The final part of DSC’s bumper FIA WEC Sebring 1000 Miles Preview covers the top category, which is set to steal most of the headlines and fanfare this season, Hypercar.
This weekend’s FIA WEC pre-season Prologue test, ahead of the third year of the Hypercar class, finally looks to deliver on the promise of a new ‘Golden Age’ for international sportscar racing.
The testing at Sebring this weekend marks the start of this year-long journey, with 11 cars entered in the top class, all eager to hit the track with their machinery ahead of what will almost certainly be a tricky 1000 miles on the Friday of the ‘Super Sebring’ double-header next week.
With new cars and new manufacturers, this category has a fresh look to it. Four new teams are entered, two of which are bringing a taste of IMSA’s LMDh ruleset to the FIA WEC for the first time.
The 1000-Mile race, therefore, has the added interest of being the first race globally featuring LMH and LMDh competition against each other in the same class.
How the Balance of Performance process fares will certainly be a storyline to follow, but at such an early stage, it would surprise nobody if it isn’t perfect for the opening race. Nevertheless, the teams involved, while they may need to be patient, will all need to trust that this process can deliver on the promise of bringing the two rulesets together.
Interestingly, no changes are expected to the BoP between the Prologue this weekend and the 1000 Miles. We will have to wait and see if that turns out to be the reality.
Anyway, enough of BoP. Let’s take a look at the runners and riders for the opening race of the season.
Cadillac
Cadillac is one of two brands bringing LMDh-rules machinery to the Hypercar party here along with Porsche. The difference is, unlike Porsche, Cadillac is focusing on a single factory car for the full season, which will be joined by two other V-Series.Rs at Le Mans.
The Ganassi WEC effort is being run out of Europe, though team manager Stephen Mitas admitted to the media last week that the team’s new facility isn’t quite ready yet. The car’s appearance at Daytona and at this Prologue test has therefore been used as the foundation for its pre-season preparations and formed an important part of the opening chapters of an ambitious programme.
“It’s been a challenging timeline,” he told DSC and other select media. “The facility is coming along. We’ll be ready for the European season. The facility has been used by someone else previously, so it has seen some race cars before. We’ll probably christen it in April and give more details at that stage.”
Beyond Sebring, once its new base is operational, its European testing programme will then ramp up. Thankfully the team competed at the Rolex 24 Hours back in January, so it has valuable race mileage already in the bank ahead of this event.
“We’ve been lucky that the car has been testing and testing very successfully in the U.S.,” Mitas says. “So reliability-wise we’re quite confident.”
At the Rolex 24, while the Cadillacs couldn’t quite match the Acuras, two of the three did finish on the lead lap, with the WEC-bound example finishing just off the podium in fourth, so there is a real cause for optimism here. It will be fascinating to see how the car stacks up against the Toyotas and Peugeots which have had much more track and race time.
For the WEC the driver line-up is the same formidable trip as it was at Daytona, with former Porsche factory driver Earl Bamber steering the car with previous Sebring 12 Hours winner Alex Lynn and ex-Ganassi Ford GTE driver Richard Westbrook. Westbrook is the only driver on the grid with experience aboard two different cars in the class after forming part of Glickenhaus Racing’s effort last season.
Porsche
Porsche, like Cadillac, knows it has plenty still to learn about its new car, the 963, which is being campaigned by Penske. The expectation at Porsche has and always will be wins and championships from the word ‘go’. The 963 has undergone a comprehensive testing programme that has eclipsed 40,000 kilometres, but durability let it down at Daytona. Will the cars survive the bumps?
If they do then the stable of drivers Porsche has assembled is more than capable of challenging for a win.
The #5 will be driven by ex-Cadillac and Acura man Dane Cameron and the ex-factory GTE duo of Michael Christensen and Fred Makowiecki. And the #6 sees 2018-19 GTE Pro World Champion Kevin Estre, three-time Le Mans winner Andre Lotterer and IMSA GTLM and GTD champion Laurens Vanthoor come together.
There are no weak links to be found here…
Porsche is the only brand in the WEC with customer cars set to race this year, but the cars for Proton and JOTA are not yet ready. Porsche has been busy working with both teams though, as they prepare to make their Hypercar debuts later in the season with Hertz Team JOTA targeting Spa, and fielding an additional LMP2 Oreca until then, and Proton deferring their programme until after Le Mans with Monza targeted.
“Our customers are in contact with us and we share thoughts, and ideas and try to improve the car together,” technical project lead Christian Eifrig explained. “We used this to create the most efficient end product that is reliable enough and easy to work on. It needs to be easy to use by drivers, mechanics and engineers.”
Ferrari
Ferrari is arguably the biggest new name in the top class, returning to the top level of sportscar competition as a factory for the first time in 50 years with the 499P.
The AF Corse run team has tested the new car at multiple venues, including two tests at Sebring ahead of the opener, and heads to Florida fresh from a final pre-Prologue run at Portimao with both cars. In Portugal, the team focused on the car’s reliability, with both cars running and all drivers present.
“Starting testing last July, from my perspective, from white paper, is quite late,” Mauro Barbieri, performance, simulations and technical regulations manager for the Ferrari Hypercar programme admitted when asked about the team’s development programme ahead of Sebring. “But that being said we have done our best to test and develop the car. The primary target has been reliability, we don’t want to lose time in the garage for repairs.
