Starting next year the full World Endurance Championship season will feature the Hyperpole qualifying format that was first used at the Le Mans 24 Hours.
The FIA World Endurance Championship qualifying format will be changed to include the WEC’s Hyperpole qualifying for for the 24 Hours of Le Mans starting 2024.
The advanced Hyperpole qualifying format, which will include two sessions each for the Hypercar and LMGT3 classes, was approved during Thursday’s FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in Geneva. It will replace the current format of single 15-minute sessions for each class.
There will be two sessions for each regular round of the WEC’s two classes, Hypercar and LMGT3 starting from the coming year. The top 10 drivers from a 12-minute qualifying time frame will advance to the 10-minute Hyperpole session, which determines the first five rows of the grid for each class.
The new format has been modeled after that which was implemented for the double-points Le Mans WEC round back in 2020.
The fastest six in each class advance to the 30-minute Hyperpole on Thursday after all cars in all classes compete in a one-hour qualifying session on Wednesday evening at Le Mans.
The FIA’s “enhanced qualifying format” was approved by the World Motor Sport Council on Thursday in Geneva. It takes the place of the current qualifying format, which consists of a single 15-minute session for each of the three classes.
The WEC will only feature two categories as LMP2 exits the championship, with the notable exception of Le Mans. If the Hyperpole format at Le Mans will change in any way for the upcoming season has not yet been made public.
The main event of the series has its own complementary rules, which won’t be released until the race comes up next year.
The WMSC approved the rules for the LMGT3 division, which will take the place of GTE Am when it launches next year.
The FIA GT3 regulations will be modified for the WEC to include leader lights and illuminated number panels, which show whether the car is among the top three in its class.
