Once again the FIA World Endurance Championship has the monopoly on LMP1.
The bad news is out of course that the Nissan LMP1 programme is no more, and that joins the news from earlier in the month that it will be a pair of cars apiece for the remaining trio of factory LMP1 efforts rather than the three apiece that was hoped for.
So what can we expect from the remaining pack of P1s?
First things first we’re not expecting any surprise additions to the 2015 roster. So its a trio of two car factory teams plus the likely added delights of Rebellion and ByKolles in the Privateer ranks.
On the regulatory front there are some changes from the 2015 norm.
Refuelling:
There’s a change to the refuelling regs that appears to be aimed at reeling in the advantage that Porsche held over the competition in 2015 – As we reported last week “Any device/system whose principle is not strictly linked to gravity is prohibited on board”
Porsche’s 2015 advantage proved to be anywhere between 3 and 5 seconds per refuelling. The rulemakers though have clearly decided to act before this part of the engineering of the sport becomes another expensive battleground!
Bodywork:
“The definition of bodyworks, subject to limitation of their amount per season, will be specifically homologated.”
This rule means that there will be three different bodywork iterations allowable in 2016, reducing to just two in 2017 as part of the ongoing drive to reduce costs.
Wheel arch vents will be around 25% larger in 2016 as part of a drive to improve safety, this measure trying to help prevent a car getting airborne if it gets sideways.
Testing and Wind Tunnel Restrictions:
Testing days will be reduced too (from 50 to 43) and Wind tunnel time comes down too – to 1200 hours in the coming year, 800 in 2017.
Hybrid Power Delivery:
There was some confusion after an FIA communique seemed to imply at least that there would be a hybrid power delivery ‘cap’ for 2016.
In fact the measure applies only to Le Mans, this being the only Class 2 circuit on the FIA WEC calendar though there are discussions about this being rolled across the full calendar for later years.
Specifically at Le Mans the upper hybrid system power limit will be 300kw (c.400bhp), an additional restriction to the already confirmed reduction in energy allocation per lap of 10mJ for a lap of Le Mans (c.7% cut).
The move marks another significant step to the ongoing attempt to control lap times, the ACO have gone on the record as saying that they believe that a lap time of 3:20 is the desired minimum for safety to be controlled.
The teams though, despite the range of restrictions placed upon them, seem confident of reeling in most of the potential time lost with all three factory teams telling DSC they expect Le Mans lap times to see little change year on year (which, on the basis of what we saw in 2015 is actually a very considerable reeling in of potential!)
Other measures in future years:
Discussions are still underway about the timing and scope of new monocoque regulations, already delayed until 2018, but with current and aspirant LMP1 Privateers exerting pressure for grandfathering of current chassis and/ or better accommodation of the rather different priorities that they have to the megabucks factory efforts.
A potential introduction of a 10 mJ sub-class and an increase of the number of permitted hybrid systems from two to three are also still under discussion.
Team By Team
Porsche
Porsche enter 2016 as defending World and Le Mans Champions and we’re promised a thorough evolution of the all conquering 919 Hybrid for 2016.
The 919 was the only car this season with a full 8mJ hybrid capability and with Audi promising 6mJ and Toyota shooting to join the Porsche on 8mJ the open questions is whether an evolution of their existing, stunningly effective, package be good enough to fend off an attacking Audi and Toyota onslaught? We’ll see!
One detail change we can be 100% sure about is that the running numbers of the Porsche pair will change to #1 for World Champions Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber and #2 for Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb, no change eventually decided upon for the full season six from 2015.
No news yet on whether the car’s livery, which it has to be said is not a fan favourite, will change for 2016. The red and black variations on the theme drew much favourable comment. A change would be welcome to many!
Audi
Audi are expected to retain their 2015 numbers #7 and #8 with identical crews to last season too though there are rumours of a significant change coming elsewhere chez Audi.
The new R18 though is a very different looking beast, an all new aero solution front and rear, a new hybrid system too with lithium ion batteries replacing the previous mechanical system.
The Audi though stays with its unique diesel powerplant, still a 4 litre V6 TDI but even further optimised from the unit used in 2015. The diesel has some real advantages built in but the inherent weight penalty over the smaller petrol turbos means that 6mJ is the maximum that Audi can currently manage on their hybrid system. Look how close though the Audis came in 2015 with ‘just’ 4 mJ.
Toyota
After a season where the rate of advancement from Porsche and Audi caught them on the hop the TMG boys and girls have been on lockdown in their Cologne eyrie, plotting their racing revenge.
The biggest part of that plan is the new for 2016 Toyota TS050, the car a totally different animal from the 2015 TS040.
The differences are legion, the normally aspirated V8 replaced by a smaller (over 2 litres) turbo engine and the supercapacitor storage medium replaced after three years of faithful service by batteries, proof if it were needed that racing has improved the technological breed.
Toyota will stick with their two KERS systems, foregoing the opportunity to switch to an exhaust recovery system, believing that their solution will get them to 8mJ and will give them the best and most consistent power supply.
There is one disadvantage to their competition, the Toyota has yet to hit the track!
On the driver front there’s at least one, and most likely only one, change as Alex Wurz steps out of the driving seat and into Brand Ambassador mode.
Kamui Kobayashi is the hot favourite to replace the Austrian with Sam Bird looking likely to fill in behind as test and reserve driver (though the rapid Englishman is believed to have been released to fill a full season seat in the FIA WEC).
Should Audi hang on to the #7 & 8 numbers it will mean that Toyota will carry something other than either those numbers (carried from 2012 to 2014) and the #1 & 2 from this year.
Privateer LMP1
There’s a response due from the ACO after the Bahrain meeting with the current and short-term prospective LMP1 teams that might make a substantial difference to a number of budget-related items, and to the viability of current and potential investments in chassis. The promise from the rulemakers, we believe, was an answer to a short but important list of requests by the year end!
Rebellion
Two for the year is the current plan for Bart Hayden and co. A very happy Alex Pesci on the Bahrain podium was a happy sight indeed for all concerned as the team finished 1,2 in the Championship.
There’s little detail yet to be had on the programme, or on the planned driver line-up but there’s very little doubt that much effort will be going in to improve reliability in the close season with the team’s development AER P60 twin turbo V6s at the core of the todo list but with other items also requiring attention.
Another unanswered question is on the tyre front – both Rebellion and ByKolles tested Dunlops post season and there’s every chance that one, other, or both, could look for an advantage in that part of the available package.
ByKolles
The Colin Kolles owned squad saw their form improve throughout the year with the AER engined CLM, the 2015 car equipped with an earlier iteration of the twin turbo V6.
For 2016 the team intend to deal with some of the inherent handling issues in their current car with a pair of new chassis under construction, new pick up points at the front of the car the major change.
The team will run both cars if custom can be found though they ran only two drivers for much of the year.
Their loyal pair, Pierre Kaffer and Simon Trummer are understood to be likely to return though its not yet clear if they will share one car or be spread across the potential two.
