Le Mans and the World Sportscar Championship existed long before any current series, pretty much the entire history of the sport has been built on these two foundations.
Since the end of '92 there's been turmoil, false starts, and plenty of great racing, but in the end the ultimate goal was always to relaunch the one series with history and meaning, the World Championship. A World Championship was desireable fifty years ago, today it's as necessity given the growth of emerging markets and communication.
The rest of the sportscar scene is the bedrock the WEC is built upon, it's largely usurped touring cars as the national category of choice, it's seen as a viable route for single-seater teams, young drivers see their careers in the sport, the foundations are in place and will only improve with initiatives like the FLM prize fund and cost-capped P2.
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I doubt the WEC will draw Penske or Ganassi, or others of that calibre. They are interested in racing and winning here at home. I've seen ZERO indication that they would care to win Le Mans or any other overseas race. Additionally, such a team would NOT agree to put up such an effort on its own dime; it would be up to whichever factory to pay for the program itself.
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A Penske boss was quoted in Autosport saying Le Mans is unfinished business, they were in talks to run an R18, and may yet be in line to run the Porsche.
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Finally, while Europe has F1, that series is NOT concentrated solely in Europe by any means. Conversely, NASCAR is wholly concentrated here, so the effects in this much more closed system are felt more strongly; NASCAR sucks a good deal more of the air out of the room as it were.
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If an F1 race is staged in Spain, India or China it recieves identical coverage, if I want to follow top class sportscars, it makes no difference if they're racing at Silverstone, Road Atlanta or Bahrain, it's another race to be followed on TV, it's not as if any of us can get to more than a race or two live.