The Updated 2024 WEC Entry List Is Here

The full 2024 World Endurance Championship entry list is here. The will be a total of 37 cars between the Hypercar and LMGT3 classes. 19 hypercars and 18 LMGT3s, will take the grid. With the removal of the LMP2 class from the series the hypercars will be afforded the opportunity for more track real estate and more high speed racing. With the cars announced we now wait for the driver line ups for 2024 to be finalized. We will report when all of the seats have been filled.

2024 Team Lineup

The Nine time MotoGP champion, Valentino Rossi, is switching gears and trying his luck in the world of 4 wheel racing. Rossi has been confirmed as full time driver for the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship LMGT3 class driving the Team WRT #46 BMW M4 GT3.

Rossi offered his comments on the move. “I am very excited to compete in the FIA WEC.” He said. “It is the next step for me to participate in a world championship, not only in Europe but to race globally again. I am already familiar with the car after this season, but the format with three drivers from three different performance categories will be new for me. Overall, I believe we will be very well positioned.”

Andreas Roos; Head of BMW M Motorsport Shared His Thoughts

“With the confirmation of our team for the Hypercar and LMGT3 classes, as well as the initial drivers, our comeback in the FIA WEC takes another important step. BMW M Team WRT is among the best teams globally in both the prototype and GT3 segments. For sporting and logistical reasons, Vincent Vosse’s team was the logical choice to field both the BMW M Hybrid V8 and the BMW M4 GT3. The BMW M works drivers we have nominated possess the necessary driving skill and experience.

Sheldon van der Linde is already familiar with the BMW M Hybrid V8, and Dries Vanthoor made a strong impression during test drives. Additionally, he has previously competed at Le Mans in an LMP2 prototype. Valentino Rossi made a strong debut at Le Mans this season, winning immediately in the BMW M4 GT3. Overall, his first season as a BMW M works driver has been very impressive. I am convinced that he will play an important role and be a crowd favorite in the FIA WEC. Augusto Farfus, with his experience and driving skill, will be a crucial pillar for the LMGT3 programme.”  

The No. 08 Toyota GR010 dominated in Bahrain to secure the win and championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing. Toyota was in control for the entire race never really being challenged by anyone on the grid. The No. 08 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hypercar crew of Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa all pulled perfect stents in the race allowing the No. 08 car to keep the lead from start to finish for the 8 Hours of Bahrain.

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7):

“It was an amazing performance to end the season; we achieved everything we could with a one-two in the last race. Obviously, there was not a big chance for car #7 to win the title but congratulations to everyone on car #8, they did a fantastic job. We always race hard between the two cars, and it was close at every race. That is a real achievement from the team and the drivers, who didn’t make any mistakes. Thank you to our partners and our colleagues in Japan for their support, and of course thank you to Sato san and Morizo san for helping us to be so strong. This year we faced competition from so many manufacturers, and we proved the strength of our car and our team. It is definitely a proud moment for all of us to end the season like this.”

Toyota Gazoo Racing dominated the race weekend topping all practice and qualifying sessions in Bahrain. Their race pace wasn’t surprising given this fact all weekend. The No. 07 car did have an incident with the No. 02 Cadillac V-Series.R who had been on tails of the Toyotas all weekend. Fortunately for Toyota the No. 07 was able to fight back to secure second place. In third was the the No.50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P driven by Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina. The No. 02 Cadillac fell behind after having to serve a 90 second time penalty for the incident with the No. 07 Toyota. Their race was essentially over after the penalty was handed down.

Team WRT Win the LMP2 Championship

The No. 41 Team WRT LMP2 car won the in class race in Bahrain which sealed the LMP2 championship for Team WRT. This is the final WEC LMP2 championship ever to be claimed in class. The LMP2 class will be dropped from WEC in 2024. Robert Kubica was driving as the No. 41 car crossed the finish line. Team WRT finished 1-2 in the race with the No. 31 car finishing just under 9.2 seconds behind. The team has dominated in Bahrain winning the last 4 LMP2 class races there.

