The switchover from the start of the 2024 season to GT3-spec cars from the current GTE spec machinery for the FIA World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series has seen much speculation on just how the transition will be handled.
There are still plenty of questions remaining – with some awaiting the due process to come from the FIA Endurance Commission and World Motorsport Council, and others awaiting decisions from both the manufacturers involved, and the teams that might run the cars proper.
So here, for now, is where DSC believes things stand for the FIA WEC next season:
- There seems little or no prospect of any brand requiring the much-trumpeted ‘Premium’ package
- There is a clear intention to restrict the number of cars per brand to two, and that both should, preferably, be fielded by a single team
- Those teams look set to be selected by the relevant OEMs and their customer sport operations
- The overall WEC entry in 2024 is set to be capped at 38 cars once again with 20-22 Hypercar entries expected for the full season in 2024
- Confirmation is expected in the coming weeks that LMP2 will not form part of the FIA WEC from 2024, instead featuring in the ELMS, Asian LMS, IMSA and at Le Mans
- That would see c.16-18 slots available for LMGT3, or, alternatively, 8-9 2-car teams
All of the above comes with the health warning that those teams will need to find the budgets necessary to sustain a full season in the FIA WEC, significantly in excess of GT3 budgets anywhere other than in the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship.
So which makes might reasonably be expected to fill those slots?
Very clearly the first tranche of potential entries surrounds marques with live Hypercar programmes and with teams capable of running parallel LM GT3 programmes.
That would reasonably include the following:
Ferrari
AF Corse is the standout favourite to run a GT3 programme with the 296 GT3.
Lamborghini
The Hypercar programme is set to debut next season and programme partners Prema and Iron Lynx are ready, willing and able to add an LMGT3 effort with the Huracan GT3 Evo2.
Porsche
Proton and Project 1 are understood to have GT3 cars on order, and GR Racing has expressed interest too. Proton looks set to be the favoured option alongside their planned customer Porsche 963 Hypercar programme.
BMW
WRT looks very likely to add an LMGT3 programme for the M4 GT3 alongside their factory-backed Hypercar effort.
The rest
That leaves 4-5 slots across the remaining GT3 marques…
Aston Martin
Long-time loyalty to the Championship will be a major plus point (Aston Martin has been a part of the WEC in every season and has won GTE Pro and Am titles, and has taken Le Mans wins with the Vantage), news on an evo kit for the Vantage would help, but the pull-out from the Valkyrie Hypercar programme still potentially leaves a black mark on the register.
Audi
Doubts around Audi’s continuation as a GT3 customer programme operator, and the marque’s late decision to pull out of Hypercar in favour of an F1 engine programme, means that the multi-Le Mans winning manufacturer is likely not going to feature.
Bentley
With the factory backing for the Continental GT3 having ceased, there’s no way forward for the British bruiser.
Corvette
A selected partner for Corvette is a near certainty alongside GM’s continuing Cadillac Hypercar programme. Multiple teams have been negotiating for the deal to field a pair of cars, with one understood to be close to confirming plans for 2024.
Ford
The new Mustang GT3 could bring Ford back into the ACO fold alongside the IMSA GTD Pro plans from the ‘Blue Oval’ And there are several teams keen to get the nod, but as with Audi, Ford favoured an F1 engine programme over a Hypercar option.
Ford is a strong contender for a place on the 2024 roster, but it’s not a done deal!
Glickenhaus
Jim Glickenhaus has repeatedly made clear his ambition to field his SCG 004 in GT3 as and when the production and sales numbers of the road car reach the required levels to allow GT3 homologation. That won’t happen in time for the 2024 FIA WEC season.
Honda
As DSC has written, Danish squad GMB Motorsport is keen to get the nod with its NSX GT3s with support from Milan-based JAS Motorsport, after title-winning success in the Michelin Le Mans Cup.
With the WEC sure to be interested to attract a Honda-badged Hypercar effort with the Acura-plated ARX 06, this should not be counted out.
Lexus
As DSC has written recently, the forthcoming replacement for the Lexus RCF GT3, based on the Toyota GR GT3 Concept will be badged as a Lexus worldwide. And there is real interest in a WEC programme with the new car.
Its credentials would come supported by the parallel Toyota Hypercar programme. The new car however is not going to be ready until 2025 at the earliest and there appears to be no appetite for a ‘fill-in’ programme with the outgoing RCF GT3.
McLaren
McLaren has flirted with Hypercar for several years now but has not yet committed to a programme, though it has been close to a final sign-off more than once.
A variety of reasons from across the wider McLaren Group have kept it from coming to fruition, the continued lack of competitiveness of the brand’s F1 effort means that the available resource for racing keeps pushing other programmes back.
McLaren has a car, and client team, that would present credible WEC entries, but can the ACO be persuaded?
Mercedes-AMG
For Mercedes, no Hypercar programme and no heritage within the FIA WEC means no programme collateral to build upon. However, Mercedes-AMG is a huge brand with an impressive array of customer teams, more than one of which has made it clear that a WEC programme would be welcomed.
The German marque is likely to be in the mix and has made it clear it is looking at options.
Nissan
There seems little or no interest from Nissan in supporting a customer effort with the GT-R NISMO GT3.
Conclusion
There seems to be little or no doubt that, subject to the teams gathering significantly weighty budgets, LMEM and the ACO will have to make some tough decisions over which marques will (and won’t) be successful in getting a full-season WEC invitation.
If DSC’s reckoning is correct, for 2024, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche are effectively nailed in. Corvette can effectively be added to that list too.
Much else depends on the final tally of full-season Hypercars, which will take precedence. If it is 20 then just four more two-car teams would be accepted (if the touted two-car team format is retained).
Those four would most likely be drawn from Aston Martin, Ford, Honda, McLaren and Mercedes-AMG.
Finally, it must be noted, that any decisions will only get tougher if the WEC reaches 21 or 22 Hypercars for 2024…
