WEC

MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi will return to the Gulf 12 Hours in Bahrain in January with his Avintia-bound half-brother Luca Marini joining him in a Ferrari 488 GT3.Rossi contested the 12-hour event at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi last year in a Kessel Racing-run 488 Ferrari partnered by Marini and his long-time friend and business partner Alessio Salucci. The trio took a class win in their 488 GT3 in the Pro-Am category and were third overall and will return to defend their crown in January. A brief statement from the organisers said: “MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi will return to race at the Gulf 12 Hours on 9 January 2021 at the Bahrain International Circuit. “Rossi made his Gulf 12 Hours debut at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi in 2019 with the Monster VR46 Kessel Racing team, winning the GT3 Pro-Am class and taking third position overall. “He will return alongside teammates Luca Marini and Alessio Salucci in their Ferrari 488 GT3.” Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event has been moved from Yas Marina to the Bahrain International Circuit and delayed from its December slot to January. Rossi hinted earlier this year his plans were to race the Gulf 12 Hours instead of taking part in the World Rally Championship finale at Rally Monza in December. The Italian isn’t the only MotoGP rider to have raced at the Gulf 12 Hours, with former Yamaha teammate and three-time world champion Jorge Lorenzo taking part in the event in 2016. Rossi’s protege Franco Morbidelli was announced on Saturday morning as an entrant in the WRC finale at Monza next month in a Hyundai WRC3 car. This weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix marks Rossi’s final outing with the factory Yamaha squad, having spent 15 years in two stints with the team. He will depart for Petronas SRT in 2021 alongside Morbidelli, but will remain a factory-contracted rider and have machine parity with Maverick Vinales and his replacement Fabio Quartararo. Marini is currently 18 points off the Moto2 championship lead ahead of this weekend’s Portugal finale, with the VR46 rider one of four capable of taking the crown. He will step up to MotoGP in 2021 with the Avintia squad in partnership with VR46 after signing a deal with Ducati, and will join current Moto2 points leader Enea Bastianini. Rossi’s debut Gulf 12 Hours appearance came days after driving seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton’s 2017 title-winning Mercedes at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit near Valencia. This was Rossi’s first taste of modern hybrid F1 machinery, while Hamilton impressed on his first MotoGP test on the Yamaha M1.

Factory Aston Martin driver Alex Lynn will skip the final round of the 2019/20 FIA World Endurance Championship season in Bahrain after testing positive for COVID-19. Following his Le Mans 24 Hours success with Maxime Martin and Harry Tincknell in the #97 Aston Martin Vantage in the GTE Pro class, Lynn was due to return with Martin as a duo for this weekend’s eight-hour title decider. However, in a statement released on Wednesday, Aston has revealed that the British driver didn’t travel to Bahrain after returning a positive COVID-19 test. “It’s incredibly disappointing to end the FIA World Endurance Championship season in this way, especially after the amazing high of the Le Mans victory that brought us back into title contention,” said Lynn. “I wish all my teammates the best of luck this weekend, but especially Maxime and Richard.” Lynn’s place will be taken by Richard Westbrook, who was already due to travel to the Gulf nation to drive alongside Paul Dalla Lana and Ross Gunn in Aston’s #98 entry in the GTE Am ranks due to Augusto Farfus’ commitments with BMW in the clashing Sebring 12 Hours. With Westbrook moving up to GTE Pro, Aston has called up 2017 GTE Am champion Pedro Lamy to take Westbrook’s place in the #98 Vantage. “I feel really sorry for Alex,” said Westbrook. “It’s terrible for a driver to have the chance to fight for a championship taken away by something like this. “I am looking forward to getting back in the Vantage GTE and having had a plenty of miles under my belt at Le Mans, I’m certain that I will be able to give Maxime the support he needs as he goes for the championship. “Bahrain is one my favourite tracks; I won my first GT race there 2005. Hopefully I can do it again this weekend!” The two Aston crews occupy the top two spots in the GTE Pro standings, with the #95 entry of Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim leading Lynn and Martin by 15 points, with 39 available in the bonus points Bahrain race.