Team WRT Principal Vincent Vosse commented: “It’s the happiest end we could have to our three seasons in LMP2 racing. We are FIA WEC champions for the second time and here in Bahrain, it is our fourth win in four starts. There are worse ‘balance sheets’. I’m disappointed with what happened to car #31 today, but that is part of racing. The most important is the team’s result and the one-two. I am very happy for the entire team, which has proven to be really well-established, and I also want to thank Oreca for the great car it has provided us. A chapter is closing and now let’s focus on the new challenges ahead of us.”

The Iron Dames Leave it all on the Track

The Iron Dames No. 85 Porsche 911 RSR crossed the finish line in first place for the LMGTE AM finale. The class will also be removed from the World Endurance Championship in 2024. This win is a special one because it will also be the last in class. Michelle Gatting, Sarah Bovy and Rahel Frey got the job done. The Iron Dames also claimed second place in the LMGTE Am championship. The team made history by being the first all woman team to win a World endurance Championship race.

Sarah Bovy Had the Following Words After the Race

This race was definitely about tyre management, and I think we managed that pretty well. We anticipated the race conditions, the fact that we were going into the night and we really tried to nurse our very nice Michelin tyres for one last time. In my stint, as I was also taking the start, we didn’t know what to expect in those temperatures. But at the end the pace was there. I think the whole crew did a good job and I’m so proud of everybody. We’ve been working really hard for this, and it’s finally here – our first win in FIA WEC. The wait was long, but we are all super happy to be here tonight.

Deborah Mayer, Iron Dames Project Founder

“What an incredible day for the Iron Dames! It’s hard to put into words so much joy and emotion. This first victory in the FIA World Endurance Championship is a very special moment to me because it gives full vindication to the project itself and to the passion, the dedication, the hard work of all the people within the team, both trackside and behind the scenes.

I’d like to pay tribute to each and every one of them. This historic moment is theirs as well. It’s a world championship victory, but it’s also a family victory. The Iron Dames project was founded with the belief that women could excel in a male-perceived world as motorsport, and we are incredibly proud of what Sarah, Rahel, and Michelle have achieved. Since their debuts as Iron Dames, they have demonstrated remarkable determination, team spirit and never giving-up attitude that this victory rewards. They are proving that dreams have no barriers if you give yourself the means to make them come true. May this day inspire other women around the world to never give up on what they believe in.”

Full Race Results are Below

You can view the final moments of the race here:

Toyota Gazoo Racing locked out a 1-2 finish in qualifying at Bahrain International Circuit. Toyota Gazoo has led the weekend on pace. With the championship on the line and both cars poised to take the top spot tomorrow’s race should be a nail biter as the WEC season closes out. Brendon Hartley in No. 8 Toyota GR010 claimed pole position to extend the points lead over the sister No. 07 Toyota by 16 points heading into the 8 hour race. The No. 02 Cadillac V-Series.R has held its own in third place throughout all of the practice sessions. The car was the best of the rest but was 0.7 seconds of of the lead No. 08 Toyota GR010.

LMP2

Tom Blomqvist in No. 23 United Autosports ran the fastest in class to claim a very valuable pole position. The LMP2 fight is coming down to the wire with the drivers and manufacturers championships both in limbo this weekend. Tomorrow’s race will be the final race that the LMP2 class participates in for the World Endurance Championship. The No.36 Alpine ELF Team Oreca-Gibson driven by Charles Milesi will start second in class ahead of the No. 31 Team WRT car in third.

LMGTE Am

Even though the championship already been decided. That didn’t prevent Sarah Bovy from securing pole in the Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR. Bovy would’ve set an even faster lap but spun out. Fortunately the spin out didn’t cause any damage to the car. The top three was rounded out by the No. 777 D’Station Aston Martin, and the No. 25 ORT by TF Sport machine.

The race starts at 04:00 EST.

