Sportscar racing is set to boom

Hypercars get a head start

The 2021 season can best be described as a transition year for sportscar racing, as the new Hypercar (LMH) class launches, but with only one of the two major players which have so far signed up for it ready to go. Toyota launched its striking GR010 HYBRID last Friday with an unchanged driver line-up from the LMP1 era as it chases a fourth successive Le Mans win this year. The car is scheduled to make its WEC debut at the Sebring 1,000 Miles on 19^th March, although the race is in doubt because of the global pandemic.

Two other Hypercars are also due this year. Glickenhaus, the niche performance car brand, is due to race its 3.5-litre twin-turbo V8 007, although the new contender won’t be ready for Sebring even if the Florida race does go ahead. The programme has gained a greater degree of legitimacy now that Joest Racing, which ran Audi’s super-successful Le Mans programme, is on board to develop the car – but Glickenhaus is an unknown quantity at this level.

In contrast, the ByKolles team – which also plans to run its own LMH entry – has form in LMP1 (although admittedly not much that could be termed successful). But again, there’s a lot of detail to be filled in before we can judge how seriously this project should be taken.

Aside from Toyota, Peugeot is the other big hitter set to join the Hypercar ranks – but we’ll have to wait until 2022 before the three-time Le Mans-winning manufacturer makes its endurance racing comeback.

So thank goodness, in that case, for the Alpine brand’s campaign to run a ‘grandfathered’ Rebellion ORECA LMP1 at Le Mans this year to give Toyota something proven to race against. Running performance-capped and outdated LMP1s at the start of the LMH era is clearly a fudge, but also a necessary one given the new category’s slow uptake. More details on the Alpine effort, which echoes the Renault-owned brand’s F1 campaign, are imminent.

Why LMDh is the source of our optimism

Alone, the Hypercar picture doesn’t exactly look bountiful with promise. But combined with the parallel Le Mans Daytona hybrid (LMDh) regulations, the overall images starts to look much more rosy – and it’s this class that is really capturing the imagination of teams and drivers who specialise in long-distance sportscar racing.

Both Audi and Porsche are on their way back with programmes in this category, which is based around LMP2-type chassis and has a standardised, cost-effective hybrid system, electronics and gearbox. We’ll have to wait until 2023 for the return of the two most successful manufacturers to have raced at Le Mans, but when they come they’re both likely to be also represented by customer cars run by respected privateer teams as well as factory entries. And that’s where the excitement for endurance racing’s future really lies.

The prospect of Toyota and Peugeot in LMH, against Audi and Porsche in LMDh – plus a bunch of customer teams with machinery equal in performance – could result in the biggest grid of potential overall race winners at Le Mans since the halcyon days of Group C in the 1980s. Added to that, all of these cars could then race in full WEC campaigns, and as LMDh is a formula created by IMSA, at the Daytona 24 Hours too. Manufacturers, teams and drivers could bid for sportscar racing’s own triple crown by winning Daytona, the Sebring 12 Hours and Le Mans in the same season for the first time in decades.

We have to be patient a while yet. But beyond the 2021 transition season, the possibilities for sportscar racing look boundless.

You’re going to hear them Roar

In the short-term, a prelude to the 2021 sportscar season is due to strike up a song this Friday as the three-day Roar Before the 24 test begins at Daytona. The traditional January shakedown this time takes place just a week before the 24 Hours itself, to limit travel in the midst of the ongoing health crisis.

The Roar always gives an indication of form for the first big classic motor race of the season, with the current DPi class and LMP2 contenders offering plenty of variety for a race that takes place on a circuit made up of most of the 2.5-mile NASCAR tri-oval, with an added ‘bus stop’ chicane and infield road course section.

Among the entries this year are 2008 Canadian Grand Prix winner Robert Kubica, who will made his Daytona debut at the Roar this weekend in High Class Racing’s ORECA LMP2. Another newcomer is reigning NASCAR Cup champion Chase Elliott, who joins seven-time NASCAR champ Jimmie Johnson – a regular in the sportscar race – and 2018 Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon in an Action Express Cadillac DPi.

In the GT class, the loss of the Porsche factory team, following its COVID-induced withdrawal from IMSA, has thinned out a field that used to be bursting with diversity and manufacturer support (there’s that boom and bust theme again). But the works Corvette team remain committed, with Britain’s top GT racer Nick Tandy making his debut for the Pratt & Miller-run outfit following his switch from Porsche. The 36-year-old has a great chance to add to his already bursting record of sportscar successes, in the wake of his victories at the 2020 Petit Le Mans, Spa 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.