“I think we are at around 20,000 kilometres now, and within that, we have done a few endurance tests. There are limitations on test days for the 2023 season, and we have to cope with that. We will definitely still spend a few days to come to perform more endurance tests.”
It must be noted though, that the 499P is the only one of the major factory cars yet to race. Is it therefore too early to expect fireworks from this programme?
For the season both cars feature world-class drivers, with Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen in the #50 and Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovanazzi in the #51. It’s good to see that like Porsche, Ferrari has opted to look at its in-house GT talent for most of its Hypercar programme, utilising a set of drivers that have formed part of some of the ‘Prancing Horse’s most memorable moments and results in modern sportscar racing.
Peugeot
Of the two major factory programmes returning from last year from Toyota and Peugeot, the French contingent will be most keen to get as much mileage as possible in during the Prologue.
Peugeot’s 9X8s often lacked outright pace and reliability during the French team’s partial season campaign after Le Mans in 2022, meaning the time spent putting both cars through their paces on the bumps this weekend before qualifying and the race will be extremely valuable.
Peugeot Sport is fully focused on improvement and has spent time testing during the off-season, upgrading the 9X8 for what will be its first full FIA WEC season. This will also be Peugeot’s first-ever trip to Sebring in the World Championship, more than a decade on from its planned outing at the Floridian airbase for the inaugural FIA WEC race back in 2012 before its 908 Hybrid4 programme was killed days before the season began.
“In 2023, although the basic concept of the car will not change, we intend to make use of the jokers authorised by the regulations to introduce a number of evolutions,” explained Peugeot Sport’s technical director Olivier Jansonnie after the team’s recent test at Aragon.
“Our plan has been simply to focus on reliability, performance and long-distance testing. Sebring is a very specific circuit and you can’t necessarily apply what you learn there to your preparations for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. That said, the race’s duration and the characteristics of the track will likely place the emphasis on durability and reliability.”
The sextet of drivers are all returnees from last year, the team running an identical line-up from the season finale in Bahrain with Paul Di Resta, Mikkel Jensen and Jean-Eric Vergne in the #93 and Loic Duval, Gustavo Menezes and Nico Müller in the #94. The only name missing that took part last season is James Rossiter, who drove in the #94 at Monza and Fuji before Müller was selected for the finale.
Toyota
Like Peugeot, Toyota has updated its challenger for this year, the GR010 HYBRID set to sport a significantly different new aero kit for Sebring and beyond. The most visible changes come in the form of a more aggressive aero package. Further improvements have been made elsewhere though, to enhance drivability and aerodynamic consistency.
Modifications have also been made to the bodywork to improve brake cooling and a revised headlight layout has been implemented to optimise visibility during the night.
The car certainly looks more aggressive and purposeful with its updated look, but the proof will come when the racing gets underway.
The Japanese brand has a clear target on its back, after winning Le Mans five years in a row, its programme is very much the benchmark, and the rest of the competition will be eager to beat it.
Familiar faces will pilot the GR010 HYBRIDs this season. Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez will share the #7 while reigning Champions Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa are confirmed in the #8.
There was little to separate the two crews last season, when the #8 took the Drivers’ Championship in Bahrain after a season-long battle with the sister car and the Alpine. It will be interesting to see if they can continue to dominate the top end of the WEC with the added competition.
Glickenhaus and Vanwall
The final two Hypercars to discuss come from smaller outfits Glickenhaus and Vanwall. Both teams head to Sebring with many many questions yet to be answered.
The US-flagged Glickenhaus team has not run its 007 LMH since the race at Monza last season (though the Le Mans-bound customer car has been out on track at Sebring over the winter). This will make Sebring a challenge for what will be Glickenhaus’ second appearance in the WEC on home soil. It will be vital for the team to get as much mileage completed as possible if it is to head into race week confident. It appears though that matching its achievements from last season, which included at Le Mans podium, will be quite a task.
“We know more or less the weaknesses and strengths of our package,” said Stefano Rapisarda, commenting on the team’s season ahead. “From our perspective, the pressure is understanding the new (Michelin) tyres for the season that we haven’t tested and seeing how the other teams stack up.”
The driver crew is once again strong though, with three experienced drivers. Romain Dumas, Ryan Briscoe and Olivier Pla are named in the #708, which is expected to complete the season, joined by the second car at Le Mans.
Vanwall’s line-up is also strong even in such impressive company, the team (formerly ByKolles) signing Tom Dillmann, Esteban Guerrieri and Jacques Villeneuve to give the Vandervell 680 its maiden outing.
The Vandervell 680 has adopted a near-identical powertrain to the same outfit’s previous LMP1 effort, featuring a 4.5-litre Gibson engine. It remains to be seen how fast and reliable this package will be at Sebring and over the course of the season.
While it is hard to know what to expect, expectations shouldn’t be set too high. Like the Ferrari, the 680 hasn’t raced yet. The team also doesn’t have the resources of a major OEM to aid development.
The FIA WEC Prologue is set to take place on March 11th-12th ahead of the opening race of the season on March 17th.
Missed out on DSC’s other previews? Catch up with the links below:
