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Toyota driver Kamui Kobayashi has urged the FIA World Endurance Championship to rethink its LMP1 success handicap system after a Lone Star Le Mans event he branded a “joke”.
Sunday’s race at the Circuit of the Americas was notable for its lack of action in a sparse LMP1 field, with the solo Rebellion R-13 enjoying a clear advantage over both of the Toyota TS050 Hybrids and going to take an easy second win of the 2019/20 season.
The slower championship-leading #7 Toyota, which Kobayashi shares with Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez, was powerless to challenge the sister #8 car owing to its larger penalty, worth approximately half a second a lap on paper but more in reality.
After finishing two laps down on the winning Rebellion and the #8 Toyota, Kobayashi warned that the WEC will struggle to maintain fan interest without making changes.
He told Motorsport.com: “I don’t understand. They say it’s a handicap, but it decides who is going to win. We knew before coming into the race. It’s the worst race I ever had.
“If we keep this EoT, nobody will come to these races. This meant to be [high] technology racing. Nobody gets excited with the EoT stuff. As soon as you see our car, everybody says it looks slow. What does the spectator think? It looks really stupid.
“I don’t care if we are slow, but we need to take a broader view and [ask ourselves] why people get excited about this championship. It’s definitely a stupid idea.
“Rebellion won the race, but they probably don’t feel really happy. Who is happy in the end? Nobody. Everybody travels home feeling frustrated. It’s a bit of a joke.”
Kobayashi, part of the race-winning Wayne Taylor Racing line-up in last month’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, contrasted the situation in WEC with that of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s DPi class, which features close competition between three brands.
“I have to say IMSA does a really good job,” said Kobayashi. “When I was there [in Daytona], I enjoyed. There was good competition; the point is they try to make close gaps.
“But the problem [in WEC] is the concept of the car is so far [apart], between our car and the Rebellion, it’s impossible. Of course, people try to calculate everything, but as soon as we start FP1, we need to adjust [the EoT] at least.
“We are here for entertaining people, either people who are coming here or watching on the TV. This race, if you are watching on TV, after half an hour I’m sure people are turning off the TV for this boring race.
“Why do we continue like this? We are here to entertain people and have a competitive race. But we do completely the opposite.”
Conway: Sebring will be same story for #7 crew
Conway admitted the Austin race was among the most frustrating he’s experienced, and fears that next month’s Sebring 1000 Miles will be a similar story.
The Briton said that the #7 crew’s five-point advantage in the standings is likely to again make it impossible for he and his teammates to challenge the sister Toyota.
“When it’s a couple of tenths a lap, you think maybe you can overhaul it,” said Conway. “But here there was just no chance, whatever we did we couldn’t get around it.
“[The disadvantage] was around nine tenths a lap on a clear lap, but in traffic it’s more because you’ve less boost to play with, it’s harder to clean the tyres. It might look on paper like it’s one thing, but it depends on the track, the conditions.
“Now going to Sebring we still have a deficit. We needed car 8 to win really to reset things more. We saw two points [of advantage] at Bahrain was worth two or three tenths a lap. I’m sure [five points at] Sebring will be worth five tenths at least.”
Seems silly to me & a bit against the spirit of racing.
You win too much, lets slow you down until the less successful team(s) can close the points gap.
LMP1: EOT and Success Handicap
The prototypes entered in LMP1 by both manufacturers and private teams use different technologies, hybrid or non-hybrid, with different power units – normally aspirated or turbo-charged. In order to allow competition between these different technologies, an Equivalence of Technology (EOT) has been established since the beginning of the 2018-2019 season. It is, in fact, made up of two equivalences of technologies: the equivalence between hybrid and non-hybrid cars, then the equivalence between non-hybrid cars using either normally aspirated or turbo-charged engines.
The Success Handicap has been designed to apply to the entire championship except for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and will be applied to individual cars and not to different types of prototypes.
The success handicap represents a slowing in lap time of a car at the next round of the Championship, based on points scored in the overall classification for each race. A ranking by car allows the establishment of a hierarchy which will determine the handicap allocated car by car (the points scale of the championship will be used).
For example:
Race 1
Car A wins and scores 25 points
Car B scores 15 points
Car C scores 0 points and is in last place in the results
At the end of race 1, each car will be slowed per lap by 0.008s per kilometre (so X length of the next race circuit,) for each point of difference between them and the last-placed car in the overall classification.
For example, if the next race’s circuit is 5 km in length, the result obtained for cars A, B and C will be:
For race 2, car A will be slowed by 1 second (0.008 X5 X25)
For race 2, car B will be slowed by 0.6 seconds (0.008 X5 X15)
For race 2, car C is not adjusted
The mechanism will then be repeated throughout the championship, with the exception of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
This Success Handicap will be limited and regulated for the season. The handicap may be the result of ballast, or a modification to the power output. It is not just ballast, which is why it’s known as a Success Handicap and not Success Ballast.
This levelling of the field will be done according to the race results and not according to the performance of a car in the race (lap times will not be taken into account, only points scored). This will allow the potential for different winners.
The points-leading #7 Toyota will be slowed to the tune of over three seconds per lap for next weekend's Sebring round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
In the latest bulletin issued by the series, the Toyota TS050 Hybrid shared by Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi has been handed a penalty worth 3.02s a lap for the Sebring 1000 Miles on March 20.
A five-point championship lead for Conway, Lopez and Kobayashi has translated into a success handicap gap of nearly half a second around the 6.019km Florida track, as the #8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley will lose only 2.64s a lap.
Rebellion's victory at COTA narrowed the points deficit of the #1 crew of Gustavo Menezes, Bruno Senna and Norman Nato to 22, leading to a 1.36s penalty for the solo R-13.
