[WEC] LMP Future Regulations (was Le Mans EVO rules - now hypercar rules)

[TheMightyM]

Originally Posted by carbsmith

Considering hybrid is not mandatory in any sense now that the class is using BoP for non-hybrid road cars anyways, apparently not.

I think that the takeaway is that the ACO/WEC didn't find anywhere near enough takers for their previous definition(s) of hypercars. So what gets sacrificed now in the name of attracting more manufacturer interest (and money) are hybrids and lap time.

The problem is that this really creates a lot of other issues for the ACO.

Are prototypes as we've known them dead at Le Mans?

What happens to GTE? The appeal to justify factory GTE GTE-Pro teams has been exactly that they are the top GT cars in the series at Le Mans. Road-car based hypercars changes that. It gets harder to justify a GTE-Pro program in the hypercar era.

Speaking of which, are Aston Martin and Ferrari really going to run (for long) two factory programs in the WEC, one hypercar and one in GTE-Pro?

Remember those DP and LMP2 BOP issues in IMSA? Expect that in spades for the ACO/WEC.

LMP2s get slowed down a lot. Also, all this thrashing around to get more hypercar car manufacturers for the ACO/WEC and top-class Le Mans entries sends a horrible message to ELMS teams -- the ACO is trying really hard to make sure that mid-field ELMS LMP2 and GTE-Am don't get invited to the big race.

Bonus thought: I wonder how long it is before the quest to reduce costs gets back to cutting the number and/or length of WEC races.