Ferrari has called up Daniel Serra to race for its factory GTE Pro squad in next weekend’s Bahrain FIA World Endurance Championship season finale. Brazilian racer Serra will replace WEC regular Alessandro Pier Guidi alongside James Calado at the wheel of the #51 Ferrari 488 GTE in the eight-hour race on November 14. Pier Guidi will instead represent Ferrari in the clashing GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup round at Paul Ricard, reprising his usual role in the manufacturer’s lead entry in that series entered under the AF Corse banner. He’ll be joined by Sam Bird and Come Ledogar for the French race, having had Calado and Nicklas Nielsen as his teammates for the first three rounds of the series. Danish racer Nielsen will be in Bahrain to take up his usual spot in the #83 AF Corse entry in the GTE Am class alongside Francois Perrodo and Emmanuel Collard. Miguel Molina and Davide Rigon will race with Ferrari in Bahrain in the #71 GTE Pro car as normal, leaving two spots alongside former Williams Formula 1 driver Sergey Sirotkin in the AF-run SMP Racing car at Paul Ricard. These will be filled by long-time factory driver Toni Vilander and ex-Formula 2 racer Antonio Fuoco. Calado remains just about in contention for the GTE Pro drivers’ title in the WEC, as he and Pier Guidi are 26 points down on the leading #95 Aston Martin crew of Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen with 38 available in the bonus-points Bahrain event. Alex Lynn and Maxime Martin in the #97 Aston are their teammates’ nearest challengers, 15 points adrift following their class win in the Le Mans 24 Hours in September. Aston drivers also lead the way in GTE Am, with TF Sport trio Salih Yoluc, Charlie Eastwood and Jonathan Adam defending an eight-point lead over Perrodo, Collard and Nielsen. In GTWCE, Calado, Pier Guidi and Nielsen are fifth in the standings and 18 points adrift of the head of the table with a maximum of 34 up for grabs at Paul Ricard. The SMP car is not in contention, having failed to score points this season so far.

There were plans underway to change this month’s 24 Hours of Spa to 25 hours, but it now seems that the plans have been abandoned. It was also announced that the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup that will be holding double points will be held behind closed doors from October 24th to 25th. Laurent Gaudin who is the World Endurance race manager said that the Stephane Ratel Organisation believed to the end that it would be possible to allow a limited crowd to attend the race which had been rescheduled from its normal July period to this month due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “We tried everything to manoeuvre this huge event through the various protocols and very strict health constraints,” Gaudin explained. “After multiple proposals, with the requirements increasing and the volume of public authorised falling, we had to face facts and the whole team made the sad decision to lay down arms. We are truly sorry for all our fans and I have no doubt that we will face criticism, but SRO is not above the law.” It had also been announced that the 24 hour race would be extended by an hour to be the 25 Hours of Spa as Stephanie Ratel who is the series boss said that he wanted the event to be ‘a race to remember even in the years to come’. The change of the race duration to 25 hours, would have seen the change in the clock on the Sunday morning of the race. The addition of an extra hour would have the race start on 3:30pm on Saturday and end on 3:30pm on Sunday. Laurent Gaudin later explained the move to add an extra hour to the Spa race was part of a plan to give fresh impetus to the October edition. “We were optimistic and we thought, a little naively, that the disease would be behind us by this time of the year,” he said. “With this not being the case and with no fans able to join us, we have elected to revert to the original format.” The race now will follow its normal schedule, where it will be starting at 3:30pm on Saturday and end at 2:30pm on Sunday. The final entry list of the cars to be competing in the race is yet to be announced, as 50 cars took part in the last week’s official pe-event test at Spa.