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Kamui Kobayashi set the pace in second free practice session 2 in fully dry session in Bahrain. Kobayashi set the fastest lap in the session putting down a 1m46.851s which was almost a half second faster than the championship leading sister No. 08 Car. The No. 2 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R Hypercar was third fastest on the day.

It wasn’t a very successful day for Ferrari who is looking for a miracle this weekend in the championship fight. Granted the AF Corse Ferrari’s appeared to be taking the day easy. Especially after a wet FP1 where there wasn’t any point in taking any risks. FP3 starts in a few hours time.

LMP2

In LMP2 the No. 22 United Autosports Filipe Albuquerque again topped the class setting a 1m52.850s lap. Albuquerque will be looking for redemption in Bahrain after a very disappointing outing in the IMSA GTP class finale which saw him crash out of the race with one hour to go. In Bahrain he will look to carry the pace into qualifying. It should be a close battle with the top three in class being separated by 0.3s.

LMGTE Am

With the championship already decided the main headline in LMGTE Am was the red flag caused by the AO Racing “Rexy” Porsche 911 RSR. Gunnar Jeanette suffers an incident at the exit of the final corner. The resulting red flag caused session to be extended by 10mins. Rexy had ran third fastest before the incident occurred. The top three in class were separated by 0.1s; an even closer margin than the LMP2s. Team will start ruinning their qualifying sim laps in FP3 to get a sense of where they stand in the field.

We will report back on after qualifying has concluded to report where the grid stands.

The final race of the WEC season is upon us. The teams will travel to Bahrain International Circuit for round 7 of the World Endurance Championship. The 8 hours of Bahrain is the final race on the calendar and there are still three championships up for grabs. The first is the drivers hypercar championship. With Toyota Gazoo Racing already clinching the manufacturers title Toyota Gazoo will look to complete the job this weekend. Currently the No. 08 Toyota Gazoo driver hold a 15 point lead in the standing over the No. 07 sister crew. Its looking to be a successful weekend for the team as a whole as they will have two opportunities to at brining home the drivers title.

31 Points back in the standings is the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari Hypercar crew. With 39 points up for grabs Ferrari is still technically in the title running headed into the weekend. I would take mistakes from both cars ahead but we’ve seen crazier season finales.

LMP2 and LMGTE Am say Farewell to WEC

The LMP2 class drivers and manufacturers championships are still up for grabs in 2023. It will be a special one as this is the last year we will see LMP2 in the world endurance championship. The championship will focus on growing interest in the hypercar category and the GT3 racing series thus LMP2 will be dropped along with GTE Pro Am in 2024. The LMGTE Am class championship has already been decided.

Team Entry List

Race Timetable (Times are in Local time)

Thursday 2 November

FP1: 12h15 – 13h45
FP2: 17h30 – 19h00

Friday 3 November

FP3: 12h00 – 13h00
Qualifying: 16h15 – 17h20

Saturday 4 November

Race: 14h00 – 22h00

Broadcast Information

For American fans, automotive platform MotorTrend will show most of the race live across the USA. In Canada, pay TV channel Discovery Velocity will broadcast the full race live (starting from 06:30am ET).

For South America, Direct TV Sports will televise the WEC season-closer live on DSports Motor while Fox Sports has the rights in Mexico on Fox Sports MX. In Brazil, fans can tune in live via Bandsports or via Esport Na Band which is available on YouTube.

The following article was not written by Speed Trap Magazine Staff

From Mid Ohio Sports Car Course…

LEXINGTON, Ohio (Oct. 31, 2023) – A full repave project of the entire racing surface at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course was completed last week, officials from Green Savoree Racing Promotions, which owns and operates the track, announced today. Ohio-based Kokosing Construction Company, Inc. began initial repair work the week of October 16th, followed by milling the existing track surface on Monday, October 23 and completing the paving of the final asphalt surface layer on Friday, October 27. 

