FIA WEC will be on Fox this year.

Fox and FIA just signed a deal that means that every WEC event will be live on either Fox Sports 1 or 2.  They may not carry all of some of them, but the starts will all be live.

We get to see P2s and GTLMs (GTE in WEC and LeMans) the way they are supposed to run instead of the rules abortion that is Tudor and we get to see P1s as well.

US and Canada.

http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/fia-wec-inks-landmark-live-tv-deal-with-fox-sports/

http://www.fiawec.com/en/news/wec-goes-live-across-north-america-in-2015_2981.html

They will continue to cover LeMans.

Cool.  Now if I remember they are on and dvr them...

We need real WRC coverage back too :(

First race is Sunday, 12 April.  Looks like 0700 EDT.  Gonna be like F1 with the weird times since all starts will be live.

I wish Nissan would be in the first 2 races, instead of just starting at LeMans. I think something is wrong with their program or they are really fast and want to win Lemans without a rule change.

Good news!

They broke their tub testing at Sebring.  The car was designed by the same guy who designed the Delta Wing and is about as underwhelming as the Delta Wing.

Front engine car and it's ugly as sin.  Also 10 seconds a lap slower.

I hope they come back with a good car as I am a Nissan fan since I own a Nissan but have to admit that I pull for Porsche more because mine is spectacular.

Audi tests at Sebring because they say it's the only track that can break their cars.

Other manufacturers agree.

PSA
Fox will do their damnedest to make the races unwatchable.

To be fair, most European races, like LeMans for instance, provide the feeds and the US guys do a decent job with the commentary.

Then again, we may get the European commentators.

Rumor is that we will be getting the full international broadcast with John Hindaugh and Graham Goodwin.  To me, thats a good thing, Hindy is the man.......

I found this interesting.  Looks like a typical race weekend when working corners over here.

http://www.fiawec.com/races/6-hours-of-silverstone/race-program.html

Burbanite is going to be there.

This is good news. Real cars. Real racing.

Wish Peugot would have stayed, that would have made 5 factory LMP1 teams. That would be above awesome. Still can't wait for the season to start.

I've never been a huge fan of endurance racing, but I will give it a shot.

I'm looking forward to this.  Assuming I remember to watch them!

That's what DVRs are for.

Peugot is barely still in business, that's why they are gone.

Nissan won't be there until LeMans.




Also, here are the class structures:

http://www.fiawec.com/presentation/classes.html

this.

Nice cup of coffee and racing on Sunday morning.  That is the way to start the week.

Larry...make this the official WEC thread.  That would be a good way to follow the series.

Done.

3 days.

I don't know how I missed when this thread was posted. Subscribed!

I'm debating signing up for a season package of WEC Live.

Radio Le Mans commentary and streaming of quali and race.

Looking forward to the French C7.R in GT AM.

I remember reading a Road & Track article about how the local's favorite car in Le Mans has always been the Corvettes because there is nothing else on track that sounds or looks like 'em.

I say that still holds true, and I'm glad (proud?) to see a French teem racing one.

hope they do well



 

Just a reminder.  Tomorrow at 0700.

Fox Sports 1 for anyone just seeing this thread.

An entry list if you are interested:

http://www.fiawec.com/races/6-hours-of-silverstone/official-entry-list.html

Just perusing the site for this race, this is a picture of a new Oreca Nissan P2 car.  This thing is georgeous:



One of the Audis:



Porsche 919:



A Straka Nissan P2:



A Ligier Nissan P2:


http://www.fiawec.com/wpphpFichiers/Albums/51/171/2015-6-Heures-de-Silverstone-Adrenal-Media-GT7D0689_hd.jpg


Wet Track sign.  Gee, imagine that, rain in Jolly Old England:

P1 and P2 qualifying:

