[WEC] WEC 2019/20 season

[Deleted]

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/...as-in-bahrain/

Toyota Gazoo Racing team director Rob Leupen says that GTE drivers have asked the manufacturer about how best to overtake its hybrid LMP1 cars in the 8 Hours of Bahrain.

-- "It’s not nice if a GTE-Am driver is saying that we’re a safety risk on the track"

They better get used to it as it will surely be topic of conversation next season with the hypertrucks as well

[Deleted]

Seems like the race started already lol, everyone's so very interested for Bahrain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZN03ew1j2k

P2 might ultimately win this with these stumbles

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by Columbus

Anyone know where I can watch WEC on UK TV?

Eurosport Player, but that’s subscription....

[Deleted]

There's a Twitch link available in reddit

9 laps top 10 (26s apart):
Toyota-Ginetta-Toyota-Oreca07-Oreca07-Oreca07-Oreca07-Rebellion-Oreca07-Oreca07
But the second Toyota and Rebellion only barely passed Orecas recently

[AndreasDavour]

I kind of looked forward to a fight between the Ginettas and the Rebellions. Now it feels they gifted Toyota track position early on, and with their staying power it feels a lot was lost in that second corner.

[seanyb505]

Gte pro was fun for the little I was able to watch. Streaming on motortrend on demand and the quality is fairly chunky.

[AndreasDavour]

As so often is the case, the GT battles are more interesting than LMP.

[TF110]

There goes a Ginetta. Something broke on it

[Columbus]

Figured out WEC website claim that Bahrain 8hr would be live on BT Sport was BS so went out Christmas shopping until start of claimed live Eurosport coverage - turns out Eurosport is showing FIM Sepang 8hr bikes. Gave up and watched Live European Rugby Champions Cup instead.
With no one in the grandstands and no one watching on TV, I can see why the only new manufacturer committed to Hypercar is French. What a shame. If WEC doesn't get proper 21st century management soon, it will die long before the old mens club that runs it.

[GT6]

On eurosport 2 at the moment so free for anyone with Sky i think

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Columbus

Figured out WEC website claim that Bahrain 8hr would be live on BT Sport was BS so went out Christmas shopping until start of claimed live Eurosport coverage - turns out Eurosport is showing FIM Sepang 8hr bikes. Gave up and watched Live European Rugby Champions Cup instead.
With no one in the grandstands and no one watching on TV, I can see why the only new manufacturer committed to Hypercar is French. What a shame. If WEC doesn't get proper 21st century management soon, it will die long before the old mens club that runs it.

There's 3 OEMs committed to LMH so I don't know what you're on about

But what I really wanted to say is that what you're describing here, watching events from television itself is way of the old men. If these sports actually want to evolve and find new (young) audiences, streaming options are the only way to go. And hiding your product behind paywall is not the answer to that. But that's been discussed billion times already of course

Anyway, even if we were still in the glory days of LMP1 and you had everything being shown for free, you would never get attention for an event called 8 Hours of Bahrain held in the middle of December. The race exists purely for getting the pay check from the Kingdom of Bahrain

[Columbus]

So it is! (Although TV guide still says "Live:FIM Endurance World Motorcycle Racing")
Thanks GT6, I'll tune in after rugby.

[GT6]

Originally Posted by Columbus

So it is! (Although TV guide still says "Live:FIM Endurance World Motorcycle Racing")
Thanks GT6, I'll tune in after rugby.

You will catch the last half hour or so

[Columbus]

Originally Posted by Chiana

There's 3 OEMs committed to LMH so I don't know what you're on about

But what I really wanted to say is that what you're describing here, watching events from television itself is way of the old men. If these sports actually want to evolve and find new (young) audiences, streaming options are the only way to go. And hiding your product behind paywall is not the answer to that. But that's been discussed billion times already of course

Anyway, even if we were still in the glory days of LMP1 and you had everything being shown for free, you would never get attention for an event called 8 Hours of Bahrain held in the middle of December. The race exists purely for getting the pay check from the Kingdom of Bahrain

What I'm on about is WEC's tiny audience driving manufacturer and sponsor money away to Formula E and other properly promoted series.

I didn't say Peugeot is the only manufacturer committed to Hypercar. I said it's the only New manufacturer. What about Aston Martin, I hear you say? They won't even be in business next season if they can't secure a massive financial bail-out (share price has collapsed 75% since flotation last year). Most likely investor is L Stroll and he'll be rebranding his Racing Point Formula 1 to promote AM, not spending on WEC.

Totally agree with you about broadcast/streaming and new/young audience. I hope you're not right about 8hr endurance racing being too dull to watch even if it's free.

[AndreasDavour]

While I agree there are lots of things I'd do differently if I ran WEC, I'm not sure why there are moanings about it being badly promoted. There's good info online, it's available on stream. It might not be on TV, but that does not make or break any racing these days.


Is the grandstands empty in Bahrain? Sure they are. That's how it looks like for most races I've watched in dictatorships in asia and the middle east. They are not racing there because there's a jumping local race culture.

[TF110]

Originally Posted by AndreasDavour

While I agree there are lots of things I'd do differently if I ran WEC, I'm not sure why there are moanings about it being badly promoted. There's good info online, it's available on stream. It might not be on TV, but that does not make or break any racing these days.


Is the grandstands empty in Bahrain? Sure they are. That's how it looks like for most races I've watched in dictatorships in asia and the middle east. They are not racing there because there's a jumping local race culture.

Right. They're racing there because it either pays (Bahrain) or because it's a huge country/market, like in China's case. And they dropped China in the next season. So it tells me there's actually some higher ups that want an actual good venue and not just a place that says 'give me a race'. They do have to race on multiple continents to be a World Championship as well so there's that.

[GT6]

Well i enjoyed that, OK LMP1 was pretty boring but other classes were good and as usual GT classes were the main point of interest

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by TF110

Right. They're racing there because it either pays (Bahrain) or because it's a huge country/market, like in China's case. And they dropped China in the next season. So it tells me there's actually some higher ups that want an actual good venue and not just a place that says 'give me a race'. They do have to race on multiple continents to be a World Championship as well so there's that.

They do have to race around the world. However no matter which continent model is used, this is satisfied by the race in Fuji. Adding Bahrain and Shanghai doesn't tick any more boxes.

A South American and Australian round should absolutely be covered. Does anyone know of a racing series which does NA, SA, Euro, Asia, Aus and Africa?

[chernaudi]

Closest would be F1, but they don't race on the African continent. Only continent that the WEC is missing is Aus. and Antarctica.

[Mystery]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

Closest would be F1, but they don't race on the African continent. Only continent that the WEC is missing is Aus. and Antarctica.

Formula E has all bar Australasia

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

Closest would be F1, but they don't race on the African continent. Only continent that the WEC is missing is Aus. and Antarctica.

Originally Posted by Mystery

Formula E has all bar Australasia

Seems pretty easy for WEC to go to The Bend, especially after AsLMS does the dummy run. Formula E can go anywhere obviously.

F1 has an issue in that Kyalami is a Grade 2 and cannot be used for F1 currently.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Columbus

What I'm on about is WEC's tiny audience driving manufacturer and sponsor money away to Formula E and other properly promoted series.

I didn't say Peugeot is the only manufacturer committed to Hypercar. I said it's the only New manufacturer. What about Aston Martin, I hear you say? They won't even be in business next season if they can't secure a massive financial bail-out (share price has collapsed 75% since flotation last year). Most likely investor is L Stroll and he'll be rebranding his Racing Point Formula 1 to promote AM, not spending on WEC.

Totally agree with you about broadcast/streaming and new/young audience. I hope you're not right about 8hr endurance racing being too dull to watch even if it's free.

Aston Martin can do WEC with a relative shoestring budget now that it's a bop championship. They will have to only put out Lola-AMR level of effort at best yet they are still automatically guaranteed to win races.

I don't think 8 hour endurance race is too dull to watch, but 8 hour race at Bahrain certainly is.

[Purist]

With the Middle East, they pay the bills for a perceived status symbol. Also, the wealthy there buy a fair few Ferraris, Porsches, Lamborghinis, Mercedes, etc. It doesn't hurt either that their populations are fairly small and concentrated in a relative few major centers.

With China, yeah, it's a big market, but perhaps more for either budget car brands or status-symbol brands, which doesn't necessarily mean performance brands. As for Toyota, they're Japanese, and let's just say, China, Korea, and some others in the neighborhood have some long-lingering issues with what Japan did in the past.

I'm not going to re-hash two posts about The Bend, but for Australia, it's definitely not my choice. As for South America, Buenos Aires (if they could run the loop around the lake without butchering the place), Interlagos, or especially Potrero de los Funes would be great, but yeah, it's looking like we have what we have for a few seasons at least. Although, I'd like to think that the AsLMS going to Suzuka could open the door for a move in the Japanese round.

[helgi]

Judging by the average speed (not the result!) through the race it's Oreca and #5 Ginetta who are going to get some "balance", while #8 Toyota to be given a bit of free air. So, it's going to be an easy win for #8, especially with their reliability levels.
Of course, it would be true only if "balance" works this way, and not ruled by show.

[TF110]

I thought it was decided on the results and not the performance? The #7 was a little less handicapped than the #8. They had slightly more hybrid power per lap. Ginetta needs work though. They are seemingly fast for a set period of time and fall off or just fail.