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Isotta Fraschini withdraws from WEC’s Hypercar class with immediate effect

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Boutique car manufacturer Isotta Fraschini has pulled out of the World Endurance Championship with immediate effect, leaving a depleted Hypercar class for this month’s sixth round in Austin.

Disagreement with the Duqueine Team, which was responsible for running a single Tipo 6-Competizione, is  understood to be the key reason behind the Italian marque’s sudden decision to withdraw from the remainder of the eight-round season.

While the dispute will move to the court of law, Isotta’s top management for now has chosen to stop its endurance racing programme and redirect resources to expand its track and road car initiatives.

«We are immensely proud of our achievements in our debut season. Competing in the WEC was an honor and an incredible experience, with the 24 Hours of Le Mans as the highlight,» said Miguel Valldecabres, Director of Motorsport and CEO of Isotta Fraschini.

«This very difficult decision was not taken lightly, but it allows us to build on our experiences, promoting the growth of our brand and the development of our products in both the racing and Hypercar markets.

«As a new manufacturer with big ambitions, not continuing in the WEC in 2024 is a strategic obligation to preserve our resources and ensure the continuity of our project.

«Despite this difficult setback, we are excited about what lies ahead for the future. Our journey as a high-performance brand continues and we look forward to reaching new heights.»

#11 Isotta Fraschini Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-C: Carl Wattana Bennett, Jean-Karl Vernay, Antonio Serravalle

#11 Isotta Fraschini Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-C: Carl Wattana Bennett, Jean-Karl Vernay, Antonio Serravalle

Photo by: Marc Fleury

Duqueine had taken over from Vector Sports as Isotta’s factory team in November 2023, four months before the car was supposed to make its race debut in Qatar.

Duqueine brought it with touring car ace Jean-Karl Vernay as the lead drivers and placed its bet on two young silver-rated racers Antonio Serravalle and Carl Wattana Bennett, who brought in sponsors to help fund the programme.

Interestingly, Bennett was inducted into the line up just three weeks before the start of the season, replacing the team’s original signing Garcia.

Isotta entered the year with very limited testing under the belt and it was only manufacturer’s partner Michelotto Engineering that enabled the development of its hybrid LMH contender during the season. The team went on to finish a respectable 14th on its first outing at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June after not recording any serious reliability issues during the twice-round-the-clock enduro.

Meanwhile, Duqueine did not contribute in terms of any on-track testing of the car after the start of the year, leading to a breakdown of the partnership with Isotta.

Isotta’s on-track future beyond 2024 now remains a mystery, with WEC requiring manufacturers to field two cars from next season. If no solution is reached, it is likely that Isotta’s spots on the grid wil go to a privateer team running customer cars.

«Isotta Fraschini expresses sincere gratitude to sponsors, drivers, partners and fans for their unwavering support during this inaugural season. The company also thanks the WEC and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) for their support and hopes for a possible return in the near future,» the statement added.

The Hypercar grid is left with 18 cars for the remainder of the year following Isotta’s premature exit.

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Keating returns to WEC with Proton Ford squad for Austin

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Two-time World Endurance Championship title winner Ben Keating will make a return to the series for his home race in Austin next month.

Keating will join up with the Proton Competition Ford squad in LMGT3 at the Circuit of the Americas on 1 September for his first appearance in a regular WEC race since leaving the series, in the wake of winning his second GTE Am title last year.

The 52-year-old American will race the #88 Ford Mustang GT3 together with factory driver Dennis Olsen and Mikkel Pedersen.

He takes the seat for the mandatory bronze-rated driver in a LMGT3 line-up filled for the first four races by Giorgio Roda and then team boss Christian Ried last time out at Interlagos in July.

The winner of the GTE Am title with the Corvette Racing and the TF Sport Aston Martin squads in 2022 and ’23 respectively opted not to chase a hat-trick of GT titles in WEC this year in the first season of LMGT3.

He told Motorsport.com last September that he wanted to scale down his racing activities in 2024 and focus on a single programme in the IMSA SportsCar Championship in North America.

