World Endurance Car Championship battle renews this weekend - LMP1 Class
- Mick Palmer (@MickPalmer75)
- Apr 17, 2016
- 4 min read
The upcoming return to action for the World Endurance Championship will see battle resumed by three manufacturers who have eschewed what is considered the top level of the sport.
Audi, Porsche and Toyota have ignored the glitz and glamour of Grand Prix racing in favour of the top level of sportscar racing in the LMP1 Hybrid class. This choice has allowed them to go their own way regarding how to develop road relevant technology through motorsport competition.
The possible dalliance with Formula One by the VAG group was a hot subject in the first half of last year, until the VW/Audi emission scandal broke. Since then this idea seems to have been put to rest – for the time being.
Along with Audi, stablemate Porsche also see the category as a cost effective area to invest in. As well as the obvious benefits from the development of hybrid technology, a win at Le Mans last year has been a fantastic fillip for a marque missing from the highest levels of racing for some years.
The big budget entry from Toyota was rewarded with the WEC title in 2014, and the squad are continuing to push for more of that success in 2016.
This advent of an open hybrid engine formula in LMP1-H has allowed these major manufacturers to exhibit their latest innovations in relevant, modern automotive technology. Add to this the attraction of the blue riband event – the Le Mans 24 hours – as the centrepiece of the season and you have a series that ticks most boxes in 21st century motorsport. Close racing, Green tech and fan support.
An aborted program from Nissan last season seemingly proves the attractiveness of the class, but their one-off appearance, and subsequent withdrawal from the championship, exposes the fickle balance of return that success at the top level demands.
The class is one of the success stories in current motor racing, but if one manufacturer should pull out then the whole house of cards could collapse.
Let’s be brutal here, the wonderful WEC would be irrelevant without Le Mans, undoubtedly the three manufacturers in the class would spend money somewhere other than endurance racing, if the WEC was not to Le Mans regulations.
With the cost and tech of current LMP1 hybrids being what they are the ACO need to futureproof the class. If one or two manufacturers left, it could start a downwards spiral if nobody were to step up to the plate to replace them.
Audi have been staunch supporters of Le Mans and its various spin-off championships since they entered endurance racing in 1999. Porsche gained success with their Le Mans victory last year, but is the top class at Le Mans part of their long term strategy?
Many think they are there to simply stop Audi surpassing their overall Le Mans win total, being part of the Volkswagen/Audi group you have to question how much longer the parent company will finance a fight between its own children.
As for Toyota, they did take that 2014 WEC title, but make no mistake, they’d trade that for a Le Mans win any day of the week. That title is nothing more than a by-product of their desire to win Le Mans, and that is what they want to achieve.
Toyota have thrown a lot of money at this project, as they did with Formula One. If it was easy for them to build a new facility in Germany for F1, then cancel the program overnight, then a lacklustre WEC program could see its plug easily pulled straight away. Nissan somewhat prove these points.
The 2015 revolution didn’t arrive, they never promised that it would in their first season, but they were so far off the pace, beset with so many technological setbacks, that it came as no surprise to me when group CEO Carlos Ghosn shut the project down.
As much as NISMO had a lot of moral support the world over, it was an easy boardroom decision. The mass marketing campaign that they garnered only put their failure under a big spotlight. This is the sharp tip of the point. If the WEC and Le Mans does not suit the agenda of any of these 3 manufacturers, the class could collapse.
As for the privateer LMP1 non hybrid entries, a paltry three cars could not possibly make up the numbers if LMP1-H was to shrink. The sub-class, which contains entries from Rebellion and ByKolles are a considerable amount slower than their Hybrid brethren. Recent meetings attempting to secure this division seem to have led to nothing.
Thankfully quality racing is guaranteed, due to the competitive junior LMP2 class. Even this level of the championship has seen the foundation for the LMP1 class weakened by the governing bodies of motorsport.
Their puzzling decision last year to tender the class, and rid it of half the companies currently supporting the category, shows that they are looking to the wrong areas for the long term security of prototype racing.
Is the discipline balancing on a knife-edge? If it is then why try to tip the scales in an area where equilibrium and continuity has bred a stable platform for teams to compete?
Along with being the top class in the European Le Mans Series and the recently relaunched Asian Le Mans Series, LMP2 racing is also a strong ingredient in the American IMSA Weathertech Championship.
With all of this in mind the FIA and ACO have changed their blueprint for LMP2 with the long game being attributed to sustainability and growth. But why change now while the series is undergoing a resurgence?
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