INDUSTRY NEWS UPDATE
World Endurance Championship gets the green light
The Automobile Club de l’Ouest has signed a three year contract with the FIA to create a World Endurance Championship out of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup in 2012. The contract, signalling the re-creation of the WEC for the fi rst time in 20 years, was signed at the Le Mans 24 hours in front of the world’s media and, while the fi ner details have yet to be ironed out, the move has initially been welcomed by major car manufacturers. ‘It shows that we’re heading in the right direction,’ said Audi’s head of motor sport, Dr Wolfgang Ullrich. ‘Audi has been involved in sports prototype racing and the Le Mans 24 hours since 1999. Ever since then we have been energetically supporting the idea of a worldwide racing series for this particularly fascinating form of motorsport – always with the long-range aim of a new world championship.
‘After the ALMS and the
LMS the creation of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup by the ACO last year marked the fi rst major step in this direction that is now seeing its consistent continuation in the FIA World Endurance Championship. This leads to a further upgrading of our activities with the R18 TDI.’ The calendar for the WEC will
follow that of the ILMC in 2012, and will include the Le Mans 24 hours. Subsequent years will see a calendar of at least six events, submitted to the World Motor Sport Council for approval. Two races will be held in North America, thought to be the Sebring 12 hours and the Petit Le Mans, two races in Europe and two in Asia, although Peugeot has already said that it will actively seek to block a race in Japan in favour of a race in Brazil. It is also thought that there is a race in India on the cards. There will be titles for both
FORMULA 1 Blown diffuser saga exhausted
The FIA has acted on its promise to ban the use of blown diffusers and the related engine mapping, from the British Grand Prix in July.
Details of the ban had not yet been released by the time Racecar went to press, but it is understood that new measures will limit exhaust blowing to just 10 per cent of throttle when the driver is off- throttle, compared to almost 100 per cent used by some teams. Blown diffusers were initially
banned before the Spanish Grand Prix, but the ban was delayed because of the complexities
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www.racecarengineering.com • August 2011
involved in remapping the engine. The FIA’s technical delegate,
Charlie Whiting, said: ‘An exhaust system is there for the purpose of exhausting gasses from the engine and when you’re off- throttle, it isn’t doing that any more. Therefore it’s being used to infl uence the aerodynamic characteristics of the car.’ The FIA and the teams have
agreed to top exiting exhausts for 2012, putting an end to the blown diffuser saga altogether. Teams also found an agreement
over the new engine regulations, proposed for 2014. Some teams,
CAUGHT
Dave Rogers, the crew chief on the No.18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the NASCAR Sprint Cup, has been hit with a US$25,000 fi ne after the front-left of the car was found to be 1/16th of an inch below the required height tolerance at post race scrutineering in Pocono. The team was also docked six points from its tally in both the drivers’ and the owners’ championships
FINE: US$25,000 PENALTY: loss of six championship points
constructors and drivers. GTE cars will also be catered for, with an FIA GTE Endurance World Cup which will run within the WEC. The ACO will run the championship, which the FIA says was born out of a recognition that sportscar racing was an ideal environment for developing new technology: ‘In establishing this new category of motorsport championship, both the FIA and ACO are keenly aware it needs to be a laboratory for innovation and the development of new technologies, allowing motor manufacturers to express, through the rigours of competition, their ability to be inventive and, as this is an endurance championship, to also highlight their capacity
to produce high quality and safe machines and components,’ it said. FIA president Jean Todt, who masterminded Peugeot’s World Sportscar Championship win in 1992, said: ‘I am delighted to welcome the return of the FIA Endurance World Championship, especially with a promoter like ACO. I am also very pleased to have a legendary race like the 24 hours of Le Mans as part of it.’ The Le Mans Series is expected
to run independently of the WEC next year. LMS boss Patrick Peter has said that the series will retain its Le Mans branding, but says that he is looking at shorter races. ‘I am a partner in the WEC and the LMS,’ he said. ‘The fi rst step was to secure the WEC.
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