1 17 LMP1 Timo BERNHARD, Mark WEBBER, Brendon HARTLEY Porsche 919 Hybrid M 1:39.908 1:39.534 2 1'39.721
2 18 LMP1 Romain DUMAS, Neel JANI, Marc LIEB Porsche 919 Hybrid M 1:39.974 1:40.706 2 1'40.340 +0.619
3 8 LMP1 Lucas DI GRASSI, Loïc DUVAL, Oliver JARVIS Audi R18 e-tron quattro M 1:40.180 1:40.525 2 1'40.352 +0.631
4 1 LMP1 Anthony DAVIDSON, Sébastien BUEMI, Kazuki NAKAJIMA Toyota TS 040 - Hybrid M 1:40.403 1:40.361 2 1'40.382 +0.661
5 7 LMP1 Marcel FÄSSLER, André LOTTERER, Benoît TRÉLUYER Audi R18 e-tron quattro M 1:40.201 1:42.105 2 1'41.153 +1.432
6 2 LMP1 Alexander WURZ, Stéphane SARRAZIN, Mike CONWAY Toyota TS 040 - Hybrid M 1:41.990 1:41.399 2 1'41.694 +1.973
7 28 LMP2 Gustavo YACAMAN, Luis Felipe DERANI, Ricardo GONZALEZ Ligier JS P2 - Nissan D 1:48.952 1:47.090 2 1'48.021 +8.300
8 26 LMP2 Roman RUSINOV, Julien CANAL, Sam BIRD Ligier JS P2 - Nissan D 1:48.829 1:47.337 2 1'48.083 +8.362
9 47 LMP2 Matthew HOWSON, Richard BRADLEY, Nick TANDY Oreca 05 - Nissan D 1:49.692 1:49.086 2 1'49.389 +9.668
10 36 LMP2 Nelson PANCIATICI, Paul Loup CHATIN, Vincent CAPILLAIRE Alpine A450b - Nissan D 1:48.438 1:50.559 2 1'49.498 +9.777
11 4 LMP1 Simon TRUMMER, Vitantonio LIUZZI, Christian KLIEN CLM P1/01 - AER M 1:49.967 1:51.278 2 1'50.622 +10.901
12 30 LMP2 Scott SHARP, Ryan DALZIEL, David HEINEMEIER-HANSSON HPD ARX 03B - HPD D 1:51.622 1:51.481 2 1'51.551 +11.830
13 42 LMP2 Nick LEVENTIS, Danny WATTS, Jonny KANE Dome S103 - Nissan M 1:49.814 1:54.755 2 1'52.284 +12.563
14 35 LMP2 Jacques NICOLET, Jean-Marc MERLIN, Erik MARIS Ligier JS P2 - Nissan D 1:53.167 1:53.748 2 1'53.457 +13.736
15 31 LMP2 Ed BROWN, Jonathon FOGARTY, David BRABHAM HPD ARX 03B - HPD D 1:50.692 2:00.290 2 1'55.491 +15.770

GTE PRO and AM qualifying:

1 95 LMGTE Pro Christoffer NYGAARD, Marco SØRENSEN, Nicki THIIM Aston Martin Vantage V8 M 1:59.861 2:00.079 2 1'59.970
2 99 LMGTE Pro Alex MACDOWALL, Fernando REES, Richie STANAWAY Aston Martin Vantage V8 M 2:00.332 2:00.019 2 2'00.175 +0.205
3 97 LMGTE Pro Darren TURNER, Stefan MÜCKE, Aston Martin Vantage V8 M 2:00.398 2:00.268 2 2'00.333 +0.363
4 91 LMGTE Pro Richard LIETZ, Michael CHRISTENSEN, Porsche 911 RSR M 2:00.390 2:00.913 2 2'00.651 +0.681
5 51 LMGTE Pro Gianmaria BRUNI, Toni VILANDER, Ferrari F458 Italia M 2:00.237 2:01.166 2 2'00.701 +0.731
6 92 LMGTE Pro Patrick PILET, Frédéric MAKOWIECKI, Porsche 911 RSR M 2:01.681 2:01.502 2 2'01.591 +1.621
7 98 LMGTE Am Paul DALLA LANA, Pedro LAMY, Mathias LAUDA Aston Martin Vantage V8 M 2:00.956 2:03.041 2 2'01.998 +2.028
8 71 LMGTE Pro Davide RIGON, James CALADO, Ferrari F458 Italia M 2:02.911 2:01.402 2 2'02.156 +2.186
9 50 LMGTE Am Gianluca RODA, Paolo RUBERTI, Kristian POULSEN Chevrolet Corvette C7 M 2:03.346 2:02.529 2 2'02.937 +2.967
10 88 LMGTE Am Christian RIED, Khaled AL QUBAISI, Klaus BACHLER Porsche 911 RSR M 2:01.125 2:05.144 2 2'03.134 +3.164
11 83 LMGTE Am François PERRODO, Emmanuel COLLARD, Rui AGUAS Ferrari F458 Italia M 2:01.451 2:05.513 2 2'03.482 +3.512
12 72 LMGTE Am Victor SHAYTAR, Andrea BERTOLINI, Aleksey BASOV Ferrari F458 Italia M 2:02.246 2:05.982 2 2'04.114 +4.144
13 96 LMGTE Am Francesco CASTELLACCI, Roald GOETHE, Stuart HALL Aston Martin Vantage V8 M 2:01.569 2:08.532 2 2'05.050 +5.080
14 77 LMGTE Am Patrick DEMPSEY, Patrick LONG, Marco SEEFRIED Porsche 911 RSR M 2:02.231 2:09.817 2 2'06.024 +6.054

Or, for a better look, go here and pick which group you want to look at:

http://www.fiawec.com/races/6-hours-of-silverstone/results-and-chrono.html

Top 4 within a second.

Top 2 are Porsche.

Barring reliability issues it will be an interesting race. I hope I can stay up to watch it.