Legendary motorsports mechanic Dickie Stanford has joined United Autosports as its new Historic Motorsport Project Manager from Williams. United Autosports is a joint ownership between Mclaren CEO Zak Brown and former Le Mans winner Richard Dean and competes in the World Endurance Championship and also the European Le Mans Series. The team has a vast range of classic cars such as the 1970 Can-Am Mclaren M8D, 1986 Williams FW11, 1991 Penske PC20 and 2001 McLaren MP4-16A. Dickie Stanford joined the Williams Formula 1 team back in 1985 as a race mechanic first working on Niger Mansell’s Williams FW10, and through the years he was finally promoted to team manager in 1995. He later reduced his workload in 2005 but after 5 years he returned to Williams in 2010 to run and manage its test team before moving across into the heritage department. His first trip will be to Portugal this weekend for the Peter Auto Estoril Classic, where the team will run the 1989 Jaguar XJR10 and the 1974 Ford Cologne Capri RS3100 for Brown and IndyCar legend Dario Franchitti. “I am delighted to be joining United Autosports as Historic Motorsport Project Manager,” said Stanford. “I am looking forward to working on new and very exciting ongoing historic projects with the team. United Autosports have some of the best examples of F1, IndyCars and sports cars in the world. “I would like to say thank you to Zak and Richard and the rest of the team at United Autosports for my very warm welcome.” Zak Brown added: “I’m delighted Dickie has joined the team in our growing historic motorsport department and I’m looking forward to working with him as he brings his experience to the team.”

Rebellion racing have announced that they will no longer be competing in the World Endurance Championship after the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This means the LMP1 team will not be taking part in the WEC final round which will take place in Bahrain. As Rebellion Racing CEO, Calim Bouhadra in a statement said that the team’s involvement in the 8 hours of Bahrain race still depended on the team having a chance to beat Toyota Gazoo in the WEC title. The Rebellion team has taken the second place in the 24 Hours of Le Mans after topping FP3 as Gustavo Menezes, Norman Nato and Bruno Senna being 30 points behind the No.8 Toyota. A 39 point offer still remains in the 2019/2020 WEC finale including a point for the pole position. The Rebellion R-13’s have been the only non-hybrid LMP1 cars on the track and their only chance to beat the dominant Toyotas relies on the possibility they do not finish the race. Bouhadra confirmed the decision made by the team on Tuesday, that the Swiss racing team will not be racing in Bahrain, in addition to termination of their involvement in WEC. This means that only 2 cars owned by Toyota Gazoo Racing will be taking part in the final race that will conclude the LMP1 era of cars. Bykolles Racing with their ENSO CLM P1/01 only competed at Spa in August and 24 Hours of Le Mans as Ginetta also ruled out racing in Bahrain. This withdrawal of the LMP1 teams will give the two Toyota TS050 Hybrid A rather simple race as no car will finish below 2nd. Victory at Le Mans for Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima in the No.8 Toyota maintained them to the top of the WEC standings on 175 points. Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez driving the No.7 Toyota were leading prior to last weekend, winning three of the preceding six WEC races, but are now behind by seven points following their troubled run to third place at La Sarthe. With the 38 points offer on the victory and 27 for the 2nd at the Bahrain finale, means that whichever car finishes first will have won the title even without any consideration of the car that will win the pole

