F1 comparisons let the WEC down
The World Endurance Championship is booming, but EDD STRAW is bored by the irrelevant - and often inaccurate - comparisons with Formula 1
The World Endurance Championship is, by any measure, on an upward curve.
Saturday's Spa 6 Hours attracted a crowd of more than 50,000, up 8000 on the 2014 running of the event. With Nissan about to join the fray to make it four works marques in LMP1, interest is demonstrably increasing among manufacturers as well.
The Spa race was a great one, a close battle between Audi and Porsche, with an eventual winning margin of only 13 seconds in an event uninterrupted by safety cars. By the standards of endurance racing, that's spectacularly close.
The understated Le Mans legend who has earned a testimonial
OPINION: After 24 Le Mans 24 Hours participations, 50-year-old Emmanuel Collard will be absent from the grid this year, stuck at the mercy of his gold driver grading. But, while he's not motivated by breaking start records, the French veteran is determined to return to the field next year
How glitches left Toyota 'worried' about losing unbeaten WEC streak
The World Endurance Championship's long-awaited return to Monza posed the sternest test yet for Toyota's new hypercar. Although the Japanese marque's GR010 HYBRID remains unbeaten, the victory for Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi was far from plain sailing
How the next step in the IMSA and WEC convergence can reunite multiple fronts
OPINION: Following the latest convergence connection permitting Le Mans Hypercars from the World Endurance Championship to compete against LMDh entries in the IMSA SportsCar Championship from 2023, it could open up enticing options not only to manufacturers but also for the calendar and race formats
How overlooked Mazda produced one of Le Mans' greatest shocks
The screaming rotary-engined Mazda 787 is regarded as one of the most popular Le Mans 24 Hours-winning cars, but until its surprise success on this day 30 years ago it was never regarded as a likely victor. But that reckoned without a new technical partner, some canny political manoeuvring and a rival's bizarre self-inflicted weakness
How Alpine's stunted Portimao charge helped Toyota to keep clear
Despite going stride for stride for pace at Portimao, Alpine’s grandfathered LMP1 couldn’t convert pole position into a sustained victory fight against Toyota. And due to rules and car limitations that are set in stone, the French manufacturer will be searching for solutions in its own battle of endurance
Toyota hits the ton — charting 100 world championship sportscar starts
The Japanese manufacturer is celebrating its 100th world championship prototype start in this weekend's Portimao 8 Hours round of the World Endurance Championship. Here are the major milestones on the road to three figures since the earliest low-key days of its entry into the Group C arena nearly 40 years ago
The philosophical problems the WEC's new Hypercar class is already facing
OPINION: Most of the column inches after the World Endurance Championship's opener were centred around the relative pace of the Hypercar class and the LMP2s, but there's another question that needs addressing in order for the new division to have a successful future
How stumbling Toyota drew first blood in the WEC's new era
Amid concerns that the new Hypercar class would be upstaged on debut by the spec LMP2 machines at Spa, Toyota delivered the pole and victory that the vast majority of observers expected. But neither car had a clean run, which gave the grandfathered Alpine LMP1 an unexpected shot at glory
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