[WEC] 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship

[Beetle]

With all of the announcements surrounding Porsche recently, I thought I'd create a new season thread for the 2014 FIA WEC. It seems like most of next year's championships have already got their respective threads on 10 Tenths, so why not dedicate a specific space for all information for next season?

::: CALENDAR :::

Official Test : Circuit Paul Ricard : 28-29 March
6 Hours of Silverstone : Silverstone Circuit : 18-20 April
WEC 6 Heures de Spa-Francorchamps : Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps : 02-03 May
24 Heures du Mans Test : Circuit de la Sarthe : 1 June
Circuit de la Sarthe : Circuit de la Sarthe : 14-15 June
6 Hours of São Paulo : Autódromo José Carlos Pace : 29-31 August
6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas* : Circuit of the Americas : 18-20 September
6 Hours of Fuji : Fuji Speedway : 3-5 October
6 Hours of Shanghai : Shanghai International Circuit : 31 October - 1 November
6 Hours of Bahrain : Bahrain International Circuit : 13-15 November

* It should be noted that there are still negotiations over the Austin round. According to this article, the FIA WEC is unhappy over the lack of interest in the 2013 6 Hours of COTA ---

“There is no doubt that we will go to the United States. But we will go [to COTA] on the right conditions.”

::: ENTRIES :::
Bold text denotes confirmed. Italics denotes interested and/or likely.

LMP1

- Audi Sport Team Joest (A McNISH / T KRISTENSEN / L DUVAL)
- Audi Sport Team Joest (B TRELUYER / A LOTTERER / M FASSLER)
- Porsche AG (T BERNHARD / R DUMAS / M LIEB)
- Porsche AG (N JANI / M WEBBER / B HARTLEY)
- Toyota Racing (A WURZ / K NAKAJIMA / N LAPIERRE) + M CONWAY (reserve)
- Toyota Racing (A DAVIDSON / S SARRAZIN / S BUEMI) + M CONWAY (reserve)
- Rebellion Racing (N PROST / TBA / TBA)
- Rebellion Racing (TBA / TBA / TBA)
- OAK Racing (TBA / TBA / TBA)
- Lotus/Kolles?

LMP2

- Delta-ADR (F GIROIX / TBA / TBA)
- Delta-ADR (TBA / TBA / TBA)
- SMP Racing (S ZLOBIN / M MEDIANI / TBA)
- SMP Racing (V SHAITAR / A LADYGIN / K LADYGIN)
- Strakka Racing (D WATTS / J KANE / N LEVENTIS)
- Strakka Racing (TBA / TBA / TBA)
- KCMG (TBA / TBA / TBA)
- Signatech-Alpine (TBA / TBA / TBA)
- 2nd Signatech car?
- OAK Racing Morgan?
- OAK Racing Ligier?
- Teams with Oreca 03R
- ADESS AG?
- Tiga LMP2?

GTE-Pro

- Aston Martin Racing (S MUCKE / D TURNER / TBA)
- Aston Martin Racing (TBA / TBA / TBA)
- Ram Racing (J MOWLEM / M GRIFFIN / TBA)
- Porsche AG Team Manthey (F MAKOWIECKI / TBA / TBA)
- Porsche AG Team Manthey (TBA / TBA / TBA)
- AF Corse (TBA / TBA / TBA)
- AF Corse (TBA / TBA / TBA)

GTE-Am

- Aston Martin Racing (P DALLA LANA / TBA / TBA)
- Ram Racing (TBA / TBA / TBA)
- AF Corse
- Prospeed Competition (Francois Perrodo??)
- Proton Competition
- 2nd Aston Martin Racing car
- 3rd Aston Martin Racing car (somewhat unlikely, but before mentioned)

Krohn Racing, 8Star, and Pecom Racing won't be back for 2014. IMSA Performance Matmut is reportedly still evaluating its options for 2014, while Greaves Motorsport poses an unlikely chance of a WEC program after a sponsor offer fell through -- however they will compete full-time in the 2014 ELMS. Larbre Competition has not made a peep about their 2014 plans. Enzo Potolicchio is in high demand for GTE-Am after being demoted to Bronze -- he has reportedly received offers from three different GTE-Am teams for the 2014 season. Krohn Racing is looking to 2015 for an LMP2 attack but has also lodged a NAEC entry in TUSC -- a sign that there are perhaps still commitments with Ferrari?

