferrari 488 GTE EVO
No. 70 – MR Racing – Ferrari 488 GTE EVO
No. 77 – Dempsey Proton Racing – Porsche 911 RSR
No. 83 – AF Corse – Ferrari 488 GTE EVO
No. 86 – Gulf Racing – Porsche 911 RSR
No. 88 – Dempsey Proton Racing – Porsche 911 RSR
No. 90 – TF Sport – Aston Martin Vantage AMR
No. 98 – Aston Martin Racing – Aston Martin Vantage AMR
Aston Martin has confirmed it will enter the Hypercar class of the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2020-21.
Announced on Friday at Le Mans, Aston Martin becomes the first official manufacturer to commit to the FIA and ACO’s newly modified set of top-class regulations, although Toyota’s confirmation is expected this afternoon.
The Adrian Newey-designed hypercar, featuring a 6.5-liter Cosworth-tuned V12 engine, is capable of producing 1160 hp but will have to be detuned to fit the WEC’s regulations.
As revealed by Sportscar365, the British manufacturer is expected to partner with Multimatic for development of the road-based Valkyrie, although confirmation is yet to be made.
Aston Martin Racing president David King refused to comment on operating partners, with further details expected to come later in the year.
It’s understood that Multimatic and R-Motorsport are the two lead contenders for running the race programs.
Aston Martin is pursuing customer entries as well as factory cars, with customer teams potentially running cars in the first season.
“It would be surprising if there weren’t [customers],” King told assembled media at Le Mans.
“Maybe not in year one, but it would be surprising if there weren’t top-level customer teams looking to compete with these cars.
“We said very clearly that this starts off as a factory program. It will be a multi-year factory program with at least two, hopefully more, factory cars.”
Aston Martin was one of six manufacturers in the FIA and ACO’s technical working group that helped shape the next-gen regulations, which were revised twice since their initial announcement one year ago at Le Mans.
A draft set of regulations for the initial prototype-based hypercar formula was released in December, while a provision allowing road-going hypercars were added in March and the optional use of hybrid powertrains.
Aston Martin had been one of the advocates for a production-based formula.
King Praises Hybrid Deployment Thresholds
King praised the ACO’s decision to implement hybrid deployment thresholds, preventing the use of hybrid systems below 120 km/h in dry conditions and a yet-to-be-defined speed of between 140-160 km/h in wet conditions.
This prevents hybrid (four-wheel-drive) cars from gaining as much of an advantage over non-hybrid two-wheel-drive designs at slower speeds.
It’s still unknown whether Aston Martin will elect for a hybrid or non-hybrid setup, with King declining comment when asked whether the decision has already been made internally, although Sportscar365 understands a non-hybrid design is most likely.
“That’s the bit that needed to be put in place to make sure that anybody coming with a non-4WD car wouldn’t just get left behind,” King said.
“If there was a wet Le Mans, and the four-wheel-drives had an advantage, you’d be making a massive gamble if you came with a two-wheel-drive car.
“Various manufacturers have various different positions on that based on what powertrains they want to run and the solution is a good one. You have to give credit to the FIA and ACO technical guys.
“There would of course be some secondary benefits of running a hybrid or four-wheel-drive system in terms of balancing tire wear and, on the other hand, that comes with additional complexity and reliability.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing has confirmed it will compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship after next season in the new top class ‘Le Mans Hypercar Prototype’ category which will kick in for the 2020/21 season, confirmed today by the ACO at its annual Le Mans press conference.
The announcement means the Japanese marque will continue to race in International prototype racing, extending its program which began back in 2012, during the inaugural FIA WEC season.
With Toyota and Aston Martin (announced earlier today) on board, the new ‘Hypercar Prototype’ regulations have attracted two major manufacturers for Year 1 of the ruleset, which includes the 2021 running of the Le Mans 24 Hours.
“I am pleased to confirm that Toyota Gazoo Racing will continue its challenge in endurance racing beyond the current regulations,” Shigeki Tomoyama, Gazoo Racing president, said. “Thank you to the ACO and FIA for their hard work in finalizing these regulations, which we hope will bring about a new golden age of endurance racing, with several manufacturers fighting for Le Mans and the FIA World Endurance Championship.
“For Toyota Gazoo Racing, this new era of competition is a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate our credentials not only as a race team against some of the best in the business, but also as a sports car manufacturer. I am sure I join fans and competitors in welcoming the new regulations and looking forward to an exciting era of competition in WEC and at Le Mans.”
The Toyota team will enter a racing version of the GR Super Sports Concept into the top FIA WEC category. Driver Kamui Kobayashi is among those working directly on the development of the car, a road-going version of which was shown at the conference in a video, running at Fuji Speedway.
Track testing of the new race car, the name of which will be revealed at a later date, will begin next year prior to the start of the 2020-2021 season while further details of the GR Super Sport road car will be issued by Toyota Gazoo Racing in due course.