Toyota Gazoo Racing have won their third consecutive championship in the 24 Hours of Le Mans as Kazuki Nakajima took the No.8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid past the chequered flag at Circuit de la Sarthe. This victory was the third for Kazuki Nakakima and Sebastian Buemi, and the second for Brendon Hartley who is the new Zealander who is replacing Fernando Alonso in the car No.8 for the 2020 season. Meanwhile the sister Toyota car No.7 finished third with Jose Maria Lopez after overtaking Rebellion Racing No.3 car driven by louis Deletraz in the final hour while it was stuck in the garage after having a crash damage. It was a better result for the sister Rebellion racing car in the hands of Norman Nato, after finishing second and splitting the two Toyota TS050 Hybrid. This was the final Le Mans for Rebellion racing after they announced they are pulling out of endurance racing. Toyota had entered as the race favourites as their LMP1 Hybrids finish the race in a 1-2 victory but it was not the case after the Toyota No.7 driven by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez experienced a turbo failure at 3.am and had to pit for repairs that took 30 minutes, making the car to drop eight laps behind its sister Toyota. In LMP2 the No.22 United Autosports car driven by Filipe Albuquerque, Phil Hanson and pole sitter Paul di Resta took the victory for the LMP2 class which was holding 24 cars, Phil Hanson took the car for the chequered flag. The final minutes proved critical for the No.22 car after United Autosports called in Hanson to the pits for a quick check making the No.38 Jota Sport driven by Anthony Davidson take the lead as the race was coming to an end. But merely 10 minutes to the close of the event Davidson found himself having to surrender the lead as he had to pit for fuel and finally finished second with a comfortable gap with the third Panis racing Oreca driven by Nico Jamin. United Autosports were looking for a 1-2 victory in the LMP2 class but the No.32 car suffered an oil leak and had to pit for an hour losing the podium places. During the final hour, the No.26 G-Drive  Oreca driven by Jean-Eric Vergne shot off at the Indianapolis as it was running third in the LMP2 class, and later on Vergne reported over the radio that the suspension had broken. Panis Racing team took the position as Mathieu Vaxiviere was on the wheel. The No.39 Graff Racing Oreca had shown promising results as James Allen led for the first two hours of the race but later crashed into a tyre barrier with only 40 minutes to go. This saw the team lose the 5th place in the LMP2 class. In the GTE Pro class, the No.97 Aston Martin took the lead just like in FP1 in the hands of Alex Lynn as he was able to hold off James Clado in the No.51 Ferrari AF Corse by about half a lap. Nicki Thiim came in third with the No.95 sister Aston Martin. The porsche Factory team who were contenders for the GTE Pro victory only managed to finish 6th and 7th after being disadvantaged by the balance of performance results. In GTE Am, the No.90 TF Sport with Charlie Eastwood took the win as Matt Campbell in the No.77 Proton Porsche finished second, with AF Corse getting another podium place as the No.83 car with Nicklas Nielsen finished third. The race was one of a kind, with 16 of the 59 cars to start the race failing to reach the flag. As the chequered flag fell on the 24 Hours, so did the flag fall on the LMP era. For 2021, the Hypercar regulations will take hold.

Rebellin driver Louis Deltraz led the Free Practice session in the 24 Hours of Le Mans which was featuring four hours of night-time run which gives opportunity for the drivers and teams to test their cars for the night ahead of the weekend race. Majority of the fastest lap times were set on the first half of the session as the other half many teams switched to tyre work. Louis Deletraz set a time of 3m19.158s in the first hour as he was driving the No.3 Rebellion R-13 LMP1 privateer. Kamui Kobayashi with the Toyota TS050 Hybrid recorded 3m19.638s on his second lap which was an improvement from his previous laps as Gustavo Mendez closely followed with the second Rebellion R-13. Sebastian Buemi came fourth with the sister N0.8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid. Much later the Bykolles came in as the fifth and final of the LMP1 cars losing a lot of time after Bruno Spengler made contact with the barrier at Tetre Rouge just an hour and a half in the session bringing out a red flag. Tristan Gommendy set the pace for the LMP2 cars in his No.30 Duqueine Oreca 07 with 3m 28.013s in the first hours of the session as the record remained untouched. United Autosports’ Job Van Uitart came in second with the No.32 Oreca-07 just nine tenths of a second later than Gommendy as Jean Eric Vergne in his No.26 G-Drive Oreca came in third a tenth of a second later. Both of the IDEC cars remained in the pits after suffering accidents early Thursday with the team’s No.28 Oreca requiring a new tub. Kevin Estre took the lead in the GTEPro class after recording a time of 3m 52.177s in the first hour of the session aboard the No.92 Porsche 911-RSR 19. The No.97 Aston Martin Vantage driven by Maxime Martin came second just three tenths of a second later as Marco Sorensen took third with the No.95 Aston Martin Vantage. James Calado took 4th with the No.51 Ferrari AF Corse making it the first of the Ferraris. In the GTE Am category Kei cozzolino topped with the japanese MR Racing Ferrari recording a time of 3m 54.490s beating Paolo Rubetri’s No.60 Iron Lynx Ferrari time in the final hour. The No.98 Aston Martin with Augusto Farfus came second a tenth of a second after Cozzolino. The session was halted 15 minutes early after a huge accident for Bonamy Grimes in the Red River Ferrari after the Briton lost his car under braking for the first Mulsanne chicane and rammed into the barriers, but climbed out unhurt.

