WEC | Which Hypercars will be around in 2023 and which ones will arrive in the future

Which Hypercars will compete The FIA ​​World Endurance Championship? Let’s find out who will compete in the next edition of the World Championship, a must-see season that has no equal in the short history of the division that began at Sebring in 2012.

Toyota, Peugeot and Glickenhaus welcome Ferrari, Porsche, Cadillac and Vanwall, houses that will be divided LMH and LMDh. These latter classes will be combined into a single category called Hypercar for the world endurance championship and for the famous Le Mans 24h.

Toyota master of the group

Toyota is back on track with the ‘proven’ GR010 Hybrid, a car that has monopolized the area in recent years without problems. The Japanese will try to prove themselves in seven challenges that we will comment on from March to November, not an easy task.

Ryo Hirakawa/Sebastien Buemi/Brendon Hartley #8sare the defending world and 24h Le Mans champions, the baton inherited from the twin #7 that will once again appear on the podium. Kamui Kobayashi/José Maria Lopez/Mike Conway.

Our agenda for 2023 🗓️

1⃣ #1000MSebring 🇺🇸
2 ⃣ #6hPortimao 🇵🇹
3 ⃣ #6hSpa 🇧🇪🇯🇵
4 ⃣ #LeMans24 🇫🇷
5⃣ #6hMonza 🇬🇧
6⃣ #6hFuji
7⃣ #8hBahrain🇧🇭

Who will be on site to watch us compete this year?@FIAWEC #GoHyper #ToyotaGAZORacing pic.twitter.com/jVtOzesMON

– Toyota GAZOO WEC Racing (@TGR_WEC) February 2, 2023

Full-time Peugeot Sport with 9X8

Peugeot will debut in the WEC at Sebring. The French are betting on the 9X8, a very special car that is currently unmatched in the Hypercar scene. Most testing took place during the winter after the Monza, Fuji and Bahrain races. We look forward to finding out if the hard work will pay off Paul Di Resta / Mikkel Jensen / Jean-Éric Vergne And Loic Duval/Gustavo Menezes/Nico Müllerauthorized to drive #93 and her sister #94.

The 24-hour test was held at Paul Ricard, other tests were held at Portimao and Motorland Aragon. The kilometers traveled are great for the transalpines even if a big question mark remains on the Peugeot model after the first trips of 2022.

Aragon image dump test loading in 3⃣…2⃣…1⃣…#Peugeot9X8 pic.twitter.com/YYxS5K64wS

— Peugeot Sport (@peugeotsport) February 22, 2023

Glickenhaus still initially without a hybrid

Glickenhaus is still at the start of the FIA ​​​​WEC with a non-hybrid model. Americans will again bet on 007 LMH, we don’t know the crew members at this time except the announcement of Romain Dumas.

Jim Glickenhaus is expected to bring two units to the 24h Le Mans, we do not know if the Americans will participate in all the planned challenges. The 1000 miles of Sebring next March marks the return of the group of Americans who did not participate in the 6h of Fuji and 8h of Bahrain 2022.

Ready? @FIAWEC #gckenhaus #valiegckenhaus #1000msebring #supersebring pic.twitter.com/tPJCGyGAKT

– Cameron Glickenhaus solid (@Glickenhaus) February 3, 2023

Ferrari after 50…

After 50 years old The Italian model will compete in the top class of the 24h Le Mans and thus in the World Endurance Championship. Ferrari presents itself with the 499P who has held a number of private sessions between Imola, Sebring, Aragon, Vallelunga and Portimao.

The final chronological round took place in Lombardy, a circuit that saw the Maranello car on track twice. Nicklas Nielsen / Miguel Molina / Antonio Moto And Alessandro Pier Guidi/James Calado/Antonio Giovinazzi they were chosen by Antonello Coletta to rewrite the history of the Italian manufacturer, making the very first in the FIA ​​​​WEC with the prototypes after winning the GTE PRO in the last two years.

Monza, the circuit that will host the fifth FIA ​​WEC 2023, saw the Reds on the podium in the last week. Molina of Iberia said in this regard: Testing our Hypercar on a historic track like Monza, less than a month after its debut, is a great opportunity to continue fine-tuning the car. We are satisfied with the work done, even if each test will highlight those details that still need to be understood and resolved in light of the official competition.. The Italian track is a good test bench in terms of performance, given the high speeds that can be reached, and in general proportion, being a track consisting of two variants that require heavy braking”.