“It’s a great announcement,” Toyota driver Sebastien Buemi told RACER. “We had been informed some time ago about it. We are just happy that the new regulations are official now. We are hopeful that things are now headed in the right direction and that these regulations will attract people. It’s a new start.”
“Kamui was the only driver to test the prototype in Japan. I haven’t. (Jose Maria) Lopez has done a lot of work on the simulator. It’s probably the best way to test it so far. We are in the early days of the project and some setup options aren’t finalized yet on this car. What we know is that we will get to start testing (the final product) quite late. Probably no sooner than July 2020.”
I had the Ford stream going on YT, simultaneous stream of the 4 GTs, watched for an hour or so, somewhere in the halfway point of the race. Pretty crazy that they seemed to keep together on track, looked like they were only 2-15 sec apart when I Was watching.
The #68 Ford GT has been deleted from the results in the American marque’s fourth and final Le Mans 24 Hours due to an apparent breach of fuel tank capacity regulations.
The #68 Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA entry, raced by Sebastien Bourdais, Joey Hand and Dirk Muller, finished fourth, heading a Ford 4-5-6-7 result in the GTE Pro class.
However a report from the FIA and ACO Technical Delegates following post-race scrutineering said that the “total on-board fuel volume [was] found to be in excess of the permitted limit".
The maximum permitted volume per the Endurance Committee Decision for the car was 97 liters, and scrutineering revealed the #68 Ford’s tank to hold 97.83 liters.
According to the ACO/WEC release: “The competitor explained that the team checks the Maximum Onboard Fuel Volume at their facility in the US using the same measurement technique as the Scrutineers.
"Since the car was shipped, the BoP [Balance of Performance] has changed, and the competitor made the changes to their tank, but given the resources on site, they were not able to do a calibrated check.”
Thus the stewards “therefore order the usual penalty for a technical breach of this nature and disqualify the competitor from the event. The Stewards order the forfeiture of any prizes and trophies and that the final classification be amended and the order of the other cars behind the competitor shall be adjusted up.” The team does have a right of appeal.
Le Mans was the Ford GT's swansong in the GTE Pro category of the FIA World Endurance Championship, at least in factory team guise.
Ford won the class on its return to La Sarthe in 2016, on the 50th anniversary of the Ford GT40's first triumph.
After running an impeccable Le Mans 24 hour race, the gorgeous throwback Wynn’s liveried customer-entered Ford GT of Keating Motorsports won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Then, on Monday, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile struck the car from the race altogether for breaking two different fuel refilling regulations. The first, filling the tank too quickly, and the second, carrying too much fuel for what the car was allocated.
This type of shit happens all the time. Last year it was a post-race penalty for the LMP2 victors. This year, it’s the GTE Am class winners. A similar penalty precluded the Dempsey Proton Porsche team from winning a FIA WEC GTE Am championship earlier this season.
The minutiae of the rulebook has bogged down a few efforts in the past, and with changes happening right up to the day before the race. This was the case with the Aston Martin team receiving a balance of performance change dropping the Vantage’s horsepower following their pole position. There is hardly a solid way of keeping up with the rules as a competitor, let alone as a fan.
So, what exactly were Keating Motorsports excluded for? According to FIA records, their minimum pit stop refueling was supposed to be set at 45 seconds, but the team consistently fueled in 44.4 seconds. The team was also deemed to be carrying 0.1 liters more than their mandated 96 liters.
The FIA initially awarded the team a 55.2 second time penalty, which amounts to quadruple the amount of time the team won on pit lane by fueling quicker than the minimum. This would have lost the team its victory, but only just, and relegated them to second in class. When the max fuel discrepancy was discovered, however, the team was disqualified altogether.
According to sportscar365.com, team boss Bill Riley does not plan to appeal the FIA’s ruling.
The #68 Ford GT was also disqualified from its 4th place finish in the GTE Pro class for exceeding allotted fuel capacity.
This ruling does suck a lot, because I liked watching the Keating car take that win, but the team did break the rules, whether intentionally or not. They certainly didn’t break the rules enough that it would have changed the outcome, I don’t think, but rules are rules, I guess.
It does seem a bit petty to me of the FIA to beat up a team like that, however. This was Ford’s last race in the WEC, and it may have been a way for the sanctioning body to promote the cars that are committed to continuing racing in the series next year. You’ll notice that this promotes the Project 1 Porsche to the GTE Am victory, and that is a team that just last week announced it would be adding a second car to its efforts for the 2019/2020 season. Maybe I’m wearing a tin-foil hat?
Aston Martin believes a last-minute GTE Pro Balance of Performance change for the Le Mans 24 Hours meant it was reduced from fighting for victory to just "driving around".
