World Endurance Championship Archives

Peugeot Hybrid4 500KW to power Peugeot hypercar for endurance racing in 2022

After a decade-long absence, Peugeot will return to endurance racing, including the Le Mans 24 Hours, in 2022. By then, it will have completed development of an all-new hypercar defined in the new FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) regulations.

Development by Peugeot Sport and Total
The hypercar will be known as the Peugeot Hybrid4 500KW and its powertrain is now being developed by Peugeot Sport and Total (and its subsidiary, Saft). Details of the powertrain which have been revealed show a mid-rear, 2.6-litre, 500 kW (680 bhp), twin-turbo, V6 , petrol internal combustion engine combined with a front-mounted 200 kW (272 bhp) motor generator unit, with a high-power density battery. The smart powertrain will have energy flow management, a key to high performance.

Although the 165-kg engine can deliver 500 kW and the motor generator unit has a capacity of 200 kW, the regulations set a maximum power output of just 500 kW during races. The regulations also forbid the use of electrical energy below 120 km/h, so the motor generator unit only engages once this speed has been reached. The car must pull away from standstill under the power of its internal combustion engine alone.

At full power, the power output is limited to 300 kW and adjusted as a function of the power delivered by the motor generator unit at 200 kW which is directly dependent on the battery level. When the motor generator unit comes into use, the car automatically switches to 4-wheel drive, thereby modifying its drivability – through high-speed corners, for example,

When the battery pack is empty, the engine reverts to 500 kW power output and the transmission returns to rear-wheel drive. During races, the battery will be fully charged prior to the start by means of a mains-connected plug-in hybrid charger. Once on the track, the battery will function completely independently and be charged only by the kinetic braking energy recovery system.

The robotised sequential 7-speed (plus reverse) gearbox will be controlled by steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters, and the Peugeot Sport-developed brake-by-wire system will also be managed electronically.

The driver will be able to adjust the level of engine-braking generated by the electric motor under deceleration and the force applied by the pads to the braking discs to achieve the optimum electric regenerative/hydraulic braking split. Optimal energy management, both under acceleration and during energy recovery, will consequently be key to the car’s performance and efficiency.

The architecture of the Peugeot HYBRID4 500KW powertrain is the result of a highly- detailed brief shaped by the new FIA WEC regulations,” noted François Coudrain, Peugeot Sport’s WEC Programme Powertrain Director. “We initially considered a single turbo, but that would have prevented us from achieving our engine’s centre of gravity target. A twin-turbo V6 block offers the best trade-off between technology, weight, packaging of the engine’s ancillaries, reliability and performance.”

Innovative battery concept
The high-density, high-power battery pack has been developed jointly by Peugeot Sport and Saft, a Total subsidiary. As one of the keys to high performance, it will need to be integrated perfectly, physically inside the car and in the powertrain’s energy-management process. Working from a specification written by Peugeot Sport, Saft’s engineers selected the best type of cells for the battery which favours power over energy density, consistent with the needs of endurance racing.

“The main parameter will be to optimise how the energy stored in the battery is used,” explained Kamen Nechev, Saft’s Chief Technical Officer. “To achieve this, you need an extremely short charge-time combined with high-capacity storage cells to form a package that enables maximum power to be delivered as rapidly as possible. The most competitive solution resides in the management of charge optimisation and the amount of power available in real time.”

The new battery will be located in a carbonfibre casing inside the car’s monocoque structure, behind the driver and underneath the fuel tank. It has been designed to combine durability with consistent performance during races of durations of up to 24 hours, and even beyond.

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Toyota wins at Le Mans for the third time

Toyota continued its winning streak at Le Mans with another victory this weekend, its third successive one in the classic 24-hour endurance race. Kazuki Nakajima was at the wheel of the No. 8 Toyota GAZOO Racing TS050 HYBRID as team mates Sebastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley watched him take the chequered flag after 387 laps.

From No.7 to No.8
The early lead was maintained by Kamui Kobayashi, partnered by Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez, in the No. 7 Toyota. However, midway through the race, the car had a turbo problem and the No.8 car quickly moved to take over at the front.

Second overall was Rebellion Racing’s Gibson R-13 driven by the trio of Bruno Senna, Norman Nato and Gustavo Menezes. It was one of two cars from the Swiss team which shadowed the No.8 Toyota, waiting for the car to drop out which, of course, didn’t happen.

LMP1 and GTE winners
While Toyota won the LMP1 category, the LMP2 category was won by the United Autosports Team with an Oreca-Gibson crewed by Paul di Resta, Philip Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque. They finished fifth overall after the No.3 car of Rebellion Racing.