That means the car will run at 877kg at Sebring, 30kg heavier than when Menezes, Senna and Nato scored their second win of the 2019/20 season at Austin.
Both Toyotas are already running at their maximum weight of 932kg, meaning their penalties are determined via restrictions on fuel flow, fuel allocation per stint and ERS usage.
Ginetta - returning to the LMP1 field after skipping the previous race at Austin - will run with no penalties as both of its entries are more than 40 points behind the lead Toyota.
The two AER-powered G60-LT-P1s will run at 833kg, some 44kg less than the Rebellion.
It appears unlikely that Ginetta will be handed any handicaps for the remainder of the season given its lead car is already almost 100 points away from the championship lead.
The 'virtual car' rule that is part of the success handicap system means the penalties are calculated relative to a theoretical entry that is always 40 points behind the leading car.
Corvette given power increase in GTE BoP
Corvette Racing's hopes of a more competitive showing at Sebring in the GTE Pro class with its one-off entry have been boosted by the latest Balance of Performance for the class.
The C8.R, which was well off the pace during its first race outing in the WEC at Austin, has been given an air restrictor diameter increase of 1.5mm for the Florida race, effectively increasing its engine power. Its weight is unchanged compared to COTA at 1240kg.
Meanwhile, the Porsche 911 RSR-19 has been handed a 23kg weight penalty, partially offset by a small air restrictor increase of 0.5mm.
Both the Ferrari 488 GTE and Aston Martin Vantage GTE are running with an unchanged BoP for Sebring, while there are likewise no changes in GTE Am, in which the previous-generation Porsche 911 RSR competes.
The FIA World Endurance Championship has announced the postponement of the Total 6 Hours of Spa which was due to take place on Apr. 25.
The penultimate round of the 2019-20 WEC season will not be held on its original date next month as a precaution against the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
However, unlike the 1000 Miles of Sebring which was canceled last week, the Spa race has been postponed meaning that the WEC is working to find a replacement date.
A statement from the series confirmed that its visit to Belgium will be rearranged for a weekend in 2020, although it’s currently unclear if this will be in the 2019-20 season or the 2020-21 campaign.
Spa is already a part of the next WEC season as the penultimate round in April 2021.
A WEC statement said that the postponement of this year’s race came after discussions between the ACO, local partners and Belgium’s national motorsport federation the RACB.
Last Friday, the Spa circuit announced that it would be closed until Apr. 3 in accordance with the Belgian government’s order to ban all sporting and cultural activities.
Europe is now at the center of the coronavirus pandemic, which has resulted in 6,470 deaths globally according to the latest World Health Organization data.
No deaths have been recorded in Belgium, although 886 cases of the virus have been confirmed.
Belgium’s neighboring countries have also been affected, with 127 deaths registered in France, 20 in the Netherlands, 12 in Germany and one in Luxembourg.
“This decision was the only responsible option to be taken at this time. The health and well-being of our competitors, fans and members of the paddock has to remain our priority,” said WEC CEO Gerard Neveu.
“We are working on a revised date for the Total 6 Hours of Spa and will communicate that as soon as possible.”
Tickets for the postponed event will remain valid for the rearranged date, while people unable to attend on the rearranged date can contact their ticket provider for a refund.
The recently-announced joint top-flight LMDh class that will share duty between IMSA and the WEC has captured the attention of Porsche’s motorsport department. The lower-cost replacement for LMP1 will run alongside the stupendously expensive Hypercar in a joint fight for the overall win at prestigious races like the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. While the full rulebook as not yet been released, Porsche has formally announced interest in building a car for the new class.
After retiring its 919 Hybrid at the end of the 2017 FIA WEC season, Porsche has not competed for overall victories in any major international sports car championship since. Instead, the German sports car maker has devoted its attention to a new Formula E team. While the manufacturer has had some success in open wheel racing in its history, it is best known for dominating international sports car prototype racing. It would make sense that Porsche Motorsport is paying close attention to this new rulebook.
As the FIA’s Hypercar class fell apart due to the explosive costs to field a car, LMDh was introduced in January as an alternative. We currently only know that it is loosely based around IMSA’s current DPi class, which allows manufacturers to build prototype racers around existing LMP2 chassis designs with marque-specific aesthetic and aerodynamic bodywork and marque-specific drivetrains. This next-generation prototype will incorporate a spec KERS-style hybrid system on the rear axle, as well.
And that paragraph right there is more or less all we know about this new class.
The LMDh class was supposed to receive further definition during the Super Sebring weekend shared between IMSA’s 12 Hours of Sebring and the FIA WEC’s 1000 Miles of Sebring. The two series were scheduled to hold a series of important joint meetings, as well as the rules announcement, during that weekend, but it was all forced to be postponed due to the continued spread of coronavirus.
Porsche is seriously looking into it, but there is no decision yet,” Porsche Motorsport boss Pascal Zurlinden said. “Until today the regulations are not out, but I think it is just a delay by a few days because the Autombile Club de l’Ouest and IMSA have also gone to home working.
Porsche has not built a car for overall victory in American sports car competition for about a decade. It built the Penske-run RS Spyder prototype for IMSA’s LMP2 class, which occasionally took the fight to Audi’s more powerful diesel LMP1 prototypes between 2005 and 2010, while a few teams ran Porsche-powered Daytona Prototypes.
LMDh is scheduled to be introduced following Le Mans in June of 2021 for the 21/22 season of the FIA WEC, while it will be incorporated into the IMSA class structure in January of 2022. Porsche has not indicated where or when it would be interested in kicking off its program, assuming it decides to move forward with such a program.
Rebellion Racing, a prominent privateer team that challenged factory dominance in endurance racing, has pulled out of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).
