Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi won Toyota’s first FIA WEC drivers’ title but the manufacturers’ crown is still left to be secured.
It may have taken around 20 years, but endurance racing - or sportscar racing if you are a real old timer – looks to have settled into a format that can end up being as stable as the one that ran from 1953 to 1992.
What was then the World Sportscar Championship was modified and mashed into a confusing medley of championships and series in which the only constant was the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The more well-read motorsport fan will also recall how the popularity of endurance racing started to ebb once a certain Bernard Charles Ecclestone was put in charge of promoting and handling the commercial side of the various championships sanctioned by what is now the FIA.
Ecclestone’s handiwork is nowadays most evident in the mess of negative press that seems to plague Formula 1 – his prized possession – as well as in articles that make you wonder why he opens his mouth in public at all (his take on young F1 fans, for instance).
But being preoccupied with the crazy old Hobbit’s doings are detracting from the position of strength that the FIA World Endurance Championship seems to be in now.
Three major car manufacturers are dedicated to competing in the high-profile LMP1 with hybrid power units. The non-hybrid LMP1 and LMP2 class features enthusiastic participants and tight battles, the two GT classes add to the flavour of the grid and Nissan has promised to throw its hat into the LMP1 ring next year as well.
Add to that the fact that this year we saw a pretty tightly fought battle for the LMP1 crown with Audi trying to retain its stranglehold on the WEC that it has maintained since the championship started in 2012.
The pretender to the German marque’s crown was Toyota, who took the LMP1-H (hybrid) crown with former F1 drivers Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi recovering from an alternator problem in the 6 Hours of Bahrain to squeak into the top 10, which was all they needed.
The sister Toyota of Alex Wurz and Stephane Sarrazin won the race with the Porsche squad of Marc Lieb/Romain Dumas/Neel Jani coming second ahead of teammates Timo Bernhard/Mark Webber/Brendon Hartley. It was the first time that in their comeback year that two Porsches made it to the podium.
However, Davidson/Buemi’s tenth place means that it won’t be until the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo in Brazil that we will find out if Toyota will be successful in their attempt to knock Audi off their perch as the manufacturer’s champions.
Toyota currently have a cushion of just 40 points ahead of Audi while in the Manufacturers Cup in the GT class, Ferrari enjoy have an even slimmer margin of 25 points from Porsche.
However, given the long gap between the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the rounds that follow, whoever wins at the French classic seems to hold bragging rights for the season.
Also, participants get double points at Le Mans. Yes, like the much hated ones in F1. Although since Le Mans is four times longer than any other race on the calendar in this case it is definitely justified.
Write your Comment