How do WEC's big-hitters stack up for 2016?
Porsche, Audi and Toyota's 2016 LMP1 cars shared a track for the first time last week, but what can we draw from the WEC Paul Ricard test? GARY WATKINS examines what unfolded
Porsche held sway at the official World Endurance Championship test at Paul Ricard, but it's too early to jump to conclusions ahead of the Silverstone series opener on April 17 - the reigning champion was always going to lead the way at the so-called 'prologue'.
It would be wrong to read too much into the times from two days of running around Circuit Paul Ricard last week. Or at least the gap between the uprated version of last year's championship-winning 919 Hybrid and its rivals.
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Gary Watkins has, for reasons best known to himself, devoted all his working life to covering sportscar racing. This season is his 33rd as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and approaching 80 24-hour races. He reckons a degree in political philosophy makes him well qualified for covering the sometimes Machiavellian world of international sportscars.
Gary, who also writes for Motor Sport, Autocourse, RACER and others, lives in Surbiton close to the former workshops of the Cooper Formula 1 team but spends more time on the road than at home for most of the year.
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