Hypercar teams prepare to do battle at Daytona and Le Mans: 'This is it'

Le Mans News
- Last updated: January 11th 2023

Gary Watkins runs through all the competitors, as the might of Ferrari and Porsche takes on Peugeot and Toyota in endurance racing's new golden era

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Ferrari returns to the top class for first time in 50 years

Philipp Rupprecht

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Motor Sport

With just weeks until the Daytona 24 Hours roars into life, sports car racing’s thrilling new era is set to going properly at last.

Unifying rules across the World Endurance Championship and IMSA (which Daytona is part of) mean manufacturers can choose between the freer but more expensive Le Mans Hypercar regulations and or the restrictive but more cost-effective LMDh rules. The results is that teams can race in both series with the same car, meaning sports cars racing grids are set to boom again.

In this month’s magazine, Gary Watkins details the bevvy of manufacturers which have flocked back to both championships: Ferrari, Porsche and Cadillac are set to join Toyota, Peugeot and Glickenhaus in WEC (plus Vanwall pending approval), whilst BMW, Porsche, Acura and Cadillac will cross swords in IMSA – not to mention Lamborghini and Alpine joining in 2024.

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Technical analysis of all cars is accompanied by insight from team bosses, tech chiefs and drivers, revealing both the scale of challenge in getting these new machines ready, and the intensity of the battle which lies ahead.

In terms of reputation, in some ways it’s the biggest the players with the most to lose. WEC incumbent and five-time Le Mans winner Toyota feels it has “a chance to prove a point,” according to driver Sébastien Buemi.

The Japanese giant has dominated world sports cars in the face of little opposition – after failing to beat Audi and Porsche in the early years of its comeback, it will now want to show it can do so when a serious challenge is mounted from all sides.

Ferrari, Porsche and Cadillac have had the track time to develop their cars – but Toyota has the racing experience of two years with the Hypercar.

Toyota GR at Le Mans 24

Toyota is looking to prove itself against Porsche, Ferrari et al

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For anyone saying the Japanese marque has had an easy ride, Buemi emphasises that it’s time to set things straight.

“Winning in the future will prove something to those people,” he says. “If we win this year, next year or whenever, there can be no discussion. It would be massive for me to win with the competition that’s coming, especially after 2016 [when Toyota broke down on the last lap].”

The new entry which got most motor sport fans excited was undoubtedly Ferrari – its 499P Hypercar sees it return to top-level endurance proper for the first time in 50th years.

“The pressure will be on for Ferrari when it and its chosen partner team – AF Corse, which gained vital experience of prototype racing in LMP2 last year,” writes Watkins. “As its sports car racing boss Antonello Coletta says: “When Ferrari competes in a category, people see Ferrari first and then all the others.”

Opting for the LMDh route is the most successful La Sarthe team in Porsche, with head of motor sport Thomas Laudenbach saying “Endurance racing is our living room. It’s in Porsche’s DNA – 19 outright victories at Le Mans, what can you say?”

Porsche has been testing its Penske-run Multimatic chassis way ahead of its other rivals, and will not only have two works cars in WEC and IMSA but customer teams too in the form of Jota and JDC-Miller – “It has always been Porsche’s philosophy to sell its race cars to other teams,” says Laudenbach.

Another German marque challenging at Daytona will be BMW. Maurizio Leschiutta, its project head of development, emphasises that the limited run-up to Daytona made it a a “zero error, zero time programme” but says the car – which will be run by Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal’s squad – in the best conditions we could hope for given the timeframe.”

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Another serious challenger to Porsche and BMW in IMSA will be long-time series competitor Acura – one of the team bosses running a car, Daytona-winner Wayne Taylor, says that despite the “challenge” that “collectively between us we have a good package.”

Providing the home effort in Florida will be Cadillac – its LMDh challenger is arguably the most imposing of the field, with angular lines set across a dark testing livery.

Can the most successful marque of IMSA’s DPi era carry on its success? General Motors wants Le Mans glory too, with at least car slated to take on the enduro classic.

In addition to the main players, other teams will be hoping to spoil the party. Glickenhaus would likely have won the WEC Monza round were it not for a blown engine, Vanwall is seeking entry to WEC 2023, and Alpine and Lamborghini will also join the LMDh ranks in 2024

“This is it. Finally,” says Watkins. It’s all to play for in the world of sports cars.

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