WEC FANS! LE MANS FANS! Have we been stitched up like a kipper!

[motoringman]

WEC FANS! Have we been stitched up like a kipper!

Before the Spa 6 Hours I was really hopeful we were going to see a great LMP 1 battle. The rule makers seem to have lost their bottle again. It is just as in Formula One they only seem to care about the manufacturers. And even with a massive advantage over the field Toyota refused to let the cars race, what a farce!

What a waiste of time it was writing the blog below!

Has Le Mans Found The Key To Success For The Future

I feel very lucky to have seen the battle of the Hybrids over the last few years. The most advanced racing cars ever built in a mega dollar battle for supremacy at Le Mans. And it is worth remembering, if just a few mindless fools hadn’t rigged fuel emissions at the Volkswagen-Audi group, we may have been on the verge of yet another great season of manufacturer participation!
Well that’s not the case and once again Le Mans and WEC has been stitched up like a kipper. In the last few months the ACO has thrashed out an emergency set of rules and to all intense and purposes looks like it has come up with something really quite interesting! If you were glued to the internet yesterday for news of the entries to this years and next years super season I hope like me you were pleasantly surprised at the eight LMP1s announced to take on the mighty £300 million Toyota Hybrids.
Well do you think it will work? I don’t think anyone will know until a few races in but it surely stands a chance. There is also the possibility that the ACO may have just hit on a new successful formula for Endurance Racing and even Formula One! I really could not have foreseen Toyota accepting a balance of performance that may well see it beaten at a race that it invested so much in! It almost seems bazaar that we see a major manufacturer with a huge budget racing teams that to be fair do not even register in the same league and on what seems to be a pretty level playing field. If Toyota do not win Le Mans then it will be rather like giant killers in the FA Cup!
But this has got me thinking especially after reading just last night, how Ross Brawn is looking to help the smaller teams in F1 in his plan for the future. Could a similar set of rules see Mercedes and Ferrari being challenged for wins by a small team like Force India? Who knows: “What do you think”? 
If Formula One doesn’t do something soon I think it will stagnate as it is increasingly difficult to see anyone but the top three manufactures dominating while the rules are set in favour of massive budgets. 
But as we have seen, change can come quicker than we sometimes expect. The VW scandal highlighted that! And to see the top drivers competing in different formulas? Well two years ago I don’t think many would have predicted a big Formula One star like Alonso racing at the Indy 500 and then a full season in Le Mans cars. Maybe we should get used to a fast changing world of motor sport that reflects the fast changing world we live in? 
Whatever will happen next?

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[Landy_Jon]

I was slightly surprised at the significant differences between the LMP1 cars. 

[Rhino]

Difficult decision for ACO. Toyota would be rightly pissed off if the ACO penalised them for Audi and Porche leaving. Just look to the other categories, the GT race to the line last year was fantastic.

[geoffd]

Don't forget, Toyota have a few years of development in their car, 6 top line drivers, and a huge budget, the privateers were all racing cars for the first time, some had barely turned a wheel, they have good/top line drivers, and about the same total budget as Toyota have for sarnies for the pit crew.

Were the privateers to be fully on the pace of Toyota at the first race of the new era then it would have been a complete miracle!

When Rebellion were in LMP1 back in 2016 the ended up four laps down at the end of the Spa race, this year it was only two, although of course Toyota weren't running flat out at the front, a better indication may be that back in 2016 Rebellion were 5.7 seconds off of pole, this year 1.46, so it may not be as bad as it looks, the post LM races may give a better indication.

If anyone really expects the privateers to running equal with Toyota then they are living in a dream world, but it does look like they are closer to the pace, and it only needs Toyota to slip up and a well run and lucky privateer will be there to pick up the result.

[Landy_Jon]

Some very wise words and it was also sad to not see Ginetta making an outing owing to their partners financial, err, responsibilities.

However, a class of 1 (Toyota) might get them the win they have always sought but it ain't racing...then again Toyota have to first finish...