#33 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R: Ben Keating

#33 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R: Ben Keating

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Keating explained that time constraints when the WEC calendar was expanding by one race were behind his decision.

But he is coming back to the WEC, a series in which he competed from the 2019-20 campaign, for his local race in what is expected to be a one-off.

Keating’s dealership group is based in Texas and includes multiple Ford outlets around the state.

An appearance at the Le Mans 24 Hours WEC round in June was part of his programme with United Autosports in LMP2 in IMSA, in which he is seeking a third title after his 2021 and ’22 triumphs with the PR1/Mathiasen squad.

The only other change to the WEC entry for Austin, released on Wednesday, is the return of Harry Tincknell to Proton’s Hypercar class Porsche 963 LMDh.

The Briton missed Interlagos because as a Ford factory driver his IMSA GT Daytona Pro campaign with the Multimatic Motorsports squad took precedence and he contested the Canadian round of the North American series at Mosport instead.

#64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3: Harry Tincknell, Mike Rockenfeller

#64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3: Harry Tincknell, Mike Rockenfeller

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

Neel Jani and Julien Andlauer raced the car as a duo in Brazil.

Track action for the Lone Star Le Mans WEC round in Austin kicks off at 12:40 local time on 30 August.

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F1 a «closed chapter» for Porsche after failed Red Bull bid

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Porsche’s aspirations to return to Formula 1 are now “a closed chapter”, the marque’s motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach has revealed.

Laudenbach’s assertion that Porsche has no plans for a comeback more than 30 years on from its last engagement as an engine supplier with Footwork in 1991 represent the manufacturer’s first comments about an F1 entry since the full unveiling of the 2026 regulations in June.

They follow nearly two years on from the breakdown of its prospective partnership with Red Bull Racing that would have involved it becoming a 50% owner of the team and its new powertrain division

At that stage, in September 2022, Porsche still talked about F1 as “an attractive environment” in the statement announcing that it was no longer pursuing the Red Bull option, but now Laudenbach has now stated that it is “not a topic for us”.

“It is off the table: right now F1 is not a task for us and we are not spending any energy on that,» he explained.

“We are only focused on what we do right now, and if you look at it, we have many different activities: we are well-occupied and extremely happy with what we do.”

Laudenbach pointed to Porsche’s wide motorsport portfolio, describing it as “nearly the perfect fit for the brand”.

Pascal Wehrlein, Porsche, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3

Pascal Wehrlein, Porsche, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3

Photo by: Andreas Beil

“We are engaged in customer racing from track days, GT4, one-make series up to professional GT racing [in GT3],” he explained.

“On top of that we are racing in the two most important endurance racing series [the World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship with the 963 LMDh] with our partner Penske.

“The third part, since electrification of our brand is very important, is our engagement in Formula E, which is the only full-electric series on a high level.

“I think we are really well served.”

Laudenbach also stated that Porsche had no interest in joining the IndyCar Series as an engine supplier.

Volkswagen announced in April 2022 that both its Porsche and Audi brands were pursuing F1 entries and that plans were in the “final evaluation phase”.

For Porsche those evaluations involved a link-up with Red Bull that ultimately foundered because, it said, the partnership it sought based on an “equal footing” could not be achieved.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner subsequently said that there was a “strategic non-alignment” and that the team didn’t want to diminish its “values and virtues”.

The Milton Keynes-based squad subsequently agreed a deal with Ford for 2026 to badge the new 2026 engine produced by Red Bull Powertrains.

Audi announced its intent to enter F1 for the first time in ’26 as an engine supplier in August ’22 and then took a minority stake in Sauber early last year before completing a 100% takeover this spring.

Porsche won a single world championship race during its first stint in F1 for the opening two years of the 1.5-litre formula starting in 1961, with Dan Gurney triumphing at the 1962 French Grand Prix at Rouen driving a Porsche 804.

Porsche was commissioned by McLaren to build the 1.5-litre turbo engine that ran with TAG (Techniques d’Avant Garde) badges and claimed the 1984, ’85 and ’86 world titles.

