2018/2019 WEC Super Season

FLRacingFan said:
I don't think it would be particularly bold to say the Manors won't be at Le Mans. When you get the funding pulled out from under you suddenly that's hard to recover from, with less than a month to Le Mans Test Day. That sucks.
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I hope Ginetta does not have to repossess those cars. I don't believe they have unlimited funding and losing those sales after the cars are finished has got to hurt. I don't know how you find someone to run them (and pay for the cars) this late in the game. Securing sponsorship after Lemans is probably next to impossible.

The SMP BR1 that crashed at Eau Rouge towards the end of the race may be a goner too, so that's two BR1s that would have to be built up.
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Or one. Dragon Speed says they do not know what they are going to do, which leaves unsaid that they may just be gone.

A lot of work for Dallara and BR Engineering, but I think they can get it done in time.
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They've got a little more than a month.
 
Updated Le Mans entry list is out: http://assets.lemans.org/explorer/p...du-mans/entry-list-24-heures-du-mans-2018.pdf

Ricky Taylor got himself a seat in one of the Jackie Chan entries. All three of the BR1s are still there, as well as both Manor Ginettas. However, DragonSpeed may receive an invite to run in LMP2 if they can't get a spare or conclusive reasoning for the Fittipaldi accident in time. Only two of the original nine reserve entries remain.

Even if Toyota runs away with it in LMP1, I think the other three classes are all pretty well stacked.

http://www.dailysportscar.com/2018/...hind-them-lmp1-grid-for-le-mans-recovers.html
 
Does anyone know what network Lemans is going to be on in the states?


First, I am delightfully wrong that all 10 scheduled LMP1s made it to the test. This is an illustration what the privateers can do if you give them even a distant glimmer of hope. I am absolutely hoping one of them wins because any of them would make great story.

Rebellion would be the least interesting because we already know they are a very professional team, and the current P2 champions. Would not be the most huge upset considering they were very much the best privateer at Spa. Would still be a great story though.

Probably the most interesting story would be a Manor/Ginetta win because of what they had to overcome just to get the cars out of the garage. They also spotted everyone a full race in development, so if they have enough speed and reliability to pounce on other's mistakes or attrition, they just might win it after a lot of people (including myself) were questioning if they would even make it.

BR1 would make a great story after their very public back flip embarrassment at Spa. It would be especially noteworthy of it's Button's car that wins.

Dragonspeed also lost a car (their only one), and one of their lead drivers at Spa, so it's good enough for me that they even got a car back together.

Bykolles might be the feel good result of any since Rondeau won in 1980. They were so hopeless last year that they were struggling to race against P2 cars, and pulled out mid-season to get their car fixed. This seems to have paid off as they scored a very well deserved fourth place at Spa this year, and were actually outrunning one of the BR1s on pace before it crashed out. If they can run that well at Lemans and have a little luck, we could have a shock winner, which is always good fun.

As far as the Toyotas, I hope they simply get beat, but if they blow up and open the door for a privateer sweep, I'de be fine with that too.

As far as P2, this year's field is extremely disappointing, especially considering we had 25 last year. Hopefully they will circulate in a big pack for 24 hours and be ready to pick up the pieces if the P1 field implodes like last year. Come on, Jackie Chan!
 
Love the Ginetta

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Race will be shown in its entirety (!) on Velocity this year. MotorTrend On Demand if you don't have Velocity (MTOD will also stream practice and qualifying).

All things considered, I have to be impressed by the privateers with such unproven machinery. Last year at the test Porsche went 4th and 5th behind the three Toyotas. The #2's best lap was a 3:21.5, while the #1 managed a 3:22.1 at best.

This year?

#3 Rebellion - 3:19.7
#1 Rebellion - 3:21.3
#11 SMP - 3:21.6
#17 SMP - 3:21.8

Four cars that would've been quicker than at least one Porsche at the test last year. Regardless of how they do against Toyota next week, that is impressive.

