DSC ran the first version of this piece two months ago. It’s a mark of the rapid-fire changes in the marketplace that we’ve chosen to update it substantially so soon.
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 though there are a number of potential takers that may now be looking at a 2 x 1 car team offer
- Those teams look set to be selected by the relevant OEMs and their customer sport operations
- The overall WEC entry in 2024 could now be capped at below the current 38 car level – 34 or 36 are the numbers currently in play, these linked to the maximum capacity of a single air-freighter
- With c. 20 Hypercar entries expected for the full season in 2024, and with confirmation at Le Mans that LMP2 will not form part of the FIA WEC from 2024, instead featuring in the ELMS, Asian LMS, IMSA and at Le Mans, c.14-16 slots now seem available for LMGT3, or, alternatively, seven to eight manufacturer slots if two-car representation is confirmed,
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 LMGT3 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’s confirmation of a deal with Ford was a game changer (though DSC had reason to ask Proton about Ford in late 2022). Despite reports elsewhere of Proton also ordering Porsche GT3 cars, these are very unlikely to see service in the FIA WEC.
DSC sources suggest that Porsche is examining a potential 2 x 1 WEC bid with GR Racing in the mix together with existing GT3 Porsche teams, including at least one from North America.
A potential game-changer though comes with the news that Manthey Racing is currently attempting to recruit experienced ACO-rules technical staff. Could the factory-owned outfit leapfrog the current customer teams? DSC believes it will!
BMW
WRT will likely add an LMGT3 programme for the M4 GT3 alongside its factory-backed Hypercar effort with Valentino Rossi a potential flag carrier for the marque’s WEC programme.
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). More current news on an evo kit for the Vantage would help, DSC understands that it has been tested, but not recently, and the prospect of a near-future Valkyrie Hypercar programme will be a help.
The loss of TF Sport as a high-achieving customer team is a blow but there are still potential takers, most likely with AMR (Prodrive) support) with Heart of Racing and D’Station amongst the contenders.
Audi
Audi’s confirmed pull-out as a full factory-backed customer sport operation, coupled with the marque’s late decision to pull out of Hypercar in favour of an F1 engine programme, are black marks on the register. Multiple current Audi customer teams are interested, but this seems an easy one to strike out.
Bentley
With the factory backing for the Continental GT3 having ceased, there’s no way forward for the British bruiser despite the fact that DSC understands that at least one team has enquired about the possibility!
Corvette
The confirmation of TF Sport as the selected FIA WEC partner for Corvette sees a two-car entry all but nailed in with the new Z06 GT3.R alongside GM’s continuing and possibly boosted Cadillac Hypercar programme.
Ford
The new Mustang GT3 could bring Ford back into the ACO fold alongside the IMSA GTD Pro plans from the ‘Blue Oval’. The announcement at Le Mans of Proton Competition as its favoured entrant was a master stroke, the Hypercar privateer an ever-present in the FIA WEC.
Ford is a very 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 and support from Milan-based JAS Motorsport, after title-winning success in the Michelin Le Mans Cup.
DSC is also aware of another – somewhat left field – prospect for the brand in what could be a 2 x 1 car team bid.
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.
More recently though a serious prospect has emerged for 2024, with an existing high-performing GT3 team (now named, we believe correctly, by our friends and colleagues at Endurance-Info as Akkodis ASP) and at least a bridging programme with the current RC F GT3.
If that happens and Toyota support the effort, this could be a game changer in the selection of the field.
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 more than one 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. If however, Akkodis ASP has switched brands for LM GT3, that means that AMG’s customers see things the way we do, that the brand is going to find it difficult to find a pathway to LMGT3 in 2024.
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, Corvette, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche are effectively nailed in.
If the potential Lexus programme emerges too then that’s another that is almost certain to get the nod.
Much else depends on the final tally of full-season Hypercars, which will take precedence. If it is 20 then just three more two-car teams would be accepted (if the touted two-car team format is retained and the current cap of 38 is retained).
Heading that prospects list is surely the Proton Competition Ford effort, with a possible two more to come from Audi, Aston Martin, 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…
