[WEC] 2018-2019 WEC Super Season

[chernaudi]

Until IMSA and the ACO can agree on a rules package or get the collective heads out of where the sun doesn't shine and drop the egos, there's probably no way they'll do the 12 Hours together.

Yeah, IMSA and the ACO may've coexisted in 2012, but the climate's different now, and 12 Hour since it lost World Championship status after 1972 was, is, and for the foreseeable future will be IMSA's show.

Also, I think that with the exception of the 12 Hours there's a noise curfew at Sebring, which is why Audi rarely did any actual 30 hour tests at Sebring; they did 28-30 hours, but it had to be broken up over two days.

[Mike E]

Originally Posted by Chiana

I'm not bothered if it's held in Friday as per say, especially as it'll be the only race I'll watch that weekend... even the 9 hour distance would be fine-ish if this wasn't already the third revision AND considerably shorter and compromised than promised

But the real problem is that the event seems to be, intentionally or not, moving towards the range of "support race", or if that's too harsh then at least towards "it shall not be in the level of prestigious Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring"

I mean, of course I will still take 9 Hours at Sebring over whatever generic Tilkedrome with sterile 6 hour format, it will still be worth looking forward to, but it is (or would be, given that this is still paddock talk) another step into wrong direction

I get all that, but was a 12 hour race immediately after another 12 hour race, starting at midnight ever really on?

On a lighter note, this is one way to avoid clashing calendars!

[NSX_LeMans]

Rodrigo Mattar is at São Paulo for the press collective. He has confirmed the race will be at Interlagos and will be part of the 2019-20 season, as expected. It is a 3 years deal.

EDIT: Also, panels says 6 Hours. No Mil Milhas then.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by NSX_LeMans

Rodrigo Mattar is at São Paulo for the press collective. He has confirmed the race will be at Interlagos and will be part of the 2019-20 season, as expected. It is a 3 years deal.

EDIT: Also, panels says 6 Hours. No Mil Milhas then.

zzz

Not a great day

Originally Posted by Mike E

I get all that, but was a 12 hour race immediately after another 12 hour race, starting at midnight ever really on?

On a lighter note, this is one way to avoid clashing calendars!

If it was never really 'on', there would just have been a big TBA title in the calendar instead of something firm. FIA is many things, but relaxed isn't one of them

Handling of the whole thing is starting to remind me of SRO

[Coach Ep]

Best move in a long time by WEC! The fans are already there and still in full party mode - probably more so than on Saturday when fatigue is showing early signs.

From a marshal perspective it's an improvement over having another 12(+) hours race after the initial 12H but still makes for very long days at the track, hopefully the prospect of 2 major endurance at one of the great endurance venues will not only bring out more fans but also more fellow marshals to lighten the load. Wondering when night practice will be, hopefully not after the regular IMSA one on Thu night but my senses are a bit worried already...

All in all a very sensible decision considering the circumstances.

[Deleted]

I don't really get the "fatigue" part since it would have essentially been the same as regular 24 hour race with couple hour break in between. So let's say 26-27 hours. And in fact it would've been less enduring than traditional 24 hour meeting, considering the 12 hours starts at early morning, not late afternoon like almost all 24 Hour races after warm-up and support races. So the time from wake-up time on Sat morning till the end of the weekend would've been shorter than at Daytona or LM or Spa or Nurburgring or wherever.

[RedSquirrel]

I think this nine hour race is actually the best idea we've heard. The 12 Hour finishes at 22:45 on the Saturday. Since this race would be three hours shorter, it could start three hours later and still be finished before 23:00. So the Friday schedule could be something like:
Michelin Sportscar Challenge 10:00 - 12:00
FIA WEC 14:00 - 23:00.

Would the Challenge teams accept racing so early on Friday and could they remove their gear from the pits in that time? I don't think the Challenge teams have big pit boxes/timing stands like teams in the big show so there's no trouble there. The fuel rig is on a trolley so that can be moved easily, as can the air guns. Seems OK to this pleb.

