[WEC] FIA World Endurance Championship

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by Chiana

Sebring "coverage" was below standards even for Eurosport, just one short highlight broadcast on Sunday morning and some stuff over at French ES. Yes Spa and LM are full of WIN indeed - as usual - but Eurosport's attention to sportscars has often faded pretty quickly after the big one.

I can tell you the one hour delayed broadcast highlights of Sebring were no fault of Eurosports. Something to do with live television conflicts regarding ESPN/ESPNEurope/ALMS.com/Eurosport and in result you got that programming. Im sure the same will happen when Petit Le Mans comes around.

SPEEDTV does have a deal that includes the ILMC (and I presume WEC now) through 2012 or 13, but at least this year they are not showing the ILMC races, for now.

[Deleted]

Yet French Eurosport was able to do live stuff? I believe there was a promise of live ES Player content as well, but for some reason that never came true. Thou to their credit, the last time I checked Player archives there indeed was some delayed espn footage with no commentary.

I wonder if Ratel's new BoP-championship (if he somehow manages to get those entries by July) shares any weekends with the ACO-run series? Seeing as FIA finally has some influence on these things, unfortunately.

[AndyN]

It sounds like good news to me, I like the idea of a World Championship again.

I don't watch much TV

[NaBUru38]

Why on earth will they give a drivers title??? Endurance racing is a team sport!!! No teams titles is fine to me, they belong to continental championships.

Only one North American race would be uncool.

[AGD]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Why on earth will they give a drivers title??? Endurance racing is a team sport!!! No teams titles is fine to me, they belong to continental championships.

I tend to agree. On the other hand, I think most sports car fans don't really focus too much on drivers championships in the endurance ranks. Maybe I'm wrong on that.

It does pose an interesting question though. Peugeot and Audi both have 9 factory drivers each plus reserve drivers. Which of these drivers will be allowed to fight for the championship? There's a bit of an established pecking order at Audi, but not so much at Peugeot as far as I can tell. This could lead to some angst amongst the drivers. It would be nice in a way if the factory teams ran 3 cars each full-time, but I don't know if that is feasible.

Perhaps this is a good time to put a hard cap on entries per team for factory teams. Maybe that will force the factory teams to support privateer teams. Who knows.

I kind of like Audi and Peugeot rotating their drivers every race. It really does emphasize the team aspect of the sport. I'd like to keep that I think, but it looks like that is going away.

Only one North American race would be uncool.

No doubt! I fully understand why the ILMC goes to China and why China may get two races, but I think a championship is pretty lame when you have multiple races that nobody cares about when there are historic races with thousands of fans wanting to see the best sports car racing has to offer. What can I say?

The ACO is hitched pretty deeply now to Audi and Peugeot. They cannot afford to lose those two (unless they are replaced) or else the series will almost certainly die. Having the ILMC die is one thing, but having a World Championship die again will be a major embarrassment. If anything, I think the rules are more likely to favor the powerhouses even more than in the past.

[JAG]

There's no suggestion NA won't have two races, Sebring and PLM get more European coverage than any sportscar race outside Le Mans.

The number of events is dependent on travel arrangements, so a China double-header could happen, and a South American race after Sebring.

[AGD]

Originally Posted by JAG

There's no suggestion NA won't have two races, Sebring and PLM get more European coverage than any sportscar race outside Le Mans.

The number of events is dependent on travel arrangements, so a China double-header could happen, and a South American race after Sebring.

As I mentioned a few posts ago, John Dagys was mentioning on his Twitter feed that he was hearing that there may only be one North American race:

momedic9019 Ryan ziegler @
@johndagys can you put a bug in their ear to
bring the WEC to Road America.
4 hours ago

in reply to ↑
@johndagys
John Dagys
@momedic9019 It won't happen.
Word on the street is that there would only be one North American round to begin with..

http://twitter.com/#!/johndagys

[deggis]

Originally Posted by AGD

I tend to agree. On the other hand, I think most sports car fans don't really focus too much on drivers championships in the endurance ranks. Maybe I'm wrong on that.

Maybe they want to change that. I agree that constructors' & teams' titles would make more sense. Three titles are too much, imho.

[AUSRSR]

The thing I'm most worried about is the GT balancing. Which way will they go with balancing, ie. will they make GT3/GT2 cars up to GT1 spec? The best way to go would be to leave GTE as is, bring the GT1s down to GT2 level and GT3 up to GTE. Fingers crossed they leave GT2 specs as they are..

[arakis]

Originally Posted by AUSRSR

The thing I'm most worried about is the GT balancing. Which way will they go with balancing, ie. will they make GT3/GT2 cars up to GT1 spec? The best way to go would be to leave GTE as is, bring the GT1s down to GT2 level and GT3 up to GTE. Fingers crossed they leave GT2 specs as they are..

rant-/*For all those that seem to not read, The GTE rules are still ACO controled and will 99% stay the same for upcoming years.

the GT1/GT2 2009/GT3 new GT championship has apsolutly nothing to do with the ACO or le mans or any ACO rule set, they belong soley to Ratel new FIA GT championship.*/

this is exelent news, if done right the popularity of the ILMC/FIAWEC might shine and we have a great posibility of seeing more manufacturers joining in the LMP1, and with it we might finaly see some serius petrol manufacturers wiping the slate with those anoying oil burners

[slappy2happy87]

Thanks for the clarification Arakis! Im asking you to speculate now because well that we do. Will it be a challenge for Gt2 teams to choose between which series to run. Ratel's series and or the WSC. Also will those GT teams have to make major changes to run the WSC from Ratel's? This could be a good problem to have.

