[WEC] WEC 2024

[Matador]

Originally Posted by Simmi

On the other hand - strong BMW driver lineups: https://www.dailysportscar.com/2024/...r-lineups.html

This lineup is properly solid

Originally Posted by joeb

Proton have revealed their Mustang liveries. I like how they aren't identical or mirrors.

https://www.dailysportscar.com/2024/...-line-ups.html

They look great, but to me they look as if they were separate sub-entries like HoR/D'Station and Manthey EMA/Pure Racing. Doesn't quite sit well with my eyes

[TF110]

The new Mustang just doesn't do it for me. It's a big car, like the BMW M4. Just my opinion, but the blue one is a great color!

[tomcug]

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/...r-wec-program/
Doesn't look promising.

[flatlandsman]

The car is already made, I am sure the team owners if they wanted to, could get a budget for WEC, or maybe farm out one car perhaps. It does not have to be a factory effort initially, have a learning year on a budget

[Adam43]

Could do, if someone stumps up the cash. Assuming they have capacity to make the car without disruption. Otherwise the cost goes up.
Or you could buy one of the others that aren’t in a learning year if you are a privateer funding it yourself. Again assuming they can be available due to capacity.

They’ve stated they’re not that bothered. Which is a shame, but I see no reason to doubt what they are saying.

[tomcug]

Originally Posted by flatlandsman

The car is already made, I am sure the team owners if they wanted to, could get a budget for WEC, or maybe farm out one car perhaps. It does not have to be a factory effort initially, have a learning year on a budget

No idea if it's even possible without Honda Japan's permission.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=na_D3rfuTH8

[flatlandsman]

It needs someone like a Keating to do a last hurrah type deal, he has already said he does not have that much cash to burn, but something like that, run by Taylor maybe but I doubt it,

[broadrun96]

Wayne is working his way OUT not in, see the slow sale of the team to Andretti. They only have the WTR Acuras available, the MSR car was literally left in the WTR garage after Petit and used. I don't think they have an extra to send anywhere even if someone stumped up the cash to fully fund it AND HRC was interested

[flatlandsman]

I am not at all convinced HRC can be arsed, they have a new Super GT car that will be costing millions and is their home market, plus the overall spend on stuff like Supercross, SBK and MotoGP, but they have lost the drain financially that was Marquez so that has saved them a fortune on both money and spare body panels.

[TF110]

F1 is their focus. They want all hands on deck for the new engine. According to motorsport.com once that settles down then they might say ok. I think it's a bunch of baloney. If I were to guess, the 'Acura' is on a tiny budget and it's just for America.

[broadrun96]

Well their program has had the most external sponsorship of any of the programs. AXR has Whelen but the rest are affiliated products while WTR had Konica and others, MSR was team aligned SiriusXM rather than Acura.

[PhilipR]

I mean they have the car, only issue is running it in WEC or Le Mans
Is there no team willing to put part of the budget to run it (maybe United or any other LMP2 team such as APR or Vector Sport)
Or how expensive would it be to run for HRC a car that already exists? Maybe they do not want to put money into building new chasis? Also their engine is quite advanced and was supposed to be the next Indycar engine and since it is not going to be used in Indycar it does not make sense financially to build a lot more engines(I imagine the Acura engine must be most expensive as it is full on race engine)?

Also because of the engine could they have doubts if it would last running 24 hours flat out? I know the car did 24 hours at Daytona but that race is not as full on flat out as Le Mans and does not have the dirt and debries associated with using a public road track

[broadrun96]

What car do you think exists? They don't have racks of extras lying around, believe they are running the cars they built in IMSA

[Adam43]

We all want them to do it. They have other priorities and resources are finite, so it’s not one at the moment.

