Not entirely true of the engineering pool. There were a significant amount of SC personnel at the 12hr this year. Engineers, data engineers, mechanics, pit crews, fabricators, etc would all still be needed.
VW, via Engstler, got quite a headstart on everyone, building and testing cars before the ruleset was even finalised (Think Triple Eight and CotF transition). I don't think there's a factory VW team anyway. Backdoor support, at the most. It's also a BOP ruleset. Lead trophy seems to be the thing they do. There's a minimum weight, but ballast can swing from -20kg to +70kgs either side.
You're right to query the repairability and safety though. However, they do have mid-mounted fuel cells much like the CotF concept. Cage design, etc is FIA-approved. I would also go as far as to suggest that the likelihood of having a car-destroying stack would be lower, due to slower speeds, and less vehicle mass.
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