[WEC] WEC 2021 season

[Bentley03]

Calendar announced

Monza and Kyalami in, Shanghai out, Silverstone back to 6 hours!

Terrific calendar IMO

[Bentley03]

Silverstone WEC race is on the Saturday instead of the Sunday (ELMS race switches to Sunday in 2020), so wondering if track action will begin on Thursday instead of Friday...?

[Anyopenroad]

Originally Posted by Bentley03

Silverstone WEC race is on the Saturday instead of the Sunday (ELMS race switches to Sunday in 2020), so wondering if track action will begin on Thursday instead of Friday...?

I think it will have to. The only way to fit the races into Fri-Sun with WEC on the Sat would be to drop WEC FP3 and do qualifying for each race on the morning. And that leaves little/no space for any support races, yet we know that Britcar Endurance are going to be there too (a very welcome addition to the event).

It's a shame really. That Fri with 4 x 90min practice sessions (2 WEC, 2 ELMS) was terrific value. Spreading the schedule over 4 days doesn't improve the experience. Silverstone doesn't have unlimited days when it can run loud cars so using an extra one of them up for this means something giving elsewhere. It is already the only circuit on the SRO calendar that is closed to spectators on Fridays for their GT events.

[J Jay]

Would you look at that, they actually did it.

Fuji even further back in November seems destined for a soaking (even moreso than its usual October date), but that's a nitpick in what is otherwise a good calendar. Hopefully Kyalami is day/night as the IGTC race was.

[claude2cv]

And the shortest races are 6 hours ☺

Sean

[Mike E]

Originally Posted by Bentley03

Monza and Kyalami in, Shanghai out, Silverstone back to 6 hours!

This is very good

[Deleted]

2020-2021 - The best calendar WEC has had since series launch meets the worst regulations WEC has had since series launch

[chernaudi]

Pretty much a dream calendar, and at least as of now Sebring is listed as a 1000 mile race. Would've liked to maybe see Monza before LM as an appetizer for the big show. But Spa is the traditional pre-LM race now and it does give more use to LM aero packages outside of LM, LM test weekend, WEC Prologue and maybe Spa.

[Akrapovic]

Best WEC Calendar so far. Any ideas on improving it would be very picky. Impressive stuff.

[MaskedRacer]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

Best WEC Calendar so far. Any ideas on improving it would be very picky. Impressive stuff.

Easy. Bahrain has got to go. A waste of an event for sure. COTA or The Bend would be better.

[Mike E]

As a South African, I am very happy to see Kyalami on the calendar. Whether it will work for the WEC remains to be seen. It was good for GT3 at the 9 Hours, but LMP1/2/H are much faster and the track is pretty twisty. Having said that, it is emphatically not a Tilke-drome. If you get it wrong, you pay. I think we can all agree that is how it should be. I hope it works.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by MaskedRacer

Easy. Bahrain has got to go. A waste of an event for sure. COTA or The Bend would be better.

Bahrain is the one weak link, and I'd support an Australian event too. Wouldn't bother with COTA. However it is impressively close to a perfect calendar.

[chernaudi]

There's also no WEC Prologue per se. It's been replaced basically by a combination of the LM test weekend and a WEC Promoters test at Silverstone the week before the 6 Hours weekend.

So far everyone's pretty happy with this calendar. Does that mean hell has frozen over? The ACO did something right by most of us for once?

[NaBUru38]

Except for Bahrain, it's an amazing calendar.

[Mike E]

Some more details here

http://www.dailysportscar.com/2019/1...-calendar.html

[Gingers4Justice]

I always saw Shanghai as a necessary evil, but not sorry to see it go. I liked Zuhai as an ILMC venue - not a Tilkedrome and it doesn't take a big crowd to make it look like it's attended well. Hope they figure out a way of going back to China some day.

[rich07]

Fantastic calendar with the exception of Bahrain. Monza is a most welcome addition. Kayalami should make for some spectacular racing too.

[TF110]

I was hoping to see them go to Australia or somewhere in South America like my favorite in Argentina. But glad to see Monza. I'm not convinced Kyalami is a good track for these cars but we'll see because I haven't witnessed any races on the revised track.

[Trev Campbell]

Originally Posted by TF110

I was hoping to see them go to Australia or somewhere in South America like my favorite in Argentina. But glad to see Monza. I'm not convinced Kyalami is a good track for these cars but we'll see because I haven't witnessed any races on the revised track.

Yep, Drop Bahrain and go to 'The Bend' in Australia. Then the Calendar would be pretty much perfect. Also running the Bend on the 31st December, like the Race of 1000 years with a huge party would be pretty awesome.

[Adam43]

I would have liked a four hour race. Just one for variety. But it’s decent.

Not sure if the Kyalami will be much cop, but good to be back there and see.

[Purist]

There's no need to watch the whole thing by any stretch, TF110, but here's a race from the current Kyalami that should give a pretty comprehensive look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6WRgAiQoss&t=3765s

[broadrun96]

In a surprise to no one, Goodyear gets the LMP2 spec deal for WEC and ELMS.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

In a surprise to no one, Goodyear gets the LMP2 spec deal for WEC and ELMS.

"We are proud to have been chosen for this challenge"

I'm sure you are but here's response to that from 4 years ago where Dunlop was _proud_ to not be in a spec tire situation
https://tentenths.com/forum/showpost...4&postcount=11

[Deleted]

Sorry for double post but the time limit for editing already passed. So two things from the DSC version: http://www.dailysportscar.com/2019/1...-supplier.html

This has broken shortly after DSC learned that tomorrow’s 8 Hours of Bahrain will be the last for High Class Racing on Goodyear tyres, the Danish team set to switch to Michelin for the remaining WEC rounds this season. This leaves just the JOTA and Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECAs running with Goodyear in the FIA WEC from CoTA onwards.
Ironic that teams are investing for the outgoing manufacturer (I'm sure they've been notified ages ago of the chose one) which has continued to make progress... goes to show that having tire war actually does matter. Sighhhhhhhh

However, going forward, with teams from the ELMS and WEC both racing at Le Mans together, it’s a logical move for the ACO to select one tyre manufacturer across the two championships.
This logic makes no sense considering GTE-AM teams use spec Dunlops in ELMS yet switch for Michelins for LM out of free will. How's that fine but not for LMP2

[chernaudi]

I can think of only one thing: Spec tire = control over LMP2 pace without taking away so much engine power they can't out-drag GTE cars down the straights. We do also have to remember that with the LMPH deal with Michelin being quasi spec (Michelin will be allowed to develop different specs for different types of LMPH, but will still be solo supplier), a spec tire deal for LMP2 is a no brainer.

But we do also have to remember that GTE, at least GTE Pro, is being pushed as being open tire, though all the teams in both GTE classes right now run on Michelin.