[WEC] WEC 2021 season

[Mike E]

And in any case GT3 already runs in the Michelin Le Mans Cup, so it's a pretty short barge pole.

[Bcarr6]

Originally Posted by WyldStallion

In IMSA series yes. ACO/WEC won't tough GT3 with a 39 1/2 foot pole. They are more likely to let GTE Pro go away. Keep GT Am for 2 more years maybe. Then it will 100% prototype fields like 1980's for the rest of the 2020's. My prediction.

For the edifice of WyldStallion who is a rather new member to the forum, Napolis is Jim Glickenhaus. Jim has been very open and honest on this forum regarding his groups racing activities, and with their forthcoming LMH entry it’s safe to say has better insight into the mindset of of the FIA/ACO than the vast majority of us on here!

[Napolis]

Originally Posted by Bcarr6

For the edifice of WyldStallion who is a rather new member to the forum, Napolis is Jim Glickenhaus. Jim has been very open and honest on this forum regarding his groups racing activities, and with their forthcoming LMH entry it’s safe to say has better insight into the mindset of of the FIA/ACO than the vast majority of us on here!

These are tumultuous times. All racing is under siege. Major Manufacturer's want real exposure/ benefit for racing. Bragging rights go so far. Porsche putting some bits on a "Grand Am" with an SUV based V8 and forcing massive BOP to enable it to win Le Mans in 2023? Whoop de doo. GT3 cars that look like cars manufacturer's sell is real exposure that still has value. That is why DTM was forced to move from NASCAR like cars with branding to GT3. At first it looked like they would be "super" GT3/GT3 at 600 HP but Porsche said no to 600 HP and DTM went with GT3. GTE is much too expensive vs GT3 and frankly on TV no one can tell the difference. Frankly LMP2/LMP3 don't sell regular cars and on their own have NO chance even with "Grand AM" "Top Class" Branded whatever's to sustain racing anymore. Compare budgets vs exposure. We raced the Baja 1000 with our Glickenhaus Boot and beat the Ford factory Bronco. After that race we sold out the next two years of our Boot productive capacity. Our total cost to build and race the Baja 1000 is 5% of the cost of building our LMH and racing it at Le Mans. We had to sell 5 Boots to pay for the Baja 1000. We sold a lot more so it worked for us. We'll have to sell 100/two years production of 004's to break even on our Le Mans adventure. Our Le Mans Adventure is passion and Performance Art. It builds our brand, it's our dream so we're doing it. No one who went to Harvard Business school would have approved that expenditure...

[chernaudi]

Sadly, VAG/Audi Sport/Porsche Motorsport got burned on spending $150 million a year as an OEM for the WEC for little return outside of Le Mans. No one held a gun to their heads to spend that much, but between the ACO's regs and that in part leading to an almost F1-esque tech/R&D war, I can't exactly blame them for favoring LMDH, especially since the cars are eligible in more championships (hence they can sell more).

Right now, LMH isn't eligible for IMSA, who basically want LMDH to be DPI 2.0 to entice cash-conscious OEMs. Mind you, if Audi and Porsche committed to LMH and Toyota wanted to send a team stateside for IMSA, I'd bet that they'd change their tune pretty quick...

And I'd argue that for Audi post R8 era, they don't need racing to sell cars. Product placement in Marvel films probably sold way more cars than their participation in the ALMS did. And the R10 dominating the ALMS didn't exactly set diesel car sales on fire in North America (while in Europe they were preaching to the crowd). And renting cars out to Marvel Comics for their films probably cost a fraction of the $15 million they spent on the ALMS in '08.

Simply put, money isn't floating around for OEMs or even sanctioning bodies to blow like it was about 10, 15, 20 years ago. IMO, auto racing is an ultimate bubble economy.

[Napolis]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

Sadly, VAG/Audi Sport/Porsche Motorsport got burned on spending $150 million a year as an OEM for the WEC for little return outside of Le Mans. No one held a gun to their heads to spend that much, but between the ACO's regs and that in part leading to an almost F1-esque tech/R&D war, I can't exactly blame them for favoring LMDH, especially since the cars are eligible in more championships (hence they can sell more).

Right now, LMH isn't eligible for IMSA, who basically want LMDH to be DPI 2.0 to entice cash-conscious OEMs. Mind you, if Audi and Porsche committed to LMH and Toyota wanted to send a team stateside for IMSA, I'd bet that they'd change their tune pretty quick...

