Storm in a teacup

The introduction of Hypercar has meant the FIA and ACO have compromised every other category in their portfolio and led to total confusion for all on track

- ANDREW COTTON

The introduction of the Hypercar formula to the FIA World Endurance Championship was always predicted to be challenging and, at the opening round of the 2021 season at Spa Francorchamps early in May, so it proved.

The new cars are considerably slower than the old LMP1s by design, with cost at the heart of the regulations designed to encourage competition, and this has led to a compromise for every one of the classes in its portfolio.

Slow burn

By introducing a slower top class, LMP2 for amateur drivers has had to be performance balanced to slow it down. GTE has remained largely untouched, but is now so close to the performance of the Hypercars at various points of the circuit that overtaking is extremely challenging for all.

As always, the Le Mans circuit is the main focus of the performance balancing and the Hypercars are targeted to complete 12 laps per stint at Le Mans with a race lap time of around 3m30s. This compares with the fastest LMP1 race lap in 2020, held in hot and dry conditions, of 3m19.2s, so around 11 seconds per lap slower.

That is then translated to the other circuits that comprise the FIA WEC calendar, including Spa, Portimao and Monza, prior to Le Mans scheduled to be held in August.

With such a drop in performance at each of the circuits, the other categories have also had to be slowed in order to allow Hypercars to qualify and race as the top class.