Quote:
Originally Posted by Speed-King
I think giving LMP2 continued headliner stratus in those series is the ACO's way of making up for kicking them out of WEC and to ensure that there will be enough LMP2 entries around to have a viable class at Le Mans.
On the other hand, it would really make sense to open up ELMS to Hypercars for at least two different reasons:
1. there's more demand for WEC races than spaces on the calender, especially in Europe. So allowing Hypercars in ELMS would give Porsche and BMW a chance to race their cars in front of a home audience (assuming ELMS would go back to the Nürburgring or another German track).
2. The Hypercar class will be more stable in the long term if older cars can be sold on to privateers and if there is a pipeline for new teams to come into WEC. Granted, LMP2 can play the role of that pipeline to a certain degree as well, but its still a big jump to go from what is essentially a spec class to the much more open and hybrid-powered LMH or LMDh cars.
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Opening ELMS to Hypercar entries will destroy the series in just a year or two as P2 participants are being demoted to second rangs in a second rang championship, which will force those entrants and amateur racers out. We'll end up with a handful of top class entries (very similar to recent HY class entry numbers) + a boatload of GT3s (see below).
With P2 set to be kicked out from the WEC, ELMS might see a further increase of those entries. Combined with the GT class swapping the GTE platform for GT3, there'll be an abundance of entry requests in ELMS as well. The response might very well be to eliminate P3s from the series.