The project was a collaborative effort using the expert services of Kokosing Construction Company, Inc., Kokosing Materials, Inc. and Advanced Materials Services, LLC. Planning and thorough research for the repaving began in 2022 with a test layer placed in Turn 1 for performance evaluation of a racetrack-specific asphalt mixture during the 2023 racing season. The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course racing surface was last repaved starting fall 2005 and completed in spring 2006.

“We were blessed with outstanding weather last week for the crews to complete this major project in a relatively short amount of time,” said Kevin Savoree, co-owner, president and chief operating officer of Green Savoree Racing Promotions. “It was a tremendous accomplishment and collaboration between Kokosing Construction, Kokosing Materials, Advanced Materials Services and our own track operations team to make it happen. We look forward to getting race cars on it for the first time next spring!”

Last week’s work utilized approximately 100 people, 5,000 manpower hours, 15 trucks to remove approximately 6,000 tons (300 truckloads) of old track material and 30 trucks to haul in 6,000 tons of the new asphalt mixture onto the property. The project encompassed 11,550 feet of surface paving, 3,500 feet of various turn reinforcement, 500 feet of full depth repair in the Keyhole and Turn 12 areas and 300 feet of transverse joint repair.

After milling the racing surface, the second step of the process for Kokosing featured asphalt repairs and reinforcement of high stress areas which required additional milling depth. For the final stage, two pavers placed the asphalt surface layer at 40-foot width around the entire circuit, working in echelon (side-by-side pattern) to avoid a centerline joint throughout the track’s 2.258-mile, 13-turn or 2.4-mile, 15-turn layout. The old, milled track material is being recycled and regraded to create additional paddock and parking surface areas on the Mid-Ohio property. 

“Plans for the 2023 project started in 2022, immediately after completing the resurfacing of Turn 1,” said Bart Moody, vice president of asphalt estimating and engineering at Kokosing Construction Company, Inc. “Logistical challenges had to be overcome to produce the mix and perform the work with limited time and access. A full-time truck coordinator was in constant communication with material trucks to ensure they entered and exited the track at the correct locations as work progressed. Crews worked extended hours in order to maintain the schedule that made use of unseasonably warm weather for October in Ohio.”

Aggregates were sourced locally in Ohio from Olen Corporation’s Upper Sandusky and Fredericktown plants. Durable aggregates were selected to withstand the loading applied to the track, and a highly polymerized asphalt binder was produced by Kokosing Materials, Inc. to withstand the high temperatures and stresses. The asphalt mixture used was tested at the Kokosing Materials Asphalt Plant and at the track for a variety of properties such as asphalt content, gradation and density. 

“The stresses on a racetrack, especially road courses with tight turns, are much higher than those typically seen on conventional asphalt pavements,” said Graham Hurley, project engineer at Advanced Materials Services, LLC. “The much stiffer PG 88-22 asphalt binder used counteracts the shear stresses imparted on the track surface by race cars, which prevents any ravelling that may occur. Additionally, the specifications used for this project were much tighter than a traditional highway specification. The target minimum softening temperature for asphalt binder and the target in-place density values were both set higher than conventional specifications for vehicular traffic. Kokosing successfully met these higher conditions with ease.”

The new track surface will be allowed to cure for over five months in advance of the 2024 season. The road course annually hosts a variety of locally, regionally and nationally sanctioned race events as well the driving and riding courses provided by The Mid-Ohio School. 

The full schedule and ticket information for the 2024 major spectator events featuring IMSA, SVRA’s SpeedTour, NTT INDYCAR SERIES, American Motorcyclist Association and MotoAmerica will be announced at a later date. Children 12 and under receive free general admission when accompanied by a ticketed adult at all Mid-Ohio events. Visit midohio.com for more information, and follow its Facebook page @MidOhioSportsCarCourse, Twitter at @Mid_Ohio or Instagram at @officialmidohio for the latest news. 

About Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course:
A comprehensive motorsports facility in Lexington, Ohio, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course sits on 380 acres and features a permanent road-racing circuit with two primary race track configurations: 2.4-mile, 15-turn or 2.258-mile, 13-turn layout. Located 60 miles north of Columbus and 75 miles south of Cleveland near Mansfield, the natural terrain road course is commonly referred to as the “Most Competitive in the U.S.” and annually hosts a diversity of locally, regionally and nationally-sanctioned race events for amateur, club and professional drivers and riders. It is also home to The Mid-Ohio School, featuring over 20 driving and riding courses, for teenagers to professional racers using Honda vehicles. Opened in 1962, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course has been owned and operated by Green Savoree Mid-Ohio, LLC since 2011, just the raceway’s third private ownership group in its history.

For more information, visit midohio.com, ‘like’ its Facebook page @MidOhioSportsCarCourse or follow updates on Twitter @Mid_Ohio and Instagram @officialmidohio.

About Kokosing:
Kokosing is one of the largest family-owned construction companies in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. Known for unwavering integrity and exceptional safety and quality, Kokosing companies provide extensive resources for their customers. Kokosing’s primary business lines include industrial, transportation, pipelines, water and wastewater, marine and renewable energy. Additionally, aggregates and asphalt material suppliers are part of the Kokosing family of companies.

About Advanced Materials Services LLC:
Founded in 2007 and located in Auburn, Alabama, Advanced Materials Services, LLC provides pavement engineering, testing, and consulting services. AMS supports all aspects of flexible pavement design, testing, and construction inspection, particularly for specialty pavements, such as airfields, automotive proving grounds, intermodal facilities, and racetracks. AMS staff have over 60 years of cumulative experience in the development of asphalt specifications, asphalt mixture design, quality assurance support, materials research, and geotechnical engineering. To date, AMS has provided support to over 35 racetracks across the country.

The Heart of Racing team has announced that Aston Martin will enter a Le Mans Hypercar into the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans via the Aston Martin Valkyrie Program. Additionally, Aston martin will also participate in select endurance races in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship GTP class. The prototype Valkyrie will participate in three of the most prestigious events; Le Mans, the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring.

Lawrence Stroll, Executive Chairman of Aston Martin Lagonda stated “Performance is the lifeblood of everything that we do at Aston Martin, and motorsport is the ultimate expression of this pursuit of excellence.

We have been present at Le Mans since the earliest days, and through those glorious endeavors we succeeded in winning Le Mans in 1959 and our class 19 times over the past 95 years. Now we return to the scene of those first triumphs aiming to write new history with a racing prototype inspired by the fastest production car Aston Martin has ever built.

Aston Martin Builds off of its F1 Legacy

Stroll continued his thoughts on expansion beyond Formula 1. “In addition to our presence in the FIA Formula 1^® World Championship, Aston Martin’s return to the pinnacle of endurance racing will allow us to build a deeper connection with our customers and community, many of whom found their passion for the brand through our past success at Le Mans. And of course, the complex knowledge-base we are building through our F1^® team is data that Aston Martin Performance Technologies can harness to further enhance the capabilities of the Valkyrie racecar at Le Mans, in WEC and IMSA.

Just as the learnings we gain through endurance competition will feed directly into our road car programs, further improving the ultimate performance of our products. I would like to thank Gabe Newell and Heart of Racing for partnering with Aston Martin on this program, and I look forward to working with him and the team as we aim for success in the greatest endurance race of them all.”

Ian James, Team Principal of Heart of Racing, said: “It’s a privilege to be able to bring Aston Martin back to the top of endurance racing with the Heart of Racing.

“Our team has grown exponentially since we began racing with those famous wings at Daytona in 2020. We understand and are aligned with the ethos of the brand and we have developed our own systems and technologies to extract the maximum performance of the cars we compete with. Our understanding of Valkyrie is strong and we have worked closely with it through our customer activation programs for two years now.”

