The LMDh cars

BMW Confirm IMSA LMDH Programme
After a day of quite some gap in detail from the apparent confirmation by Markus Flasch, CEO of BMW M GmbH, of a BMW LMDH programme from 2023 the Bavarian-based manufacturer has now confirmed that they will enter the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship from 2023 with a two-car Works outfit.

The full BMW statement follows – it confirms the US programme, but with no news yet of the works team or drivers. Neither does it confirm the chassis supplier (LMDH cars are based on the next generation of LMP2 chassis with four chassis builders as an option), though unconfirmed officially, DSC understands that Dallara will be the chassis partner for the BMW programme.

There is no mention either at this point of any plans or desires to compete at the Le Mans 24 Hours, or of the availability of customer cars. DSC understands though that the potential for additional programmes with factory assistance is far from impossible!
www.dailysportscar.com/2021/06/11/bmw-confirm-imsa-lmdh-programme.html?fbclid=IwAR1cbjRR8OwCt_xv8j3aZ70wKB3sWuYT5msDpFiVWSwVFysoTHNblNdT8xc

GLICKENHAUS AT PORTIMAO: “IN AN ENDURANCE RACE, YOU NEVER STOP”
17.06.2021

Fresh from the 24 hours of Nürburgring, team Glickenhaus decamped to the eight-hours of Portimao in Portugal for the legendary eight-hour race. It would be the first time the 007 Hypercar would race in WEC. As the team gets ready for the next rounds of the WEC at Monza and then Le Mans, we caught up with team owner Jim on how this first great test went.



JIM, WE’RE HERE AT PORTIMAO, AND THE GLICKENHAUS 007 IS COMPETING IN ITS FIRST WEC RACE. HOW ARE YOU FEELING?
It's very emotional. This is our first WEC race and the WEC is a lot different than the 24 hours of Nürburgring or the Baja 1000, which we also compete in. The WEC is really the ultimate temple of sports car racing. Portimao and Monza are the prelude to Le Mans, which for us is the holy grail of motor racing.



HOW WAS THE CAR’S PERFORMANCE OVER THE WEEKEND?
We're very proud to show up today. But we had some issues. In the first stint, our tyre pressures were way too high, and the tyres degraded horribly, so the car was not really drivable. By the second stint, we worked that out, and began going a little quicker. And throughout the day, we were about 1.7 seconds off Toyota. The tyres on the Toyota work a lot better because it's all-wheel drive, whereas our car is rear-wheel drive, which puts a lot more pressure on the tyres. Michelin is going to need some time to get them right, but they will do it.

The next thing that happened was, unfortunately, at a track like Portimao it’s very hard to pass and there are lots of slower and faster cars. When we passed a GT car, contact was made. Unfortunately, it damaged some of the wiring in the car. The shifting was erratic, but worse, when the driver got back on track, they forgot to put on the pit limiter and launch control and fried the clutch. We fixed it in one hour and had the car back on track. So we were really happy with that, and when we went out again we were consistent, and set our fastest lap of 1:32. Considering the quickest lap of the race was a 1:31, it shows we’re competitive. We were also very fast in the first two sectors, and a bit slower in the third. But we had predicted that as that’s a downforce sector and we chose a low downforce, high v-max set up. We hit 314kms on the straight, which is a really good result.



SO, MONZA’S NEXT AND THEN LE MANS. HOW DO YOU THINK THE REST OF THE SEASON WILL GO?
We think the car will be better suited to Monza, plus we’ll have two cars running, which mathematically gives you much more of a chance. And then we’ll be testing before the main event, Le Mans. We’ve also had a great response from other teams who’re interested in buying one of our cars. So, we’ll keep racing, and we’re looking forward to IMSA, where we’ll race at the great venues like Daytona, Lime Rock, Watkins Glen and Laguna Seca.



ENDURANCE RACING IS UNIQUE TO OTHER FORMS OF MOTORSPORT, IN TERMS OF MANAGING RELIABILITY AND POWER OVER A LONG PERIOD. WHAT’S YOUR VIEW ON THAT?
The first thing is to finish. People don't realise that you can have a big problem and be in the pits for a while but then, in a 24-hour race, other people might have problems and all of a sudden, you're in the running. So, you never stop. You keep going. The next thing is you have to make the car comfortable for the drivers. They have to be able to see, it has to work in the rain, it has to be cool in the cockpit. Endurance racing is a lot different to sprint racing. It puts a tremendous strain on the car. But we love it. This is our 11th endurance race, and we always finish them all.