[EffectiveSprinkles]

Nice to see Interlagos back as a track, though I think I would rather have seen Mexico back instead. The safety around Interlagos is an issue...

[TF110]

Not a fan of having the WEC go first, with a shorter race at Sebring. It smells like desperation from IMSA that they're afraid to be upstaged by the WEC so they have to lessen that race to make their own more 'grand'. That's how I portray it if this goes forward. I would rather see it start at 1 am local time and go to 1pm or 2pm the next day. They'll get 1500 miles done in about 12-13 hours based on the speed of the lmp1's. A distance race seems better because it throws up strategy curveballs that are harder to judge than a standard set time limit. Glad Interlagos is returning too, hopefully it's early in the year before the Daytona 24.

[Akrapovic]

9 Hours on Friday sounds perfect to me. Sebring 12 Hours is THE main event. It should be the last race, and longest. I'm all for it. This is a much better idea than trying to do 2 12 hour races, an hour or two apart, whilst people will potentially trying to be leaving the circuit. Don't extend the weekend. And dear lord lets not even think about a combined event again. If we go down that route then I'm voting we include TCR for the funs.

There's far too many egos here. Who cares what's a support race and what's not. It's a bloody WEC race at Sebring. If you keep moaning then we'll all just go back to COTA, and who wants that? If a WEC fan wants to pretend WEC is more important, then they can tell themselves that. If an IMSA fan is so caught up in how much they love their series and hate a hybrid that they want to see WEC as a support series, who cares? It's two of the best series in the world, at Sebring. What more can you possibly want? Not only is this not the "real problem", it's not even a problem at all if you just want to enjoy racing.

[Bill38]

Originally Posted by Chiana

Good to hear

"Firm plans for the Sebring World Endurance Championship race next March could be announced within the next two weeks."

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/fir...111005953.html

edit:
https://twitter.com/specutainment/st...20146688552960

Latest, according to WEC paddock chat; it seems the latest proposal for @FIAWEC Sebring Race is that it runs 9 hours, Friday Afternoon into darkness.

noooooooooooooooooo this sounds like utter crap hopefully nonsense as it has inferiority complex feel to it most of all

First ACO draft - run it integrated with IMSA as 12 Hours, IMSA refuses because of product protection
Second ACO draft - run it as separate 12 hours distance after IMSA, IMSA refuses because of product protection
Third ACO draft - run it as separate 1500 miles distance after IMSA, accepted [but ???]
Fourth ACO draft (???) - run it as separate 9 hours prior IMSA, ???

I like the first ACO draft (integrated race). Put the IMSA DPi and LMP2 cars on Michelin and adjust the BOP on the IMSA DPi cars to be comparable with the ACO P-1 cars. Great race!

[carbsmith]

A 9 hour race that most people on the continent it takes place will be forced to miss the first 2-7 hours of is pretty worthless. Friday afternoon is about as invisible as overnight Saturday for anyone not at the track.

Can't help but laugh at the attitude that IMSA has to have the one and only historic Sebring 12 hours but then in their media the record book only seems to go back to 2014.

[ModelT]

Originally Posted by carbsmith

A 9 hour race that most people on the continent it takes place will be forced to miss the first 2-7 hours of is pretty worthless. Friday afternoon is about as invisible as overnight Saturday for anyone not at the track.

Can't help but laugh at the attitude that IMSA has to have the one and only historic Sebring 12 hours but then in their media the record book only seems to go back to 2014.

Could also be that people in IMSA are finally getting tired of dealing with the arrogance of the ACO!

Perhaps there is divorce in the air.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by ModelT

Could also be that people in IMSA are finally getting tired of dealing with the arrogance of the ACO!

Perhaps there is divorce in the air.

There's arrogance on both sides, let's not pretend otherwise.

Speaking of "historics", if ACO wanted they could just as easily snap away the title of say Petit Le Mans from IMSA if they wanted, when the current rights contract ends eventually (I believe it was extended last time in 2015). Have fun with your Bubba Burgers 10 Hours of Road Atlanta then, doesn't quite have the same ring to it does it?

