FIA WEC Super Season - a unique contest with two Le Mans events

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  • 24 Hours of Le Mans logo
  • 24 Hours of Le Mans, opening ceremony

The new season of the FIA World Endurance Championship will start this weekend at the iconic Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. The 2018-2019 FIA WEC super season would be a unique competition because two Le Mans 24 Hours events will be included into the same championship for the first time in a history.

Besides two races at Circuit de la Sarthe, the 8-race calendar features two races at Spa-Francorchamps and four more events at Silverstone Circuit, Fuji Speedway, Shanghai International Circuit and Sebring International Raceway.

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing. World Endurance Championship. 6 Hours of Spa

The season will start at Spa-Francorchamps

2018-2019 FIA WEC Super Season calendar

RoundRaceCircuitDate
16 Hours of Spa-FrancorchampsCircuit de Spa-FrancorchampsMay 5, 2018
224 Hours of Le MansCircuit de la SartheJune 16-17, 2018
36 Hours of SilverstoneSilverstone CircuitAugust 19, 2018
46 Hours of FujiFuji SpeedwayOctober 14, 2018
56 Hours of ShanghaiShanghai International CircuitNovember 18, 2018
61000 Miles of SebringSebring International RacewayMarch 15, 2019
76 Hours of Spa-FrancorchampsCircuit de Spa-FrancorchampsMay 4, 2019
824 Hours of Le MansCircuit de la SartheJune 15-16, 2019
Kazuki Nakajima, Sebastien Buemi and Fernando Alonso will share the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid

Kazuki Nakajima, Sebastien Buemi and Fernando Alonso will share the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid

Toyota against five LMP1 privateers

Following a withdrawal of German manufacturers from LMP1 class, only Toyota will continue to run their TS050 Hybrid prototypes in the premier category of the championship.

Five other private teams announced a participation in LMP1 class with five different non-hybrid prototypes. Rebellion Racing will run two Gibson V8-powered R13. The American team DragonSpeed will use the same engine in BR Engineering’s BR1 chassis.

The Russian outfit SMP Racing will use the same BR1 chassis but with AER V6 Turbo engines in their #11 and #17 cars. Two more V6 Turbo powerplants will be in use by CEFC TRSM Racing and ByKolles Racing. The Chinese team will use Mecachrome engine in two Ginetta G60-LT-P1 cars while Austrian team will use Nismo engine in their ENSO CLM P1/01 chassis.

FIA WEC prologue

36 cars will compete full season in the World Endurance Championship

Seven LMP2 crews, nineteen GT entries

For the second season in a row, the LMP2 grid will consist exclusively of Gibson V8-powered cars. Six teams announced a participation for the entire season with seven cars. For Le Mans 24 Hours in June, the grid will be expanded to 20 LMP2 cars.

Ten GTE Pro entries from five manufacturers will contest for GT Trophy. AF Corse (Ferrari), Chip Ganassi Racing (Ford), Team MTEK (BMW), Porsche GT Team and Aston Martin Racing will have two cars each. In the GTE Am class, nine full-time entries were announced for the super season.

In total, 36 crews are on the entry list for the 2018-2019 FIA WEC season: ten LMP1s, seven LMP2s, ten GTE Pro crews and nine GTE Am crews.

Fernando Alonso, Toyota Gazoo Racing

Fernando Alonso will combine F1 commitments with McLaren and FIA WEC schedule with Toyota

Alonso and Button are the biggest stars

When talking about drivers, the former F1 champion and current McLaren F1 Team’s driver Fernando Alonso gained the biggest interest of media and fans. The Spaniard will compete full season in the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid, sharing a car with Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima.

Another former F1 champion, the Briton Jenson Button, has been recently announced as a full-time driver in SMP Racing’s line-up, together with Mikhail Aleshin and Vitaly Petrov in the #11 car. Button will skip the season-opening round at Spa due to clashing commitments with Super GT Series.

In all categories, the grid will be full of world champions and Le Mans winners, including Andre Lotterer, Neel Jani, Loic Duval, Sebastien Buemi or Anthony Davidson among prototype drivers. James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi will try to defend GT title in a Ferrari while Aston Martin Racing’s championship-winning trio Paul Dalla Lana, Mathias Lauda and Pedro Lamy will fight again for GTE Am Endurance Trophy.

