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The LMP1 problem that must be addressed

The 2016 World Endurance Championship formbook suggests a fascinating Le Mans 24 Hours duel between Audi, Toyota and Porsche. But is that prospect masking a bigger problem in LMP1?

Gary Watkins Jun 3, 2016, 9:08 AM

As excited as we all are heading into this month's Le Mans 24 Hours with the prospect of all three manufacturers fighting it out for victory, we should not forget that there are only nine cars competing in the premier class. That's not a low point of recent years - there were only eight in 2013 - but it is a problem.

We all want to see the factory big guns slugging it out for the honour of winning the world's greatest motor race, but can it be right that there are fewer than 10 cars in the division that everyone cares about? It makes for a lopsided grid when you consider that the LMP2 and GTE each have double the number of cars with 23 and 27 entrants respectively.

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Author Gary Watkins

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.