::: SEASON PREVIEW :::

No one can argue that we're in for a fantastic season. Toyota has learned from its mistakes and one can expect awesome things given they took their #7 car out for two races to focus on the development of their new car. The Toyota TS040 Hybrid, the successor of the Toyota TS030 Hybrid, will be unveiled sometime in January 2014.

Audi will continue to bring their fabled excellence and precision to the table with an absolutely wicked-looking new R18 e-tron quattro. Joining the LMP1 fray will be Porsche, fielding two full-time cars in the 2014 FIA WEC, notably signing on ex-F1 driver Mark Webber.

Rebellion Racing will now run a factory-built Rebellion R-One car, with two full season entries. OAK Racing will likely join at either Spa or Le Mans to begin their LMP1 program after a brief sabbatical from the class. No one can forget Lotus, either -- what are their plans for the future?

Many changes await in LMP2. Strakka will return to its LMP2 roots with two full season DOME S103s, powered by Nissan. KCMG, the Hong Kong-based team that came a close 2nd in the Asian Le Mans Series after a narrow defeat at the 3 Hours of Sepang, will field one full season Morgan LMP2 car in the 2014 WEC. Fabien Giroix, the man behind the now defunct Gulf Racing Middle East, will help fund Delta-ADR's 2nd car. Signatech Racing, now partnered with Alpine, will step up from the ELMS to the WEC with at least one full season car, if not two. SMP Racing will field two full season cars under the immense wealth of Boris Rotenberg. An updated Oreca 03, which will be called the Oreca 03R, will be available to prospective LMP2 teams. OAK Racing will be developing a closed-cockpit Ligier LMP2 car in 2014, but it is uncertain whether they will make the first race. Additionally, the status of the team running their tried-and-true Morgan Nissans full season next year is somewhat up in the air. Can ADESS AG find a team to run their brand-new car, which closely resembles the Lotus T128? Will Mike Newton's Tiga LMP2 project take off?

In GTE, Porsche will return under the Manthey moniker with two full-time GTE-Pro entrants, with Frederic Makowiecki the only signed driver. Porsche will offer customer 911 RSRs (991 edition) to privateer teams interested in GTE-Am. Prospeed Competition and Proton Competition are the two current teams planning to run for the full 2014 FIA WEC season using the new 911s. Ram Racing will make the jump from ELMS to WEC, planning to run one full-time GTE-Pro car with Johnny Mowlem and Matt Griffin, and one full-time GTE-Am car with TBA drivers. AF Corse hasn't yet officially confirmed their return but it's only a matter of time. Finally, Aston Martin Racing has confirmed two full-time GTE-Pro entries, one GTE-Am entry with Paul Dalla Lana, and the team is searching for potential customer teams in the WEC.

::: 2014 WEC FORUM RACE THREADS :::

Official details will be announced on January 26!







Roll on 2014!!

[Gingers4Justice]

Cracking job as ever, Beetle.

I really can't wait. The anticipation and the buzz from the motorsport media for this season is about ten times what it was last year. The same goes for me too.

I sometimes have to pinch myself about how lucky I am. It's a tough wait for all of us for the season to kick off, but when it does, I only have to nip 40 minutes down the road to see it happen....

The car count looks like it should be reasonable. I did an estimate the other day and I got 31, assuming 50% of the teams who have showed interest and aren't confirmed fail to show up. You only have to add 5 cars to the confirmed entries to match what we ended with this year.