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F1 a «closed chapter» for Porsche after failed Red Bull bid

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Porsche’s aspirations to return to Formula 1 are now “a closed chapter”, the marque’s motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach has revealed.

Laudenbach’s assertion that Porsche has no plans for a comeback more than 30 years on from its last engagement as an engine supplier with Footwork in 1991 represent the marque’s first comments about an F1 entry since the full unveiling of the 2026 regulations in June.

They follow nearly two years on from the breakdown of its prospective partnership with Red Bull Racing that would have involved it becoming a 50% owner of the team and its new powertrain division

At that stage, in September 2022, Porsche still talked about F1 as “an attractive environment” in the statement announcing that it was no longer pursuing the Red Bull option, but now Laudenbach has now stated that it is “not a topic for us”.

“It is off the table: right now F1 is not a task for us and we are not spending any energy on that,» he explained.

“We are only focused on what we do right now, and if you look at it, we have many different activities: we are well-occupied and extremely happy with what we do.”

Laudenbach pointed to Porsche’s wide motorsport portfolio, describing it as “nearly the perfect fit for the brand”.

Pascal Wehrlein, Porsche, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3

Pascal Wehrlein, Porsche, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3

Photo by: Andreas Beil

“We are engaged in customer racing from track days, GT4, one-make series up to professional GT racing [in GT3],” he explained.

“On top of that we are racing in the two most important endurance racing series [the World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship with the 963 LMDh] with our partner Penske.

“The third part, since electrification of our brand is very important, is our engagement in Formula E, which is the only full-electric series on a high level.

“I think we are really well served.”

Laudenbach also stated that Porsche had no interest in joining the IndyCar Series as an engine supplier.

Volkswagen announced in April 2022 that both its Porsche and Audi brands were pursuing F1 entries and that plans were in the “final evaluation phase”.

For Porsche those evaluations involved a link-up with Red Bull that ultimately foundered because, it said, the partnership it sought based on an “equal footing” could not be achieved.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner subsequently said that there was a “strategic non-alignment” and that the team didn’t want to diminish its “values and virtues”.

The Milton Keynes-based squad subsequently agreed a deal with Ford for 2026 to badge the new 2026 engine produced by Red Bull Powertrains.

Audi announced its intent to enter F1 for the first time in ’26 as an engine supplier in August ’22 and then took a minority stake in Sauber early last year before completing a 100% takeover this spring.

Porsche won a single world championship race during its first stint in F1 for the opening two years of the 1.5-litre formula starting in 1961, with Dan Gurney triumphing at the 1962 French Grand Prix at Rouen driving a Porsche 804.

Porsche was commissioned by McLaren to build the 1.5-litre turbo engine that ran with TAG (Techniques d’Avant Garde) badges and claimed the 1984, ’85 and ’86 world titles.



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Why Stellantis won’t run its Peugeot 9X8 as a Dodge in IMSA

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Ever since Peugeot revealed its wild and wingless 9X8 hypercar for the World Endurance Championship in 2022, Stellantis has been linked with running it under a different brand in America.

The multinational car manufacturing conglomerate – which owns the brands Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroen, Dodge, DS, Fiat, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, Ram Trucks and Vauxhall – had been tipped to race the car under the Dodge banner in IMSA SportsCar Championship competition.

When Motorsport.com’s sister title Motorsport-Total.com asked Stellantis’s racing boss Jean-Marc Finot at the Spa 6 Hours whether such aspirations still existed, he replied: “I don’t think IMSA is suitable for a brand like Dodge.”

He added: “Dodge produces muscle cars that are more suited to GT cars. The visibility for Dodge would probably be better in NASCAR.”

Dodge was involved in NASCAR’s top division from 2001 to 2012 and boasts a flagship road car model in the Challenger SRT Hellcat, which is not currently active in international racing. Stellantis is also inactive in GT3 racing and would have to set up a customer racing department to do so.

The former Fiat-Chrysler Group was last involved in the American Le Mans Series and IMSA as a factory force with the SRT Viper a decade ago, while its most-recent appearance dates back to the GTD victory at the 2016 Petit Le Mans with a Viper GT3 model run by Riley Motorsports and driven by Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Marc Miller.