I love closed cockpits prototypes!!  

I agree except the POS DP cars.

That said, I would rather have the open cockpit were I driving a P1 or P2.

You aren't in an oven, don't have to worry about the windscrren fogging up in foul weather, and you really don't get wet as long as you are at speed.

The Scott Sharp team is running their old open cockpit cars at Silverston and will introduce new Ligier Hondas at Spa-Francorchamps.

They had 2 new HPD close cockpits for this year but they tested so bad that Sharp and company ran the open cars at Daytona and Sebring.

Apparently the2  HPD cars can't be brought up to speed, so they bought 2 Ligier Hondas.

I'm ready....coffee is brewed and sitting in my chair.

GO PORSCHE!!!!

Agreed...DP cars are crap.

Good info on the other cars.  THanks!!

Also today, the Blancpain GT3 series in on CBSSN at 1600 EDT and Indy cars at 1500 EDT on NBCSP.

That is some great racing for the lead between the Porsche and the Audi.

Getting around to watch the entire race now. For anyone else who missed it...

Some of the things I am hearing about sportscar racing including WEC.

FIA has confirmed that they are going to a spec engine for P2.  They say it's a cost saving move but I don't see any P2 teams anywhere on the planet complaining about costs and quite a few have bought new P2s just this year.

ACO has NOT confirmed that they will go along with FIA on this.  They actually should have known better that to get in bed with FIA again.

Tudor has announced that P2s will be able to run any engine that meets the displacement rules just like we currently have in FIA and all the BS rules to make the DPs competitive will be gone.

In fact, they are gonna have to speed up the P class next year which includes P2 and DP.  The DPs have already shown in testing that any faster than they are going right now and they tend to fly.  All they gotta to speed up the P2s is let them go back to the ACO specs.

The reason for having so speed up the P class is because GTD will be all FIA GT3 spec next year and will be faster than the current GTD cars.  They will have to speed up GTLM because GT3 spec cars will be pretty close performance wise to the Tudor GTLM specs so they are gonna have to unchoke them and let them run to or at lease close to ACO GTE specs.  GTE spec cars will outrun the DPs and the currently restricted P2s in Tudor.  

The DPs are pretty much at their limit on staying on the ground and 2016 is supposed to be their last year (I will believe it when I see it), so I hope they are just told to deal with it but I guarantee Wayne Taylor is gonna cry like a little girl.

So, FIA might/probably is gonna fuck up P2 for WEC.

ACO probably will do like Tudor and allow current engines for LeMans and ELMS.

Tudor, who is fucking up right now, may wind up on top of the heap in 2017 if they actually do what they are saying.  I have a couple of them that keep telling me that in 2017 the DPs will be gone and P2s will be up to ACO specs.  One actually asked me what it would take to make me happy and I respond "get rid of the DPs right now".

ACO has already said Tudor P2s will be able to run LeMans with original chassis bodywork but in the Tudor series the bodywork will be allowed to have small cues for looking like something made by the engine manufacturer.  The Tudor crap is stupid but if it is very limited as they claim, it might work out okay.

So, at LeMans in 2017, we might see Tudor P2s and ACO/ELMS P2s with currently legal engines and FIA P2s with the spec engine, whatever that is gonna be.




Also, Pirelli WC GT class is gonna be all GT3 specs next year.  GT3 cars are in it this year but some non-GT3 cars are there as well.

Pirelli has really grown mainly to people bailing on Tudor.  If Tudor gets their act together, Pirelli is gonna shrink back to what it was before 2014.

I've been saying for a while that Pirelli WC is some of the best racing in the USA right now.

Haven't been a big fan of it.  Too much rules juggling to favor certain cars.  Maybe that will change with the GT3 change.

Don't like standing starts at all.

Like I said, if Tudor gets their act together, a lot of teams will go there.

I guarantee that Dyson would go back.  He was gonna run a P2 until Tudor fucked with the rules so much.

I understand the rule juggling is an issue, I just know that as far as racing action goes it is some of the most entertaining racing I've ever seen that doesn't involve school buses driving in a figure-eight.

Larry, good post.  I am not as up on some of the details of WEC as I should be so this is helpful.  Thanks!

Ever watch the Continental Tire series?  That's a lot of fun and they ain't shy about leaning on each other.

I can honestly tell you that at Daytona we literally stand back from the armco at Turn 5 when they are on the track, practice, qualifying, or race.

They have come to "visit" us on quite a few occasions.

I have and they're pretty fun as well.

In addition to WEC, I've been watching ELMS and the British GT Series.  All on Motors TV out of Europe.

British GT is crazy.  I've never seen a series where they use Ferrari's and Aston's to play bumper cars.

Now They're showing Blancpain Endurance Series Rnd 1 at Monza.
Later the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Series Rnd 1 at Monza is on.

How does one get Motors TV here?

Check your inbox

I would also like to know your source. PM, please?