[Spyderman]

Originally Posted by AGD

Peugeot and Audi both have 9 factory drivers each plus reserve drivers.

I hope you are not counting Timo and Romain as "Audi Drivers".

[Andy77]

I am dreaming of a 1000km race at Suzuka if we speak about asian races

[AGD]

Originally Posted by Spyderman

I hope you are not counting Timo and Romain as "Audi Drivers".

Right, but I think the property lines have blurred over the years! I guess Audi has four full-time factory sports car drivers (and I guess Rockenfeller is preoccupied this year), but Dindo is retiring I guess so they will be down to three. It'll be interesting to see what they do for the WEC. I would have to think that Audi would like to get Timo and Romain's services on a more permanent basis. The drivers of the "red" car are all part-timers and have other racing duties with other companies AFAIK.

Originally Posted by slappy2happy87

Thanks for the clarification Arakis! Im asking you to speculate now because well that we do. Will it be a challenge for Gt2 teams to choose between which series to run. Ratel's series and or the WSC. Also will those GT teams have to make major changes to run the WSC from Ratel's? This could be a good problem to have.

The GT2s that will be allowed in the Ratel series will be 2009-spec cars. There may be teams that run both SRO and ACO series (perhaps the LMS if not the WEC), but there really isn't too much overlap between the series as far as I can tell. Perhaps someone else can speculate in that regard.

Originally Posted by Andy77

I am dreaming of a 1000km race at Suzuka if we speak about asian races

That would be awesome, but you might be better off setting your aspirations to Zhuhai or Shanghai! Hopefully Honda, Toyota, and/or Nissan will catch Le Mans fever and demand a Japan race. The way the auto industry is going though even those brands may want to race in China over Japan. Who knows.

[Mal]

Originally Posted by Andy77

I am dreaming of a 1000km race at Suzuka if we speak about asian races

I am sure this will happen IF the Japanese manufacturers step up to the plate

[Mal]

Originally Posted by AGD

How do you figure? I can't see the ALMS adopting Ratel style GT1/GT2/GT3 equalization rules. There really isn't a need for them to do that as long as GTE is strong. I'm sure the ALMS will stick with the ACO's regular GTE rules (which will not incorporate the multi-class equalization).

If the new rules are adopted by the ACO for Le Mans I would have thought the ALMS will adopt largely the same rules

[Asa]

If the ACO can get Mil Milhas Brasil on board for the WEC, then I am pretty sure one of the American rounds will be dropped in favour of it.

The race is traditionally run in November, therefore it could maybe run in Oct and replace PLM.

[AGD]

The GTE rules should stay the same for ACO events. The 2011 GT1/GT3 and 2009 GT2 equalization spec is for Ratel's FIA GT series, not for ACO series. To that extent, I'd imagine that ALMS rules will stay the same as this year well.

[AGD]

Originally Posted by Asa

If the ACO can get Mil Milhas Brasil on board for the WEC, then I am pretty sure one of the American rounds will be dropped in favour of it.

The race is traditionally run in November, therefore it could maybe run in Oct and replace PLM.

The speculation is that the South American event (if one happens again) will be run back-to-back with the North American event to cut down on travel costs. Would a PLM and Mil Milhas doubleheader work in terms of dates? Would there be enough time to run one or two events in Asia in November after that? Or could potential Chinese and Japanese races run before Le Mans?

If there has to be only one North American event (ugh), I guess it would be better for it to be PLM than Sebring. European teams may be more likely to go to Sebring anyway in order to warm up for the WEC and Le Mans.

[kurski]

Originally Posted by R4z3rw33n

It's on the official press release:

http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre...sc-030611.aspx

Looks like confirmation to me.

I've been waiting for this announcement, every day since 2005. FIA World Endurance Championship is reminiscent of the old World Sportcar Championship.

[Bonanza]

does this mean that the GT1 world championship (or soon to be GT seemingly) will be in the same race as the WEC races, or will the WEC GT class and GT world championship be completely seperate?

[AUSRSR]

Originally Posted by AGD

The GTE rules should stay the same for ACO events. The 2011 GT1/GT3 and 2009 GT2 equalization spec is for Ratel's FIA GT series, not for ACO series. To that extent, I'd imagine that ALMS rules will stay the same as this year well.

This is what I thought, their release confused the hell out of me!

It could be really really good.

[johntt]

Originally Posted by Bonanza

does this mean that the GT1 world championship (or soon to be GT seemingly) will be in the same race as the WEC races, or will the WEC GT class and GT world championship be completely seperate?

The GT World Champsionship will be Ratel's 1 hour races, just with 2009 GT2s and GT3s running alongside the current cars on an equalised basis.

The WEC is the current ILMC with the winner of the GT class winning the World Endurance GT Championship.

[Gingers4Justice]

Really can not see what's wrong with this. This has got to be win-win.

The FIA brings prestige to the series, and with that comes better exposure and more manufacturers. Manufactures always get excited by anything with the word "world" in it, and when they come, so do the fans again.

Hopefully this will also engage more with the series. Say "ILMC" to the man on the street, and it means nothing. Say "World Endurance Championship", and even if he doesn't know what it is exactly, he's already got the jist of it.

This will also probably mean that Eurosport will take it more seriously, or maybe even ESPN or Sky may be interested in this.

This isn't like last time either. Don't forget that the current president was there and he suffered when the FIA killed Group C, Todt knows what went wrong as much as anybody.

[kober]

"The Automobile Club de l’Ouest hereby agrees to integrate the Le Mans 24 Hours into the calendar, but the event remains the exclusive property of the ACO and is not a participant in this agreement."

For me that sounds that the ACO will integrate the LM24 into WEC calendar, but the event will not be a part of the championship.