Porsche returns with Penske

Porsche is back with the Penske, the first of the LMDhs described in this article. Let’s briefly recall the uniqueness of the Le Mans Daytona Hybrid, examples of which are currently also onIMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship.

LMDhs are cars based on selected chassis from Multimatic, Oreca, Ligier and Dallara. The law is strict in this matter, a law that is not predicted for hypercars that have more freedom in the design of the car.

Porsche has chosen Multimatic for 2023, a preliminary decision also made by Audi Sport before the decision to focus only on F1. The Stuttgart company, with a commitment in North America, will present two 963s in the FIA ​​​​WEC and Michael Christensen/Fred Mako/Dane Cameron And Kevin Estre/Laurens Vanthoor/André Lotterer.

Waiting to supply two Porsches to two selected customers (Proton Competition and JOTA), the Germans will start in the WEC Hypercar category a few years after the closure of the LMP1 era. The Porsche 963 has done several tests at Sebring in the run-up to the Rolex 24 at Daytona and in recent weeks.. In fact, we remember that IMSA played two days of practice waiting for 12h, an important session that chronologically precedes the Prologue of the World Endurance Championship.

JOTA is also confirmed for Le Mans, Proton no. The Germans have decided to partially withdraw from GTE pending the return of the big teams in the future. On the other hand, on the ‘Circuit de la Sarthe’ we will find three 963 for each Porsche Penske Motorsport.

Cadillac Racing and V-Series.R

Cadillac Racing has a similar WEC approach to Porsche, the two brands have already competed for Rolex 24 at Daytona of last January. Americans, unlike Europeans, joined Dallas to create the LMDh which is actually an evolution of the old DPi that raced to Petit Le Mans 2022.

Earl Bamber/Alex Lynn/Richard Westbrook will represent Cadillac in the FIA ​​WEC, crew that finished the 24h of Daytona in fourth place. One car is expected in the entire FIA ​​​​WEC, two more will be added at Le Mans.

Unknown Vanwall Tournament

Vanwall Racing is the last team named in the top class of the FIA ​​WEC. One car will be provided by the team flying the Austrian flag. Floyd Vanwall Team #4 it will depend Jacques Villeneuve/Esteban Guerrieri/Tom Dillmann, pilots who have never participated in an actual scenario organized by an ACO.

Like Glickenhaus, the hybrid is missing from the Bykolles jewel that underwent many tests before being accepted for the World Championship. Mugello, Barcelona and Paul Ricard are just some of the facilities that have hosted the Vandervell 680 before today.

Hypercar… two more manufacturers on the horizon and Isotta…

Three other manufacturers will participate in the FIA ​​​​WEC Hypercar class for a short time. The first should be Isotta Fraschini, Italian historical facts that have decided to do real business. Vector Sports, The English team that we will also see in LMP2, has bet on the Italian project, the brand that is expected to start for the first time. Monza. Yesterday there was an official presentation of Lombard facts, ready to write a new page in history.

The conditions remain mandatory for the Italian brand, a different situation compared to Lamborghini and Alpine. In both cases we will have two LMDh, the first one is expected with a Ligier frame. A different story for the French who have accepted the Oreca project, a service provider that has already been chosen by another fact.

Let’s not forget about Acura and BMW, 2024 is already starting now in IMSA

Let’s not forget about Acura and BMW, LMDh that are already in IMSA. North America is favored over Europe for 2023temporary option. In the first case, Shank Racing, Daytona winners and Wayne Taylor Racing and Andretti Autosport are two reference teams for a model that has already shown its potential.

Oreca was selected by Acura for the ARX-06, Time Dallas was chosen by BMW For IMSA WTSC 2023. Rahal is the team going to AmericaTime WRT extension from next year he will participate in the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship with many commitments and GT3s starting from Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS.

Happy to win #Rolex24 and the first race of the new GTP era@MeyerShankRac / #IMSA pic.twitter.com/6ggx2mDek1

— Michelin Racing USA (@MichelinRaceUSA) January 29, 2023

BMW will definitely reach the World Championship, while it’s unclear how Acura will do. Information is part, but it is clear that too Shank and WTR Racing with Andretti Autosport soon they could reach the ‘Circuit de la Sarthe’ with all the other builders mentioned.

The FIA ​​WEC is gearing up for a glorious season, after the IMSA WTSC it’s finally the turn to see the World Championship on stage for the first time in anticipation of the 100th anniversary of the 24 Heures du Mans. Let’s enjoy an unprecedented show, LMH and LMDh between Hypercar and GTP (the name that indicates the first class in IMSA).

Luca Pellegrini