- Super Season -
2018-2019 : The big turning point
THE SUPER SEASON MARKS THE REALIZATION OF AN IDEA HINTED AT SEVERAL TIMES
SINCE THE BIRTH OF THE FIA WEC: TO MAKE ITS JEWEL, THE 24 HOURS OF LE MANS,
THE GRAND FINALE OF ITS CALENDAR.
The Super Season will be unique in the history of the FIA WEC. Because, to achieve the goal of
the season ending with the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans, it includes not one, but two editions of
the 24 Hours and Total 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps which appear in the 2018-2019 calendar.
In addition to the well-established visits to Silverstone (Great Britain), Fuji (Japan) and Shanghai
(China), the Super Season also sees the return of another legendary circuit in the history of
endurance racing: Sebring, whose 12-hour race was the very first event of the FIA WEC in 2012.
On the 15th March 2019, Sebring International Raceway will be the scene of a
1,000 mile race, before the Super Season concludes at two other legendary circuits:
Spa-Francorchamps and Le Mans. The FIA WEC will then adopt its new pattern of a
cross-year calendar, from September 2019 to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June 2020.
SUPER SEASON MEANS SUPER GRID...
To confirm this equation just read the list of entries. On the driver side, we find a double Formula
1 World Champion at the heart of an exceptional dual programme between FIA WEC and F1
(Fernando Alonso), the presence of three former World Endurance Champions in the LMP1
category (André Lotterer , Neel Jani and Sébastien Buemi) and the return of two more in the
LMP2 class (Loic Duval and Anthony Davidson).
Title winner of LMP2 in 2017, Bruno Senna will race his first LMP1 season in the FIA WEC with
Rebellion Racing, where we also find the French prodigy Thomas Laurent, who took less than
three years to climb all the steps of the endurance racing pyramid ... also many other young
talents from single seater racing who have made the choice of a long-term endurance career in
whatever category: Harry Tincknell, James Calado, Gustavo Menezes, Alex Lynn, Nicolas Lapierre
...
One of the characteristics of this Super Season is the arrival of many new teams, especially in
LMP1. Although Toyota Gazoo Racing will be the only competitor to use hybrid technology, several
private teams have chosen to challenge the Japanese manufacturer. After winning the 2017 FIA
LMP2 Endurance Trophy, Rebellion Racing returns to LMP1 with its own chassis built by ORECA.
Already title holders in FIA WEC in the LMP2 (2014) and LMGTE Am (2015) categories, the
Russian SMP Racing team is also making the leap with its own car, called BR1. The challenge
of the American DragonSpeed team is even more ambitious, with a double commitment in both
prototype categories.
The LMP2 category promises to be hotly contested once again with 2017 headliners eager to
win a first (Jackie Chan DC Racing, TDS Racing) or a new title (Signatech Alpine Matmut), while
newcomers are already showing off a great pace (DragonSpeed).
BMW, A FIFTH FORCE IN LMGTE PRO
Three new teams also join the LMGTE Am grid, each with a different manufacturer: TF Sport
(Aston Martin), Team Project 1 (Porsche) and MR Racing (Ferrari). But in GT, the most anticipated
newcomer of the season was the BMWM8 GTE in the LMGTE Pro category. BMW join Ferrari,
Ford, Porsche and Aston Martin for a brawl that promises to be magnificent, between five
manufacturers who are among the most eminent specialists of the road-going sports GT.
The LMGTE Pro category is full of new things. Aston Martin has developed a brand new Vantage
AMR whose immediately recognizable livery will undoubtedly be the delight of amateur or
professional photographers. It won’t only be five prestigious marques competing in the LMGTE
Pro category, as they will be joined by an American classic, the Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. This
means that six different philosophies of sports GT for road and competition: front engine (BMW,
Aston Martin), a supercar designed for competition and adapted to the road (Ford), sports icons
(Ferrari, Porsche) ...
... IT REALLY PROMISES TO BE A SUPER SEASON IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD!
* 2017 Key figures
WEC STATS*
72 HOURS
OF RACING
13 173,23 KM
THE DISTANCE COVERED
BY THE WINNING CAR IN 2017
AN AVERAGE OF 28 CARS
& 76 DRIVERS ENTERED OVER
THE WEC SEASON IN 2017
62 848
OVERTAKES (ALL)
3 558
OVERTAKES
FOR POSITION
54 012 TOTAL LAPS
OVER THE SEASON