The first practice for the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans which is the 6th round of the 2019/2020 World Endurance Championship ended as the No.8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid(Toyota Gazoo Racing) lead the LMP1 category as Aston Martin Racing Vantage Racing lead in the GTEPRO category. There was a safety car period in the 3-hour practice session to clear debris left by Team Project 1’s No.89 Porsche RSR which went offtrack at the Indianapolis and later the race was restarted as the porsche was driven back to the pit stop. The No.8 Toyota driven by Kazuki Nakajima made the fastest lap of 3m 21.656s as the No.7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid came in three tenths of a second later, which was also a second earlier than the No.95 Aston Martin Vantage. The No.51 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO AF Corse were the third fastest with 3m 55.186s, they were the 2019 GTEPRO victors as the reigning champions came later with the No.92 Porsche 911 being 7th and the sister porsche No.92 came 8th in the class. LMP2 class was headed by the No.33 High Class Racing Oreca-07 Gibson with a lap time of 3m 29.873s as the No.29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca came on 3m 29.918s just leaving a gap of 0.045 seconds. No.39 JOTA Oreca was the third quickest recording a lap time of 3m 31.206s. Aston Martin also headed the GTE-Am class with the no98 Vantage of Ross Gunn finishing ahead of five LMGTE Pro cars with a 3m55.484 lap.  The no72 Hub Auto Racing Ferrari was second fastest with a 3m56.350 and the no70 MR Racing Ferrari just over two tenths behind the no72 Ferrari. Free Practice 2 for the 24 Hours of Le Mans will start at 14h00 CET.

The 88th series of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will be taking place this weekend from 19th-20th September as the effects of the corona virus pandemic still affect the race after it was rescheduled to September from the June dates. The spectators will also be absent from the grand stands due to the pandemic as scrutineering will be taking place on the track and not in the city centre as usual. Competition in the LMP1, LMP2, GTE-AM and GTE-PRO classes will be as thrilling as ever as a condensed schedule has been put in place where the nightime run will be longer than the day and the threat of changing weather conditions, where it will probably rain will make the 2020 season more challenging than the previous races. These are the latest photos as the teams prepare at La Sarthe