"Rebellion Racing will quit the WEC after the last race of the current season after 13 years of racing in GT, LMP1, and LMP2," the team said in a statement posted on Instagram.
The Swiss team said it has no plans to compete in another series, although it does plan to enter the 2021 Dakar Rally.
Rebellion previously said that its last race would be the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which was originally scheduled for June. However, the race has been pushed back to September due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and WEC has added a Bahrain race in November to make up for a canceled race at Sebring. The Bahrain race will now be Rebellion's last.
Participating in the Bahrain race gives Rebellion a shot at the WEC championship, noted Sportscar 365, but in an interview with the website, Rebellion CEO Calm Bouhadra indicated the team still might not make the final round due to budget issues.
The privateer team is battling the factory Toyota team for the title in the LMP1 class. Its full-season driver trio of Gustavo Menezes, Bruno Senna, and Norman Nato is currently in third place 19 points behind the top Toyota team. Rebellion fields a second car at select races.
Rebellion has been the only privateer team in recent years to consistently take the fight to factory outfits in the WEC prototype division. This has added some much needed excitement, as Toyota has been the only factory team fielding a prototype car since Porsche pulled out at the end of the 2017 season.
Thanks in part to rules changes meant to equalize privateer cars and the more-powerful Toyota hybrids, Rebellion was able to punch above its weight. It was granted victory at the 2018 6 Hours of Silverstone after one of the Toyotas was penalized, then won on merit at Shanghai and the Circuit of the Americas.
The FIA hopes to reinvigorate the top WEC prototype class with new Hypercar class rules, which aim to reestablish a connection between these race cars and production cars. Toyota and Peugeot have already signed on for the new rules, which go into effect for the 2020/2021 season. Aston Martin had previously committed, but has since delayed its participation.
Corvette Racing has pulled its pair of GTE Pro C8.Rs from the rescheduled Le Mans 24 Hours, citing several factors for the withdrawal.
A statement from Jim Campbell, VP of motorsports and performance, said that "several factors played into our decision, including current conditions and the rescheduled timing".
He added the decision to end an unbroken run of participations for the Corvette Racing squad at Le Mans, which this year has been moved to Sept. 19-20, stretching back to 2000 "was not an easy one".
The move comes against the backdrop of the ongoing world health crisis and a re-jig of the calendar in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship calendar, in which the Pratt & Miller factory team competes full-time. The Laguna Seca IMSA round is set for Sept. 6, just one week before the two new mid-engined Corvettes would be due in France for Le Mans scrutineering.
The Mid-Ohio round, originally planned for 3rd May, is now scheduled to take place just one week after Le Mans on the Sept. 27.
Campbell stressed Chevrolet intends to return to Le Mans with the latest-generation Corvette racer, which made its race debut at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona in January.
"We hope we have the opportunity to race at Le Mans again,” he said, having seen Corvette last take GT victory honors at the iconic endurance event in 2015. "We’re proud Corvette Racing has been invited to Le Mans 24 Hours over the past 20 years and regret that we won’t be participating this year."
The two American factory cars were due to be driven by Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fassler, along with Jordan Taylor, Antonio Garcia and Nicky Catsburg.
It leaves just the six regular World Endurance Championship entries, two each from Porsche, Ferrari and Aston Martin, and the Risi Competizione Ferrari in GTE Pro, leaving the class with its smallest ever grid.
The Danish High Class Racing team's second LMP2 class Oreca 07 and an additional GTE Am entry from the Proton Porsche team are in line to move up from the reserve list following the withdrawal of the Corvettes.
The FIA World Endurance Championship is set to hold this summer’s Total 6 Hours of Spa behind closed doors, according to series CEO Gerard Neveu.
Speaking during a video call with journalists on Friday, Neveu explained that the WEC is preparing to hold the sixth round of its 2019-20 season without spectators.
The Spa event is scheduled for August 15, two weekends before the Belgian Grand Prix which the national government today approved for a closed-doors running.
Neveu explained that the WEC is “looking for deconfinement” as European nations start to independently ease their restrictions put in place to handle the coronavirus spread.
“We have two big meetings in the summer: for the ELMS this is in July at Paul Ricard and for WEC [it’s] at Spa in the middle of August,” said Neveu.
“For all these events, in the summer, the plan is to do [them] behind closed doors at this moment because we have no other option.
“We are working very strongly in the process to apply these behind closed doors. We will make a final announcement in early June.
“We have to wait to know if there is not a second wave [of coronavirus cases]. If not, all the governments will be more flexible including the borders and customs in Europe.”
Neveu confirmed that at the present moment, the WEC and ELMS calendars are “maintained”.
The WEC is also planning to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in September and Bahrain International Circuit in November, while the ELMS – which the ACO also runs – has five meetings planned including a late August fixture at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
“If there is any change, the most concern we can have is about Paul Ricard,” suggested Neveu. “It looks like by August, in Spa, everything is perfectly aligned.
“Formula 1 confirmed this morning that they will do the Grand Prix at the start of August behind closed doors, and we are in exactly the same situation two weeks before.
“Regarding Paul Ricard in July, that’s the one where we have to be careful because we have to make sure that the Italian, German, English teams and so on can cross the border and join.”
The Spa WEC race was originally rescheduled from Apr. 26 to Aug. 15 as the coronavirus pandemic spread through Europe.
This year’s edition will mark the first time in 13 years that the Spa 1000km event has taken place outside of its traditional springtime, pre-Le Mans slot.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many major races have been held behind closed doors this year, but fans will gradually return to the track. Autosport reports that this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans—already delayed from June to September because of the pandemic—will be run with some spectators in attendance. Ticket sales for the general public were suspended yesterday, except for those who already purchased tickets. Typically, Le Mans welcomes around 250,000 spectators, but ACO president Pierre Fillon said that "no attendance records will be broken this year."
