Based on some comments from the Spa 6hr weekend, it seems like the new LMH cars make their laptimes rather differently from the LMP2s and GTEs.
Here's what Kevin Estre had to say:
Quote:
“They have more power than us and are faster on the straights,” he told Sportscar365.
“If they catch you in sector one or sector three, it’s no big issue. In sector two, if they don’t overtake us into Les Combes, we kind of push them up to turn nine.
“We are in their gearbox. In these technical parts, they don’t have an advantage to us with the Le Mans [low-downforce] kit and the weight they have now.
“GTE has always had a very good mechanical balance, but now that the weight from the LMP is closer to our weight, they don’t really gain in these corners. We are stuck behind.
“I think we’ll unfortunately see a lot more GTE cars blocking LMP cars just before [Les Combes] because if they don’t overtake us there, we’ll lose a lot of time which was not the case before.
“So I think it’s not great, but I spoke this morning to [LMP2 driver] Loic Duval and he said it’s going to be tough. He said, ‘we know you’re going to block us, so we’re going to be aggressive.”
Estre indicated that the top GTE drivers in both the Pro and Am classes are facing a significant time loss when they come up against amateur drivers in the LMP2 cars.
“This is even worse,” he said. “If a gentleman overtakes us, we lose one to 1.5 seconds on a lap. With the tight competition we have here normally you can’t afford to lose that.
“I think it’s going to be tough. You can also see that they fight more with the car, also Toyota for the speed they have in the corners. You can really see that they fight the cars more.
“Life is harder for them and the gap between all classes is smaller. It’s going to be a challenge.”
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What I am wondering, is if the ACO/FIA need to reflect this different way of racing when it comes to the question of what they should do with regards to the next-generation of LMP2-cars and the question of what should happen to GT in WEC and at Le Mans.
If I understand things correctly, classes "making" their laptimes in different ways (i.e. some being faster on the straights, while others are faster in the corners, but slower on the straights ) can be a major cause of accidents. A beneficial class structure would see all cars similarily fast through the corners, so as to avoid scenarios such as the one outlined by Estre above, but with a clear separation in straightline speed. That way, passing between the classes should mostly happen on the straights, which is inherently safer than in the corners - especially if much of the passing there happens in the form of "dive-bomb" moves.
With the new LMH cars being bound to a fixed downforce to drag ratio and therefore relatively low on downforce, it seems to me that the other classes in the field should follow a similar philosophy, i.e. by being slower in the corners than what we have right now.
The easiest way to achieve this would be to limit downforce for LMP2 and GT-cars in the next ruleset, either by fixed downforce to drag ratios or by limiting the size of wings and splitters, etc.
While this should be relatively easily to achieve with regards to next-gen LMP2, this poses a real problem for the rumored introduction of GT3 as a replacement for GTE, since GT3-cars are by and at large also relatively high-downforce machines.
Would it be then wise for the ACO/FIA to either create a bespoke low-downforce GT-class of their own or to introduce SRO GT2 rather than GT3-cars? Or is GT3 bringing so much to the table in terms of involved manufacturers that the ACO should overlook the problems of interclass racing that will probably come up when LMHs and GT3s share the track?
What do you think - should the ACO impose the low-downforce approach that exists in LMH also to LMP2 and its future GT-class? Or should they simply let things play out with no regards to the dynamics of interclass racing and rather focus on making these classes most attractive to potential entrants, even if that means following the current high-downforce route?