Goodbye LMP 1 hello Hypercars

[wsn03]

Red Firecracker said:

Inverness said:

So can someone please confirm what cars we will be watching at Le Mans 2020? Because if it's the same as this year we may not bother and go to the Classic instead.

At Le Mans 2020 in the top class you will see two Toyota TS050 Hybrid LMP1s going for overall victory. You may see a Rebellion or two, you might see a ByKolles (personally I hope so) and you might see a Ginetta or two, but......

Other than that you'll see the usual LMP2s and GTEs.

...minus the Fords and the BMWs - the new Corvettes will be out in force too

[Red Firecracker]

wsn03 said:

...minus the Fords and the BMWs - the new Corvettes will be out in force too

Ben Keating's Ford may be out and I wouldn't rule out the IMSA BMWs, but yes, no factory Ford (although you never know, I guess)

With the lower than expected (and potentially getting lower) WEC full season entry, there should be more spaces for one off invitations outside of the WEC / ELMS full seasons, so possibly some more IMSA and ALMS interest.

[//j17]

Inverness said:

So can someone please confirm what cars we will be watching at Le Mans 2020? Because if it's the same as this year we may not bother and go to the Classic instead.

We'll you should see the full season WEC grid, so 2x Toyota, 2x Rebellion, 2x Genetta in LMP1, 8x LMP2s, two each from Ferarri/Porsche/A-M in GTEPro, 4x Ferarri/3x Porsche/2x A-M in GTEAm.

On top of that you can expect to see the Corvettes in GETPro and the usual random smattering of additional LMP2 and GTE cars from other qualifying championships. ByKolles have said they'd like to enter some rounds of the WEC, by which we can assume they mainly mean Le Mans and Spa (as a warm-up for Le Mans). Now outside Le Mans that's against WEC rules but for Le Mans I think it will depend how confident the ACO are that ByKolles can deliver a hypercar for the 2020/21 season so how much they want to show them love. In LMP1 I could also see an outing for one of the SMP cars, following their 3rd last year.

[Red Firecracker]

Individual entries for WEC rounds outside of Le Mans are perfectly within the regs, at the discretion of the organisers.

[jonny142]

Bentley Monitoring Hypercar Developments

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/bentley-monito...

[RL17]

+2 or 3
on minus Fords and BMWs as shockingly just 6 GTE PRO cars at Silverstone
bit of a come down after Le Mansp

[jonny142]

Gordon Murray eyes Le Mans return with McLaren F1 successor

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/news/sports-car...

[Some Gump]

Eyes.

How many entities have eyed hypercar?

Hell, i eyed hypercar. Considered it for an entire bath. Then realised that i lacked the financial clout to do it, and even if i could raise the funds i suspected that the return on investment would be poor.

As have ferrari lambo audi porsche ford volvo lexus bmw etc etc. Always the same news - considered a return, possible in the future, etc etc.
Headline - lamborgini eyes le mans return. Content - interview with stefano domenicalli "for sure we are always looking, it is a great sport and a great event and would never rule out a return to le mans".

It's like the sniffpetrol british sports car.press release form but with the crate engine swapped.for brands..

[//j17]

Just trying to work out the current 2020/21 Hypercar entry list. Has it actually moved on at all from:
2x Toyota
2x Aston Martin
1 or 2x Glickenhaus (maybe)
1x ByKolles (maybe)

Considering the 20/21 season starts in 10 months time I really don't see anyone else making even the 'maybe' list so going to be amazing isn't it...

[Big Robbo]

There would appear to be growing speculation that Aston Martin will have four Valkyries running, two run by the multimatic team fresh from the ford WEC adventure and two run by the team that is currently running Astons DTM cars. Plus don't forget that current LMP1 cars will also be involved, so all in all something to definitely look forward to

[GrahamG]

Its not speculation ref more than two Valkyrie - they said so at the very start - likely a pair with a customer team

My guess is that Toyota will run three hypercars at Le Mans in 2021 - there are signs that this is being considered

[DS240]

Peugeot back for 2022!

Good someone else is getting involved and a big player who will go all out for the win.

Still don’t like the new regs though.

[olliethehut]

Great that Peugeot are back, waiting with baited breath to see if they pull out before the opening round in 2022.
I hate to think what allowances the ACO have made them in a bid to bring them back though. They do love a French winner...

[vincegail]

They'll be back for the '22-'23 season, so at Le Mans in 2023. Mere coincidence that 2023 is the 100th anniversary of the first Le Mans 24 hours race

[Big Robbo]

vincegail said:

They'll be back for the '22-'23 season, so at Le Mans in 2023. Mere coincidence that 2023 is the 100th anniversary of the first Le Mans 24 hours race

You might be on to something there....

[Oldwolf]

Looks pretty good if the render is even vaguely realistic

[Great Dane]

This could be made into a hypercar...

[jonny142]

Oldwolf said:

Looks pretty good if the render is even vaguely realistic

Tie up with Rebellion then .. Nice

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/peugeot-and-re...

[//j17]

In other news - the WMSC try their best to minimise the number of different cars in the new "Le Mans Hypercar" class by mandating competitors “must enter a homologated car under the name of an automotive brand” (20 cars within 2 years of starting racing), so our 2021 entry list now looks like:
- A-M
- Toyota
- ByKolles
- Glickenhaus

Oh, and also a 30kW/40bhp power cut for LMP2 to stop them being faster than the new LMH class. Yay.

[vincegail]

I don't see ByKolles selling 20 roadgoing cars, but I thought Glickenhaus has already his quotum spoken for?