It’s hard to say goodbye to the BR1 LMP1 because it’s a car that reached the end of its life too soon. But with SMP Racing showing no desire to race it again and DragonSpeed focusing on IndyCar and LMP2 efforts, it’s unlikely that we will ever see it compete again unless a team comes out of nowhere to run it as a grandfathered LMP1 in the 2020/21 FIA WEC season.
The BR1 during its only season of competition suffered from Jekyll and Hyde tendencies.
It was a car that was lightning quick over a single lap, when SMP Racing hit the sweet spot with the AER P60C engine, with incredible qualifying performances at Silverstone and Le Mans. But, whilst history will record it as being the first non-Toyota home at La Sarthe this year, there was little doubt that most observers would comment that the car at times looked ‘edgy’ and featured in more than its fair share of significant shunts. When it was pushed to the limits, to overcome a rather punishing (and partly artificial) deficit created by the heavily criticised Equivalence of Technology process which promised true competition but failed to deliver during 2018/19.
Pietro Fittipaldi’s leg-breaking accident at Eau Rouge/Raidillon, Mattevos Issakyan’s flip the same weekend, Ben Hanley and Egor Orudzhev’s offs at Le Mans and Issakyan’s crash at Sebring were flash-points in a campaign for SMP and DragonSpeed that at times showed real promise, but all to often ended with a huge spares bill.
The list of drivers that started races in the BR1 was also impressive. Many were former F1 drivers, including Jenson Button, Vitaly Petrov, Stoffel Vandoorne, Sergey Sirotkin and Brendon Hartley. Others were notably quick: Mikhail Aleshin, Stephane Sarrazin, Ben Hanley and Renger van der Zande.
It was also a rather interesting example of a modern LMP1 car that competed in the same season with two teams, with two different engine suppliers, SMP opting for AER while DragonSpeed stuck with Gibson, which of course, powers its LMP2 ORECAs.
But the BR1’s time in the WEC ended too soon, DragonSpeed walking away from LMP1 after a tough ‘Super Season’, along with SMP Racing which felt it achieved its best possible result at Le Mans as its reason for departing the scene. Had SMP come back for more in 2019/20, surely the BR1 would be capable of winning races in the ‘Success Handicap’ era, and become the car to beat in the non-hybrid ranks?
Instead, we are left wondering “what could have been?” as Team LNT and Rebellion Racing fight amongst themselves, and now frequently against Toyota.
Notable teams and liveries
SMP Racing
DragonSpeed
DragonSpeed Le Mans Gulf Livery
