[Sensible_Speed]

I don't know how many fans here follow the WEC here in this forum. As F1 has become monotonous and exceedingly commercial of late, I thought this would be a good opportunity to explore my long suppressed interest in other forms of racing. I was introduced to the world of motorsports through the 24 Hours of Le Mans race as a child. But in an effort to fit into motorsport conversations, I switched to watching F1. However, I cannot deny that I still find the Endurance Championship more fascinating and relevant to the automobile sector as a whole. The technology introduced here is very close to what we find in our road going cars of today. It is also more interesting in that a lot more manufacturers participate and the concepts for their cars are radically different, thus providing a more wholistic overview to any automobile technology enthusiast. Having said that, it also provides for sensational racing and action, the primary reason I watch it.

The 6 Hours of Imola held last week concluded the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. As we head to Spa in a couple of weeks, I'd like to share with you all what I thought of it.

First of all, this is the most exciting season to date as we have no less than 8 manufacturers in the Hypercar class (which was created for this very reason). The GT3 field is also vibrant with many manufacturers this year, with Ford retiring the GT in favour of a Mustang based competitor. The weekend got off to a fairytale start for us Ferrari fans with the Red securing 1-2-3 in the hyperpole round (read qualifying or starting grid). Unfortunately, the usual string of poor strategy and bad decisions that plagues the Italian marque, reared its ugly head here too, in front of their home fans. As the rains fell in, Ferrari bottled their lead and ended up in the midfield despite looking good all weekend. This meant, Toyota were back to their winning ways with Kamui Kobayashi taking them across the line for a shock victory after looking unenthusiastic in the first round in Qatar.

Porsche followed up their impressive 1-2 in Qatar by locking out the other two steps of the podium to register a big lead in the championship standings. If the first two races are any indicator of what's to come, the Germans are showing why they're the most successful team in the Le Mans classroom. Notable mentions include the WRT team taking 1-2 in the GT3 class in their BMWs. The GT3 field is bunched ever closer than before and virtually only differentiated by driver skill this season. Exciting times, eh!

Now, back to the hypercar class, which is the flagship of the series, BMW had a decent outing this time around, managing 5th. What interested the WEC veterans were the Peugeots, boasting a radical redesign back to conventional downforce generation, after a failed outing last year with the equally radical ground-effect car they ran. Unfortunately, that design proved too much of a handful as the French team struggled with tyre life and setup setbacks last year, with the car being too sensitive to literally everything on the track. With a new wing and paint scheme, drivers reported a more stable and confident package this time round and hope to be in the contention later in the season.

If you are considering diversifying your interests in motorsports, I'd heavily suggest you take a look at this year's WEC, especially on 15-16 June, when the tour travels to its flagship venue, the historic Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans. After the emotional Ferrari victory last year, Le Mans is finally looking like the golden soul of motorsport it was in the yesteryear, when drivers braved the weather and the nights as they blasted down the Mulsanne straight in all glory. This year's race promises to be better than ever before!

[ds.raikkonen]

I do follow the WEC, but its difficult to get a free stream to watch the action (definitely not investing in WEC TV). Last year's race at Circuit De La Sarthe was epic for sure. Watching this iconic event 'live' is in my bucket list (along with Isle of Man TT, Belgian GP, Rally Monte Carlo, MotoGP Mugello). A lot of tech tested in the WEC finds its way to road cars.

I remember when Audi, Peugeot used to fight it out at the front with the great Dane 'TK' getting the better of Peugeot's F1 trio in 2008, along with Capello and . Then came Toyota in 2012 and Porsche in 2014 and the competition became even more fierce. Le Mans has always been special.

Though having followed many racing disciplines at different moments in time, I can definitely say that MotoGP is more exciting than all other disciplines put together!

