Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike E
Fair point. And since we are in the realms of the hypothetical, would a year old P1 have to be sold at the cap price? Otherwise a team could be faced with the options of buying a new ORECA at the cap or last year's Audi at a knockdown price (relatively speaking), thus making ORECA's life very difficult.
I'm glad I don't write the rules.
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Interesting one to legislate around, but one that might be fixed by the market.
So - manufacturer P1s may either have such tight engine packaging that fitting a Nissan P2 motor in place of the P1 hybrid just wouldn't work, so it's less appealing to a P2 runner, for whom the Oreca or similar would be a less compromised package.
Alternative, the manufacturer may not want their chassis to run in LMP2 for risk of reputational damage. So, even if the engine packaging could be sorted (not impossible), while an Audi might be fine in the hands of a Jota, I can't see Ingolstadt being enthused by the prospect of Ian Dawson laying his hands on one and strapping a tractor engine into it.
There's also the propensity of the sportscar owner to periodically go for something a bit different. I recall Creation boss Mike Jankowski opining that it was much more fun to own a historic Courage Group C car than a Porsche 962, partly because it was different and attracted more attention. In the same way, Mike Newton is cheerfully trying to bring a Tiga to the grid when inherently it would be quicker, easier, and probably more competitive to go down the Oreca or Morgan route.