I'm really glad it looks like we'll have the full 10-car field in LMP1. It was looking hairy for a while there with the DragonSpeed/SMP damage and crash investigation, along with Manor's funding trouble.
 
Both Toyotas excluded at Silverstone, Rebellion wins


Yea, privateers!

This is a great reward for Rebellion, but I am sure this isn't the way they wanted it.

Someone mentioned Toyota can still appeal the ruling, so how juicy is that we won't know who won the race until God-knows-when? We don't even know who won the Lemans P2 class yet! All the legal mumbo jumbo in this series is even more exciting than the racing!

Man, I'de love to sit in on the Monday morning Toyota board meeting and see how this is explained away. Millions of dollars and they walk away with nothing except newspapers pointing out the Toyota was illegal.
 
Doc Austin said:
Both Toyotas excluded at Silverstone, Rebellion wins


Yea, privateers!

This is a great reward for Rebellion, but I am sure this isn't the way they wanted it.

Someone mentioned Toyota can still appeal the ruling, so how juicy is that we won't know who won the race until God-knows-when? We don't even know who won the Lemans P2 class yet! All the legal mumbo jumbo in this series is even more exciting than the racing!

Man, I'de love to sit in on the Monday morning Toyota board meeting and see how this is explained away. Millions of dollars and they walk away with nothing except newspapers pointing out the Toyota was illegal.
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I guess it technically counts. Technically. Probably a bit hollow though considering how much quicker the Toyotas still are though.

A bit embarrassing for Toyota for sure, though. This whole season - I'm not really sure what they're supposed to get out of it. They won Le Mans, but did people care? The way they rewrote the rules/EoT before Silverstone to basically say "Yeah, we screwed up badly" was not a good look.

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/lmp1-non-hybrids-given-eot-breaks/
 
Toyota 1-2 again but, hey, at least one SMP and one Rebellion finished only one lap down this time? Although much of the race was red-flagged...

Dope livery on the C7.R for their one-off though.

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Doc Austin said:
Damm. It looks even bumpier than last year! Anyone know if it's going to be televised?
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I think Velocity is scheduled to show the whole event live as they did with Le Mans, rather than all the other races where they only televise the first and last hours. Should also be available on Motor Trend On Demand in its entirety.
 
You gotta ask yourself why a guy like Hartley doesn't have a full time drive in either IMSA or WEC.
 
Doc Austin said:
You gotta ask yourself why a guy like Hartley doesn't have a full time drive in either IMSA or WEC.
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I'd love to see him full-time in either. It sounds like he still has some open wheel aspirations as he just signed with Ferrari to be a sim driver, and is helping develop Porsche's Formula E car and is in contention for their second seat alongside Neel Jani (another guy I'd love to see in prototypes again).
 
Button is probably regretting bailing out of that drive!

I think the ACO will use this as an excuse to really cripple the privateers going into LeMans and assure Toyota another gift. I hope I'm wrong.
 
I'll take it, within one second of the pole and within half a second of the other Toyota is pretty damn good for now. I suspect Toyota will win again but SMP would've taken pole last year with that time - their top car qualifying at 1:54.7 compared to 1:58.2 last year is pretty solid development. Toyota can't run as close to their qualifying pace during the race as the non-hybrids can though, so maybe that will help close the gap.
 
...granted, if it rains then Toyota should walk all over everyone. Which, of course, it looks like it's going to. Sigh.
 
I hope you are right, but the privateers won't be able to run at their qualifying pace either, or they will run out of fuel. In another article. Rebellion driver Gustavo Menezes says ""Honestly, speaking for the whole Rebellion team, we’re quite unhappy with the way the EoT is right now for several reasons."

I didn't memorize the rules because everything is so damm complicated today, but if they burn as much fuel in the race as they did in quali, they won't be able to meet the laps per stint requirement or have enough fuel to finish the race.

https://www.motorsport.com/wec/news/rebellion-unhappy-spa-eot-menezes/4380372/

Rules, rules, rules. Just give them a certain amount of fuel for the race and they either finish or they run out. At least it will be the same thing for everyone.