#33 Riley Motorsports SRT Viper GT3-R: Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Marc Miller

#33 Riley Motorsports SRT Viper GT3-R: Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Marc Miller

Photo by: Action Sports Photography

For Stellantis, the subject of IMSA is not on the agenda for the time being, according to Finot: “We have a car, but we don’t see any need to compete in IMSA. First and foremost, we have to take care of the performance of the Peugeot WEC team.

“You could think about the Maserati brand, but we are already involved in Formula E with this.”

In addition, DS Automobiles is also active in Formula E with Jay Penske’s team, but this is not an obstacle due to the group’s electrification strategy.

Peugeot has run its 9X8 Evo model, which includes a rear wing, since the six-hour race in Imola, but has so far not achieved more than two seventh-placed finishes.

The 9X8 will make its American debut in the upcoming WEC round at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas on 1 September.

Meanwhile, Aston Martin will become the first manufacturer to run a car in IMSA’s GTP class built to Le Mans Hypercar regulations next year, although its Valkyrie is a non-hybrid – unlike all of its LMDh rivals.

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Jota announces Cadillac switch for 2025 WEC

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Jota will take over Cadillac’s expanded factory campaign in the World Endurance Championship next season.

The British squad will field a pair of Cadillac V-Series.R LMDhs in the Hypercar class in 2025 when new rules demand that manufacturer teams run two cars.

It takes over the factory programme from Chip Ganassi Racing, which has entered a single car in the full series since 2023.

Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA logo

Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA logo

Photo by: Jota Sport

The V-Series.Rs will be run under the Cadillac Hertz Team Jota banner as the 10-time podium finisher in LMP2 at the Le Mans 24 Hours continues its relationship with the car hire giant that facilitated its graduation to Hypercar as a privateer with the Porsche 963 LMDh last season.

Cadillac’s switch to Jota, announced on Tuesday, was widely predicted and comes more than four months after Ganassi announced that it would not be continuing a relationship with the General Motors brand that straddles the WEC and the IMSA SportsCar Championship in 2025.

It has not been revealed when the deal between Cadillac and Jota was agreed but it is understood to have been between its second-place finish in the 2024 WEC season-opener in Qatar in March and its victory at the Spa round in May.

John Roth, vice-president of global Cadillac, said: “Cadillac is proud to be racing against the best in the world as part of the WEC, and that includes Hertz Team Jota. We are thrilled to welcome Jota next year, bringing decades of racing technical expertise together to achieve continued success on the track.”

Race winner #12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963: Will Stevens, Callum Ilott

Race winner #12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963: Will Stevens, Callum Ilott

Photo by: Emanuele Clivati | AG Photo

Jota director and team founder Sam Hignett described linking up with the Cadillac as “the realisation of the goal to become a manufacturer team”.

“Having competed against the Cadillac V-Series.R for the past two seasons, we have experienced how competitive it is and we are genuinely honoured and privileged to be entrusted with fielding the cars from 2025 onward,” he said.

“You can count on one hand the manufacturers you’d chose to go sportscar racing with and Cadillac and GM are on that hand. Along with Porsche and Ferrari, they are one of the names synonymous with endurance racing.”

No drivers have been revealed for the two Jota Caddys: Hignett said that an announcement wasn’t likely until after the completion of this season in Bahrain in November.

Asked if a mix of existing Caddy and Jota drivers was likely, he replied: “That would be a fair assessment and that is likely where things will end up, but potentially there could be some newcomers.”

Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn, who have raced Cadillac’s WEC entry from the start of last year, appear likely to move across from Ganassi to Jota.

Callum Ilott and Will Stevens, the winning duo at Spa, and Norman Nato, Jenson Button, Phil Hanson and Oliver Rasmussen make up Jota’s roster in its pair of Porsches this season.

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-SeriesR: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-SeriesR: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Jota will also not begin testing with the V-Series.R until after Bahrain’s eight-hour WEC fixture.