"There is more news to come; there will be another update," she said.
The existing rules for both the WEC and the European Le Mans Series demanding only one 'amateur', either a silver or a bronze, in each line-up look certain to remain unchanged, but an amateur class or trophy will be added. This is likely to be open to cars driven by either two silvers or a bronze.
The updated proposal is set to go before the WMSC for ratification prior to its final meeting of the year on December 9.
"Limiting the driver permutations would limit the market, and limiting your potential pool of customers is not good for any business," he told Motorsport.com.
"Putting all the pieces of the jigsaw together is hard enough at the moment and we have as many gold drivers with budget talking to us about next year as we have silvers. It doesn't look like there is anything wrong with a class that had 24 cars at Le Mans this year."
The idea of changing the gradings of the drivers allowed in each line-up has been on the table for some time, but the idea of mandating a bronze driver was voted down by the teams at a meeting during the Spa event in August.
An alternative proposal of two silvers put forward by the WEC organisation received some support. This idea was then put to the ELMS LMP2 teams ahead of last weekend's Monza round, but was rejected in an email vote.
It remains unclear why the ideas that did not have the support of the teams went before the WMSC.
Audi is set to end its involvement in Formula E in favour of a return to top-flight sportscar racing with a new LMDh project.
The move raises the prospect of Audi returning to the Le Mans 24 Hours, where it picked up 13 outright wins between 2000 and 2014 before axing its LMP1 project after the 2016 race following the Volkswagen dieselgate scandal.
However, the new LMDh rules that will make their debut in 2022 in FIA World Endurance Championship and the following year in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship have lured the German brand back to sportscar racing.
An official announcement from Audi is expected later on Monday, although it’s unclear in which year Audi will launch its LMDh project and where exactly it will race.
Should it return to the WEC, Audi would be up against former LMP1 rivals Toyota and Peugeot, both of which will compete with LM Hypercar machinery instead of the cheaper, LMP2-based LMDh cars, as well as other entries from Glickenhaus and ByKolles.
Toyota, Glickenhaus and ByKolles will be present on the 2021 WEC grid with their new breed of LM Hypercars, while Peugeot will join the series sometime during the 2022 season.
Audi's sister brand Porsche is also formally evaluating a return to the WEC with an LMDh car of its own, having quit the series a year after its sister brand Audi in 2017.
A return to sportscar racing for Audi will come at the cost of its Formula E programme, which will come to a close at the end of the 2020/21 season.
The Ingolstadt-based brand contested its last DTM race as a factory entrant at Hockenheim this month, but has pledged support for the series’ new GT3 era in 2021.
Audi has been present in Formula E in some form or the other since the inception of the championship in 2014/15, but it wasn’t until the fourth season in 2017 that it turned the Abt team into a fully factory-run outfit.
Its future in Formula E appeared secure after it completed an overview of its motorsport activities earlier this year, which concluded in it pulling out of the DTM to focus on Formula E and its customer racing programmes in GT3 and touring cars.
However, it is understood that the top brass at Audi feel that Formula E has already served its purpose, now that the world has begun the transition to electric cars.
Audi adds Dakar programme
Audi has also announced that it will compete in the Dakar Rally for the first time in 2022 with an electric prototype.
Although details are scarce at present, Audi says its 'alternative drive concept combines an electric drivetrain with a high-voltage battery and a highly efficient energy converter for the first time.'
“Today, electromobility at the four rings is no longer a dream of the future, but the present," said Markus Duesmann, Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi.
"This is why we are taking the next step in electrified motorsport by facing the most extreme conditions. The many technical freedoms offered by the Dakar Rally provide a perfect test laboratory for us in this respect.”
So earlier this year, Audi announced that they would leave DTM to focus on electric racing, namely Formula E. Now before the year is out, they announce that they are leaving Formula E to go...IMSA/WEC/Le Mans with a non-electric car????
So Porsche is joining Audi with a new LMDh car? The announcement emphasized save money. Won't be surprised if the end result is essentially the same car between Audi and Porsche, but with a differently styled body.
Acura is also looking at continuing their DPi into a LMDh program.
It would be pretty awesome if all the current DPi teams would confirm LMDh cars. Imagine a full grid of Acuras, Cadillacs, Mazdas against Audi and Porsche.
Aston Martin has axed its GTE Pro programme and will not defend its FIA World Endurance Championship drivers' and manufacturers' titles or its Le Mans 24 Hours crown in 2021.
The British manufacturer has ended its official campaign with the Prodrive-run works team in order to "switch the strategic focus of its Vantage GT motorsport programme to concentrate on customer operations", according to the statement announcing its withdrawal.
The move follows the takeover of the marque by Lawrence Stroll at the start of 2020 and his rebranding of the Racing Point Formula 1 team as Aston Martin for next season.
The decision brings to an end a run of factory participation in the GTE Pro class of the WEC by Aston dating back to the rebirth of the series in 2012.
Prodrive has run cars under the Aston Martin Racing banner at Le Mans every year since it brought the brand back to international racing in 2005 with the DBR9.
Aston Martin has ended its contract with Prodrive to mount a works campaign a year an a half early, having directly funding the factory effort since 2017, the development year of the second-generation Vantage GTE that came on stream for the 2018/19 WEC superseason.
The deal was initially for five years, but was extended by half a year up to mid-2021 when the WEC calendar was restructured with the superseason, which was a lead-in to the now-aborted switch to a 'winter-series' format.
At the same time as its GTE Pro withdrawal, Aston has announced an extension its deal with Prodrive to build and sell its front-engined GT racers across the GTE, GT3 and GT4 categories in what it described as a "new and revised multi-year deal".