The only concerning thing for me is a lack of variety in the GT classes. If we lose Labre, we've only got three manufacturers in there.

[kober]

Nicely done!

Originally Posted by Beetle

- Porsche AG (T BERNHARD / R DUMAS / M LIEB)
- Porsche AG (N JANI / M WEBBER / B HARTLEY)

Has the line-up been confirmed already?

Also, could we loose "season thread" from the topic's title, if possible? The last two words are obvious, don't need to be stated.

[LMP1]

I've managed to convince my F1-daft flat-mate to get into sports cars for next season with the following arguments:

• He has been a RedBull fan since DC drove for them and has been cheering for Webber ever since DC retired - he simply has to see how Mark gets on in sportscars!

• We are both Scottish and love to support local drivers but with no di Resta at Force India, there are no Scottish drivers left in F1 - however, one of the reigning Le Mans winners and WEC world champions is local boy, Allan McNish!

I can't wait for Audi vs. Toyota vs. Porsche! I hope they get a good share of wins between them and that nobody totally dominates. Porsche and Toyota will have to bring their A-game though because the machine that is Audi Sport Team Joest will be the team to beat as per
though!

[Beetle]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

Cracking job as ever, Beetle.

I really can't wait. The anticipation and the buzz from the motorsport media for this season is about ten times what it was last year. The same goes for me too.

I sometimes have to pinch myself about how lucky I am. It's a tough wait for all of us for the season to kick off, but when it does, I only have to nip 40 minutes down the road to see it happen....

The car count looks like it should be reasonable. I did an estimate the other day and I got 31, assuming 50% of the teams who have showed interest and aren't confirmed fail to show up. You only have to add 5 cars to the confirmed entries to match what we ended with this year.

The only concerning thing for me is a lack of variety in the GT classes. If we lose Labre, we've only got three manufacturers in there.

I've contacted Larbre via Twitter - hopefully they respond soon. They aren't the most active bunch on various social outlets, though.

I just hope that CoTA goes better this year... I'm very happy with a three hour drive from Dallas to Austin. It's not too bad, but your situation is even better, Ginger.

[FstrthnU]

Originally Posted by kober

Nicely done!

Has the line-up been confirmed already?

Also, could we loose "season thread" from the topic's title, if possible? The last two words are obvious, don't need to be stated.

It hasn't been confirmed yet. That is just the order I put them in on Wikipedia (which I assume Beetle got the list from). At the very least, the 6 drivers are going to be in those two cars

It'll probably be either all of the Porsche veterans in one car and all of the Porsche "newbies" in the other (what I have now) or mixing up the veterans and newbies to give each car equal experience.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Excited for the season mostly because of the potential for the sport and the series especially with the Audi Porsche Toyota battle and drivers like Webber calling the series their home.

I'll be making the trip to La Sarthe this year to see these incredible cars and drivers at the biggest race of the season. Got flights booked, Eurostar, Rental Car, General Admission/Barnato and most importantly camping tickets.

Obviously will be cheering for Toyota since I love a good underdog story.

[Simmi]

This is the season that the new-era WEC has been building towards. Hoping it will be a complete dogfight in every round among the big boys.

Strong list Beetle. No complaints with any of that. A few of the driver line-ups will shake themselves out before Silverstone and hopefully soon we can add some more teams.

[TF110]

Thinking Toyota may have the car to beat this season. If they go the 8mj option, they will no doubt put out the most power. Its already 300hp from their capacitor, can't wait to find out how much they estimate it to put out in 2014! Also hope Aston Martin gets their LeMans win, and we see a Viper in GTE AM.

[deggis]

Originally Posted by Simmi

This is the season that the new-era WEC has been building towards.

Yes, altough originally 2014 was supposed to become a 4-way battle. First seasons definitely kind of underwhelming and watered down competition wise and especially 2012 title was a giveaway.