“We need to do the right thing for everyone involved in our current programme and finish this season, and then it will be on with the new programme as soon as the season is finished,” said Hignett. “It is going to be a very hard off-season.”

Tuesday’s announcement also confirmed that Knighthead Capital Management, the private equity group that rescued Hertz from chapter 11 administration in 2021, has become a shareholder in Jota.

Cadillac has yet to announce its IMSA plans, which will come, read the statement, “at a later date”.

Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti is set to return to the Cadillac fold after four year with Acura to run two cars in the North American series next year.

Acura has already confirmed that Meyer Shank Racing will be taking over the ARX-06 LMDhs for next year, with one car to be engineered by Honda Racing Corporation USA, the Californian-based organisation that masterminds development of the car.

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What’s really made Porsche’s 963 the pack-leading GTP car in IMSA?

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


What went so right for Porsche Penske Motorsport’s 963?

It was at this time last year that everything seemed to click for the new-for-2023 prototype, after stumbling out of the blocks despite the longest pre-season testing program (which started in the summer of 2022) compared its IMSA SportsCar Championship rivals Acura, BMW and Cadillac.

Although it bagged a front-row starting spot in that year’s Daytona 24 Hours, gearbox failure took out one car and the other finished 14th after hitting trouble with the then brand-new common hybrid system. There certainly were some glum faces around its garage that day.

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It showed at Sebring that, when the night air cooled temperatures, the 963 could find its performance window. But a late-race clash with Acura took out both of its cars, and podium finishes went begging.

Its No. 6 car, driven by Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet, notched an unexpected first win on the streets of Long Beach, after a bold gamble to run on a single set of Michelins paid off. But the fact it could do this showed it wasn’t really working its tires efficiently, and had very poor pace, so this was a Hail Mary effort that luckily paid off.

Chances at Laguna Seca and Watkins Glen went begging – a front row lock-out squandered and an on-the-road victory ruled out for excessive plank wear on the No. 6 car respectively. After an abject showing at Mosport, where only BMW was slower in qualifying, then came Road America…

#7 Team Penske Porsche 963: Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr

#7 Team Penske Porsche 963: Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr

Photo by: Art Fleischmann

“For sure, Road America in 2023 was the turning point, where things really started to click,” says ex-F1 racer Felipe Nasr, who leads this year’s championship. “It was truly a weekend that we could unlock the performance of the car, the true speed of the car.”

Back then Nasr shared the No. 7 with Matt Campbell, who since swapped seats with Dane Cameron to race in the World Endurance Championship for 2024.

“That win was really the breakthrough of the 7 crew,” Nasr adds. “If you look at all the results since, I really think the 7 car has been on a high, really ticking the boxes and being consistent.”

Porsche’s director of LMDh factory racing, Urs Kuratle, refers to it as a “very honest victory” that truly kickstarted its successful sequence of races in America.

#7 Team Penske Porsche 963: Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr

#7 Team Penske Porsche 963: Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

“It’s like we had a backpack on us that was filled with reliability (issues) and also with performance and operational topics as well,” admits Kuratle.

Following the win, he recalls: “I remember one guy talked to me, ‘So now we can start racing!’ I’m not saying we haven’t had any problems ever since… but maybe that’s the best expression I could say: It’s like the backpack was gone.

“But we are never leaning back, we have to keep on pushing on the whole thing.”

Motorsport.com asked Kuratle what exactly are the key factors that have made the 963 the pack leader: “I think the key strength is that we have a very, very solid package that starts obviously with the drivers,” he replies.

“Road Atlanta is the only race since Road America last year where we have not been on the podium with at least one car. And that is only possible if you have a very strong driver lineup, if the car is reliable and the team doesn’t make any mistakes. These are the key factors.

“I think compared to all the competitors, we have the strongest package on that one and that’s something we are still not 100% happy – if you ever can be happy about this – we still work on every detail to be, to become better on all those topics.”

#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr, Matt Campbell, Josef Newgarden

#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr, Matt Campbell, Josef Newgarden

Photo by: Bob Meyer

This year, the No. 7 car has won the Daytona 24 Hours and The Six Hours at The Glen, while the sister car prevailed at Laguna Seca.

