Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

ByKolles building hypercar for WEC, will miss races in 2019/20

The ByKolles LMP1 team will not contest the full 2019/20 World Endurance Championship season as it prepares its future road car-based hypercar project

Team owner Colin Kolles confirmed to Autosport that his outfit, which has been a mainstay of the WEC's LMP1 division since 2014, will miss some of the next campaign.

But Kolles expressed a desire for the current Gibson-powered ENSO CLM P1/01 to race in the Le Mans 24 Hours next season along with other potential one-off WEC outings.

ByKolles previously sat out the latter half of the 2017 campaign in order to prepare for the start of the 2018/19 superseason.

"We are working on a new car for the hypercar regulations," Kolles told Autosport.

"We will be running at some selected races [in 2019/20] with the current car, and obviously if we get the entry for Le Mans 2020, also at Le Mans.

"The aim is to have the hypercar running and have a presentation at Le Mans in 2020."

Kolles explained that the team's new hypercar will also feature a street-legal variant and a track-day variant, with the rules for the new top class having been expanded to encompass machinery derived from road-going supercars.

It will not feature a hybrid system, although it has been designed to be able to fit one should this become available in future from an external supplier.


"We are happier with the latest version of the rules with the optional hybrid system," Kolles added.

"We will have the option [to add a system later].

"We are not able to develop a hybrid system, we are dependent on suppliers for hybrid systems. But currently there is no real supplier. This is a big question mark.

"Therefore we are in favour of the optional regulations, and if a hybrid system is available as a package at a reasonable price, then of course we have this option."

Kolles couldn't confirm the number of races the existing ENSO CLM P1/01 would contest, only saying: "For sure we want to run at Le Mans.

"Maybe [we will also race at] Spa or whatever races are before Le Mans. Maybe we would run also at run at Silverstone."

An entry list for the 2019/20 WEC season will be revealed on Friday during the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's annual Le Mans press conference, where the final hypercar regulations for 2020/21 are expected to be formally unveiled.

Toyota and SMP Racing have both committed to continuing in LMP1 in 2019/20 with their existing two-car squads, while Rebellion Racing is also understood to be likely to continue with its two R-13s, despite some speculation it could drop down to one car.

ByKolles' departure means there are likely to be between six and eight LMP1s on the grid next season, depending on whether Ginetta's efforts to get its G60-LT-P1 back in action are successful.

Ginetta boss Lawrence Tomlinson recently suggested that he would be prepared to fund at least a one-car programme in the event no customer to run the AER-powered machines, which haven't raced since last year's Le Mans, can be found.

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article The tough choice facing a Le Mans 100 percenter
Next article Toyota changed #7 car's monocoque after Le Mans qualifying crash

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe