WEC LMP2 Class - An analysis.

The adage “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” springs to mind. It’s a saying that has never really stood up in motor racing circles. In what we consider the real and rational the world, when you build something that is sublime in its operation, you would normally stick with it.

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That sentiment is disregarded on a daily basis in the world of motor racing though. Once you’ve built the perfect component a rival will invariably take that concept and improve upon your original design, unless you are racing in a spec or controlled series that is.

Other clichéd statements such as “racing improves the breed” and the worn out “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” also come to mind when searching for clichéd excuses to drive cars very fast around a circuit every other weekend. These wonderful little idioms are only usually applicable to championships that catch the eye of the “general public”, or the “casual fan”. In other words the car buying public.

At these heights the money behind the sport is all to do with marketing. And this marketing money paves the way for competitors to ignore “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. This is where the high profile campaigns herald the entry of manufacturers into racing series the world over.

F1, Le Mans, NASCAR, Touring Cars, all types of racing where being at the top of the mountain justifies the return on investment that was originally staked. These are the areas that garnish the dish. But what about the base of the offering? The meat, potatoes and bread of the meal? In the WEC this is would be considered the LMP2 class.

It is common knowledge that a discussion was held at the 2015 Daytona 24 hours, tabled by the LMP2 governing bodies, and attended by a number of current, and interested parties. It is also known that a couple of current LMP2 manufacturers were not invited to the discussion, this was attributed as an “oversight” on the part of the FIA/ACO/IMSA organisers.

This simple, alleged, “oversight” has set the tone for the communications that have followed since. A tone of distrust, and suspicions of conspiracy. The latter may be a bit strong, but some of the activities in the following months have served to do nothing to alleviate this sentiment for some wounded parties.

Hushed whispers of favouritism aside, there was no immediate indication of reasoning of the summit released to the media or public. Over the last four years the centre-point of endurance racing - the Le Mans 24 hours itself - had seen around 20 LMP2 cars qualifying. Five years ago the class was struggling to get into double figures at the French classic. On the crest of the current wave is their really justification in discussing a rejuvenation new rules for the class?

In February 2015, the ACO and FIA jointly hosted their now annual WEC/Le Mans announcement extravaganza to reveal which entries had been secured for that upcoming season. It was naturally a gathering of the great and good from the sportscar world, it projected a solidified and united front, a reflection of the new golden era of sportscar racing.

However, behind closed doors discussions were ongoing regarding the next move in the regulatory process regarding LMP2. Certain prospective manufacturers were engaging with a working group to hammer out a set of rules and a sustainable pricepoint, with the supposed intention of securing the future of the division.

In March 2015, during the pre-season WEC prologue at Paul Ricard the bomb was dropped. The ACO/FIA/IMSA triumvirate confirmed what was now being rumoured throughout the sportscar world, that LMP2 was going to be restricted to four chassis manufacturers and a single engine supplier.

A tender process was to take place for chassis manufacturers, they would be given the opportunity to put forth a proposal that included a business model that would be suitable to the regulators demands. The main focus being on pricing and customer support.

The official stance was that LMP2 was financially too fractious, although a cost cap was in place teams and manufacturers could circumnavigate this and build an entire car for themselves. This was one facet of the current regulations that the powers that be wanted to reign in.

Pierre Fillon, president of the ACO said: “We are in consultation with the manufacturers and the teams to find the best solution for the new 2017 regulations.

"We must remember that LMP2 is for teams and drivers, it is not a manufacturer category outside of North America, and we must build a sustainable business model for teams, cars and engine manufacturers.”

This didn’t sit very well at all with some chassis builders. The other main points to come from the communications stated that one manufacturer must be US based. Also stated was that those tendering for the positions would not be allowed to have any involvement with an automotive manufacturer, and any chassis constructor would not be allowed to build the engine or vice versa.

This last point being a shot at preventing the kind of domination that Porsche experienced with the Porsche Spider in the old LMP675 class (a predecessor to LMP2).

Fillon also commented: “The initial objective is to reduce the technical costs in LMP2 by 20%.”

To say feathers were ruffled would be a massive understatement. Immediately constructors were looking into the possibility of legal action against the FIA and ACO if their submissions were rejected.

The first thought when reading the press releases and comments from officials and constructors was how would this affect the manufacturing side of prototype racing. All those constructors that were to be culled, they would be laying off a significant amount of skilled people, a large number of whom would be forever lost to the motorsport industry.

A lot of their skills are not directly transferable into their local economies and the FIA and ACO were unnecessarily playing God with their livelihoods. It’s something we’ve seen previously during the financial witch hunting that has been carried out in Formula One repeatedly in the last 15 years.

The Place de la Concorde seemingly the home of a modern day financial Witchfinder General in the style of Matthew Hopkins. If new jobs were to be created the geographical positioning of constructors made it highly unlikely that someone laid off was going to be able to uproot their family and move from constructor A to constructor B.

Given that the sportscar fraternity likes to be seen as the last true family in top level racing, they’d just effectively hung out close relatives to dry. The expulsion of race winning constructors was now also upon the horizon, in an era when cost capping has revitalised the division there is not a manufacturer who could be viewed as a non-performing weak link.

Each and every one of them competing in the three current series’ that utilise LMP2 rules (WEC/ELMS/IMSA) are providing competitive cars and a comprehensive service programme.

One must also remember that currently less than 30 LMP2 cars are regularly raced in all series around the world. Not much more than the amount of cars than that race in Formula One, that is true, but it does give a view to the scale of the task ahead.

To create a global formula that is all encompassing to serve many different series, each with their own aims, each with their own identity and each with only a limited amount of teams that may be able to afford the new equipment is a massive, and ultimately expensive task.

#WEC #LMP2 #Canal #Rusinov #Bird