Aston Martin Racing won the FIA GT Manufacturers Championship as the No.97 Aston Martin Vantage AMR finished tops in the GTE Pro class and the #90 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR collect the trophy for the GTE Am class.

This year’s Le Mans race, the 88th edition since starting in 1923, is the last one before the new Hypercar era starts for the next season. Sadly, the spectator stands were empty as French authorities did not allow large crowds due the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2019-2020 WEC season has one more round remaining which will be held in Bahrain on November 14.

Toyota’s GR Super Sport hypercar returned to its spiritual home this weekend to appear in public for the first time, as part of its ongoing development process, shortly before the start of the Le Mans 24 Hours. Based on the 2-time Le Mans-winning TS050 HYBRID racing car and covered in GR camouflage livery, the car completed a demonstration lap before arriving at a ceremony to return the Le Mans trophy for this year’s race.

*Besides the win at Le Mans, Toyota GAZOO Racing also won the Rally Turkey this weekend.*

Two more WEC races to be run, with replanned Le Mans 24 Hours in September

The 24 Hours of Le Mans race, typically held in June, had to be postponed to the 19/20 weekend of September due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s the 88^th edition this year, and well aware of the financial impact of the situation on racing teams, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) was keen to ensure that their resources are not tied up over too long a period.

In agreement with the FIA and the main partners and stakeholders of the international event, the event will have a packed 4-day schedule for the 62 teams confirmed to be taking part. Between Thursday and Sunday, there will be 4 free practice sessions, qualifying, the Hyperpole session and a warm-up, culminating with the 24-hour endurance race itself.

Compact time-frame
The schedule of practice sessions – vital to good race preparation – has been rearranged, with qualifying, the warm-up and the race, packed into a 4-day time-frame. This is expected to maintain the requisite level of quality for such an iconic international event.

The traditional scrutineering procedures will take place at the Circuit on Wednesday before the 62 cars take to the track on Thursday for the free practice sessions, qualifying and night-time practice. Friday will see more practice sessions and the much-awaited new Hyperpole shoot-out where 24 competitors will battle it out on the 13.626-km circuit in a test of sheer speed, without the ‘heavy traffic’!

Hyperpole format
The Hyperpole qualifying format replaces the previous approach which involved 6 hours of qualifying in 3 two-hour sessions over Wednesday and Thursday. It was confirmed late last year to determine the top positions on the grid. The top six cars in each of the four classes during a 45-minute qualifying period will go forward to the Hyperpole session.

The 24 cars that make it through to this shoot-out session will be allowed one run because they will not be permitted to return to their pit during the 30 minutes. Teams will have free choice of tyres within the existing allocation for qualifying and the race.

Pierre Fillon, President of the ACO, explained that the new format was aimed at ‘guaranteeing two exciting sessions for both drivers and spectators, where all the focus will be on sheer speed in a quest for the perfect lap’.

Last year, the starting time of the 2020 race was changed to 4 pm on Saturday, one hour later than usual. However, in replanning the whole event program this year, the race itself will start at 2:30 pm on Saturday.

The race at Le Mans will be the finale for the 2019/2020 World Endurance Championship (WEC). The season began with the 4 Hours of Silverstone in September 2019 and races were run in Japan, China, Bahrain, and the USA (Texas). There was also a second race to be held in the USA at Sebring but this was cancelled due to the pandemic. Before Le Mans, there will be a round at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium in August.

Looking ahead
The 2020/2021 WEC season will see the brand new Le Mans Hypercar category in place of the LMP1 category. Assuming the pandemic diminishes and countries are less restrictive, there are 8 races (ranging from 6 hours to 24 hours) scheduled to be run in Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa and the USA. Two new venues – Monza in Italy and Kyalami in South Africa will be on the calendar.

Aston Martin Valkyrie — *Aston Martin was initially among the participants of the new Hypercar category with its Valkyrie but has put the racing project on hold. It will continue to race in the WEC with the Vantage GTE.*

Goodyear chosen as supplier for WEC LMP2 (Le Mans Prototype 2) and European Le Mans Series

Goodyear continues to gain increasing preference in the motorsports world as it is chosen as Official Tyre Supplier. Following its appointment by the FIA as tyre-supplier for the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) and British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), the international governing body has now also made Goodyear the official tyre supplier to the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) category of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and European Le Mans Series (ELMS).

A multi-season contract between the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), the FIA World Endurance Championship and Goodyear was agreed following ACO’s decision to appoint a single tyre supplier for this highly competitive Le Mans Prototype class.

