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Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
10 Reasons to Watch the World Endurance Championship in 2025
The World Endurance Championship season begins in Qatar on February 28. Here's some of what we'll be watching at the opener and throughout the 2025 Penske Motorsport may be the winningest combo in the first two seasons of Hypercar and GTP, but it entered the 2025 WEC season's opening round of the Qatar 1812 km under pressure. Although the team nearly swept the driver and manufacturer titles in both series last year before Toyota claimed the factory title in the WEC season finale, the pressure at Porsche is internal as well as external. 'The Porsche 963 is meant to continue the legacy of legendary endurance racing prototypes like the 917, 935, 956, 962 and 919 Hybrid,' said Thomas Laudenbach, the vice president of motorsport at Porsche. 'These icons from Weissach have shaped endurance racing for years. We intend to achieve the same with our current hybrid prototype.' Laudenbach's words came on the eve of the new season and put a renewed focus on winning at Le Mans. The well-budgeted Porsche Penske combination is expected to continue in the WEC, despite the headwinds in German auto manufacturing. But the sooner a Le Mans victory arrives the 499P Hypercar has created a halo for the incomparable F80 road car that will generate billions by its sale to select customers. But work remains to be done after the back-to-back wins at Le Mans. This year's red paint scheme is different, implying driver and manufacturer title aspirations in a classic Ferrari manner. There's more red showing on the sidepods in a deeper hue. This harkens back to the official factory team's last endurance racing championship in 1972 with the 312 PB in the World Championship of Makes. During the offseason, the team concentrated on reliability updates in pursuit of both cars finishing in the points in each of this year's eight rounds. A joker update was taken midway last season to improve cooling of the brakes and to add flicks below the headlights. 'We have made several organizational changes and continue to do so,' said Antonello Coletta, head of Ferrari's endurance programs. 'I believe we have taken a crucial step forward, particularly in our technical knowledge of the car.'Toyota, Porsche and Ferrari have dominated Hypercar. Will any of the teams break out of the second tier that last year included Alpine, BMW, Cadillac and Peugeot? The odds currently look to favor BMW, whose M Hybrid V8 had a strong showing in the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January. A BMW started on the pole in Daytona and was contending in the final hour. In the second season of the factory-run WEC program, BMW hopes to advance by having several drivers work in both the WEC and IMSA GTP events as often as the schedule permits to generate better development. 'We are convinced that this way joining our forces will bring us advantages,' said Andreas Roos, who directs the M Motorsport program. The BMW driving lineup has gone from strength-to-strength with the addition of Kevin Magnussen, who joins Dries Vanthoor and Raffaele Marciello in the No. 15. The No. 20 will be shared by René Rast, Robin Frijns and Sheldon Van Der to the grid is the much-anticipated Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH. Although the Cosworth V12-powered car is not a hybrid, the program is a mix of British, American and Canadian influences. Ian James is at the 'heart' of the prototype team that has adopted the THOR acronym of its longtime full name of The Heart of Racing. An ex-patriot Brit, James initially organized Aston Martin's GT endurance racing program with Americans Gabe Newell and Yahn Bernier. Much of the new THOR team is staffed by Canadian-based Multimatic as well as Aston Martin veterans like George Howard-Chappell. In addition to the Heart of Racing organization, drivers Alex Riberas, Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis are making the jump from GT to prototypes. Can the Valkyrie, which will launch its IMSA campaign at Sebring, make an impression out of the box? 'We know we're starting two or three years behind our competition so the learning curve is going to be steep,' said WEC veteran Harry Tincknell, who did much of the early new Cadillac Racing-JOTA Sport alliance may surprise given Jota's 13 podiums at Le Mans in 11 seasons. But in making a transition from its privateer Porsche 963 entry, which won at Spa last year, the British team may not jell right away with the V-Series.R. 'We're narrowing the (path) to find the best window where the car operates,' said Sam Hignett, the team's director. 