[Gingers4Justice]

It's going to be interesting to see where the WEC sits in terms of motorsport media coverage this season.

It's become less niche with each season. Obviously, it's absolutely miles off breaking into any kind of mainstream coverage bar Le Mans. The task is to make sure the WEC overtakes the DTMs and WTCCs of this world.

I was very impressed with the attendances in Shanghai and Interlagos. Shanghai must have had the closest WEC attendance to its F1 attendance? Just goes to show, there's hope for the series in the less traditional endurance racing regions.

This season really needs to live up to the hype.

[Starfish Primer]

Is the Audi lineup confirmed? In the last months there were some rumours linking Nico Muller to the LMP1 squad.

[NaBUru38]

AF Corse has confirmed both GTE-Pro cars.

[bella]

Originally Posted by Starfish Primer

Is the Audi lineup confirmed? In the last months there were some rumours linking Nico Muller to the LMP1 squad.

my thoughts exactly, i didn't think audi had said anything yet. nico is a superb racer, and really badly underrated by the single seater crowd. hopefully audi have done the smart thing and signed him up. presumably they'll be doing some clarification tomorrow?

also, i didn't realise alpine/signatech have definitely got the funding for next season. panciatici and ragues doing the pedalling would be a very safe bet if they have.

[rich07]

Originally Posted by Beetle

I've contacted Larbre via Twitter - hopefully they respond soon. They aren't the most active bunch on various social outlets, though.

I've been wondering about Larbre also. Hope they return with the Corvette so we can have some American muscle in
the GT classes. Not hopeful of seeing a viper though.

[Victor_RO]

WHAAAAAAAT?

Allan McNish retires from racing

Audi Sport did tweet about "some important news to come", never in a million years would I have expected this.

EDIT: It's big enough news to warrant its own thread I suspect. http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=140294

[Starfish Primer]

If you read the latest Motorsport magazine he was talking about how to retire and how Laurent Aiello retired. There was also a McNish special reviewing all his career.

We´ll miss him a lot, top driver, top personallity, thanks Allan for all these years.

[wewantourdarbyback]

Di Grassi in the number 1 then I imagine. Wonder how long TK will continue.

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by bella

my thoughts exactly, i didn't think audi had said anything yet. nico is a superb racer, and really badly underrated by the single seater crowd. hopefully audi have done the smart thing and signed him up. presumably they'll be doing some clarification tomorrow?

I think we might have just found the reason why Audi have been trying out Muller then.

[LMP1]

Originally Posted by LMP1

• We are both Scottish and love to support local drivers but with no di Resta at Force India, there are no Scottish drivers left in F1 - however, one of the reigning Le Mans winners and WEC world champions is local boy, Allan McNish!

Erm... well this is awkward.

[Ginaro Zukovsky]

I was going to suggest you cheer on Jonny Adam as he might be needed more now that Fred Mako has moved to Porsche - except that there's a few British GT clashes with WEC.

[FstrthnU]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

AF Corse has confirmed both GTE-Pro cars.

Do you have a link to this? I haven't read anything on AF Corse since the article confirming their USCC GTD entry and saying they were reviewing their GTE-Pro program.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by FstrthnU

Do you have a link to this? I haven't read anything on AF Corse since the article confirming their USCC GTD entry and saying they were reviewing their GTE-Pro program.

Exactly, I have yet to see an article containing confirmation of a 2014 FIA WEC program.

[Rodger Davies]

I saw one too, just don't have the link right now. Said they were keeping Fisi and the other drivers but may change their lineups

[TheNo1F1Fan]

REQUESTS:
- Prospeed Competition drivers should be the same drivers fom last year.
- Super GT driver Naoki Yamamoto should partner with Makowiecki, and the third driver might be Dumas, Pilet or any other driver.
- Any Japansese driver should be confirmed for the second Strakka Racing number.
- Kobayashi should stay in the WEC.