Aston stated that its success in the 2019/20 WEC meant it had "achieved every target" set for the second-generation Vantage GTE.
These included the drivers' GTE Pro drivers' title for Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen and Le Mans class honours with Maxime Martin, Alex Lynn and Harry Tincknell.
Aston Martin Racing president David King said: "This year has been one of unprecedented success for [the] Vantage in international motorsport. At all levels, from GTE, through GT3 to the entry-level GT4, we have experienced significant championship success.
"But there is more to come from [the] Vantage, which is why we have concluded that now is the time for us to shift the weight of factory support to our partners as we go in pursuit of success in the most important events in GT racing."
Aston said that from 2021 it will be "targeting blue riband endurance events with partner teams" in series such as the Intercontinental GT Challenge, the GT World Challenge Europe, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and SUPER GT.
Aston's withdrawal follows that of Ford and BMW at the end of the 2018/19 season, which featured a grid of 10 full-time entries in GTE Pro.
Porsche has already announced its plans GTE Pro plans for 2021, while Ferrari has stated an intent to continue with the AF Corse squad.
Aston aiming for GTE Am presence
Aston declared a hope that it will be represented in the GTE Am class of the WEC next season by customers. The TF Sport squad, which finished runner-up in the secondary GTE division in 2019/20, is known to be working on multiple options to remain in the series.
Salih Yoluc, who has raced with TF for the past two WEC seasons, is set to switch to LMP2 with the team, most likely in the European Le Mans Series.
The plans of Canadian amateur driver Paul Dalla Lana, who has raced a Prodrive Aston since 2013, remain unclear.
Aston has yet to announce details of the roster of factory drivers it will retain to place with customers teams in 2021.
Members of its factory squad are known to have been in contact with other teams about the 2021 season, while Thiim has already been announced as part of the Phoenix team's LMP2 assault on two-weekend Asian Le Mans Series in February.
The Swiss-based GreenGT organisation will produce the electric powertrains for the new class of hydrogen-powered prototypes set for introduction at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2024.
The operation that has produced a line of hydrogen test cars over the past 10 years will supply the electric motors, battery and transmission, leaving manufacturers and teams entering the category to develop the fuel-cell stacks that produce the electricity.
ACO president Pierre Fillon described GreenGT as an "obvious choice for us".
"We have already been working together for several years and the expertise we have built up thanks to the MissionH24 project will benefit the teams that enter the class," he said.
"We know where we want to go, and with excellent companions to help us on the way, the ACO is determined to achieve the goal of making a real contribution to sustainable mobility."
GreenGT boss Christophe Ricard added that his company is "proud to be joining prominent automotive experts ORECA, Red Bull Advanced Technologies and Plastic Omnium [which is the supplier of the high-pressure fuel tanks]".
"The challenge is great, as is our determination to meet it," he said.
The ACO and GreenGT launched the MissionH24 initiative in September 2018 as a lead-in to the proposed hydrogen class.
GreenGT has produced two test vehicles, both based on an ADESS LMP3 chassis, under the MissionH24 banner as part of the data gathering exercise.
The first car, known as the LMPH2G, was demonstrated on the full Le Mans circuit ahead of the 24 Hours in 2019 and subsequently ran during a free practice session of a Le Mans Cup round on the European Le Mans Series bill at Spa later in the year.
A second generation of the car was shown at the rescheduled 2020 Le Mans last September.
GreenGT's first hydrogen prototype developed on a chassis supplied by Welter Racing was slated for a Le Mans entry in 2013.
It was due to run in the the 'Garage 56' grid slot reserved for experimental machinery taken by Nissan's Deltawing and ZEOD RC in 2012 and '13 respectively, but was withdrawn with GreenGT citing the need for further development.
During the four-session WEC Prologue test event that went down this week at Spa Francorchamps, a real problem reared its ugly head. The rollout for Hypercar has been fraught with numerous issues, but ultimately the result is that Toyota is the only company to have arrived to the first race with a Hypercar to race. And it’s extremely slow. Slower than LMP2.
I’m going to drop a bunch of numbers right here to provide some context for just how slow the new Toyota Hypercar competitor is...
2020 Spa 6 Hours Qualifying
LMP1 Rebellion Racing - 1:59.3 (pole)
LMP1 Toyota Gazoo - 1:59.62
LMP2 United Autosports - 2:01.8 (pole)
2021 Spa WEC Prologue Test
LMP2 G-Drive Racing - 2:04.1 (fastest of the test)
Hypercar Toyota Gazoo - 2:04.6
Did you catch that? LMP2 was significantly slowed ahead of the 2021 season, gaining a little over two seconds per lap, but the gap from LMP1 times last year to the new Hypercar class this year is a massive five seconds or more. At Spa!
This wasn’t a one time thing, either. Toyota only managed to run the fastest lap time in the fourth session of the test, getting trounced soundly by LMP2 runners in the other three. And the session Toyota managed to set a fast lap time, it was the slowest of the four test top times, running well slower than at least a handful of LMP2 runners over the event. This doesn’t bode well for the class, the car, Toyota, or the FIA. What happens if an Aurus Gibson LMP2 wins overall at Le Mans this year? Will anyone care?
The situation is even worse over at Alpine, which moved “up” from an LMP2 effort last year to a grandfathered-in Rebellion R13 LMP1 this year. For only this year LMP1s will be allowed to run in Hypercar, but with modifications. For example, the Alpine car was handed a 220 pound weight ballast ahead of the Spa round this weekend. Imagine moving from an LMP2 to an LMP1 and being significantly slower. I’ll let Karun Chandhock’s tweet provide the necessary context.
