Predictions for 2014 (WEC and Le Mans 24h)

[gustavobamba]

Very good day to all members of this forum and the desires of a 2014 better than 2013.

I would like to share with you my thoughts on what will happen in 2014 in the WEC and Le Mans , so here goes .

- Porsche, will not surprise, and will even fight for victories in the last races of the WEC . In Le Mans will fight for the podium .

- Audi will dominate the first races of the WEC , will have a less good year in Le Mans , but will win the WEC ahead of Toyota and Porsche .

- Toyota will experience difficulties at the beginning of the WEC but I think this year will win the 24 hours of Le Mans . In WEC will fight with Porsche for 2nd place .

- The garage 56th ( Nissan Zeod RC ) will finish the Le Mans 24 hour and will take Nissan to invest more in its LMP 1 to 2015.

- The ACO will announce another place to Le Mans ( Garage 57th ) for 2016.

- The lap times at Le Mans will be the same or faster than last year : I think the pole will be between 3:23 m / 3:24m .

- If Ferrari have another bad year in F1 , will advance to Le Mans in 2015/16 .

- Private LMP1 will be further away from the official teams. Rebellion R-one only private team :-(

I wish the next constructor to create a car to the garage 56th was Honda or BMW .

In GTE , Porsche will dominate both the 24h of Le Mans and the WEC .

If you want add some thoughts , comment´s , discuss , criticize my thoughts ... bring it on

[Pontlieue]

Predictions are always difficult to make, especially with a new set of rules, like in 2014. And my predictions (at least in F1) are usually horribly wrong. But I'll have a go at this anyway.

-The fight for the LMP1 title will be closer than this year. Because it can't be much less close.

-Porsche will be competetive from the start. They have been preparing since 2011, so I don't think they'll have to catch up much.

-Rebellion and OAK will be the only LMP1-L at Le Mans, because I don't see anyone else who has commited to LMP1 in 2014 so far, and time is running out.

-We will have more variety in LMP2. So many new projects coming up at the moment, and I think some of them will find their way into WEC. Dome is already confirmed.

-GT will stagnate in 2014, as everyone who could be interested in joining will wait for the 2016 regs.

[SpikerJack]

-Audi will win both LM24 and WEC
-Porsche will give a good fight but they won't be ready to win. It will be a preparation year for 2015
-Toyota tired of losing will retire at the end of the year (maybe a bit too pessimistic). To be replaced with Nissan?
-Lmp2 unpredictable.
-GTE-PRO will be a great show. But I'd rather wait for the bop to judge. Le mans could be another porsche victory but ferrari and c7r will be very strong too. Aston in my opinion will be out of the contention for the win.

[Mr Pink]

- The Rebellion car proves to be faster than expected and they close up the gap to the factories somewhat.

- During the Le Mans broadcast there are more shots of team leaders than GT-am.

- Strakka-Dome wins LMP2 at Le Mans.

And the cynicle one:
-Nissan Zeod RC will be a dissapointment, ahead of 2015 Nissan anounces that "The WEC is not the right championship to showcase our technology" and chooses to badge a team in Formula E instead of commiting to LMP1.

[carbon_titanium]

Can't forecast future, but my prediction is that Audi will dominate WEC and 24LM, simply because new rules will give a much better and more efficient power/consumes ratio to diesel engine than gasoline motors. After le mans, maybe Porsche will be close to Audi performances, but Toyota will be the slowest lmp1 manufacturer for all the season long. Because of the lack of private LMP1 entries, in 2015 or later, LMP1 class will be reserved only for manufacturers, LMP2 class only for private teams.

[Mal]

I have a hunch that Toyota will come good in 2014 - I think their hybrid system will prove to be the best and will help make the difference. I also think that quietly they have always seen 2014 as their main push for honours.

[Spyderman]

My predictions are as follows:
LMP1 - Toyota are going to be very, very strong. Porsche is going to have an uphill battle, but will be quick on the shorter tracks.
GT-Pro- This will depend entirely on who the ACO would like to see win.

[Mr Pink]

Originally Posted by Spyderman

GT-Pro- This will depend entirely on who the ACO would like to see win.

[Tinfoil Hat] Maybe that's part of the reason for the Ferrari P1 rumours? To get some leverage when talking BOP? [/Tinfoil Hat]

[Fogelhund]

Most of the time the size of the budget, dictates competitiveness. Toyota isn't spending near what Porsche and Audi are... Now that Audi is likely to have real competition from Porsche, I think Toyota falls behind. My guess is that Audi is the quickest, while Porsche will have remarkable fuel economy. This year will become a game of mathematicians and tacticians. Will that 1.2-2 second advantage Audi has per lap over Porsche at LM make up for the extra 2-3 laps Porsche does per stint? Obviously these numbers are guesses, but I do see something along this line playing out. The Result... no idea.

[gustavobamba]

I have to said that i forget OAK in LMP1

I would like to see Strakka step up with Dome in LMP 1 but they need a proper engine!!!!

Audi is leading the predictions :-) , but i still think that Toyota will rise their game in 2014 and fight for the Win.

[JoestForEver]

This is the 30th year for Team Joest, and I do really really really hope Audi win Le mans as the 15th champion once again with a better result, maybe 1-2-3, without so many bad luck this year.
As for the WEC, I don't care as much and I believe so does Dr. Ulrich. Audi was seldom a winner in the ILMC against Porsche, and less likely will be with so many favors for petrol now. Hopefully another driver's championship for TK is good enough, but the constructor's may go to Porsche. I'm not confident with Toyota at all because they are almost always too short-sighted, no matter in F1 or WEC.