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/...r-wec-program/

[airbusA346]

Manthey Porsche line ups are:

- #91 Manthey EMA: Richard Lietz, Morris Schuring and Yasser Shahin
- #92 Manthey PureRxcing: Klaus Bachler, Alex Malykhin and Joel Sturm

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by airbusA346

Manthey Porsche line ups are:

- #91 Manthey EMA: Richard Lietz, Morris Schuring and Yasser Shahin
- #92 Manthey PureRxcing: Klaus Bachler, Alex Malykhin and Joel Sturm

https://www.manthey-racing.de/en/man...e-championship

No Grello

[PhilipR]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

What car do you think exists? They don't have racks of extras lying around, believe they are running the cars they built in IMSA

They have developed the car and I am sure they have some spares around. Whilst not an expert I think it would not be that expensive to put a third car together and homologaate it for WEC and find a team to run it. WTR seems keen to do it too.

But is up to them how they want to spend the money.

[broadrun96]

I don't think they have another bit to build, they literally took the MSR car down to the WTR garage at the end of Petit. I would assume it's in use, they aren't building tons of these things and spares

[Adam43]

Whether or not there is another chassis, adding another competitive car, even with a customer, is not cheap and is a drain on resources. Especially if you want to do it well. They have to support it. Technical support, spare parts, etc…

A WEC program travels the world. That has challenges and is more complex than supporting a US program only. If they are to do it then they would want to promote it (hospitality, promotion in local markets, as well as traditional adverts).

They have finite resources. They’ve got people they are lending to other programs which may not last forever. This may be something that they fall back to when those are done. I wouldn’t want to hire a lot of people to only let them go when it is done. They could also be managing the overall to be more sustainable from this perspective.

It is clear that this is not possible for them at the moment. I read them say it in an article somewhere.

[tomcug]

https://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/d...y-notebook-18/

Proton team principal Christian Ried told Sportscar365 they will “make a plan” once the Le Mans entry list is confirmed on whether they would need to fly its WeatherTech Championship car to Le Mans or potentially have a third 963, should the German team be granted a second Hypercar entry.

Interesting. I'd rather see a second Proton car than a third Penske.

[Coach Ep]

Originally Posted by tomcug

https://sportscar365.com/imsa/iwsc/d...y-notebook-18/

Interesting. I'd rather see a second Proton car than a third Penske.

Proton also has 2 Mustangs in GT already. And is not suppling any track safety vehicles or sponsoring the ACO for example.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

What car do you think exists? They don't have racks of extras lying around, believe they are running the cars they built in IMSA

Originally Posted by broadrun96

I don't think they have another bit to build, they literally took the MSR car down to the WTR garage at the end of Petit. I would assume it's in use, they aren't building tons of these things and spares

Not so fast my friend!
https://www.dailysportscar.com/2024/...ly-legacy.html

In talking about team structure now with Andretti on board young Taylor says this about their shop in Indy:

“The shop is the same up in Indianapolis, but they’ve redesigned all the offices to fit that many more engineers. The layout of the whole shop floor is just insanely packed with race cars. Now we have our two Acuras, but there’s five tubs – there’s the GTD car, there’s five (Lamborghini) Super Trofeo cars.

So the two built cars plus 5 tubs. Don't know what that means for parts supply, but they can't be lacking if there are 5 extra tubs!

[broadrun96]

5 tubs but importantly, how many engines and hybrid units? I'm gonna guys MAYBE 4, maybe 5 so spare for each in the truck and one for the shop but that's not enough to build up another program. Plus a tub ain't a car so based on his words we have 2 of em out there so I stand on my 2 cars statement

[tomcug]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

5 tubs but importantly, how many engines and hybrid units?

Exactly, there's a big difference between having a carbon tub and an entire car put together Adding the fact they need spares for the IMSA cars just in case, it's not easy for sure.

[GT3_Fan]

With just 2 classes, why the heck is GT3 running with orange number panels?! That is so dumb. It is too similar to the red of hypercar. Just go with green. Or maybe hypercar should run black, and GT3 run green to line up with IMSA.