With the withdrawal of Strakka Racing, the reeling in of Rebellion’s 2013 programme and the announcement by Toyota that they will field just a single car there has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth over the future of the WEC in general, and of LMP1 in particular.
Certainly the grid for the next round of the World Championship later this month has dipped below 30, with LMP1 at just four cars now, but read beyond the headlines and there are simple (and far from entirely negative) factors at play.
Rebellion have been clear all along that their very welcome commitment to a full, two car, 2014 (and beyond) LMP1 programme with the new Oreca designed Rebellion R1 Coupe would require some sacrifices in their planned 2013 programme, and with the withdrawal of their only privateer opposition in the WEC there were easy choices to be made.
The ALMS will mourn their decision to cull most of their remaining US commitments too but the strong feeling here is that if this is for the greater good moving forward then it is a profoundly sensible decision.
Strakka have yet to reveal their hand but there is much background chatter around preserving budgets to secure finance for a substantial LMP programme for 2014 – Whether that is LMP1, LMP2, or both, remains to be confirmed.
Toyota meanwhile are altogether a different kettle of fish – or are they?
Their official statement makes it clear that Messrs Wurz and Lapierre are now focussing on the team’s 2014 development programme and, despite doom mongering elsewhere, there seems a reasonable amount of certainty that Toyota intend to be back, with a new car, for the start of the new rulebook era next year.
In the meantime, and confirmed at the moment for Interlagos and Austin, it’s the better points placed #8 of Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi and Stéphane Sarrazin that will race with “a decision regarding the team’s line-up at the remaining WEC rounds” to be announced “in due course.”
That’s disappointing of course from a sporting point of view in 2013 but with the team’s 2013 car seeming to be missing out on overall pace to the Audis it is perhaps little surprise in the circumstances.
Remember that Toyota initially entered just a single car for the whole season with multiple sources suggesting that they were persuaded by none other than Gerard Neveu to commit a second car on a race by race basis only. The announcement here then is actually just a re-iteration of the original plan, albeit with a different crew!
There’s little secret that the budgets at Toyota are much, much tighter than for Audi, and there’s no secret whatsoever that the Cologne based outfit are less than entirely happy with the current balance between the petrol and diesel fuelled performance balancing. The refocus then makes sense on two counts, and as we have seen from TMG’s initial efforts with the original TS030, they don’t tend to waste their thinking time.
GG
