[WEC] FIA World Endurance Championship

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

Even with the FIA involved and Todt wanting to build on the NA market for sportscar racing and F1, I wouldn't be surprised if no real NA TV package outside of Sebring and LM comes up this year, which likely won't please Audi or Toyota, as both probably don't want to have to spend money on separate ALMS programs for NA promotional purposes.

I guess Speed might air some tape-delayed highlights in the off-season (like they do with WTCC etc) but that's about it I think... they've already dropped all sportscar racing expect GA which is a Nascar product anyways and ILMC was never picked by them or any other channel. I don't think it'll be any different with WEC, there's just not enough interest...

Audi could always hand one of their spare R18/R15s for ALMS privateers if they want NA explosure and cannot be bothered with extra factory campaign.

[deggis]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

Yep, been listening to the 2009 RLM race broadcast and that rule is mentioned in there, so at least for Le Mans that rule is already 3 years old.

Out of curiosity I did check the old regs: use of engines is mentioned in the LM supplementary regs but it is two engines for the week basically (all sessions and race). 2011 sporting regs and neither ILMC specific sporting regs have it.

[Deleted]

Funny, I've recently been re-watching last year's LM again and Eurosport crew mentioned that diesels had separate quali-engines and race engines... but I guess they were just fooling around

[deggis]

It's possible... i.e. turning up the notches for the engine #1 (while #2 would be reserved for the race?). Maybe my wording was confusing:

2 engines maximum can be used for the free practice sessions, the qualifying practice sessions, the Warm-Up and the race on a car regularly entered.

Above from the 2011 supplementary regs, but that doesn't have to change for this year because the WEC rule says:

65. B. Use of engines
Each car entered in an event (except for the Le Mans 24 Hours – cf. Supplementary Regulations) must mandatorily use the same engine for qualifying and for the race.

[AGD]

Originally Posted by Chiana

I guess Speed might air some tape-delayed highlights in the off-season (like they do with WTCC etc) but that's about it I think... they've already dropped all sportscar racing expect GA which is a Nascar product anyways and ILMC was never picked by them or any other channel. I don't think it'll be any different with WEC, there's just not enough interest...

Speed put ILMC highlights on their web subscription channel, Speed 2. Perhaps WEC highlights will be on there too. Being on Speed 2 is just like not being on anything though as it's virtually unknown and very few ISPs subscribe to it. It's a very, very poor imitation of ESPN3 and it's not like ESPN3 is big-time.

[pdxracefan]

Well, I'm not going to start this one myself, but I wonder if someone is. Today is Feb. 7th, and a far as I can see, no one has started a thread for Sebring. And, in the words of some of you, it's bloody weel time. I'm not talented enough to do it myself, so would someone else please do it?



Plus, I'm going there with my two boys for the first time with them alone, without the women, and looking forward to having a good time.



Plus I have to look up Coach Ep at Turn 7 and say hi...

[FstrthnU]

I don't know if anyone's interested in this, but the ACO has released the official 2011 ILMC yearbook http://www.lemans.org/en/news/Relive...ok-__6172.html

[Canada ALMS fan]

^Thank you!

[Acid09]

Great, instant buy!

[FstrthnU]

http://www.lemans.org/en/news/jacob-...m-p1_6180.html
A little something, Jacob Greaves stated in an interview that he's looking to LMP1 in the future, hopefully with a goal of getting on the podium

[FstrthnU]

http://www.lemans.org/en/news/jacob-...m-p1_6180.html
A little something, Jacob Greaves stated in an interview that he's looking to LMP1 in the future, hopefully with a goal of getting on the podium

[NaBUru38]

How about a WEC + ALMS round at Austin for 2013? Or do you think the layout will be too bad for sports prototypes?

[Acid09]

Here's something interesting, we had the discussion about the international importance of Le Mans in racing a few weeks ago:

http://www.lemans.org/en/news/the-le...medium=twitter

Even National Geographic, an American magazine, ranks it higher than the Indy 500... higher than everything to be precise.

It's the biggest race in the world, plain and simple

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by Acid09

Here's something interesting, we had the discussion about the international importance of Le Mans in racing a few weeks ago:

http://www.lemans.org/en/news/the-le...medium=twitter

Even National Geographic, an American magazine, ranks it higher than the Indy 500... higher than everything to be precise.