Cameron and Nasr go into this year’s Road America race with a 93-point lead over Cadillac Racing’s Sebastian Bourdais and Renger van der Zande, and are 132 clear of Tandy/Jaminet (who’ve trailed since a disastrous Sebring).

Nasr points to their most-recent victory at Watkins Glen, a race impacted by heavy rainstorms, as the best indicator yet of this team’s precision under pressure.

“When I look at Watkins Glen, I think it was really a test of all of those elements,” Nasr said. “It was a super-hard race with extremely difficult conditions where we had really 50/50 of both.

“It was wet or it was dry, which tires to take, which time to come in the pits. I think that was a really good test to see how we operated in that race, and having the win in Watkins was what’s really not only incredible but was very important for the state of the championship.”

What does a rival think?

Early last year, if you asked one of Porsche’s rival drivers for their thoughts on how the 963 appeared to them in combat, you’d get some puckered lips and responses like “very snappy, very oversteery” and “it seems to struggle to find the performance window on these tires”.

It’s one area that the 963 has vastly improved over its competition lifespan, as it has now won races using all of Michelin’s range of tire compounds – soft, medium and hard – which are mandated for each round.

#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr, #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque

#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr, #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

Speaking on the subject this week, Acura’s Filipe Albuquerque has advocated Michelin leaning more on the use of its soft compound where possible, to try and avoid instances of these heavy yet powerful cars crashing on cold rubber.

“I believe it’s better to blister a tire than to crash a car on the out lap,” he says. “The performance is better with the harder compound wherever you go (in helping stint lengths), but what it is harder is just the survival on cold tyres.

“Having a softer compound, it’s just much easier to apply the energy on the out lap, but eventually you will pay through the long run. But, at the end of the day, it’s going to be the same for everybody.

“For example, at Long Beach we had the soft when last year it was medium. So that was the main change from last year to this year. On top of that, obviously, all the drivers know and then taking their adjustments, but it seems like Porsche has been a little bit ahead of things on cold tyres.

“They’ve been a little bit stronger than the others as well in WEC. I mean, I think that’s the perks of having cars in multiple championships.”

#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr

#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

When Nasr is asked about the tire warmup issue, he says it’s been a real focus of attention.

“I feel like one year under our belts make a huge difference on understanding on how to turn on the tires, depending on each track and the tire compound as well,” says Nasr. “We’ve seen that several times and in the last race in Watkins, when it was mixed conditions.

“Some cars could really light up the tire right away. Some took maybe a few more laps and, you know, it goes in favor of some cars depending on the track layout and how we put the energy on the tires.

“It’s certainly one area we’ve been working a lot. Not only as a team but as drivers as well trying to see where we can produce and put more energy in the tire, but with the car as well, like setup-wise, things that we can do to generate more heat in the tire.

“Everything counts, you know, in-laps, the out-laps and how you generate the heat on the tires in the race.”

#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr

#7 Team Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

So, while Porsche was already decent on these tire compounds, it was still prone to struggles at high-energy tracks like Mosport (which is no longer on the GTP schedule) and Road Atlanta, which hosts the Petit Le Mans finale.

Porsche’s 963 has certainly hit its sweet spot to lead the IMSA drivers’, teams’ and constructors’ standings with just three rounds to go. And PPM is leading the WEC drivers’ and constructors’ championships too, with customer JOTA topping the teams’…

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WEC considering ban on two-driver Hypercar line-ups from 2025

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Two-driver line-ups in the Hypercar class of the World Endurance Championship could be outlawed for next season. 

A potential rule change mandating the normal three drivers is under discussion in response to calls from teams and manufacturers following the Ganassi Cadillac squad’s decision to race with a two-strong line-up in the six-hour races this season, series co-organiser the Automobile Club de l’Ouest has confirmed.

“We are thinking about that, but you will have to wait for an answer,” said ACO president Pierre Fillon without going into further detail. 