'We should roll into the (Qatar race) in pretty good shape.' Jota consolidated its driving lineup while adding those with Cadillac experience—Sebastien Bourdais, Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn. Veterans of Chip Ganassi Racing's two seasons of V-Series.R entries, Boudais and Bamber are paired with Jota regular Jenson Button. Lynn joins Will Stevens and Norman Nato, who co-drove a Porsche 963 for Jota last year. Given the amount of co-driving experience on other teams, Jota is counting on its drivers' chemistry and preferences coming together quickly. The computer-centric hybrids are very sensitive to inputs by drivers, whose engineers are constantly searching for improvements from session to session and during initial entry list is expected to be out following the opening round at Qatar. Porsche will have four 963s courtesy of one privateer entry by Proton Competition and an automatic entry resulting from Porsche Penske's GTP title. In addition to its two Jota entries, Cadillac would like to have four, which would mean acceptance of the IMSA teams of Action Express Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing. BMW has had under consideration the addition of a third M Hybrid V8 from its IMSA team of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Including a privateer entry from AF Corse (pictured), Ferrari will again have three cars. Depending on what comes to pass, the Le Mans entry could total 22 entries in the Hypercar class, 13 of them LMDh cars, including Ford Mustang GT3 and Corvette Z06 GT3.R are in their second season of flying the American colors in the WEC's highly competitive LMGT3 class consisting of 18 entries. Ford Performance has revamped its lineup at Proton Competition, adding full season roles for Giammarco Levorato and Ben Tuck, drivers who impressed in parttime appearances last season. Levorato drove a Mustang GT3 to its first pole at the IMSA GTD class event at Virginia International Raceway. Despite a fire in the No. 77 car that put it out of commission for most of the Prologue, expectations are high for the Mustang team on the heels of a GTD Pro victory with Multimatic in the Rolex 24. 'We had some productive days during the Prologue,' said Levorato, who will co-drive the No. 88. Ben Keating, driving the TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R, is the only American in any of the U.S. brands. Bronze-rated Keating won the GTE championship in 2023 with TF Sport, but is new to the Z06 GT3.R and the Lusail International Circuit. 'To have my name on the side of the car while racing a brand that I sell is pretty special for me,' said the Texas mega-dealer. 'I am nervous and excited, which are all the feelings you'd expect to have." Keating is paired with silver-rated Jonny Edgar, an LMP2 champion in the ELMS, and platinum-rated Daniel Juncadella in the No. 33, a relatively strong driving Iron Lynx and Iron Dames are each moving to different manufacturers this season. After helping to develop the new Mercedes-AMG GT3, Iron Lynx is fielding two of them as the German manufacturer looks to make a return to Le Mans. 'We had the chance to test in different conditions (at the Prologue) in Qatar,' said WEC veteran Maxime Martin. 'A bit of everything that we will face in the races.' The associated Iron Dames, a team within the Lynx team, has switched to the Porsche 911 GT3 R that will be run by Manthey Racing. Given the car's impressive performance last year under the Manthey banner, the Iron Dames are looking to repeat the ground-breaking victory of 2023, when the team's all-female drivers became the first to win a WEC race. This season, Célia Martin is the bronze-rated driver. Rahel Frey (pictured), the team's silver, and Michelle Gatting, the gold, joined with Sarah Bovy to get the win in Performance has taken its time when it comes to revealing the details of its LMDh entry into the Hypercar class for 2027. A design, a builder and a team have yet to be made final. The plan is to concentrate on the WEC first and to headquarter the team in Europe. As expected, the engine will be a V8, although the choice of atmospheric or turbocharged is not clear. It is fully expected the car will appear in IMSA's GTP class, although no formal acknowledgement has been FIA and Automobile Club de l'Ouest officials recently announced streaming will be available in the U.S. for six of the eight rounds of this year's championship at the FIA WEC TV site. The Le Mans 24-hour and Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of the Americas will be available on cable at Motor Trend, now operated by Discovery, which will also stream all the WEC events at Max.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Penske Porsche weighing driver options for Le Mans