And I'd argue that for Audi post R8 era, they don't need racing to sell cars. Product placement in Marvel films probably sold way more cars than their participation in the ALMS did. And the R10 dominating the ALMS didn't exactly set diesel car sales on fire in North America (while in Europe they were preaching to the crowd).

We're meeting with ISMA soon. One way or another this will be sorted.

[Napolis]

https://www.motorsport.com/wec/news/...ntage/4930899/

[Pandamasque]

Originally Posted by tux

GTE will continue until they replace it with LMP3

I really doubt it. There'll just be a bigger "quota" for GTE Am cars until the class is replaced by something new maybe around 2025. Maybe by GT3 or whatever's in vogue by then.

I just can't see ACO pulling the rug from under dozens of privateers who have just bought GTE cars, which now include Astons.

It is already clear that multiple Aston Martins will be present in GTE racing next season, though it is equally clear that there is little current likelihood that any will race in the GTE Pro class of the FIA WEC.
http://www.dailysportscar.com/2020/1...t-to-stay.html

PS: unless, I'm about to be told that tux, is Pierre Fillon's username!

PPS: If IMSA didn't have to wait until 2023 for LMDh to arrive, they'd probably not bother with GTD Pro either... that's if they do that at all. Perhaps we'll see a pair pointy yellow midengined LMDh cars instead of pointy yellow midengined GTLM cars that they call Corvette these days.

[Adam43]

GT also brings manufacturers! Oooo, tasty, corporate hospitality buying manufacturers.

[WyldStallion]

Originally Posted by Bcarr6

For the edifice of WyldStallion who is a rather new member to the forum, Napolis is Jim Glickenhaus. Jim has been very open and honest on this forum regarding his groups racing activities, and with their forthcoming LMH entry it’s safe to say has better insight into the mindset of of the FIA/ACO than the vast majority of us on here!

Thank you for the clarification. Certainly gives a new perspective. I'm as big of a GT fan than anybody. Prefer them far more than protos. Just got the feeling this year that the ACO/WEC and IMSA from a lesser extent is putting GT cars in the back of the line when it comes their priorities. Hope that is not true. But I was sold on the idea that the ACO/WEC did not want GT3 cars because they would prefer manufacturers like Audi to come to Le Mans to focus on the prototypes instead. Maybe same for BMW, Merc, etc. And that GTE Am would continue to be play a small role for a couple years just to keep GT cars on the grid but it would be an exclusive playground for Ferrari, Porsche, Aston, and maybe Chevy.

Side note: I hope Jim G is considering running the Sebring 24 hours in November 2021 by the way. I liked that overnight break format actually. Not for the blue ribbon events but for unique event like this it could be neat. Help get more daylight racing too.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Pandamasque

PS: unless, I'm about to be told that tux, is Pierre Fillon's username!

You didn't know?!

[krzysiek_aleks]

Inter Europol Competition will run with Kuba Śmiechowski (no surprise there) and Alex Brundle + Renger van der Zande.

Van der Zande will be replaced by Helio Castroneves at Sebring.

Bloody hell, I need to buy some bread now.

[gert]

Originally Posted by krzysiek_aleks

Inter Europol Competition will run with Kuba Śmiechowski (no surprise there) and Alex Brundle + Renger van der Zande.

Van der Zande will be replaced by Helio Castroneves at Sebring.

Bloody hell, I need to buy some bread now.

That's a nice lineup!
Good to see Brundle Jr get a competitive drive after being cast aside by United Autosports (Phil Hanson Autosports?)

[Lutzvic]

According to Glickenhaus, maybe Sebring in March will be cancelled...

[Aysedasi]

Highly likely, I would think.....

[chernaudi]

Indy Car are thinking of postponing St. Pete, so it stands to reason if that happens, Sebring could also get postponed or the NA date will get moved to another time or possibly track.

And as with last year, with the WEC's logistics, it might be easier to cancel Sebring or move it to the end of the season than try and reschedule it. Also might depend on what IMSA does with the 12 Hours as far as them moving their date to later in the season.

Never the less, Glickenhaus anticipates that they won't do Sebring if it happens as scheduled. They plan on debuting their car in competition at Spa, with the roll out later this month. Toyota plan on launching their car publicly in 10 days from now for reference.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Lutzvic

According to Glickenhaus, maybe Sebring in March will be cancelled...