I’m confused.... But imagine if you were signing the cheques at Alpine : “So we’re spending all this cash to be in the top class of Sportscar racing and then drive around slower than we did last year when we put some stickers on an LMP2 car?”
Toyota Gazoo Racing director Rob Leupen commented that he was surprised by the pace of the P2 runners, and urged the WEC to “look at” the whole situation ahead of the first race of the season this Saturday, also at Spa.
“A bit surprised about the speed of the LMP2s of course,” Leupen told Sportscar365. “This is something where we should be a bit ahead of, and we find out that they are quicker than us here on a lap.
“Maybe on a long stint we might get the edge, but this is not what we have expected. We have to see what’s going to happen after the Prologue if something is going to happen. It’s a learning curve.”
He later concluded “I don’t think we can do much about this.” meaning he doesn’t believe the Toyota GR010 can get significantly faster within the current ruleset. It seems to me that he’s saying the WEC hasn’t done enough to slow the LMP2 runners below the Hypercar class. It’s clear that they have bungled up the ruleset, because there’s no way this car will be able to balance with IMSA’s upcoming LMDh regulations when they roll out in 2022. If Hypercar is slower than LMP2, what’s the point in building a 9-figure race program around the category?
This whole class has been a debacle from start to finish, but maybe it’ll be alright when Peugeot and Ferrari join in a couple of years, and the Glickenhaus car finally gets its shit together and shows up for a race.
Then again, Toyota could just be sandbagging this whole thing, and everything Rob said is bullshit. We’ll have to wait until this weekend’s 6 hour race to truly find out.
There is no way the ACO will let a LMP2 car beat a Hypercar at Le Mans. We'll see what happens this week, but if LMP2 wins at Spa, expect a kitchen sink to be fitted onto the LMP2 cars by the next race.
In December, Porsche announced it’d return to the top level of global endurance racing with an LMDh car, starting in 2023. Today we learned the German automaker’s partner will be none other than Penske. There’s more that’s interesting about why the entry isn’t a hypercar, at least depending on what press release you read.
The association of those names should delight sportscar racing fans all over the globe but particularly here in the States, where we watched the familiar Penske-backed, DHL-liveried RS Spyder dominate its class in the American Le Mans Series in 2006 and 2007. More recently the two joined forces for a Formula E effort that was so brief, secretive and unsuccessful, nobody talks about it anymore.
The new joint operation will be named Porsche Penske Motorsport, and “will run for a number of years,” per Porsche’s ever-descriptive press release. Speaking of the release, I’m amused by this passage from it (bolded by your truly):
Beginning in 2023, the LMDh vehicles will represent the very best in endurance racing together with so-called hypercars (LMH). The prototypes will also be entered by Porsche customer teams in both championships as early as 2023. The cars, which weigh approximately 1,000 kilograms and are based on an LMP2 chassis, are powered by a 500 kW (680 PS) hybrid drivetrain.
I realize that “so-called” in that context is probably just meant to equate “LMH” — the technical name for the FIA’s top endurance racing class — with “Hypercar,” which is what everyone calls it. Still, I can’t help but detect a hint of shade here in anticipation of LMDh and LMH cars duking it out for overall victory at Le Mans in a few years’ time
What makes that particular phrasing choice even funnier is that the FIA’s version of the press release calls the Porsche-Penske effort a hypercar right in the headline, and makes zero mention of LMDh anywhere in the body of the text. Same with the tweet below. Was that intentional? A mistake? Is the FIA just being petty and calling them all hypercars now? Who knows anymore!
For those who haven’t kept up with the ever-nebulous nature of prototypes in global endurance racing, here’s the long and short of it. The FIA and ACO jointly proposed the Le Mans Hypercar class in 2018, which was intended to bring prototypes more in line with manufacturers’ roadgoing hypercars — at least in appearance — hence the name. It was a play toward the nostalgia many fans share for the days of the McLaren F1 GTR, Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR, Porsche 911 GT1, and Toyota GT-One in the mid-to-late ’90s. The new regs also involved some vague homologation production car element, and were supposed to reduce costs compared to the outgoing LMP1 regulations.
In time we came to learn that it didn’t save constructors as much money as they wanted, and the homologation thing was more of a weak suggestion than a legal requirement. That gave IMSA a lane to evolve its DPi — Daytona Prototype International — spec used in American sports car racing to LMDh. It employs a selection of spec chassis from common suppliers, as well as spec kinetic energy recovery systems to actually keep costs down.
Major manufacturers seemed eager about hypercar at first but that enthusiasm soon fizzled out. Toyota, Aston Martin and Peugeot were early commits. The FIA then decided to let LMDh cars compete in World Endurance Championship races including Le Mans, which angered Aston because suddenly it was paying many times more money to develop a hypercar that was now going to be performance balanced with far cheaper IMSA-based prototypes. The British automaker cancelled its plans. Nobody took its spot until Ferrari came swooping in out of nowhere in February.
That brings us to today. Last weekend, Toyota’s GR010 Hybrid hypercar, the first entry from the class to hit the grid, won the Spa 6 Hours despite starting the weekend slower than LMP2 machinery. It’ll take years for other automakers to join them: Peugeot’s hypercar is set to arrive in 2022, while LMDh entries from Porsche Penske, Audi and Acura are planned for 2023 (as is that Ferrari hypercar). And then there are all the other big names rumored to join one of the two classes, like Alpine, BMW, McLaren, Cadillac and Hyundai.
The decision to go with the LMDh car rather than a hypercar makes sense for Porsche, as it’ll allow the brand to compete on both sides of the pond. Plus, it’ll sell customer cars to privateers, too.
