Autosport Plus

WEC needs prototype shake-up

The upper end of the WEC prototype field is thriving, but things are less healthy behind the factory LMP1 teams and, as GARY WATKINS underlines, that needs addressing for the health of the series

LMP2 is in trouble, at least as far as the World Endurance Championship goes. That's the bad news. The good news is that series promoter the Automobile Club de l'Ouest understands that P2 has issues and is instigating a root-and-branch review of a class that is vital to the health of the championship.

The facts are there for all to see. A downtrend in entries - a drop to just seven ahead of this season - has been brought into sharp focus by a series of withdrawals that has meant there have been just four regular P2 entrants on the grid for the first two rounds of the WEC. And there appears to be a Sword of Damocles hanging over two of those.

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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.