HOW DID MOTUL’S LUBRICANTS PERFORM?
When the clutch went, the motor revved to 11,900rpm, which is way too much. But the Motul oil held up really well. We drained some out, swished it around in a plastic dish, and saw no metal. So, we figured, “hey, maybe the engine’s okay”, and we kept running. And it was. And it was the same with the gearbox.

^ I wish they would be racing in 2022.

PEUGEOT UNVEILS 9X8 HYPERCAR

www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/peugeot-unveils-9x8-hypercar-55243

Half the rival designers will be running back to their drafting boards, the other half will run for the rule books.

Toyota Hypercar unlikely to be affected by road car program derailment

Toyota’s FIA WEC program should be able to continue as planned despite development of a road-going version of its race-winning GR010 Hypercar hitting a roadblock after a serious incident during a test at the Fuji Speedway.

The Japanese marque has been developing a road-going version of its hybrid-powered GR010 Le Mans Hypercar for the past two-three years; the original concept pre-dating the introduction of the Hypercar regulations that will replace the outgoing LMP1 rules.

The most recent version of the road car was originally teased at the aforementioned LMH program announcement at the Circuit de la Sarthe in front of the media. Before being shown off at the French circuit during the buildup to the 2020 running of the 24 Hours, a prototype version was used to bring the trophy to the grid.

However, a Japanese media outlet reported earlier this month that a serious incident at Fuji Speedway had occurred with a pre-production example of the road car, which caught fire and was badly damaged. The original report stated that the road car program had subsequently been cancelled, putting the future of the race program in doubt due to Toyota being unable to produce the minimum number of road cars required to compete in the Hypercar class.

RACER has investigated this further and found out that while the incident at Fuji may well bring the road car project to a premature end, Toyota does not need to produce any road cars to continue racing in the FIA WEC. This is because the GR010 was built against the technical regulations for a prototype-based Hypercar, not for one based around a road-car like the ill-fated Aston Martin Valkyrie effort. There is no requirement for a parallel road car program in those regulations.

Toyota has a multi-year commitment to Le Mans Hypercar, and RACER has been informed by senior program sources that there is no current risk to the race program, which is well underway and has a 100 percent winning record in the FIA WEC this season. The team is also understood to now be evaluating additional races in the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship following the confirmation of eligibility for the LMH-rules cars in the North American Series from 2023, with a limited number of endurance races the most likely supplement to its current full-season WEC plans.

The Le Mans 24 Hours is up next for Toyota, where the GR010 HYBRID will take on its toughest test yet. Toyota is due to go testing one more time on track ahead of next month’s big race, and has been busy investigating the cause of its mechanical woes last time out at Monza.

One person who will be busy assisting the team’s preparations for Le Mans will be David Floury, who has been appointed chief race engineer. The ex-ORECA technical director is a key signing for Toyota and is believed to still be involved in some current ORECA projects alongside his new position, though in a more limited capacity.

Another new face at the program in the future may well be multiple WRC champion Sebastien Ogier, who tested the GR010 in Toyota’s Cologne simulator based at the headquarters of the Toyota Gazoo Racing WEC program last summer.

Media reports have suggested that the Frenchman, who is part of Toyota’s current WRC driver roster, may be in line to drive the GR010 on track in the not too distant future. Currently there is no concrete plan for him to race with Toyota in the FIA WEC, but RACER understands that he has been looking at competing at the Le Mans 24 Hours in recent years, and came close to competing in the LMP2 category with a current WEC team at one stage.

racer.com/2021/08/03/toyota-hypercar-unlikely-to-be-affected-by-road-car-program-derailment/?utm_source=RACER+%2F%2F+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ab2d3523a5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2021_08_03_04_19&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_76623d07b6-ab2d3523a5-274287873

Le Mans is shaping up to be a two ream race.

www.motorsport.com/lemans/news/hypercars-at-full-power-in-le-mans-alpine-pegged-back/6642028/amp/