Whilst there is full focus on the forthcoming tsunami of LMH and LMDH WEC Hypercar and IMSA GTP machinery, there’s another hugely important set of cars due to emerge in the not too distant future too.
All four LMDH chassis manufacturers: Dallara, Ligier, Multimatic and Oreca must also use the base chassis of their LMDH products as a cost-capped next-generation LMP2 car too.
DSC has spoken to all four and the two common factors are that all will comply with the intended regulations which will again provide for a cost-capped formula with a nominated engine supplier and, in the WEC and other ACO competition, a contracted single-make tyre supplier and that all would like, as a matter of some urgency, more clarity on the missing pieces of the regulations.
With the complexity and relatively short lead times for the LMDH projects, plus the impact of the COVID pandemic and subsequent logistical and supply difficulties, the ACO delayed the introduction of the new formula to 2024. That timeline should see an engine tender process taking place as soon as possible in 2022, though a tyre tender could come later.
The presumption at present is that the new regulations will address the issue of ‘stratification’ between the LMP2 class and the Hypercar/ GTP cars in the premier class, and that there may too be matters involved that appeal to the ‘sustainability’ message that is all-important politically both now and moving forward.
Ligier, the only one of the four not to have an LMDH OEM customer confirmed (yet!) see advantages for their new car in not perhaps featuring some of the compromises to the design that the incorporation of the spec hybrid system into the LMDH version will inevitably involve. They see to0, the opportunity for showing the performance of their package to possibly attract a second tranche LMDH customer.
Dallara, with confirmed LMDH programmes for both BMW and Cadillac, have made clear to DSC the importance of the LMP2 formula for the economies of scale in their programmes.
Multimatic, whose Porsche LMDH programme already has a confirmed Audi offshoot, has also now expressed a clear intention for active marketing of an LMP2 offshoot.
All three have expressed a view that the new regulations need to address a weakness in the 2017 regulations which saw the fourth manufacturer, Oreca, emerge as a dominant force in LMP2 after the first couple of seasons.
That system was designed to allow LMP2 manufacturers to close any performance gap to a dominant car through the use of ‘Joker’ upgrades that would allow changes to bring performance, particularly aerodynamic performance to the level of, but not in excess of, the fastest car in the class.
In reality, that process did not work as it should have and whilst there was not a large performance gap between the Oreca and its Dallara and Ligier competition, increasing market dominance saw tyre development swing rapidly in favour of the Oreca resulting in tiny numbers of entries for rival chassis, and a boom in the numbers of Oreca 07s contesting eligible races and Championships around the globe.
Oreca, who already have confirmed LMDH programmes with Acura for 2023 and Alpine for 2024 are also planning for a marketing effort behind their 2024 LMP2, and they have a dominant market position to defend with all cars currently entered in IMSA and WEC competition, all bar one in Asian Le Mans and all expected to confirm for the European Le Mans Series with one possible exception featuring Oreca 07 chassis.
Amongst the teams the same concerns are voiced, a need for clarity, not just on timing but also on cost, and on assurance that easy chassis choice will not be punished by a set of regulations that does not allow ‘catch-up’.
But there are now other voices too – on both sides of the Atlantic, suggesting both that the LMP2 market could emerge as being far smaller than at present, a direct offshoot of a perceived future difficulty in ELMS teams and others having assurance that a strong, multi-season programme will have as much chance as now to find spaces available on the grid for Le Mans.
That, in turn, has led to suggestions that an in-depth market analysis needs to be conducted to show where the Championship organisers expect the LMP2 market to be in the next 2-5 years, and that without that analysis having been undertaken, consideration should be given to giving the current cars, in which teams are heavily invested, a longer lifespan.
It’s a complex picture with multiple moving pieces, but if Sportscar racing is to enter its next golden era with foundations as strong as history teaches us that there need to be, then the picture needs to become much simpler sooner rather than later.