“We are delighted that we were able to get Team Penske to form this partnership,” says Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche AG. “For the first time in the history of Porsche Motorsport, our company will have a global team competing in the world’s two largest endurance series. To this end, we will be setting up team bases on both sides of the Atlantic. This will enable us to create the optimal structures we will need to take overall victories at Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring, for example.”
Ferrari officially announced its partnership with AF Corse to collaborate in the management of the team that will work alongside Competizioni GT in the Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) programme. As already declared, the Prancing Horse will be entering the new top class of the FIA WEC World Championship from 2023.
The team will compete in the championship as “Ferrari – AF Corse”, continuing on a winning streak started in the FIA GT 2006 with the F430 GT2 that, in its debut season, produced the team, drivers and Constructors’ title. The partnership between Ferrari and AF Corse has created nearly all of the GT wins of recent years as well as all of those achieved in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) since its inception in 2012. Six team and drivers’ titles for AF Corse in the LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am classes, five Constructors’ titles for Ferrari crowned with three triumphs at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Antonello Coletta, Head of Ferrari Attività Sportive GT: “Today’s announcement is an important step towards the debut of our LMH in the World Endurance Championship. We are happy to have a reliable partner like AF Corse with us for this project. Ferrari and AF Corse have enjoyed a solid relationship for a long time, as you can see in the FIA WEC, where we run our official 488 GTEs together with the Piacenza-based team. We look forward to continuing together on a journey as rewarding as the years of racing cooperation to date”.
Amato Ferrari, AF Corse team owner: “We are proud of this announcement. It is the crowning of a dream and recognition of the great effort made over the years. Our partnership with Ferrari is a winning one that began in 2006, and I am delighted to continue it in the LMH project. We have immediately kicked off with great enthusiasm aiming to raise the bar even further and to be ready for this new challenge”.
Good to see AF Corse finally having a shot at overall wins.
Westbrook believes the Glickenhaus-Pipo 007 LMH is a race-ready package ahead of its debut in this weekend's Portimao 8 Hours, the second round of the 2021 World Endurance Championship.
"We are really confident in the car: how it performs on track and in its reliability," said Westbrook, who shares the solo Glickenhaus Racing entry with Romain Dumas and Ryan Briscoe at the Algarve circuit near Portimao.
"I'm convinced we are ready for Portimao, where I don't think we would have been if we'd gone to Spa [for the opening WEC round at the start of May].
"This project has started from scratch, so there was a lot to learn and a lot of small things to get right."
Westbrook backed up team founder Jim Glickenhaus's confidence in the reliability of the 007, which has been developed in Italy by Podium Advanced Technologies.
"In all the testing we've done, including the 30-hour test at Aragon last month, we've never had a major reliability issue," Westbrook told Autosport.
"In terms of the major components — the engine, the gearbox and the suspension — everything has been 100 percent from the beginning.
"For the 30-hour test we ran some parts that were beyond their mileage life and we still didn't have any problems with the engine/gearbox platform.
"We did have some electrical glitches with parts that went over their life, but they happened well into the 30 hours."
Westbrook added that he is confident his 007 will see the chequered flag at the end of Sunday's eight-hour race.
"Not finishing isn't a worry at all, though you can always have something unexpected crop up in the race," he explained.
"On what we've seen in testing, doing the eight hours isn't going to be a problem."
Westbrook reserved judgement on how the Glickenhaus will compare with its competitors in the Hypercar class, Toyota's GR010 HYBRID LMH and the Alpine-Gibson A480 LMP1 car.
"Everyone keeps asking me how are we going to stack up, and the answer is that I don't know because we've done all of our testing on our own, save for a couple of LMP2s joining us at Aragon," he said.
"All I can say is that the car is great to drive, feels really balanced and never does anything crazy.
"We'll be in a much better position to answer the question after five laps of Free Practice 1 on Friday."
Westbrook suggested that the cars competing in the Hypercar class are, as at Spa, unlikely to be far ahead of the LMP2 prototypes in terms of one-lap pace this weekend.
"People need to realise that Portimao is more of an LMP2 track, whereas when we get to Monza [for round three of the WEC in mid-July] and then the Le Mans 24 Hours [in August] I'm sure we're going to have more of a margin," he explained.
Glickenhaus skipped the opening round of the WEC at Spa to focus on development of the car ahead of its homologation, which fixes its specification for five seasons.
The 007, the first chassis completed, that undertook the 30-hour test at Aragon is undergoing a rebuild ahead of Monza when the Glickenhaus team will field both its entries for the first time.
Spectators are expected to return to the Le Mans 24 Hours this August for the first time since June 2019, with the ACO announcing today that 50,000 fans will be allowed to attend this year’s edition.
The rescheduled event will therefore run at just 20% capacity, though this will come as a huge relief for the ACO, which ran the race in September last year behind closed doors after months of contingency planning to allow spectators came to nil.
The lucky 50,000 that head to the Circuit de la Sarthe this year will be required to present a health passport that is due to be introduced by the French Government on June 9th.
Fans will be able to head to the circuit from Wednesday August 18th for the first free practice sessions. Crucially, they will be free to roam the circuit, a change from the provisional plans in 2020, in which the ACO attempted to run the race with 10 zoned areas containing 5,000 fans in each.
Unfortunately, due to the current health situation in France, and the reduced crowd, there will be no concerts or fun fair for the fans. Camping will be permitted, however. Tickets will go on sale at on Monday June 21st.
New BMW M boss Markus Flasch has confirmed the brand’s long-anticipated return to prototype racing with an LMDh program set for the formula’s debut in 2023. RACER has also independently confirmed the news, which was broken by Flasch on Instagram.
Other than a note mentioning the German brand will debut its LMDh at IMSA’s Rolex 24 At Daytona, no other details were provided, but RACER understands the effort will be heavily focused on North America.
