[WEC] World Endurance Championship - A New Proposal

[Beetle]

As I am following MJones94's Hypercars as the new GT1s? with great care, I felt like I should bring up a few points that I feel would not be simple "pipe dreams" or impossible ventures but actually something that would ease the pressure within teams in the FIA World Endurance Championship while raising the entries drastically at the same time. I came across this idea as I was designing a race track and jotting down potential Le Mans entries last evening.

I think it should first begin with the current 2013 FIA WEC schedule.

6 Hours of Silverstone - 14 April (GREAT BRITAIN)
6 Hours of Spa - 4 May (BELGIUM)
24 Hours of Le Mans - 22-23 June (FRANCE)
6 Hours of Sao Paulo - 1 September (BRAZIL)
6 Hours of Austin - 22 September (UNITED STATES)
6 Hours of Fuji - 20 October (JAPAN)
6 Hours of Shanghai - 10 November (CHINA)
6 Hours of Bahrain - 30 November (BAHRAIN)

With the exciting introduction of the new Asian Le Mans Series, which I predict will expand to bigger and better things in 2014 in comparison to the rather humble beginnings and entries for 2013, I feel that there is something more to be made from just two different series run by one "government".

Here's the provisional, and rather turbulent, 2013 Asian Le Mans Series schedule.

3 Hours of Zhuhai - 5 May (CHINA)
3 Hours of Shanghai - 26 May (CHINA)
3 Hours of Ordos - 7 July (CHINA)
3 Hours of Inje - 4 August (SOUTH KOREA)
3 Hours of Fuji - 22 September (JAPAN)
3 Hours of Sentul - 8 December (INDONESIA)

Also, the ELMS will be running with the WEC on the weekend of the 13-14 of April.

And, as probably everyone here knows, the American Le Mans Series, in 2013, will race on the same weekend as the FIA World Endurance Championship at Circuit of the Americas.

Now, the main idea I get from this is the variety of classes.

LMP1= ALMS and WEC LMP1 cars
LMP2 = ALMS, Asian Le Mans, and WEC LMP2 cars
GTE-Pro = ALMS, Asian Le Mans, and WEC GTE-Pro cars
GTE-Am = ALMS, Asian Le Mans, and WEC GTE-Am cars

That's what we know now. But what about adding LMPC (ALMS, Asian Le Mans, and ELMS cars) and GTC (FIA GT3, DTM, Asian Le Mans, and Super GT300 cars) to the races?

That leads me to some ideas. What if we make most of the schedule in the WEC a combined effort, both financially-wise and entry-wise. As in...

6 Hours of Silverstone (WEC & ELMS)
6 Hours of Spa (WEC & ELMS)
24 Hours of Le Mans (WEC, ELMS, ALMS, Asian Le Mans - only with LMP1, LMP2, and GTE)
6 Hours of Sao Paulo (WEC)
6 Hours of Austin (WEC, ALMS)
6 Hours of Fuji (WEC, Asian Le Mans)
6 Hours of Shanghai (WEC, Asian Le Mans)
6 Hours of Bahrain (WEC)

It would require lots of facilitating and compromising between the ELMS, Asian Le Mans Series, and the WEC as far as scheduling goes. However, we'd get...

- A 6 Hours of Silverstone with WEC LMP1s; WEC and ELMS LMP2s; ELMS LMPCs; WEC and ELMS GTEs; and (possibly) ELMS GTCs.
- A 6 Hours of Spa with the same as above.
- A 24 Hours of Le Mans with WEC and ALMS LMP1s; WEC, ELMS, Asian Le Mans, and ALMS LMP2s; and WEC, ALMS, ELMS, and Asian Le Mans GTEs.
- A 6 Hours of Sao Paulo with WEC LMP1s, LMP2s, and GTEs
- A 6 Hours of Austin with WEC and ALMS LMP1s; WEC and ALMS LMP2s; ALMS LMPCs; WEC and ALMS GTEs; and ALMS GTCs (different from Asian Le Mans/ELMS GTCs).
- A 6 Hours of Fuji with WEC LMP1s; WEC and Asian Le Mans LMP2s; Asian Le Mans LMPCs; WEC and Asian Le Mans GTEs; and Asian Le Mans GTCs.
- A 6 Hours of Shanghai with the same as above.
- A 6 Hours of Bahrain with the same as Sao Paulo.

This would mean one massive race for each weekend, sometimes with LMP1s, LMP2s, GTEs, Asian or American LMPCs, and GTCs racing at the same time!

Also, I feel like GTE Pro and Am should be abandoned. I think there should only be one "GTE", and that all the Am teams should either go faster or go to GTC, which would be the same cars as you find in the FIA GT3/Blancpain Endurance Series and possibly the GT300 series of Super GT and DTM. LMPCs would probably retain the GM motor and Oreca chassis.

What I'm thinking of is a huge, cooperative group of several different racing organizations coming together to put on a great show. If this was to have been established for 2013, here's how the calendar might look.

2013 Asian Le Mans Series

Round 1 - 3 Hours of Zhuhai (May)
Round 2 - 3 Hours of Shanghai (May)
Round 3 - 3 Hours of Ordos (July)
Round 4 - 3 Hours of Inje (August)
Round 5 - 6 Hours of Fuji (October) w/ WEC
Round 6 - 6 Hours of Shanghai (November) w/ WEC
Round 7 - 3 Hours of Sentul (December)

While we're on he topic, this series is begging, in my mind, to include Buddh, Yeongam, Sepang, Suzuka, Twin Ring Motegi, SUGO, Autopolis, and Okayama.

2013 European Le Mans Series

Round 1 - 6 Hours of Silverstone (April) w/ WEC
Round 2 - 6 Hours of Spa (May) w/ WEC
Round 3 - 3 Hours of Imola (May)
Round 4 - 24 Hours of Le Mans (June) w/ WEC and ALMS and Asian Le Mans invites (points race)
Round 5 - 3 Hours of Osterreich (July)
Round 6 - 3 Hours of Hungaroring (September)
Round 7 - 3 Hours of Le Castellet (September)

Again, while we're on the topic, this series is begging to have Portimao, Catalunya, Brno, Hockenheim, and Moscow added to it.

So how can this cut costs...?

Well, the cold hard cash that is the bedrock of all organizations could be split for one weekend by over two series, usually. Plus, with the added benefit of GTC, teams struggling to hang on in GTE or too amateur for GTE (I mentioned this above) could easily move down to GTC, which would be cheaper but just as fun to run, not to mention GT3 (what would be known as GTC) cars are just as fast (actually half a second faster around Spa) as modern GTEs. As you may recall, the final round of the ILMC at Zhuhai in 2011 showed some very close times between GTE and GTC cars, with only 2 10ths of a second separating the #55 BMW (pole GTE) and the #98 Audi Sport C Racing (pole GTC), driven by Edoardo Mortara.

So what do you guys think... what's your feedback? I spent a long time on this and it may be complete junk, but I feel like it may hold some merit and I wanted to share the idea with you. I think this joint effort could keep series that have recently been struggling like the ELMS and, honestly, the ALMS, upright, and new series like the Asian Le Mans Series from falling out.

I think, as a unified effort, this could produce the biggest events sportscar racing has ever seen. This may be a little bit too much for one go, but the off-season and lack of racing drives me close to madness.

Cheers!