FIA WEC Super Season - a unique contest with two Le Mans events
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.
2018-2019 FIA WEC Super Season calendar
Round | Race | Circuit | Date |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps | May 5, 2018 |
2 | 24 Hours of Le Mans | Circuit de la Sarthe | June 16-17, 2018 |
3 | 6 Hours of Silverstone | Silverstone Circuit | August 19, 2018 |
4 | 6 Hours of Fuji | Fuji Speedway | October 14, 2018 |
5 | 6 Hours of Shanghai | Shanghai International Circuit | November 18, 2018 |
6 | 1000 Miles of Sebring | Sebring International Raceway | March 15, 2019 |
7 | 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps | May 4, 2019 |
8 | 24 Hours of Le Mans | Circuit de la Sarthe | June 15-16, 2019 |
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.
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.
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
Class | Car number | Team | Car | Drivers |
---|---|---|---|---|
LMP1 | 1 | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion R13 - Gibson | Andre Lotterer, Neel Jani, Bruno Senna |
3 | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion R13 - Gibson | Thomas Laurent, Mathias Beche, Gustavo Menezes | |
4 | ByKolles Racing Team | ENSO CLM P1/01 - Nismo | Oliver Webb, Tom Dillmann, Dominik Kraihamer | |
5 | CEFC TRSM Racing | Ginetta G60-LT P1 - Mecachrome | Charlie Robertson, Leo Roussel, Dean Stoneman | |
6 | CEFC TRSM Racing | Ginetta G60-LT P1 - Mecachrome | Oliver Rowland, Alex Brundle, Oliver Turvey | |
7 | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota TS050 Hybrid | Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez | |
8 | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota TS050 Hybrid | Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima, Fernando Alonso | |
10 | Dragonspeed | BR Engineering BR1 - Gibson | Henrik Hedman, Ben Hanley, Pietro Fittipaldi, Renger van der Zande | |
11 | SMP Racing | BR Engineering BR1 - Gibson | Mikhail Aleshin, Vitaly Petrov, Jenson Button | |
17 | SMP Racing | BR Engineering BR1 - Gibson | Stephane Sarrazin, Egor Orudzhev, Matevos Isaakyan | |
LMP2 | 28 | TDS Racing | Oreca 07 - Gibson | Francois Perrodo, Matthieu Vaxiviere, Loic Duval |
29 | Racing Team Nederland | Dallara P217 - Gibson | Frits Van Eerd, Giedo Van Der Garde, Jan Lammers | |
31 | Dragonspeed | Oreca 07 - Gibson | Roberto Gonzalez, Nathanael Barthon, Pastor Maldonado, Anthony Davidson | |
36 | Signatech Alpine Matmut | Alpine A470 - Gibson | Nicolas Lapierre, Andre Negrao, Pierre Thiriet | |
37 | Jackie Chan DC Racing | Oreca 07 - Gibson | Jazeman Jaafar, Weiron Tan, Nabil Jeffri | |
38 | Jackie Chan DC Racing | Oreca 07 - Gibson | Ho-Pin Tung, Gabriel Aubry, Stephane Richelmi | |
50 | Larbre Competition | Ligier JS P217 - Gibson | Erwin Creed, Romano Ricci, Julien Canal | |
GTE Pro | 51 | AF Corse | Ferrari 488 GTE Evo | Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Daniel Serra |
66 | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford GT | Stefan Mucke, Olivier Pla, Billy Johnson | |
67 | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford GT | Andy Priaulx, Harry Tincknell, Tony Kanaan | |
71 | AF Corse | Ferrari 488 GTE Evo | Davide Rigon, Sam Bird, Miguel Molina | |
81 | BMW Team MTEK | BMW M8 GTE | Martin Tomczyk, Nick Catsburg, Philipp Eng | |
82 | BMW Team MTEK | BMW M8 GTE | Augusto Farfus, Antonio Felix da Costa, Tom Blomqvist | |
91 | Porsche GT Team | Porsche 911 RSR | Richard Lietz, Gianmaria Bruni, Frederic Makowiecki | |
92 | Porsche GT Team | Porsche 911 RSR | Michael Christensen, Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor | |
95 | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | Marco Sorensen, Nicki Thiim, Darren Turner | |
97 | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | Alex Lynn, Maxime Martin, Jonny Adam | |
GTE Am | 54 | Spirit of Race | Ferrari 488 GTE | Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci, Giancarlo Fisichella |
56 | Team Project 1 | Porsche 911 RSR | Jorg Bergmeister, Patrick Lindsey, Egidio Perfetti | |
61 | Clearwater Racing | Ferrari 488 GTE | Weng Sun Mok, Keita Sawa, Matt Griffin | |
70 | MR Racing | Ferrari 488 GTE | Ishikawa Motoaki, Olivier Beretta, Edward Cheever | |
77 | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche 911 RSR | Matt Campbell, Christian Ried, Julien Andlauer | |
86 | Gulf Racing | Porsche 911 RSR | Michael Wainwright, Ben Barker, Alex Davison | |
88 | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche 911 RSR | Matteo Cairoli, Khalid Al-Qubaisi, Giorgio Roda | |
90 | TF Sport | Aston Martin Vantage | Salih Yoluc, Euan Hankey, Charles Eastwood | |
98 | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin Vantage | Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy, Mattias Lauda |
Photos: FIA WEC, Toyota Gazoo Racing,