Five months passed between the 2013 6 Hours of Bahrain and the start of the current FIA World Endurance Championship, with the 6 Hours of Silverstone.
And, while there's a whole week to the green flag for the british round, we can make some analysis of what we can expect, based on The Prologue. Obviously, these pre-season tests doesn't give a large margin for a season prediction, but it helped to watch something about what's next.
With everything we saw in the tests, Audi will come as strong as ever with its renewed R18 e-tron quattro. Even deciding to run with one hybrid system, Audi Sport Team Joest has shown its power, always being on the top spots on the time tables. We just need to know if in terms of reliability on real racing, the four-ringed manufacturer will br this strong.
Near them, maybe on equal terms is Porsche with their 919 Hybrid, as they were on par and even ahead of Audi in tests. At least, their plans to fight for the top seems to be a true talk. Only Toyota just left me with a certain doubt of the new TS040 Hybrid, as the two cars ran behind the main contenders in the two test days, rally away from top spots. Maybe they will give evryone a surprise in Silverstone (at least I expect them to) but only time will tell us.
In the non-hybrid section, we can describe it in one word: doubt. The presence of the three machines of the LMP1-L category is a mystery. Rebellion Racing went to tests and will run in Silverstone with their grandfathered Lola B12/60s, adapted to the 2014 regulations, and the information about the Rebellion R-One is that we will see it in action only in Spa 6 hours. Lotus still has complications with their new T129, as schedule problems due to engine changes are being the main problem, so even this blog's owner don't know what to expect of them. The new Lotus contender seems to be present only from Spa onwards.
Well, we can call LMP2 category as "LMP2 Nissan" because no other engines were seen in the Prologue, as it may be in the championship calendar as a whole. Same engine, so the rest is what makes difference: chassis, setup and other things. And as seen in the Prologue the Morgan reign can be threatened by Oreca.
In fact, the Orecas were the fastest ones in test, changing between SMP Racing and Millenium Racing. But what I remember from last year is that Morgans have realiability as their ally, and this is important in a championship that has seven 6-hours races and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, so it just depends of how well will the other Morgan LMP2 teams work as we don't have OAK Racing on track to defend their title, but still they give support to G-Drive Racing this season.
The GTE-Pro category may be a tough challenge for every team, as all models seem to be performing the same, but in tests Ferrari and Porsche works teams attracted attention topping time tables, which is a nice head-start. Aston Martin didn't showed any table topping performances, but they are always considered a threat. Just left to know is how the BoP changes announced will affect the Astons.
Same as GTE-Pro, the time table fight in Paul Ricard was between Ferrari and Porsche, with a slight advantage of the italian manufacturer with the 8Star Motorsports crew, backed by AF Corse and even outpacing the AF Corse GTE-Am cars. The Porsche side will have Proton Competition as their trump card, running now a 991 version of the Porsche 911 RSR, with a slight chance of Prospeed entering in the party, as they shown strong pace too, despite using a 997 version of the 911.
It's really hard to say if the front runners in Silverstone and in the forthcoming races will be the same as The Prologue, but at least we know who has conditions to be on top, because speed is important, but isn't everything in endurance racing. Let's wait until April 20th and that's it, here comes the FIA WEC 2014.
Photos: FIA WEC.
 |
| The main stars of this year: Audi, Porsche and Toyota |
And, while there's a whole week to the green flag for the british round, we can make some analysis of what we can expect, based on The Prologue. Obviously, these pre-season tests doesn't give a large margin for a season prediction, but it helped to watch something about what's next.
LMP1
 |
| Audi will try to defend the title with the new R18 |
 |
| Porsche's last year on LMPs was 1998. |
Near them, maybe on equal terms is Porsche with their 919 Hybrid, as they were on par and even ahead of Audi in tests. At least, their plans to fight for the top seems to be a true talk. Only Toyota just left me with a certain doubt of the new TS040 Hybrid, as the two cars ran behind the main contenders in the two test days, rally away from top spots. Maybe they will give evryone a surprise in Silverstone (at least I expect them to) but only time will tell us.
In the non-hybrid section, we can describe it in one word: doubt. The presence of the three machines of the LMP1-L category is a mystery. Rebellion Racing went to tests and will run in Silverstone with their grandfathered Lola B12/60s, adapted to the 2014 regulations, and the information about the Rebellion R-One is that we will see it in action only in Spa 6 hours. Lotus still has complications with their new T129, as schedule problems due to engine changes are being the main problem, so even this blog's owner don't know what to expect of them. The new Lotus contender seems to be present only from Spa onwards.
LMP2
Well, we can call LMP2 category as "LMP2 Nissan" because no other engines were seen in the Prologue, as it may be in the championship calendar as a whole. Same engine, so the rest is what makes difference: chassis, setup and other things. And as seen in the Prologue the Morgan reign can be threatened by Oreca.
 |
| SMP Racing moves their Oreca effort from ELMS to FIA WEC |
In fact, the Orecas were the fastest ones in test, changing between SMP Racing and Millenium Racing. But what I remember from last year is that Morgans have realiability as their ally, and this is important in a championship that has seven 6-hours races and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, so it just depends of how well will the other Morgan LMP2 teams work as we don't have OAK Racing on track to defend their title, but still they give support to G-Drive Racing this season.
 |
| G-Drive Racing, now partnered with OAK Racing and running a Morgan |
LMGTE-Pro
 |
| The Porsche 991 looks promissing in GTE-Pro |
The GTE-Pro category may be a tough challenge for every team, as all models seem to be performing the same, but in tests Ferrari and Porsche works teams attracted attention topping time tables, which is a nice head-start. Aston Martin didn't showed any table topping performances, but they are always considered a threat. Just left to know is how the BoP changes announced will affect the Astons.
LMGTE-Am
 |
| Enzo Potolicchio increases the italian part of 8Star, with two italians driving the Ferrari 458 with him |
Same as GTE-Pro, the time table fight in Paul Ricard was between Ferrari and Porsche, with a slight advantage of the italian manufacturer with the 8Star Motorsports crew, backed by AF Corse and even outpacing the AF Corse GTE-Am cars. The Porsche side will have Proton Competition as their trump card, running now a 991 version of the Porsche 911 RSR, with a slight chance of Prospeed entering in the party, as they shown strong pace too, despite using a 997 version of the 911.
It's really hard to say if the front runners in Silverstone and in the forthcoming races will be the same as The Prologue, but at least we know who has conditions to be on top, because speed is important, but isn't everything in endurance racing. Let's wait until April 20th and that's it, here comes the FIA WEC 2014.
Photos: FIA WEC.
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