I did not expect this. Considering that BMW is barely supporting any major racing at this point.
Peugeot has revealed details of the new 9X8, its latest-generation Hypercar which is set to make its competitive debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in 2022. Powered by hybrid technology and featuring all-wheel drive, the new 9X8 Hypercar showcases Peugeot's Neo-Performance strategy which combines technology and sportiness in both Peugeot's road and race cars. The Hypercar is a product of the latest work between Peugeot Sport and Peugeot Design, heralding a new era in racing and a new era in race car design.
The Peugeot 9X8 - the brand's latest endurance racing contender - is a direct successor to the Peugeot 905, winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1992 and 1993, and the Peugeot 908, which won the iconic race in 2009. The new prototype race car is poised to continue Peugeot's successful history in top-level motorsport.
The 9X8 Hypercar is a brand-driven project highlighting Peugeot's 'Neo-Performance' vision which is built around combining a premium sporting pedigree with styling excellence, efficiency and technological expertise that can be carried over to Peugeot's road cars.
Peugeot's Design and engineering teams have worked in collaboration with its racing division, Peugeot Sport, to explore new aerodynamic solutions and styling ideas to create a completely original race car. The Peugeot 9X8's design and aerodynamics have been developed under the responsibility of Peugeot Sport Technical Director Olivier Jansonnie and the design team led by Peugeot Design Director Matthias Hossann. Greater flexibility, allowed by the sport's new technical rules regarding aerodynamics, permits new thinking that favours the emergence of innovative cars, allowing for new creative processes and a break away from established procedures to produce a Hypercar for a completely new era.
The name of Peugeot's new Hypercar competitor, the Peugeot 9X8, is inspired by a combination of the brand's motorsport heritage and vision for the future. The "9" continues the series employed by Peugeot on its previous race cars, the Peugeot 905 (which raced from 1990 until 1993) and the 908 (2007 until 2011), both of which have become icons.
The "X" refers to the Peugeot Hypercar's all-wheel drive technology and hybrid powertrain, which embodies the brand's electrification strategy in the world of motor racing. Peugeot will provide a fully electrified variant across its passenger car and van range by 2025.
The "8" is common across all of Peugeot's current model names, from the 208 and 2008 to the 308, 3008, 5008 and, of course, the 508. The latter has been worked on by the same engineers and designers working on the current Hypercar project, to create Peugeot's first ever Peugeot SPORT ENGINEERED model.
Two Peugeot 9X8s will contest the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship.
The 9X8's front and rear lighting signatures, which take the form of three claw-like strokes, are familiar Peugeot trademarks, while the brand's new lion's head logo features at the front and on the sides of the car. The Selenium Grey and contrasting Kryptonite acid green/yellow highlights, featured on both the body and inside the cockpit, echo the colour scheme chosen for the new Peugeot SPORT ENGINEERED line, introduced first on the 508 and 508 SW.
The sculpted wheels contribute to the balanced lines of the car's uncluttered, sharply-structured flanks, while the wing vents reveal the top of the tyres and the perfectly-integrated mirrors contribute to the car's aerodynamics.
Peugeot Design Director, Matthias Hossann, said: "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. The overall lines of the Peugeot 9X8 express the brand's styling cues, while its sleek, racy, elegant forms inspire emotion and dynamism.
"Inside, we wanted to take a special approach to the cockpit which, until now, has tended to be a purely functional and indistinctive aspect of racing cars, with no brand identity whatsoever. The combination of our colour scheme and Peugeot's i-Cockpit interior styling signature have provided the 9X8's cockpit with a distinctive feel and make it immediately identifiable as a Peugeot."
Peugeot's Chief Executive Officer Linda Jackson, said: "I know the teams at Peugeot Design and Peugeot Sport and they always produce quality, innovative work, but I have to admit to being blown away by the 9X8. It is simply magnificent. The way its innovative, flowing lines exude such a powerful brand identity is masterful."
The finely-chiselled details of the Peugeot 9X8's rear-end design includes the quip "We didn't want a rear wing" above a wide diffuser. Rear wings were first seen at the Le Mans 24 Hours on the Chaparral 2F which contested the race in 1967, meaning this is the first time their use has been questioned in more than half-a-century. The 9X8's innovative rear stems from research carried out by Peugeot Sport's engineering team as they worked to ensure the model was as aerodynamic as possible, whilst maintaining an eye-catching style.
Stellantis Motorsport Director, Jean-Marc Finot said: "The absence of a rear wing on the Peugeot 9X8 is a major innovative step. 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!"
Hyper-efficient hybrid powertrain
Since the announcement in September 2020 of Peugeot's entry into the new Le Mans Hypercar class, the factory in Versailles, near Paris, has been working tirelessly on the 9X8.
As planned, the car's rear-mounted, 2.6-litre, bi-turbo, 500kW (680hp), 90-degree V6 - the internal-combustion engine part of the Peugeot HYBRID4 500kW powertrain - has been clocking up miles since April.
Meanwhile, the front-mounted 200kW motor-generator unit, seven-speed sequential gearbox and battery are in the process of being assembled, keeping with the bench-testing validation schedule. The powerful, technologically-sophisticated, high-voltage (900 volts), high-density battery is being co-developed by Peugeot Sport and Saft, a subsidiary of TotalEnergies.
Le Mans, a laboratory for Peugeot
In addition to its aerodynamic, mechanical and electronic efficiency, the new car will serve to showcase Peugeot's extensive engineering expertise in the world of endurance racing. The Le Mans 24 Hours is a notoriously demanding event, and with the cars covering over 3,300 miles, they come close to the distance seen in a full season of Formula 1.
02-25-2020, 09:35 AM
Seems silly to me & a bit against the spirit of racing.