Marco Sorensen had put the #95 Vantage GTE he shared with Nicki Thiim and Darren Turner on pole after a final qualifying session on Thursday evening that featured five of the six marques in class in the top five positions.
However,a post-qualifying BoP change issued on Fridaypenalised Aston by reducing its turbo boost and fuel capacity, although the Vantage was also one of five cars to be handed a 5kg weight break.
AMR team principal Paul Howarth was reluctant to spell out just what impact the changes had on the Vantage GTE's straightline speed or tyre consumption.
But he did say the British marque was "confident" of being well in the mix for a top-three finish before the BoP change that Aston CEO Andy Palmer described on Twitter as "unfathomable".
Howarth told Motorsport.com: "We delivered well all the way up to the start of the race, then we got a variable. We have to really analyse the outcome of that variable and see what that did to us, but we come here to race to win – not just to drive around.
"We had some incidents, fortunately Marco is ok, the drivers were pushing as hard as they could, they had to try and make up the deficit. So it’s not the outcome we wanted.
"After the pole, the whole team felt confident we could fight for a win or a podium. When a grid is so close, the slightest variable is a disadvantage, and you can’t afford that. Simple as that."
Both Vantages had faded from contention by the time they were involved in incidents in the night.
Sorensen suffered a high-speed crash at Indianapolis, ending the #95 car's race on the spot, prior to which Alex Lynn had an off at the Porsche Curves - after being tagged by an LMP2 car - that required a long trip to the garage for the sister #97 car.
The #97 ultimately recovered to finish 13th in class, 17 laps down on the winning Ferrari.
Post-race, Aston put out a statement saying Sorensen had sustained "a minor concussion as well as a small foot injury in the crash", and that he will therefore sit out this weekend's British GT race at Donington Park he was due to contest with the Beechdean team.
The Dane however is expected to be back to fitness for next month's Barcelona FIA World Endurance Championship Prologue test.
Farfus: BMW didn't have "fair chance"
BMW also suffered a Le Mans to forget in what was the final WEC outing for the two MTEK-run M8 GTEs.
Its top finisher was the #82 machine shared by Augusto Farfus, Antonio Felix da Costa and Jesse Krohn in 11th, seven laps down, a result that followed a pre-test day BoP change that forced the M8s to run with an extra 9kg and reduced turbo boost.
"I do motorsport because I wake up in the morning to win races, or at least to fight for that," Farfus told Motorsport.com. "I don’t mind losing a race with a fair chance, but today we just did not have it.
"We all showed what we had in qualifying. In qualifying we were a second slower, in the race we were 1.5s slower. It is a shame."
Asked if he knew even before the test day that BMW stood little chance, the Brazilian replied: "We knew already it was a big chunk of laptime.
"People say 9kg is not much, but the track is 13km, with long straights, braking zones, acceleration zones, so we knew once we did the simulation that it would be extremely difficult."
Back in 2007, Koenigsegg built a GT1-spec racing car that resembled a CCR road car, but was based more on the original CC prototype. The CCGT, shown above, had a dry weight of 2200 lbs. and a V-8 producing well over 600 horsepower. With AP Racing six-piston brakes in all corners and Koenigsegg's ultra-stiff carbon fiber chassis, this GT1 dream showed great promise during testing. But then, the FIA decided to change the rules of homologation, and the Swedes were out before they could enter. The CCGT remained a one-off.
Now, the FIA World Endurance Championship's LMP1 era is coming to a close. The new Hypercar Class is in, so far populated by Toyota, Aston Martin, possibly Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus, and who know who else. Perhaps Koenigsegg? Well, back in March, just before the Jesko's debut at the Geneva Motor Show, Christian von Koenigsegg had this to tell us about his current racing ambitions:
We would love to go racing if there’s an opportunity. Because for the first time ever, there’s a category that’s geared towards our type of car. To race in the last ten years, after GT1 was gone, against 911s and 458s, would have been crazy, with a car costing ten times as much, being bogged down by balance of performance. But now, it can make sense again, and it’s extremely interesting. We have a lot of companies wanting to sponsor us, if we want to go, so it wouldn’t have to cost us that much either, and it would be very exciting. Probably if we do it, we’ll team up with some racing team instead of doing everything from the factory. The question mark is around the hybrid system. How can we fit it? In the Jesko, or do we have to make sort of another car?
With WEC's Hypercar rules finally out in the open, we reached out to the factory again. Christian von Koenigsegg had this to say:
The first set of regulations really excluded any possibility for us to go racing. So we put our efforts on ice. The new regulations [announced last week] look much more feasible on the surface—but we have not yet had time to fully evaluate them. The interest from our side persists, but for the time being we have no announcement.
A Jesko-based racing car has been rendered already, we're told. And there's still plenty of time until 2021.
12-06-2018, 03:52 PM
Here, you've done great, have a penalty so the slower cars can catch up.