Porsche is currently mulling over its driver options for the third 963 Hypercar that Porsche Penske Motorsport will field at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June. Hot off winning the Rolex 24 At Daytona last weekend, PPM intends to enter three cars at Le Mans, and exercise its automatic invitation gained by winning the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech GTP Championship. In terms of its driver line-up, there is a key decision to make as it pursues a record-extending 20th overall victory in the French classic. After consolidating its Hypercar/GTP personnel down to eight drivers over the winter, one space is left open in the planned third car. Porsche Motorsport Vice President Thomas Laudenbach told reporters at Daytona that he's working on putting together that third car for Le Mans but has not yet decided on who would occupy that assumed vacancy. 'I can throw drivers out there — you won't believe it!' he joked, in response to questions about the subject. 'From the standard drivers, we have eight in the program and you need nine for three cars. We've got so many drivers contracted that we definitely don't have a problem.' Laudenbach alluded to a short list of drivers that's already been created internally but of course, kept his cards close to his chest. 'I'm not confirming any names but really, we don't have a problem with drivers,' he said. 'We've got Formula E drivers — some of them already did endurance racing. We've got so many other skilled GT drivers. So I think we have enough choices that if it happens, we will have a third competitive car.' 'We always look at where we can improve, but it's not, let's say, a special thing to the third car. I mean, we will look at everything that we can improve, especially for Le Mans. Because Le Mans is important, not necessarily only for the third car. 'Of course, it is easier if you have a two-car team and you do the whole season the same. Obviously, processes are running; you know how to work with it and that's a normal thing. So if you add a third car, yes it adds an additional challenge, no question.' This presumptive driver would almost certainly team up with reigning IMSA GTP champion Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy, alongside the two full-time FIA WEC entries (Julien Andlauer/Michael Christensen/Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 5, Matt Campbell/Kevin Estre/Laurens Vanthoor in the No. 6). One name that has been floated around for a Le Mans cameo ever since he first tested the Porsche 963 last March is four-time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel. Such a move would echo Porsche's hirings of Mark Webber straight out of F1 in 2014 and then building a program around active F1 driver Nico Hülkenberg in 2015. Beyond Le Mans, Laudenbach reiterated the Porsche remains open-minded about the prospect of drivers from Team Penske's other racing programs continuing to get opportunities to race the 963 in select events, a la Josef Newgarden who won the Rolex 24 last year in a cameo with Porsche. 'Where we are still free to do it, I would say yes. If you do it is always a different decision. But generally speaking, no, it is not ruled out,' he said. Jonathan Diuguid, Porsche Penske Motorsport's managing director, noted that the chosen third driver selected for the third car at Le Mans could potentially also join the WEC effort at Spa-Francorchamps in May. That race clashes with the IMSA round at Laguna Seca, meaning Jaminet and Campbell will miss out due to their GTP commitments. 'It's something we've discussed, but we haven't made a decision yet because we don't have to,' said Diuguid. 'In the next couple of months we will make firm decisions because we have to do simulator prep.' Diuguid did confirm that Campbell will join the No. 6 Porsche 963 for both the Qatar 1812 km and the race at Imola, with Jaminet set to share the No. 5 with full-season pair Andlauer and Christensen. 'We've got some opportunities to test there (Imola) too,' Diuguid added. 'Mathieu, who didn't get to run at Imola last year, is going to have an opportunity to test at the track beforehand. 'It's not just understanding the car, which he understands very well. It's the engineering crews, it's the Virtual Safety Car procedures and all the things as well. It's just a really good opportunity. The more time that PPM drivers drive 963s, the better it is for everybody.' Later in the season, Porsche is set to use three drivers in both Hypercars in Bahrain, and it may also utilize three drivers in the WEC at other select races due to the challenges that hotter climates present for drivers. 'I think COTA or anything during the summertime is something we're looking at,' said Diuguid. 'The 963 has an air conditioning system which helps — it's not like going around in your road car but in general the guys have a high fitness level. We will play it by ear.' Story originally appeared on Racer