2018-2019 FIA WEC Super Season entry list

ClassCar numberTeamCarDrivers
LMP11Rebellion RacingRebellion R13 - GibsonAndre Lotterer, Neel Jani, Bruno Senna
3Rebellion RacingRebellion R13 - GibsonThomas Laurent, Mathias Beche, Gustavo Menezes
4ByKolles Racing TeamENSO CLM P1/01 - NismoOliver Webb, Tom Dillmann, Dominik Kraihamer
5CEFC TRSM RacingGinetta G60-LT P1 - MecachromeCharlie Robertson, Leo Roussel, Dean Stoneman
6CEFC TRSM RacingGinetta G60-LT P1 - MecachromeOliver Rowland, Alex Brundle, Oliver Turvey
7Toyota Gazoo RacingToyota TS050 HybridMike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez
8Toyota Gazoo RacingToyota TS050 HybridSebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima, Fernando Alonso
10DragonspeedBR Engineering BR1 - GibsonHenrik Hedman, Ben Hanley, Pietro Fittipaldi, Renger van der Zande
11SMP RacingBR Engineering BR1 - GibsonMikhail Aleshin, Vitaly Petrov, Jenson Button
17SMP RacingBR Engineering BR1 - GibsonStephane Sarrazin, Egor Orudzhev, Matevos Isaakyan
LMP228TDS RacingOreca 07 - GibsonFrancois Perrodo, Matthieu Vaxiviere, Loic Duval
29Racing Team NederlandDallara P217 - GibsonFrits Van Eerd, Giedo Van Der Garde, Jan Lammers
31DragonspeedOreca 07 - GibsonRoberto Gonzalez, Nathanael Barthon, Pastor Maldonado, Anthony Davidson
36Signatech Alpine MatmutAlpine A470 - GibsonNicolas Lapierre, Andre Negrao, Pierre Thiriet
37Jackie Chan DC RacingOreca 07 - GibsonJazeman Jaafar, Weiron Tan, Nabil Jeffri
38Jackie Chan DC RacingOreca 07 - GibsonHo-Pin Tung, Gabriel Aubry, Stephane Richelmi
50Larbre CompetitionLigier JS P217 - GibsonErwin Creed, Romano Ricci, Julien Canal
GTE Pro51AF CorseFerrari 488 GTE EvoAlessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Daniel Serra
66Ford Chip Ganassi Team UKFord GTStefan Mucke, Olivier Pla, Billy Johnson
67Ford Chip Ganassi Team UKFord GTAndy Priaulx, Harry Tincknell, Tony Kanaan
71AF CorseFerrari 488 GTE EvoDavide Rigon, Sam Bird, Miguel Molina
81BMW Team MTEKBMW M8 GTEMartin Tomczyk, Nick Catsburg, Philipp Eng
82BMW Team MTEKBMW M8 GTEAugusto Farfus, Antonio Felix da Costa, Tom Blomqvist
91Porsche GT TeamPorsche 911 RSRRichard Lietz, Gianmaria Bruni, Frederic Makowiecki
92Porsche GT TeamPorsche 911 RSRMichael Christensen, Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor
95Aston Martin RacingAston Martin Vantage AMRMarco Sorensen, Nicki Thiim, Darren Turner
97Aston Martin RacingAston Martin Vantage AMRAlex Lynn, Maxime Martin, Jonny Adam
GTE Am54Spirit of RaceFerrari 488 GTE Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci, Giancarlo Fisichella
56Team Project 1Porsche 911 RSRJorg Bergmeister, Patrick Lindsey, Egidio Perfetti
61Clearwater RacingFerrari 488 GTEWeng Sun Mok, Keita Sawa, Matt Griffin
70MR RacingFerrari 488 GTEIshikawa Motoaki, Olivier Beretta, Edward Cheever
77Dempsey-Proton RacingPorsche 911 RSRMatt Campbell, Christian Ried, Julien Andlauer
86Gulf RacingPorsche 911 RSRMichael Wainwright, Ben Barker, Alex Davison
88Dempsey-Proton RacingPorsche 911 RSRMatteo Cairoli, Khalid Al-Qubaisi, Giorgio Roda
90TF SportAston Martin Vantage Salih Yoluc, Euan Hankey, Charles Eastwood
98Aston Martin RacingAston Martin Vantage Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy, Mattias Lauda

Photos: FIA WEC, Toyota Gazoo Racing,