[August]

I understand perfectly well why WEC won't be a 12h race at Sebring, let alone a joint race. As long as the WEC's top class has a superior performance to IMSA's top class, IMSA won't let them in to protect their product. That's understandable and justified.

I understand also why they've gone away from the initial double 12 plan. There's only one Sebring 12h; the original plan was as if F1 cars ran a 500-mile race at Indy a day after the 500. Even the 1500mi format had too much of a feeling of a co-headliner. And I still don't like the situation which rules out certain WEC teams from racing in the 12h; even though their cars are in Sebring, there will probably be certain practical issues preventing them from entering both races with the same car. GTLM victory in the 12h should be a bigger prize than the GTE-Pro victory in the WEC race, though a team like AMR can't race in the 12h unless they ship extra car(s) to Florida.

If anything, I'd rather see the WEC going to Sebring in a different weekend, like a fall race of 10 hours, 1,500 miles, or whatever but 12 hours. (Compare to NASCAR's Brickyard 400.) It's surely a bit strange situation to see the WEC as a support race for IMSA but IMSA is doing what's in their best interests. They have one of the crown jewels of endurance racing and they want the Sebring 12h to be a part of their schedule. As long as the WEC's top class isn't compatible with IMSA's, they have no business in the 12h.

[Coach Ep]

With the return of Interlagos announcement I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Sebring being dropped again for the 19-20 season as Brazil would still be promoted as 'Americas' to cover the WC criteria. If so, don't count on favorable scheduling (in relation to the 12H) for the event either.

[S griffin]

I am glad to see Interlagos coming back, a great track for these sportscars

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

With the return of Interlagos announcement I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Sebring being dropped again for the 19-20 season as Brazil would still be promoted as 'Americas' to cover the WC criteria. If so, don't count on favorable scheduling (in relation to the 12H) for the event either.

This would pretty much be my nightmare schedule for 19-20

July: -
August: RD1 6 Hours of Silverstone
September: -
October: RD2 6 Hours of Fuji
November: RD3 6 Hours of Shanghai
December: RD4 6 Hours of Interlagos
January: -
February: -
March: RD5 6 Hours of Bahrain
April: -
May: RD6 6 Hours of Spa
June: RD7 24 Hours of Le Mans

And therefore probably exactly the one going forward...

[sceptic]

I'm confused by all this talk about a WEC 12 hour race, or 1500 miles. Wasn't it originally billed as 1500km?

[sceptic]

Originally Posted by Chiana

This would pretty much be my nightmare schedule for 19-20

July: -
August: RD1 6 Hours of Silverstone
September: -
October: RD2 6 Hours of Fuji
November: RD3 6 Hours of Shanghai
December: RD4 6 Hours of Interlagos
January: -
February: -
March: RD5 6 Hours of Bahrain
April: -
May: RD6 6 Hours of Spa
June: RD7 24 Hours of Le Mans

And therefore probably exactly the one going forward...

There are only 7 races on that calendar, I'd expect 8.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by sceptic

There are only 7 races on that calendar, I'd expect 8.

ACO's indicated it to be 7.

Originally Posted by sceptic

I'm confused by all this talk about a WEC 12 hour race, or 1500 miles. Wasn't it originally billed as 1500km?

No.

[chernaudi]

Now there's suggestions on Midweek Motorsports FB page that the race might be reduced in length even further to the standard 6 hours and held on Friday.

[Deleted]

It's a joke.

If it happens that is.

But I hope it is a joke altogether and we can laugh at the mere suggestion in couple weeks time.

[EffectiveSprinkles]

Originally Posted by Chiana

ACO's indicated it to be 7.

Definitely read somewhere it's supposed to be 7 this season and 8 the next.

[Coach Ep]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

Now there's suggestions on Midweek Motorsports FB page that the race might be reduced in length even further to the standard 6 hours and held on Friday.

I'm sure there's all sorts of gossip flying high right now. Ken Breslauer (Sebring PR manager) has said there'll be an official statement on April 6th.