[WEC] New rules. New manufacturers. The 2021 and beyond positivity thread!

[Adam43]

Wow, wow and wow.

[canaglia]

considering the magnitude and the effort behind these 2 programs, more than a reveal this is a declaration of war!

[S griffin]

Exciting news. Perfect combination of a great team and a legendary sportscar manufacturer

[GT6]

Things are certainly looking up

[joeb]

Originally Posted by GT6

Things are certainly looking up

Speaking of looks.... I wonder what an LMdH is going to look like? We have a couple of examples of an LMH with Toyota and Glick, and they are both pretty different looking from each other. If we have that level of variation between cars in the dH category as well, we could have some very nice and interesting interpretations of factory cars.

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by joeb

Also wonder if both crews will run Le Mans?

I was wondering this too. We've seen three-car, even four-car teams in recent years from manufacturers in far more expensive machinery than we'll now have.

Okay maybe we'll see heavily supported customer efforts becoming defacto extra works entries, but you'd imagine we'd also see at least some three-car teams going forward. For sure you'd imagine Toyota would want a third bullet eventually.

[Bcarr6]

Well, nothing new below but its just crazy looking at what the potential top-tier class looks like for the Le Mans 24hrs 2023.

And that doesnt include those evaluating- BMW, Alpine, Acura, Lamborghini, Bentley, GM, Mclaren, etc

Audi Sport - Audi LMDH
Audi Sport - Audi LMDH
ByKolles - ByKolles LMH
Ferrari - Ferrari LMH
Ferrari - Ferrari LMH
Glickenhaus - Glickenhaus 007 LMH
Glickenhaus - Glickenhaus 007 LMH
Peugeot Sport - Peugeot LMH
Peugeot Sport - Peugeot LMH
Porsche Penske Motorsport - Porsche LMDH
Porsche Penske Motorsport - Porsche LMDH
Toyota Gazoo Racing - Toyota GR010 LMH
Toyota Gazoo Racing - Toyota GR010 LMH

[Graham Goodwin]

Originally Posted by Bcarr6

Well, nothing new below but its just crazy looking at what the potential top-tier class looks like for the Le Mans 24hrs 2023.

And that doesnt include those evaluating- BMW, Alpine, Acura, Lamborghini, Bentley, GM, Mclaren, etc

Audi Sport - Audi LMDH
Audi Sport - Audi LMDH
ByKolles - ByKolles LMH
Ferrari - Ferrari LMH
Ferrari - Ferrari LMH
Glickenhaus - Glickenhaus 007 LMH
Glickenhaus - Glickenhaus 007 LMH
Peugeot Sport - Peugeot LMH
Peugeot Sport - Peugeot LMH
Porsche Penske Motorsport - Porsche LMDH
Porsche Penske Motorsport - Porsche LMDH
Toyota Gazoo Racing - Toyota GR010 LMH
Toyota Gazoo Racing - Toyota GR010 LMH

Lambo, Bentley and potentially McLaren are targeting 2024 - Both current Acura teams have made it clear that LM24 is on their agenda

GM looks a shoe in

Neither does your list include the potential for the WEC teams adding one or more of the IMSA team for LM24

Nor does it include the certainty of customer cars

A top class of 20+ at LM looks very, VERY doable

[Mike E]

Originally Posted by Graham Goodwin

A top class of 20+ at LM looks very, VERY doable

Madness!

Toyota's LM wins might be slightly tainted for having no factory competition but they deserve huge credit for sticking with it through the lean times. I hope their head start on the others serves them well.

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by Graham Goodwin

Lambo, Bentley and potentially McLaren are targeting 2024 - Both current Acura teams have made it clear that LM24 is on their agenda



GM looks a shoe in



Neither does your list include the potential for the WEC teams adding one or more of the IMSA team for LM24



Nor does it include the certainty of customer cars



A top class of 20+ at LM looks very, VERY doable

I wasn't sure about Bentley but anyways had that thought of VAG has built 3, why not stickers and sell a Bentley version and get them to the front again. If they were to join that screams use the V8 and everyone can play. Especially since using the 4L V8 everyone has in the SUV let's them all use an engine from their lineup

[FIRE]

With Penske running the Porsches, can we assume Joest wil do it for Audi?