[Sensible_Speed]

WEC is being broadcasted live on TV in India on Eurosport. I watched the first two races live there. You can contact your cable provider and ask them if they offer it. Last year's race was certainly emotional for me, watching Ferrari win the 24h. This season seems to be more exciting than ever, with 3 genuine title contenders in Toyota, Porsche and Ferrari, and a whole lot of competition in the the form of BMW, Alpine, Cadillac, Lamborghini, Peugeot, etc. with the American LMDh cars set to join them in France. Honestly, even though the races are a bit long, they're exciting and keep you on the edge of your seat compared to F1 today. I'm happy I found a like-minded WEC enthusiast here!

[Porschefire]

I'm a big fan of motorsports in general but am embarrassed to confess that I do not follow anything closely other than MotoGP. Maybe F1 highlights (which themselves are B.O.R.I.N.G, cannot fathom how the long races are!) to keep myself updated.

I've been exposed to WEC 25-30 years ago and that was limited to the stuff I read in the automotive magazines I used to buy and collect. 'Truth in 24' docu-series elevated that experience by a 1000 times and reaching a new high when I saw the Le Mans winning Porsche 919 Hybrid in person at IAA back in 2015. Sadly though, I never pursued my interest for the sport but going by whatever little experience and knowledge I have of it, there's no doubt in my mind when I say that it is THE pinnacle of motorsport. Nothing will ever come close to it.

Thanks for opening this thread, I'll be a TV spectator on 15-16 June for sure and hopefully visit the Circuit de la Sarthe for the 24 Heures du Mans in the coming years.

[ds.raikkonen]

Originally Posted by Sensible_Speed

This season seems to be more exciting than ever, with 3 genuine title contenders in Toyota, Porsche and Ferrari, and a whole lot of competition in the the form of BMW, Alpine, Cadillac, Lamborghini, Peugeot, etc. with the American LMDh cars set to join them in France.

What I love about the WEC is that they don't nanny the manufacturers to the extent they do in F1. They give you peak power target, specific fuel flow etc. Manufacturers are FREE to develop whatever the heck they want to within the fence. This aspect is amazing, Audi developed the unthinkable and innovative V12 TDi back in the day which became the first diesel powered car to win at Le Mans.

Then there has been a concoction of Hybrids, like the R18, TS030, 919 where no two powertrains were the same. Then there were the C6 Corvettes rumbling down the Mulsanne straight. Then there are the Garage 56 experimental entries with the Nissan Deltawing and last year's NASCAR entry

I used to download entire races and watch them on my laptop in my graduation/PG days, people used to think I was nuts

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So I've followed the WEC in some format or another for a while now. The current iteration is looking the most promising it has in years. I don't think since the hallowed Group C days has the top tier of sports car racing been this enticing in terms of the sheer variety of OEMs involved and the breadth of cars being fielded. I'll still maintain that I'm cautiously optimistic. Reason being, not too long ago, the last big rules revamp in the LMP1 category with it's incredibly complicated Balance-Of-Power regulations (which led to that variety of hybrid and non hybrid powertrain options), seemed to be the dawn of a new golden era. But soon enough, the costs with LMP1 programmes approached F1 levels and sure enough it became basically a straight fight between Audi, Porsche and Toyota with finally only the latter sticking round to lap the field in a category of 1. I mean don't get me wrong, those LMP1 cars were engineering marvels, far more so than the last decade of F1 car in fact and you'll hear engineers whisper this quietly, more than capable of keeping up with an F1 car on track (you need only look at some of the lap time comparisons online or that stripped out Porsche LMP1 run at the Ring where it absolutely obliterated the record).

One of the best things the WEC organisers seems to have done is working with IMSA and their LMDH prototype category and finding a balance with allowing those essentially spec platforms (cue Alpine, Lamborghini, BMW, Isotta Fraschini?, Acura, Cadillac) to get involved whilst also drawing in OEMs like Porsche, Ferrari, Peugeot, Glickenhaus, etc to enter full fat Hypercar entries. For fans it's wonderful to see such a full grid at the top of the WEC food chain.