Porsche has revealed the new pair of liveries for the 24 Hours of Le Mans race that will be happening this weekend. The colour schemes celebrate the Weissach marque’s 1970 Le Mans win with the Porsche 917 driven by Richard Attwood and Hans Herrmann back then. Porsche’s No.91 car will share the same red and white colours as used by Attwood and Herrmann that year, while the No.92 machine will run a variant with black sections in place of red. The two Manthey-run Porsche 911 RSR-19s will be driven by the same drivers for a third year in a row, with Gianmaria Bruni, Richard Lietz and Frederic Makowiecki aboard the No.91 car and Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen sharing the No.92. Porsche is running only two cars in the GTE Pro ranks for the first time since 2017 owing to the withdrawal of its two CORE autosport-operated IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship cars due to the global coronavirus pandemic. They face opposition from two-car entries from regular FIA World Endurance Championship rivals Ferrari and Aston Martin, as well as two privateer Ferraris entered by the Risi Competizione and Scuderia Corsa teams. It is also the first time the 911 RSR-19, which replaced the previous-generation 911 RSR at the start of the 2019/20 WEC season, will be raced at Le Mans. “We’re competing under completely different circumstances,” commented Porsche’s head of WEC operations Alexander Stehlig. “The climatic conditions in September are different compared to June. “There are still some unknowns in terms of weather, temperatures, performance and tyres. We’ll use the existing data from our WEC and IMSA campaigns as well as the insights gained from testing so that we can hopefully be well sorted for the first free practice session. “We’re competing for the first time with the Porsche 911 RSR-19 here. It’s not only new for us, but also for the ACO, which handles the BoP. We have complete confidence in the expertise and experience of the specialists. “Remaining unchanged, however, are the two driver trios in the cockpits. This will be their third year of working together at Le Mans. That’s a strength we will build on.”

Ginetta has withdrawn its solo LMP1 entry from this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Ginetta AER G60-LT-P1 has been under Team LNT has been scrapped off the rescheduled World Endurance Championship which will be held in France on 19th-20th September. The chief executive of the Ginetta Company which is under The LNT Group, Matte Lowe said, “ “Team LNT with its Ginetta-AER G60-LT-P1 will not be contesting the 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours… New COVID cases in France are at their highest level since the start of the pandemic and with the latest quarantine rules in place when returning, as a factory-based team, this will in effect mean a minimum four-week closure of the Ginetta manufacturing facility, with a knock-on effect on Ginetta’s core UK championships.” “This, coupled with the significantly altered WEC calendar, has meant that after careful consideration, the decision has been taken that the G60-LT-P1 will not contest this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours.” The executive added. The car was due to be driven by Guy Smith who is the 2003 Le Mans champion, Chris Dyson who was Smith’s partner in the American Le Mans and works driver Mike Simpson. This leaves only five cars in the LMP1 class being the Toyota TS050 Hybrid Pair, two Rebellion-Gibson R13s and one ByKolles ENSO CLM-Gibson P1/01. Ginetta boss Lawrence Tomlinson stated that they were also not ready in the new WEC series set on November in Bahrain. The outfit has not been competing in WEC since last November when its two entries participated in the Bahrain WEC, the team also missed on the February Austrian fixture and last month’s 6 hours of Spa. The team boss stated that they needed to return the cars to UK for rebuilding for missing Austin and also pre-testing a series of upgrades on the G60 LMP1 over competing at Spa. The team had also narrowed down to one car because they didn’t want to produce necessary spares for two in case a race postponed from June didn’t happen. “The factory will instead focus on testing and refining the cars in preparation for the 2021 season.” Lowe added on a statement from LNT. The team have no further plans to bring the Ginetta for the next season but according to Tomlinson they are hopeful that another team will take over the cars and hence the car will be on the grandfathered basis since there will be introduction of Le Mans Hypercar rules.

Signatech Alpine will be moving to the pinnacle of endurance racing for the 2021 World Endurance Championship as they will enter the series rebranded as Rebellion R-13. This move was reported on Thursday and the news follow closely the announcement of Renault Formula 1 rebranding its name to Alpine for 2021 season, however an official announcement is expected on Monday. It is alleged that the signatech team will be operating one of the three R-13 chassis on loan from Oreca which currently owns the car and it is expected that it will be rebranded in the same way as Oreca 07 LMP2 car known as Alpine A-470. Rebellion Racing had confirmed earlier this year that they would be dropping out of endurance racing after the end of 2019/2020 World Endurance Season but according to sources the team confirmed that it has no plans to sell or loaning out the two Oreca-Gibsons cars that remain under their ownership. The current Signatech LMP2 drivers Andre Negrao and Nathanael Berthon who will be driving for Rebellion in the upcoming Le Mans 24 Hours, have been reported to be the contenders for the new drive. This comes as Thomas Laurent who was with Rebellion in 2018/2019 season and now currenltly with Signatech might also be considered for the ride. Signatech will be moving to the LMP1 class which has only attracted Toyota, Bykolles and Glickenhaus although there was the introduction of LMH(Le Mans Hypercar) which may leave Signatech to be the only current-gen Lmp1 on the grid unless Ginetta is able to find a customer willing to continue operating its G60-LT-P1 beyond the end of this season. It also raises the prospect of Alpine gearing up to commit to either the LMH formula or the LMDh ruleset that the WEC will share with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, which was originally planned to come on stream in 2022 but could be delayed by a year. In such a scenario, Alpine would face off against fellow French marque Peugeot when the latter joins the WEC field with a new hybrid-powered contender some time in 2022.