[canaglia]

Originally Posted by FIRE

With Penske running the Porsches, can we assume Joest wil do it for Audi?

Hard to say, WRT entered in WEC and ELMS to better prepare for lmdh.
Maybe Joest in IMSA and WRT in WEC.

[CTD]

Remember Joest is currently tied up with Glickenhaus and before being an Audi team, was a very loyal Porsche team.
Joest goes where they can get the best deal.

[NaBUru38]

With both Ferrari and Penske at Le Mans 2023, I double promise to attend.

[Simmi]

I've already allowed myself to get over excited and start thinking about driver combinations for 2023.

It's going to be like moths to a flame - with sportscar racing becoming a massive flame again.

To my mind there simply can not be any WEC/FE clashes in future years. I'd already expect a talent exodus from that series, but now when you consider you can drive these cars in two sportscar series, I think priorities will shift.

As power swings back towards the drivers, you have to imagine there's a rush on at the minute to sign people up. It could be an issue for later arrivals, for arguments sake BMW. But then you could time it right and get someone that drops out of F1 for instance. Who of that grid will be at Le Mans in 2023? More than a couple I reckon. Indycar too is going to be super interesting.

We might even start seeing privateer feeder teams with drivers becoming full works drivers after a year or two. Maybe that's something Porsche will try and do. Seeing how their current Factory Pilot roster translates to LMDh will be fascinating. It looks a bit GT focussed, but then I thought the same back when the P1 programme came in and would never have imagined the likes of Marc Lieb and Earl Bamber to be mainstays. But Penske Porsche could conceivable need 12 works drivers.

And who Ferrari pick for their initial 6/7 guys is going to be so interesting.

[Mike E]

Could do worse than Hulkenberg.
Grosjean?
Alonso if Alpine commit?
Button has said he wants to be involved.
Scott McLaughlin for Penske???
Giovinazzi has LM experience.
van der Garde, Albuquerque, van Uitert, de Vries, Will Stevens all easy quick enough.
Ferrari have placed Callum Ilott in GTWC.
Kelvin at Audi, Sheldon at BMW?

You could go crazy with this...

[Simmi]

Albon a good bet too. He's racing for AF Corse in DTM so I'm sure Ferrari could take a look possibly.

A Red Bull backed privateer Audi for example would be awesome.

[Mike E]

Yes, Albon is a good shout.

Sergio 'Tyre Whisperer' Perez would be a great endurance driver.

[Bcarr6]

Illott I think has already showed great sportscar promise in one GTWC meeting, give him 2021 in GT3's, 2022 in a mix of P2's + testing the Ferrari LMH and he'll be in a really good spot Im sure.

Laurens Vanthoor / Earl Bamber likely good bets for Porsche

BMW have a good roster of GT3 drivers but they are now mostly on the older side bar Sheldon.

Despite the potentially huge grid, I dont think we will struggle to fill seats, lots of really great GT3 drivers out there who have hit the ceiling of what you can do with GT3!

[Mike E]

Lots of positive noises here from Oreca.

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/...aluating-lmdh/

[Simmi]

Makes you wonder whether a fifth chassis constructor would be beneficial? Not sure who the best candidate would be but it might just open up more possibilities for OEMs.

[Koenigsegg]

Originally Posted by Simmi

Makes you wonder whether a fifth chassis constructor would be beneficial? Not sure who the best candidate would be but it might just open up more possibilities for OEMs.

At the time Ginetta was quite vocal about there not being a tender (or something like that).

[hondafan37]

Originally Posted by Koenigsegg

At the time Ginetta was quite vocal about there not being a tender (or something like that).

Ginetta wanted to be an LMH platform provider.
https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/...form-provider/

[chernaudi]

Per DSC, Audi Sport and Porsche Motorsport choose Multimatic to be their LMDH chassis partner.

[Mike E]

I hope the focus on LMDh doesn't result in the non-Oreca constructors ignoring next generation LMP2. They wouldn't be losing anything since no one buys their cars now.