Here's hoping it sustains. The cost cap controls clearly appear to have worked in terms of drawing in so many manufacturers, which is good. Sure these current cars aren't exactly as fast as the erstwhile LMP1 prototypes but then again F1 too has been getting slower compared to the 2000s as various bodges are chased with major rules revamps. Main thing for WEC is to maintain the cost discipline across the grid when the inevitable arms race comes about amongst the top teams. I think what they have to their credit is the LMDH formula in that regard.

Originally Posted by Sensible_Speed

If the first two races are any indicator of what's to come, the Germans are showing why they're the most successful team in the Le Mans classroom.

It's not exactly a full fat Porsche factory team is it? It's Penske Motorsport who get the 'factory' label but more importantly it's Rogers men in charge of that garage, not the suits at Stuttgart. I'm probably being pedantic here.

I'm equally disappointed the ground effect concept of Peugeot didn't work out. But ultimately I'm glad they had a go, it's good to see some properly different ideas out there. I still think of the front wheel drive front engined Nissan LMP1 and what might've been if it's flywheel KERS didn't try to go suborbital each lap.

[sh3lby]

You know what, I was just thinking this recently.
I came across some WEC clips on YT shorts and it got me thinking, in an era of redbull where Verstappen and RBR are dominating to an extent not seen before, why don't I look into watching WEC when I can?

I mean, why I'm finding WEC more appealing than F1 at the moment are:

• the cars are smaller, atleast the hypercars are, making for better racing

• the cars look better (subjective) than the currrent F1 cars, and the hypercars are distinctive enough that I can make out the differences in engineering approaches without an Albert Fabrega post telling me what's different on each car
  the BMW looks like a BMW, the Peugeot, at least the previous year spec without a wing was ingenious, and damn is it nice to see Ferrari being this competitive up at the front

• they sound better (Cadillac's V8 is just devilish), and all classes of cars sound insane

there are more but I feel this gets the point across for a racing fan and not all the extra sustainability stuff F1 is pulling nowadays...

the reason WEC won't ever be as popular though is the length of races - barring Le Mans, which is an exceptional event, people don't have 6 hrs to watch a sporting event - hence most people I know who like WEC follow it through the highlights and clips posted on YT after the race. Oh, and the price of the WEC subscription is just not feasible for India.

[ds.raikkonen]

I've watched full length Le Mans, though not in one go (downloaded). Only the night sections when the media departs you only get the onboard footage which can be a bit mesmerizing.

However, once dawn breaks at Circuit de La Sarthe, its much better and the media starts arriving back at the venue. 'Mr. Le Mans' Tom Kristensen used to call it his "Happy Time" as its the best time to drive race cars around the magnificent circuit. Though his secret recipe was to make in roads into competition during the night when it inevitably rains at Le Mans. What a driver he was!

[isotope729]

I have started following WEC as my interest in F1 increased. Does anyone know which channel has WEC races in India?

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Originally Posted by sh3lby

• the cars are smaller, atleast the hypercars are, making for better racing

I can't stress enough how important this is. F1 knows this, yet for the past 15 years they've tripped over themselves trying to fix an issue with a previous set of regs, all the while the cars have quite literally become the size of veritable trucks. I remember how shocked I was seeing how portly the 2018 cars were on a visit to Spa. Going to the Schumacher museum and seeing the great old man's 90s Benettons and 00s Ferraris, they look like featherweights and welterweights compared to the present day heavyweights in F1.

And to add insult to injury this maddening pursuit of city circuits means you're in a unstoppable force vs immovable object situation when you couple tight tracks with giant boat sized, incredibly heavy F1 cars. I don't think one appreciates the scale of them till you see it up close.

Similarly until I'd seen an LMP prototype, I hadn't cottoned how petite they actually are, though at least with the GT categories on the same track, you get a helpful reference frame when you spot an LMP in the shadow of a seemingly giant 911 GT for eg.

