Outline of the

FIA World Endurance
Championship

WEC, Continuing the Sports Car Racing Lineage

 The roots of this race series go back to The World Sportscar Championship, which was first held in 1953. The Championship took place with the participation of automakers and manufacturers as endurance races for two-seater sports cars. Although the official name of the series changed throughout the years, it has been constantly providing an arena of the modern technology showcase of motor racing. The regulations for entering cars were also changed repeatedly, with GT cars predominant at times, and sports prototypes featuring at other times. The actual races included in the series went through many changes, too. With the revision of engine regulations the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) made in 1991, automakers and manufacturers successively withdrew from the series. It led to the demise of the Championship at the end of the 1992 season.

 Along with the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is commonly known as one of the 'Triple Crown of Motorsport', and is synonymous with endurance racing. It continued independently with its own regulations, working with a lot of constructors on the promotion of sports car and prototype races. Eventually the Le Mans organizer, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), expanded the race series globally into Europe (the European Le Mans Series = ELMS), the US (the American Le Mans Series = ALMS) and Asia (the Asian Le Mans Series). In 2010 the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup was held, being in effect a revival of the World Championship.

 In June 2011, at the World Motor Sport Council, FIA and ACO announced that they would jointly launch the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) starting in 2012. This was the revival of the World Championship for the first time in 20 years.

CATEGORIES
Cars competing in the WEC are classified broadly into Prototypes and Grand Touring (GT) Endurance cars. Under the sporting regulations the drivers are ranked by their experience and achievement in motorsport into Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze. Each car class has specific requirements on driver lineups.

Le Mans Prototypes

Le Mans Prototypes are either open or closed two-seaters with no limit on minimum production numbers required that can take full advantage of state-of-the-art technology. As the name suggests, generally they are built especially for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but also for the WEC, ELMS and ALMS races. They are purpose-built for circuit racing, comply with ACO technical regulations, and the cutting-edge technology they deploy gives extreme performance to make them the top status of endurance racing. Le Mans Prototypes are divided into two classes: LMP1 for manufacturers' works teams and LMP2 for privateer entrants.

The very top class has regulations for turbo charged diesel and hybrid engines. TOYOTA TS030 HYBRID competes in this class. They are either open or closed cockpit cars with a minimum weight of 900 kg. Engine capacities are limited to 3,400 cc for normally-aspirated petrol engines, 2,000 cc for turbo charged petrol engines and 3,700 cc for turbo charged diesels. Fuel tanks are 75 litres for petrol engines (73 litres for hybrids) and 60 litres for diesels (58 litres for hybrids). No Bronze drivers are permitted to enter in this class.

This class is defined as being 'a category especially for privateers' and employs 'cost capping'. They are open or closed cockpit cars of at least 900 kg in weight. Only mass-produced engines are allowed, and they are limited to a maximum of 8 cylinders and 5,000 cc capacity for normally-aspirated cars while 6 cylinders and 3,200 cc for turbo charged cars. Turbo diesels are not allowed. Fuel tanks are 75 liters. One of the drivers must be in Silver or Bronze category.

Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance

Le Mans GT Endurance cars are open or closed competition models based on production sports cars with two doors, and either 2 or 2+2 seats. The class is separated into LMGTE Pro for professional drivers and LMGTE Am for gentleman drivers.

A two-door production GT car with 2 or 2+2 seats, construed by an ACO-recognized manufacturer. The maximum total length is 4,800 mm, and the front and rear overhangs are a maximum of 1,250 mm/ 1,100 mm. The total width can be extended up to +100 mm, but the total height and wheelbase must be the same as the original model. The minimum weight is 1,245 kg, and maximum engine capacity is 5,500 cc for NA engines, 4,000 cc for turbo charged engines. Fuel tanks are 90 litres.

This class is provided for gentleman drivers, and unlike the LMGTE Pro, the car must be at least one year old or have the same specifications as the car form the previous year. LMGTE Pro puts no restrictions on the driver category while in LMGTE Am only one driver in Platinum or Gold category can participate.

Le Mans Prototypes
Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance
POINTS
The top ten finishers in each race other than the 24 Hours of Le Mans score points towards both Drivers' and Manufacturers' World Championships according to the following scale. Half a point will be awarded to any car classified lower than 10th in the general classification of an event. For the 24 Hours of Le Mans only, double points will be awarded.

CLASSIFICATION POINT SYSTEM

Final Rank 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th and beyond Pole Position
points 25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1 0.5 1

* Pole Position:For all the above classifications, an additional point will be awarded, at each event, to the 'pole position' team, as well as to all the drivers making up the crew of the cars concerned, in each category (best time achieved by the car in each category during qualifying).