[WEC] FIA World Endurance Championship

[NaBUru38]

Why on earth will they give a drivers title??? Endurance racing is a team sport!!! No teams titles is fine to me, they belong to continental championships.

Only one North American race would be uncool.

[AGD]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Why on earth will they give a drivers title??? Endurance racing is a team sport!!! No teams titles is fine to me, they belong to continental championships.

I tend to agree. On the other hand, I think most sports car fans don't really focus too much on drivers championships in the endurance ranks. Maybe I'm wrong on that.

It does pose an interesting question though. Peugeot and Audi both have 9 factory drivers each plus reserve drivers. Which of these drivers will be allowed to fight for the championship? There's a bit of an established pecking order at Audi, but not so much at Peugeot as far as I can tell. This could lead to some angst amongst the drivers. It would be nice in a way if the factory teams ran 3 cars each full-time, but I don't know if that is feasible.

Perhaps this is a good time to put a hard cap on entries per team for factory teams. Maybe that will force the factory teams to support privateer teams. Who knows.

I kind of like Audi and Peugeot rotating their drivers every race. It really does emphasize the team aspect of the sport. I'd like to keep that I think, but it looks like that is going away.

Only one North American race would be uncool.

No doubt! I fully understand why the ILMC goes to China and why China may get two races, but I think a championship is pretty lame when you have multiple races that nobody cares about when there are historic races with thousands of fans wanting to see the best sports car racing has to offer. What can I say?

The ACO is hitched pretty deeply now to Audi and Peugeot. They cannot afford to lose those two (unless they are replaced) or else the series will almost certainly die. Having the ILMC die is one thing, but having a World Championship die again will be a major embarrassment. If anything, I think the rules are more likely to favor the powerhouses even more than in the past.

[JAG]

There's no suggestion NA won't have two races, Sebring and PLM get more European coverage than any sportscar race outside Le Mans.

The number of events is dependent on travel arrangements, so a China double-header could happen, and a South American race after Sebring.

[AGD]

Originally Posted by JAG

There's no suggestion NA won't have two races, Sebring and PLM get more European coverage than any sportscar race outside Le Mans.

The number of events is dependent on travel arrangements, so a China double-header could happen, and a South American race after Sebring.

As I mentioned a few posts ago, John Dagys was mentioning on his Twitter feed that he was hearing that there may only be one North American race:

momedic9019 Ryan ziegler @
@johndagys can you put a bug in their ear to
bring the WEC to Road America.
4 hours ago

in reply to ↑
@johndagys
John Dagys
@momedic9019 It won't happen.
Word on the street is that there would only be one North American round to begin with..

http://twitter.com/#!/johndagys

[deggis]

Originally Posted by AGD

I tend to agree. On the other hand, I think most sports car fans don't really focus too much on drivers championships in the endurance ranks. Maybe I'm wrong on that.

Maybe they want to change that. I agree that constructors' & teams' titles would make more sense. Three titles are too much, imho.

[Spyderman]

Originally Posted by AGD

Peugeot and Audi both have 9 factory drivers each plus reserve drivers.

I hope you are not counting Timo and Romain as "Audi Drivers".

[Andy77]

I am dreaming of a 1000km race at Suzuka if we speak about asian races

[AGD]

Originally Posted by Spyderman

I hope you are not counting Timo and Romain as "Audi Drivers".

Right, but I think the property lines have blurred over the years! I guess Audi has four full-time factory sports car drivers (and I guess Rockenfeller is preoccupied this year), but Dindo is retiring I guess so they will be down to three. It'll be interesting to see what they do for the WEC. I would have to think that Audi would like to get Timo and Romain's services on a more permanent basis. The drivers of the "red" car are all part-timers and have other racing duties with other companies AFAIK.

Originally Posted by slappy2happy87

Thanks for the clarification Arakis! Im asking you to speculate now because well that we do. Will it be a challenge for Gt2 teams to choose between which series to run. Ratel's series and or the WSC. Also will those GT teams have to make major changes to run the WSC from Ratel's? This could be a good problem to have.

The GT2s that will be allowed in the Ratel series will be 2009-spec cars. There may be teams that run both SRO and ACO series (perhaps the LMS if not the WEC), but there really isn't too much overlap between the series as far as I can tell. Perhaps someone else can speculate in that regard.

Originally Posted by Andy77

I am dreaming of a 1000km race at Suzuka if we speak about asian races

That would be awesome, but you might be better off setting your aspirations to Zhuhai or Shanghai! Hopefully Honda, Toyota, and/or Nissan will catch Le Mans fever and demand a Japan race. The way the auto industry is going though even those brands may want to race in China over Japan. Who knows.

[Mal]

Originally Posted by Andy77

I am dreaming of a 1000km race at Suzuka if we speak about asian races

I am sure this will happen IF the Japanese manufacturers step up to the plate

[NaBUru38]

Another argument for only manufacturers titles is that it gives room to just one winner. If a Peugeot driver wins the drivers title and Audi the manufacturers title, both could claim to be world champions. I don't like that.

Originally Posted by Andy77

I am dreaming of a 1000km race at Suzuka if we speak about asian races

Originally Posted by AGD

Hopefully Honda, Toyota, and/or Nissan will catch Le Mans fever and demand a Japan race.