Toyota Gazoo Racing celebrate a 1-2 finish at the 6 Hours of Fuji and championship title win at their home race at Fuji International Raceway. 55,000 fans came out for the championship deciding race this weekend. The weekend started off with mixed weather conditions but they soon clear up offering perfect conditions for racing. The No. 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing run GR010 Hybrid Hypercar trio of Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez and Mike Conway sealed their fourth win of the 2023 season. They finished ahead of the No. 8 sister car of Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa by 39.119 seconds.

The Porsche Penske Motorsport No. 06 Porsche 963 finished third. The Porsche led the race for almost 4 hours but in the end they lost track position on an ill timed pit stop resulting in losing the lead. Sister car did not finish the race and fell behind. At the finish of the race the No. 05 car was 47 laps behind the lead lap. The No. 05 car was involved in an on track incident and series of penalties not served ultimately retiring from the race.

LMP2

WRT took the win over United Autosports with the No. 41 car. The No. 41 car was the only car on the in class lead lap at the finish. United Autosports secured a second place finish with the No. 22 car and WRT’s sister car rounded out the top 3 with a double podium finish for the team. The No.23 United Autosports car finished 4th 14 seconds behind.

LMGTE Am

Davide Rigon, Francesco Castellacci and Thomas Flohr took the class win in the #54 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE. The win came by a margin of 22 seconds. The team was comfortable at the front in the closing stages of the race. Second place went to the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari momentarily. However the team was handed a 10 second penalty for speeding under a yellow flag. The Penalty relegated the No. 57 car to third place behind the championship winning No. 33 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.

Full Race Results are Available Below

Toyota Gazoo Racing swept the front-row of the grid during qualifying for its home race after a dominant qualifying performance for the 6 Hours of Fuji. The race is the penultimate round of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). Toyota Gazoo Racing leads the championship ahead of Ferrari heading into the race.

Kamui Kobayashi set a new Hypercar lap record of 1min 27.794secs on his way to pole position in the #7 GR010. By securing pole Toyota Gazoo Racing now holds a 27 point lead over Ferrari in the manufacturers championship. The No. 07 car led the team, finishing 6 tenths faster than than the No. 08 sister car driven by Brendon Hartley. The pair offered their thoughts on the session.

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): 

“It’s great to get a result like this at our home track. This is an important weekend for us and to show our performance like this is very special. Due to the rain, we have had very limited running in dry conditions, but the team did a great job to put everything together for qualifying and I did a pretty good lap on my first attempt. The car felt really strong compared to practice; it improved a lot. I was not expecting a lap time like that, and I was a bit shocked when I saw it.

To have a fast car today is a good indication for the race but it will not be easy. We expect it to be a dry race and it could be hot, so we need to judge the tyre choice well and, as always, we need some luck. We are ready, we will work hard, and I hope we can finish one-two.”

Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8):

“This is a really good team result. I wasn’t totally happy with the balance on our car, which shifted a bit since final practice when it had felt better. In qualifying I struggled a bit, although we are still second so it’s a strong performance. The rain was starting towards the end and even on my fast lap I had some spots of my windscreen. Qualifying in Hypercar is always a big fight and it was a tricky session for everyone, with the conditions and the challenge to find track position. Kamui did an amazing lap, bravo to him. It’s great to lock out the front row, now let’s go for the win.”

LMP2

The No. 22 United Autosports car secured in class pole position. Hanson finished with a best 1m32.182s to lead the No.41 WRT entry driven by Louis Deletraz and take his first WEC pole of the season. United Autosports sister car driven by Oliver Jarvis claimed P3 with a lap of 1m32.453.

LMGTE Am

The in class championship has already been decided. Crowned champion Ben Keating takes his third pole position of the 2023 season as he sets a 1m38.338s lap in a mix condition session. Sara Bovy piloted the No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche to P2 ahead of the D’Station Aston Martin in third position with Satoshi Hoshino setting a 1m38.875s lap.  

Full Qualifying Results Are Below