[hcl123]

short sighted !? lol ... but Toyota in 2014 will break out from the evil ties that restraints it, comes out by surprise with a diesel engine now that nobody is really expecting it, and wins Le Mans and WEC ( if anyone can do it is Toyota)... kind of fool'd ya lol

[TF110]

Toyota has the best hybrid in the business and it will be even more powerful next year. With the ACO trying to ensure equality with both fuels (porsche is petrol remember), there shouldn't be any more of the bop issues if its done right. So that leaves it down to reliability, hybrid power, efficiency and aero. Porsche I cant say where they will be nor Audi and Toyota. My guess is Toyota will have the aero and hybrid advantage and possibly tire life. Audi will probably still have the power advantage.

[tyronnezx]

seems like Toyota's Well behind everyone in development. Not to mention the small budget. their only Ace is that they have a good Hybrid and experience from the last two years. how that's gonna be an advantage, when they have started off on the back foot is gonna be real interesting. i would like to see them win.

[Mechanic Z]

Originally Posted by gustavobamba
In GTE , Porsche will dominate both the 24h of Le Mans and the WEC.

WEC, I can see Porsche doing well, but Le Mans is Corvette's!

[TF110]

Originally Posted by tyronnezx

seems like Toyota's Well behind everyone in development. Not to mention the small budget. their only Ace is that they have a good Hybrid and experience from the last two years. how that's gonna be an advantage, when they have started off on the back foot is gonna be real interesting. i would like to see them win.

They have had the car in development for a long time now. The thing theyll be behind in is on track testing. But then again everyone is behind Porsche in that respect, so will everyone else be on the back foot or does it matter that much? Plus its not just F1 teams prove they can make a car win with a late introduction. Maybe even Rebellion will win a race.

[Aysedasi]

I'm in the Toyota to win Le Mans camp. Substantially because I'd like to see that happen. For the same reason I'd like to see the Rebs surprise everyone. Porsche, they won't disappoint, but I don't see them winning the WEC and certainly not Le Mans. GT? I think Porsche, Ferrari, Aston or Corvette will do well, which probably illustrates where my primary interest lies.......

[CTD]

I want Tom K to win his 10th Le Mans victory and end his career on top and as the World Champion.
So my prediction is that this will happen, but not without a close fight with Toyota and Porsche.

[Starfish Primer]

I think that someone will find a loophole in the new regulations and smash the other teams.

[hcl123]

No..i don't think so, there will be no loopholes that the top teams haven't thoughted of.

Matter of fact the advantage of petrol ( in practice none) related to fuel flows enjoyed in 2013 due to substantial more fuel tank capacity, is slightly reduced in 2014... all fuel flows are reduced... it will affect worst petrol that needs the RPM (more fuel consumption) to be competitive, and petrol has 100 years of development in motorsport while diesel not even 10 years, that is, much more things able to improve.

Depends on how much good is the "hybrid" factor, but if Toyota remains with the natural aspirated induction engine, i think that even Porsche will be able to beat it... turbo charging can make quite more efficient engines with much smaller displacements, and even so more powerful in all aspects(better heat pumps).

Toyota's hybrid setup and a turbodiesel even if not as good as Audi's, and then they might had been the headlines owners by now, not the other way around. "Hybrid" factor that will be not artificially restricted for diesel in 2014, and Audi for sure will improve quite a bit in this department also, so Toyota wasted a very good opportunity.

Mazda is prepared to wipe out clean ALMS ( like stealing baby candy) with an LPM2 (ALMS is a LPM2 exclusive story now)... http://www.autoweek.com/article/2013...n=awdailydrive they are already breaking records left and right in the category on tests... what were Toyota so afraid of !?

WEC in 2014 might end up being a Volkswagen trophy between Audi and Porsche... i hope not, that would suck for sure, raising suspicions... but in the end i think it will be the same old same old ( no one wants to compete !?.. ) as the easier and perhaps the most correct bet... Audi investment is massive including *new* engine and quite complex everything... a good bet from Audi for the investment, only Mazda seems to have competitive innovative ideas, this way it makes easier for big investment decisions on return considerations.

[TF110]

I think the biggest auto manufacturer in the world knows better than us. If they choose a naturally aspirated engine, like judd and aer have, then they must know something is beneficial over a turbocharged engine.

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by TF110

I think the biggest auto manufacturer in the world knows better than us. If they choose a naturally aspirated engine, like judd and aer have, then they must know something is beneficial over a turbocharged engine.

Or they simply weren't willing to commit the budget to go the other way, which appears to have been the case so far.

[Acid09]

Spending a little less money on something that isn't competitive makes no sense because it means that smaller amount of money is completely lost.

I know Toyota is on a tight budget but I don't believe it is tight enough to lead them onto a path of uncompetitiveness.

[Mal]

Originally Posted by Acid09

Spending a little less money on something that isn't competitive makes no sense because it means that smaller amount of money is completely lost.

I know Toyota is on a tight budget but I don't believe it is tight enough to lead them onto a path of uncompetitiveness.

Agreed - if it was that tight they wouldn't have the driver line up they have.

I have always had a hunch that the first 2 years were basically training the team for 2014. I remember that during the 2012 pit visit they were very confident in the potential of their hybrid system - but frustrated that they could not unleash it.

[Simmi]

Hope you Toyota optimists are right.

I just want a season of good racing - particularly at the big one.