[*]the cars look better (subjective) than the currrent F1 cars, and the hypercars are distinctive enough that I can make out the differences in engineering approaches without an Albert Fabrega post telling me what's different on each car
the BMW looks like a BMW, the Peugeot, at least the previous year spec without a wing was ingenious

Making the cars distinctly associable to their parent brands and in turn the road going cars they were looking to sell was very much a consideration when coming up with the current Hypercar regulations. There's numerous public statements to the same from WEC bigwigs in the years leading up to now.

the reason WEC won't ever be as popular though is the length of races - barring Le Mans, which is an exceptional event, people don't have 6 hrs to watch a sporting event

Sadly I think this creates a ceiling to the popular appeal of WEC. I have to agree that expecting mainstream fans to tune in for 6 whole hours is tough, though I suppose eg's are there in terms of NFL or IPL. Just with motorsport it's especially hard.

price of the WEC subscription is just not feasible for India.

How much is it?

[Sensible_Speed]

Originally Posted by ads11

It's not exactly a full fat Porsche factory team is it? It's Penske Motorsport who get the 'factory' label but more importantly it's Rogers men in charge of that garage, not the suits at Stuttgart. I'm probably being pedantic here.

Yeah, I meant how Porsche has developed a winning car this time. It was cheaper for them to back an established outfit with factory support, kinda like what Ferrari is doing with AF Corse. The cars are red indeed, but not "factory" Ferrari. Maybe I should've used manufacturer instead. My bad.

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Originally Posted by Sensible_Speed

Yeah, I meant how Porsche has developed a winning car this time. It was cheaper for them to back an established outfit with factory support, kinda like what Ferrari is doing with AF Corse. The cars are red indeed, but not "factory" Ferrari. Maybe I should've used manufacturer instead. My bad.

Good point, I forget the Ferrari's aren't a full fat factory effort either. Instead AF Corse run the cars with Scuderia support. Personally I'm all for it. I think the late Max Moseley was kinda right wrt to over reliance on OEM outfits. You leave the sport vulnerable to the whims of their respective boardrooms, compared to privateer teams whose entire MO is racing. I think the factory backed privateer team model is a good balance. OEMs get a lot of the benefits without requiring full buy in and the teams get access to the technical development.

Plus being to field multiple customer teams makes it worth Porsche's while to do given Jota run a pair and Proton too right? It's a bit like the MotoGP model for want of an analogy I guess. I think it works.

[ds.raikkonen]

Full entry list for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 186 drivers in total

6 Hours of the legendary Spa Francorchamps this weekend!

[Sensible_Speed]

All those interested in watching the FIA WEC races live in India, it's being broadcasted on Eurosport and Eurosport HD.

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Only had a chance to catch the 10 minute YouTube highlights on Eurosport but seems like it was another chaotic race at Le Mans. Looks like a proper scrap for the Ferrari boys to edge Toyota in the end. Does seem a shame none of the other contenders in the hypercar category were able to mount a serious charge. Had quietly hoped Cadillac could mount a charge.

For the overall title picture though looks like Porsche Penske, Toyota and Ferrari are pulling ahead of the rest of the hypercar pack. I really hope the other teams do get to have some successes.

Couldn't help but think how great a throwback it is to have Ferrari at the top of the pile in sports car racings blue chip event two years on the trot.

Seen a ton of memes already about the catastrophic state of the Alpine engines. I wasn't aware they'd opted for an engine maker infamous for fragile engines. The whole Alpine Motorsport effort, be it in F1 or WEC is really looking dismal. I'm praying Renault leadership don't mess up Dacia's Dakar introduction either.

Speaking of the French, Peugeot continues to be a disappointment. Hadn't expected them to be mingling with the likes of Isotta or the Lamborghini entries.

I wonder if more support is needed for privateer entries given the fact Glickenhaus pulled out this year.