If we are going to play the fuel game, the closest they ever got it to right was Group C. There they just gave you the fuel and you either made it work or you didn't finish the race. This led to a lot of fuel saving and "economy runs" in the beginning, but everyone figured it out and it was probably the best sportscars racing (along with GTP) that we have ever seen.

I think it would be far better to run a DPI/P2 style of chassis formula, and make everyone run a production based 5 liter V8. Same rules for everyone, no bop and no crying about anyone having an advantage. It would also be understandable for the fans. I've been studying motor racing since 1966, but it's gotten to be so ridiculously complicated I've just given up knowing the rules, and they are always going to change it next week anyway.

Actually, if you take Toyota out of it, what we have right now is pretty decent. The fighting between the privateers is pretty vicious, so I don't know what would be wrong with keeping these cars and having manufacturers strictly as vendors required to sell their cars to anyone who wants to race them. Without the threat of a factory steamroller, more privateers would feel safe to enter. Like, who in their right mind who spend the money to take on Toyota, who has billions in budget and a guaranteed rules advantage? It's astonishing anyone has even tried.

Still, the way the privateer cars sit right now, we've got a pretty decent thing going. They just need to can the absurd mega GT car plan and give this a chance to grow. No one sane would invest in a series that's scheduled for execution.
 
I thought they got rid of the stint length restrictions. I guess that was just for GTE? Kinda stupid if you let them use more fuel per lap but not over a course of a stint, but this is the FIA and ACO we're talking about.
 
FLRacingFan said:
I thought they got rid of the stint length .
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According to Menezes "It’s not a fuel-per-lap thing, it’s just the fuel generally." Apparently they let them burn as much as they want, right up until they can't make the stint distance. You can go fast and actually compete, right up until you run out of fuel.

I guess that was just for GTE?
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Who the hell knows? They have made everything so complex even people who follow the sport don't know what's going on.

Kinda stupid if you let them use more fuel per lap but not over a course of a stint, but this is the FIA and ACO we're talking about.
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This FIA has killed sportscar racing so many times that any boom always turns into a Mirage. It's no wonder so few teams signed up for the current formula. They knew ahead of time they were going to get the hose and second class citizenship after the Toyotas. Where the FIA has consistently gone wrong since Group C as been they refuse to look after the privateers, and they are so addicted to manufacturer money that's never going to change.

Kill, rinse, repeat.

This whole "Super season" thing was supposed to be a brave new world, right? Dawn of a new era? A modern epic time for sportscars? Yeah, we've got eight prototypes, that is, if you count the Bykolles (which I am actually a fan of). We even have about half the P2 cars we used to, so where did they go if this series was such a great deal for them?.

Honestly, with prototypes they need to keep the current cars and ditch all the fuel silliness. Throw out the motors too. Motors are cheap. Make them all run Gibsons next year until they can attract some manufacturers to supply some 5 liter production V8s. Let the factories sell cars but keep them away from running teams.

The problem is the answers are so simple and make so much sense the FIA will never consider them.
 
Took me a while to find Motor Trend or whatever it's called this month on the channel guide. 7-8:30 AM and then 12:30-2 PM Eastern tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be coming home to something good on the DVR.
 
Holy cow. It's actually snowing and they are letting them race! Super hard, clean racing up and down the field in the worst conditions imaginable! The worse the conditions get, the harder they are going after it, especially in the GT class. As bad as the conditions are I'm surprised they are racing so hard, especially in just the first hour!

I don't want to give anything away except if you got this on DVR, it's well worth watching. First broadcast is over and 'm waiting for the second to end so I cn watch it and zap the commercials. Very interesting. Certainly didn't expect such great racing in the snow.
 
That's probably the best racing I've seen in GTE-Pro this season. SMP and Rebellion held up pretty well. Overall I thought it was fun, just wish conditions were maybe slightly better so we didn't have so much time under the safety car and a red flag finish.
 
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