The year is 2023, the beginning of a new golden age for endurance

IThe weather is great at Sebring Raceway in Florida on Friday, March 17th. The list of manufacturers participating in this first round of the World Endurance Championship is exceptional. It seems that a new golden age is beginning in the discipline with the arrival of Ferrari, Porsche and Cadillac to hypercars, the new premiere of the endurance class introduced in 2021. Along with Peugeot and two private teams – American Glickenhaus and Austrian Fanol, all of them will try to thwart Toyota’s dominance, Dominant in recent years (Japanese brand won the last five championships). Face the legitimate favorites of this 11^H Championship edition, the competition has increased significantly compared to 2022, as the number of entries in the hypercar category has more than doubled, going from six cars to thirteen this season. A craze driven particularly by the new regulations that now allow the same cars to run in the WEC and in the IMSA American Championship.

Jacques Villeneuve is back in Stamina with Vanwall

To take on two Toyota energies, including the No. 8 with Switzerland’s Sebastien Buemi, New Zealand’s Brendon Hartley and Japan’s Ryo Hirakawa racing to win back the championship title, Vanwall and Glickenhaus will each get a car, like a Cadillac in its first season in the WEC. In order to make it into the top category, Vanwall will call on the services of former F1 world champion, Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, along with France’s Tom Dillmann and Argentine Esteban Guerrieri.

Porsche, Ferrari, Peugeot

Porsche, which withdrew from the WEC after winning in 2017, also scored 19^H Winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the hypercar arrives with two 963 prototypes (two Porsche 963 special models are expected later in the season in the colors of Hertz Jota and Proton Competition). Fifty years after its last appearance in the first category, Ferrari will return to the highest level of endurance racing at Sebring, also with two models, one of which will be driven by Italian Antonio Giovinazzi, reserve driver for Scuderia in Formula 1. Finally, Peugeot, which has already competed in WEC races in 2022, but after the 24 Hours of Le Mans, once again installed Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne, twice world champion in Formula Electric in 2018 and 2019, in one of his races. cars.

The year of the centenary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans

2023 will also be the 100th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the flagship event of the youth WEC, on June 10 and 11. A hundred years after the first edition in 1923, the legendary Sarthe race is already sold out with “surprises” on the way, promises Frédéric Lequien, WEC President. Among the drivers expected in the peak of the season is Frenchman Simon Pagenaud, winner of the 500-mile Indianapolis in 2019 and the US IndyCar Championship in 2016, who will return to the LMP2 lower class, twelve years after his victory. Last seen in the event.

Meanwhile, at the start of the season, the prototypes will start their first laps on Wednesday, during free practice at Sebring, before qualifying the next day. The race will start this Friday at 12:00 PM FL (5:00 PM Paris time), hopefully fans will (finally) see more competition on the track… before seeing the field expand further in 2024, thanks to the return of the Alps and the arrival of BMW and Lamborghini to Hypercar.

WEC 2023 Schedule:

1. 1,000 Miles from Sebring (USA) – March 17th

2.6 hours from Portimao (POR) – April 16th

3. 6 Hours of Spa (BEL) – Apr. 29

4. 24 Hours of Le Mans (FRA) – 10/11 June

5.6 hours from Monza (ITA) – July 9th

6. 6 Hours of Fuji (Japan) – September 10th

7. 8 Hours Bahrain (Bahrain) – November 4th

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