A short preview of the 2016 World Endurance Championship.
This year the Championship will take place over 9 rounds and in 3 Continents. The race schedule is:
17 April: 6 Hours of Silverstone, GBR
07 May: WEC 6 Hours of Spa, BEL
05 June: 24 Hours of Le Mans Test Day
18/19 June: 24 Hours of Le Mans, FRA
24 July: 6 Hours of Nürburgring, DEU
04 September: 6 Hours of Mexico City, MEX (To Be Confirmed)
17 September: 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas (Lone Star Le Mans), USA
16 October: 6 Hours of Fuji, JPN
06 November: 6 Hours of Shanghai, CHN
19 November: 6 Hours of Bahrain, BAH
LMP1 is likely to see another battle between Porsche and Audi although Toyota will be hoping their revised hybrid car will see them able to mix it back with the German teams. Porsche have moved from the 6MJ hybrid class to 8MJ whilst Audi have changed from 4MJ to 6 and ditched their flywheel system for lithium-ion batteries. I can't find a great deal of detail on the Toyota TS050 other than it will still have a normally aspirated V8 rather than the turbo units used by Porsche (2 litre petrol) and Audi (3.7 litre diesel).
In the privateer LMP1 class Rebellion and Bykolles will continue to battle it out with a Toyota 2.4 litre turbo engine prepared by AER in Basildon. There have been rumours about the privateer teams moving to hybrids but the technology isn't readily available off the shelf.
In LMP2 there is a much wider spread of chassis manufacturers but all will use a 4.5 litre normally aspirated V8 engine. Although LMP2 is a bit of a Cinderella class to LMP1 the battle for class wins in the category is still very aggressively contested and does produce very close racing.
In GTE Pro it's like going back to the 60's. Porsche, Ferrari, and Aston Martin are joined by Ford who have created a new GT model to try and teach the Europeans a lesson. Ford won Le Mans with the GT40 in 1966, it will be very interesting to see how this new car performs on the 50th anniversary of that event.
In GTE Am Ford are replaced by Chevrolet to do battle with the Porsches, Ferraris and Aston Martins.
On the drivers side of things there is a huge mixture of nationalities and as you look down the list you will spot quite a few second hand F1 drivers. Mark Webber continues at Porsche alongside Brendon Hartley and Timo Scheider. Audi have an unchanged line up from 2015 as do Toyota.
If you want to find out more about the races, cars, teams and drivers here are some links.
FIA World Endurance Championship − Official Website
2016 FIA World Endurance Championship - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
WEC 2016 Racing - News, Photos, Videos, Drivers
I hope to be at Silverstone and don't forget the European rounds of the WEC races are often supported by ELMS races so two endurance races for the price of one.
European Le Mans Series
This year the Championship will take place over 9 rounds and in 3 Continents. The race schedule is:
17 April: 6 Hours of Silverstone, GBR
07 May: WEC 6 Hours of Spa, BEL
05 June: 24 Hours of Le Mans Test Day
18/19 June: 24 Hours of Le Mans, FRA
24 July: 6 Hours of Nürburgring, DEU
04 September: 6 Hours of Mexico City, MEX (To Be Confirmed)
17 September: 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas (Lone Star Le Mans), USA
16 October: 6 Hours of Fuji, JPN
06 November: 6 Hours of Shanghai, CHN
19 November: 6 Hours of Bahrain, BAH
LMP1 is likely to see another battle between Porsche and Audi although Toyota will be hoping their revised hybrid car will see them able to mix it back with the German teams. Porsche have moved from the 6MJ hybrid class to 8MJ whilst Audi have changed from 4MJ to 6 and ditched their flywheel system for lithium-ion batteries. I can't find a great deal of detail on the Toyota TS050 other than it will still have a normally aspirated V8 rather than the turbo units used by Porsche (2 litre petrol) and Audi (3.7 litre diesel).
In the privateer LMP1 class Rebellion and Bykolles will continue to battle it out with a Toyota 2.4 litre turbo engine prepared by AER in Basildon. There have been rumours about the privateer teams moving to hybrids but the technology isn't readily available off the shelf.
In LMP2 there is a much wider spread of chassis manufacturers but all will use a 4.5 litre normally aspirated V8 engine. Although LMP2 is a bit of a Cinderella class to LMP1 the battle for class wins in the category is still very aggressively contested and does produce very close racing.
In GTE Pro it's like going back to the 60's. Porsche, Ferrari, and Aston Martin are joined by Ford who have created a new GT model to try and teach the Europeans a lesson. Ford won Le Mans with the GT40 in 1966, it will be very interesting to see how this new car performs on the 50th anniversary of that event.
In GTE Am Ford are replaced by Chevrolet to do battle with the Porsches, Ferraris and Aston Martins.
On the drivers side of things there is a huge mixture of nationalities and as you look down the list you will spot quite a few second hand F1 drivers. Mark Webber continues at Porsche alongside Brendon Hartley and Timo Scheider. Audi have an unchanged line up from 2015 as do Toyota.
If you want to find out more about the races, cars, teams and drivers here are some links.
FIA World Endurance Championship − Official Website
2016 FIA World Endurance Championship - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
WEC 2016 Racing - News, Photos, Videos, Drivers
I hope to be at Silverstone and don't forget the European rounds of the WEC races are often supported by ELMS races so two endurance races for the price of one.
European Le Mans Series