Vincent Vosse, whose WRT squad masterminds BMW’s Hypercar campaign, confirmed that his was one of the teams to raise the issue. 

“I would like it to be clear in the rules how many drivers you have to run, whether that is two or three,” he told Motorsport.com. 

“Two drivers clearly offers an advantage in terms of track time and team strategy, but we choose to run three because that is how many drivers you need for the Le Mans 24 Hours, the biggest race of the year.”

Sam Hignett, team principal of the Jota squad that will be taking over the Cadillac programme for 2025 in a yet-to-be-confirmed move, suggested that the regulations should remain unchanged and the choice of two or three drivers left up to the teams.

“Two drivers does offer an advantage for the six-hour races, there’s no doubt about it,” he said. “But you need to to be ready for Le Mans, which is why we run three.  

“It’s the choice of the team and should be left that way.”

#12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963: Will Stevens, Callum Ilott

#12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963: Will Stevens, Callum Ilott

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

The rules governing the composition of a driver crew in Hypercar are presently free, the only proviso being that bronze-rated drivers are not permitted. 

A regulation change obliging teams to run three drivers would need to be accompanied by drive-time rules for the WEC’s premier category. 

At the moment the only stipulation in the rules on the amount of time a driver spends behind the wheel is a one-hour minimum for he or she to be eligible for championship points. 

Ganassi’s decision to run Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn as a duo in the regular six-hour races aboard its solo Cadillac V-Series.R bucked a trend in the premier class of the WEC that dates back to the relaunch of the series in 2012. 

Only five WEC races since have been won outright by a two-driver line-up. 

Toyota triumphed at Interlagos and Shanghai with Alex Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre during its partial campaign in the inaugural season of the reborn WEC. 

Sebastien Buemi and Anthony Davidson raced as a duo for the second half of 2014 after Lapierre was dropped from the line-up of the #8 Toyota, winning at Fuji and Shanghai on the way to taking the LMP1 title. 

This year Jota triumphed with its lead Porsche 963 LMDh at Spa this year with Will Stevens and Callum Ilott when Norman Nato was unavailable because he was racing in Formula E in Berlin.

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Ferrari rules out IMSA entry with Le Mans Hypercar in 2025

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Ferrari has ruled out an expansion of its 499P Le Mans Hypercar programme into the IMSA SportsCar Championship for next year.

The Italian manufacturer has outlined a 2025 plan that does not involve the North American series for which the 499P is eligible in the GTP class and instead calls for a continued focus on the World Endurance Championship, again with a three-car assault in Hypercar.

Ferrari head of sportscar racing boss Antonello Coletta told Motorsport.com that the brand “prefers to consolidate [its] programme” rather than expanding onto a second front in what will be the third season of competition for its two-time Le Mans 24 Hours-winning LMH.

“Next year we will be involved only in WEC and not IMSA — now we concentrate on the WEC with three cars,” he said.

That will mean two factory 499Ps run by AF Corse in the Hypercar class and the new-for-2024 customer or satellite entry, also run by AF, that competes in the FIA Endurance Trophy for hypercar teams rather than manufacturers’ points.

The assault with the yellow-liveried Ferrari, this year raced by Robert Kubica and factory drivers Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzman, will continue “unless there are any surprises”, Coletta said.

#83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman, Yifei Ye

#83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman, Yifei Ye

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Coletta has talked openly about a desire for the 499P to one day race in the USA, a key road car market for Ferrari.

Longtime US sportscar entrant Giuseppe Risi, whose eponymous team is currently racing a Ferrari 296 GT3 in the IMSA enduros in GTD Pro, has made no secret of a desire to return to the prototype ranks with the marque he has represented for more than a quarter of a century.

“At the moment we don’t have a plan to go to America, but it is not impossible for the future,” continued Coletta. “We need to take time for each development of our activity.”

Ferrari was most recently involved in the top class of North American sportscar racing with the 333SP customer car built to IMSA’s World Sports Car regulations.

It competed from 1994 through until 2003, taking one victory in the Daytona 24 Hours and three at the Sebring 12 Hours.



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