Toyota Gazoo Racing have been handed a weight penalty ahead of this month’s 24 hours of Le Mans double points round for the World Endurance Championship. This comes as the weight for the toyota TS050 Hybrid which raced last year exceeding by 7Kg compared to the edition they are looking forward to present this year. The last year’s car weighed 888Kgs whreas this year’s car weighed 895Kgs creating the 7Kg gap. The new weights of the car were published on the Equivalence of technology table on Wednesday and are significantly low compared to the weights in the previous years which had a record maximum of 932Kgs, reflecting the higher per-kilometre levels of hybrid energy deployment allowed on regular WEC tracks compared with the 8.47-mile Circuit de la Sarthe at Le Mans. The weights for the normal and turbocharged versions of the toyota cars remain at 816Kgs and 833Kgs respectively as per the Equivalence of Technology table released on Wednesday. The maximum amount of petrol that can be used by the cars has also been increased so as to enable Rebellion, Ginetta and the Bykolles racing cars to achieve at least 11 laps between the pitstops as the Toyotas. This comes as the equality of stint length between the hybrid and the non-hybrid LMP1 cars being a major change made ahead of the 2019/2020 World Endurance Championship. Privateers in the championship were also given a one second advantage on being informed the time it takes to fuel the cars as the refuelling restrictor diameter were increased for both the normal and the hybrid cars. This creates a level playing field for the two classes(normal and hybrid) of cars to compete in 2019/2020 WEC Le Mans. Aston Martin Vantage GTEs boost levels have been incresed from last year’s, this is after the boost levels were reduced on the british cars on the Friday of the Le Mans week after Sorensen claimed th pole position for the GTE Pro.

ByKolles Racing Team has revealed its stunning new car for the No. 4 Enso CLM P1/01 Gibson car which will race at the upcoming 24 Hours of Le Mans, round 7 of FIA WEC Season 8. The new body features ByKolles’ well-known yellow and black colour scheme but sees an updated design by Mark Antar, confirmed to drive the LMP1 car at Le Mans will be its regular drivers Tom Dillmann and Oliver Webb, plus Bruno Spengler who joined the squad for his LMP1 debut at Spa-Francorchamps last month. “We collaborated with livery designer Mark Antar Design for the second consecutive year to create a new look for our 2020 contender. He delivered our best and most refined livery to date along with stunning 3D visuals to showcase the design in its full glory.” Boris Bermes the head of operations said 

Automobile Club de l’Ouest released the latest entry list to the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Tuesday 25.08.2020. The federation had cancelled the race which normally runs in June and later pushed it to September due to the covid 19 pandemic. The list comprises of 59 teams in the different racing classes. The LM P1 class will comprise 6 teams, LM P2 will have 23 teams, LM GTE Pro consisting of 8 teams and LM GTE Am 22 teams. Get the full list here. The race had been rescheduled from 13-14th June to September 19-20th having close to half of the race happening in darkness unlike races in the previous years. This means that the teams have to come up with new racing strategies. There will be no spectators for the first time ever due to the covid 19 pandemic.