It's the biggest race in the world, plain and simple

Still wouldn't describe it as the biggest - but I would certainly say the best. It's one of those things you don't understand until you've experienced it.

You can some up what makes the Rally Dakar or the Monaco GP special in a couple of sentences. I think I could write an essay on Le Mans.

I hope the WEC captures some of the magic in each part of the world.

[adam46]

So do you think the petrol/diesel equalisation is going to work this year?

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by FstrthnU

http://www.lemans.org/en/news/jacob-...m-p1_6180.html
A little something, Jacob Greaves stated in an interview that he's looking to LMP1 in the future, hopefully with a goal of getting on the podium

Interesting. Lining themselves up to be there should Nissan decide to make the leap to LMP1. Perhaps they could perform a similar to role to that we've seen from Rebellion and take an LMP1 engine in 2013?

[deggis]

Probably good to post here too: http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...thout-peugeot/

[Canada ALMS fan]

^Just enjoy it while you can because you can never predict the future in sportscars. The WEC looks to be in for a great season, even with the Peugeot pullout, but who knows how long it can last with Audi rumoured to be leaving P1 after 2013? Hopefully Porsche, Toyota, and Honda all step up. At the time we didn't realize the 2007-2008 ALMS seasons were going looked back upon as classics, so I am thankful to have experienced them, along with the 5 year Audi/Peugeot battle. It is always great to see new cars, new technologies, and change in Le Mans style racing, unfortunately that change sometimes involves major programs disappearing. I am glad to see the Peugeot drivers ending up with other teams.

[TF110]

EDIT- link was already posted- wrong thread.

[gwyllion]

@TF110: Look two messages higher from your post

[AGD]

Dagys is reporting a rumor that the WEC may allow teams (not sure in all classes or just P1) to only count 6 of the 8 races towards the championship. I'm not sure how Le Mans' double points would work with all of that, but you get the idea. I guess it's to allow Toyota to have a chance at the championship. Whether Audi may skip some races if that is the case, I don't know.

[deggis]

Was also in last week's Autosport (I think was only mentioned in the Toyota thread).

[MitchZ06]

So we'll see essentially no teams at Bahrain and a massive Petit Le Mans grid? How bout that....

[AGD]

Originally Posted by MitchZ06

So we'll see essentially no teams at Bahrain and a massive Petit Le Mans grid? How bout that....

My initial reaction is that maybe this could help Petit, but that is actually quite unlikely. The Japan and China dates are too close together for it to make much sense unless a team decides to skip both Japan and China. That's unlikely to be either Toyota or Audi. Petit is SOL regardless it would seem.

As for Bahrain, I don't know. Perhaps the ACO would make the rules so that teams can't really take advantage of the "6 of 8" rule in order to cherry pick and skip the garbage races. Of course, Toyota would be allowed to do whatever they want. On the other hand, perhaps it's possible that the ACO does not care who shows up at Bahrain so as long as the meet whatever promoter's minimum there is. For all we know, they may just want the big bags of cash and not care if there is a legitimate race or not. I don't know. Dagys will supposedly have a story about Bahrain today. Today is the anniversary of the protests in Bahrain last year that led to the cancellation of the F1 race.

This is all speculation though. Who knows if the ACO will actually implement the "6 of 8" rule, but I guess the idea is being bounced around.

My question is if a "6 of 8" rule could have swayed Peugeot to stay. Unlikely, but who knows. Of course, it's Peugeot leaving that is causing this topic to be an issue so it's not really a fair question I guess.

[chernaudi]

I think that the "6 of 8" rule is for one of two reasons: Toyota will miss Sebring, and them and Audi (who are running the troublesome old model R18s at Sebring) having the opportunity to drop 2 "bad" races off their score might help them out in the title hunt.

Also, Audi and Toyota (and likely most of the other teams) seem to be opposed to Bahrain. Unless the FIA/ACO cancel the race, Audi and Toyota might use this as an opting out to run PLM (they're the only teams capable of running PLM between Fuji and Shanghai realistically) or anything other than Bahrain. I'd bet that if Peugeot were still in the WEC, that they'd also be opposed to Bahrain. Audi, Toyota and the departed Pug effort had no major sales or promotional interest in Bahrain, and seem to be opposed, like much of the western world, to the unrest in that country.

And a question about Fuji: Will the WEC run the chicane that the F1 teams used, or will the run the Super GT layout with out the chicane?