Noooooooooooooooooo!

[Napolis]

Originally Posted by Adam43

Noooooooooooooooooo!

This is simply our opinion.
If it is we see an April Start in Europe maybe Monza.

[Koenigsegg]

Originally Posted by Napolis

This is simply our opinion.
If it is we see an April Start in Europe maybe Monza.

Would your team be able to participate by then?

[canaglia]

Me too have big concerns about WEC sebring, US covid pandemic is getting worse and worse and despite the vaccine it's unlikely things will get a lot better in about 2 months. I'm sure sebring 12H is more likely to happen because all IMSA teams are US based, but in these conditions delivery cars and make fly hundreds of people from europe to US and back will be a logistic nightmare (not to consider extremely dangerous to people health). Also F1 postponed the australian race and bahrain aside, for the first half of championship will likely try to avoid races outside europe.
Solution could be to race in april in monza, and replace monza with silverstone in august.

[Pandamasque]

Originally Posted by canaglia

Me too have big concerns about WEC sebring, US covid pandemic is getting worse and worse and despite the vaccine it's unlikely things will get a lot better in about 2 months. I'm sure sebring 12H is more likely to happen because all IMSA teams are US based, but in these conditions delivery cars and make fly hundreds of people from europe to US and back will be a logistic nightmare (not to consider extremely dangerous to people health). Also F1 postponed the australian race and bahrain aside, for the first half of championship will likely try to avoid races outside europe.
Solution could be to race in april in monza, and replace monza with silverstone in august.

There is A LOT of non-US based personnel in IMSA paddock.

[Tique]

The last I heard is that it is a go for the 12Hours of Sebring. For a WEC point of view, it is a 50/50. Some WEC teams will be already in the states as they will run at Daytona.


The IMSA and the WEC paddack were clearly seperated in Sebring 2 years ago so the risk of cross contamination is low between the two bubbles. The nightmare will be logiticaly but protocols have been developped since the outbrake of the virus a year afo so it should be manageable.

[Napolis]

Originally Posted by Tique

The last I heard is that it is a go for the 12Hours of Sebring. For a WEC point of view, it is a 50/50. Some WEC teams will be already in the states as they will run at Daytona.


The IMSA and the WEC paddack were clearly seperated in Sebring 2 years ago so the risk of cross contamination is low between the two bubbles. The nightmare will be logiticaly but protocols have been developped since the outbrake of the virus a year afo so it should be manageable.

Major Florida February/March events, Cavallino/Amelia Island Concours/St Pete Indycar race are being pushed back to (?). Europe/US air travel is very difficult. Quarantine requirements in Europe. Costs. Uncertainty. IMSA Sebring is likely
as IMSA owns Sebring and Florida covid restrictions are lax but WEC Sebring for Euro based teams? We don't see it happening. The recent US political craziness doesn't help either.
We think Portimo in late April more likely start of season. We would make that race with our two cars.

[Pandamasque]

Originally Posted by Napolis

We think Portimo in late April more likely start of season. We would make that race with our two cars.

Portimao as in a replacement for the 1st round as opposed to it being cancelled or postponed?

[Napolis]

Originally Posted by Pandamasque

Portimao as in a replacement for the 1st round as opposed to it being cancelled or postponed?

In 2020 WEC Sebring was cancelled. In 2020 Cavallino happened in Florida in January and Amelia Island happened in Florida in March. This year Covid Florida is worse today than at this time in 2020 and both events have been postponed. This week there were 25 cases of "UK" Covid in Florida. Very tough times. IMSA owns Daytona and Sebring and can bubble and social distance. The issue is can/will WEC Europe teams be able/ want to come over?
The WEC will figure it out one way or another. Difficult job they have.

[Lutzvic]

https://www.motorsport.com/wec/news/...aign=widget-22

this crybaby attitude of toyota every year is getting annoying....
they saw last year an equal fight with rebellion before Le Mans....now the wheel turned....and they see it differently....
In my opinion after 3 somewhat hollow victory...(it would have been much more deserved in 2016) it is time that they get sweat...
I personally cheer up for Glickenhaus....for different reasons (David vs. Goliath, ICE vs. hybrid)
Alpine, TGR, Glickenhaus...3 different approaches, technical and political as well....
I do hope ACO let them fight....Rebellion never got the chance....but it is a new era...