The contract, to supply all the WEC teams in the LMP2 class, begins with the 8-round 2020/2021 season which starts at Silverstone in September, before continuing across four continents around the world. its climax will be the 24 hours of Le Mans in June 2021, a race which Goodyear-equipped cars have won outright on 14 occasions.

“Goodyear has a long and remarkable history in motorsport. In addition to our unbeaten record in Formula One with 368 Grand Prix wins, we have 14 overall wins in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This partnership allows us to showcase our technology, durability and performance in the most famous endurance race in the world. We are proud to have been chosen for this challenge,” said Mike Rytokoski, Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer, Consumer EMEA at Goodyear.

The LMP2 official tyre partnership with ELMS, the world’s leading continental endurance racing series, will begin in April 2021. In ELMS, the LMP2 category is the top tier of a multi-class championship that races at six of Europe’s top circuits.

The partnership means that all LMP2 entrants in the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans, including cars from outside of WEC and ELMS, will benefit from the latest developments in Goodyear Racing tyres. In addition, Goodyear will also increase its brand visibility on and off the track to support its launch of the latest range of Eagle F1 SuperSport tyres, featuring motorsport-derived technology.

Goodyear returns to international sportscar racing

WEC/Round 2: 1-2 finish for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing in Fuji 6-Hours

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing maintained its perfect record in the 2019-2020 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season with a 1-2 victory on home ground in the 6 Hours of Fuji which just finished this afternoon in Japan. The reigning World Champions won at Fuji Speedway for the seventh time in 8 years, this year with the #8 TS050 HYBRID of Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley earning victory from pole position.

Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez finished second, leaving both car crews tied on the same points in the lead of the World Championship. TOYOTA GAZOO Racing leads the teams’ standings by 35 points from Rebellion.

Penalties for championship leaders
The new success handicap system was implemented for the first time this weekend, imposing lap time penalties on LMP1 cars based on World Championship position and its effects became clear in the opening laps.

As championship leaders, they incurred the maximum success handicap of 1.4 seconds per lap, while Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley in the #8 TS050 HYBRID were penalised by one second per lap. The success handicaps come in addition to the established Equivalence of Technology, which meant the TS050 HYBRIDs were both up to 108 kgs heavier than their non-hybrid LMP1 rivals, who additionally were allowed to use up to 61% more fuel.

With Sebastien at the wheel, the #8 TS050 HYBRID, which carried a one second per lap handicap, held off a strong challenge from the #5 Ginetta to lead from the start while Kamui in the #7 car, with a 1.4 seconds lap time penalty, had an exciting fight for second.

Kamui lost out to Rebellion #1 through the first corners but, after a Safety Car came out (due to an accident involving GT cars), on 4 consecutive occasions, he overtook at the end of the lap only to be re-passed before Turn one. That was due to the Rebellion’s top speed advantage, a consequence of fuel and hybrid boost restrictions imposed by the success handicap system on the TS050 HYBRID.

Fastest pit work
Once established at the front, both TS050 HYBRIDs steadily stretched their advantage, helped by the fastest pit work in the field, although the #7 was unable to challenge for the lead due to the 0.4 second-per-lap difference in success handicap.

With two hours gone, late in the first stints of Mike and Brendon, light rain started. An hour later, the track surface became too slippery so both cars switched to hybrid intermediate tyres, with Jose and Kazuki taking over their respective TS050 HYBRIDs.

When conditions improved enough for a switch to slick tyres, the #8 car’s lead stood at around a minute but that was reduced to less than 30 seconds with 2 hours remaining when Kazuki was forced to take a drive-through penalty for exceeding the pit lane speed limit.

Sebastien took over the race-leading #8 for the final 90 minutes with Kamui giving chase in the #7. The gap remained stable as the end approached and Sebastien took the chequered flag in the TS050 HYBRID’s final race in Japan, 33.955 seconds ahead of Kamui. The #1 Rebellion finished two laps behind in third.

The result marked Sebastien’s 16th outright WEC victory, extending his series record, and the fourth time Kazuki has won his home race, while Brendon stood on the top of the podium for the first time as a TOYOTA GAZOO Racing driver.

Following the team’s second 1-2 finish of the season, the success handicap on both cars will be increased for the next race in Shanghai next month, although the lap time penalty will be identical for each car as both TS050 HYBRIDs have the same number of World Championship points.

This weekend’s race marks the final time for the TS050 HYBRID to compete in Japan. Fuji Speedway has a special place in the history of Toyota’s most successful endurance racing car as the location of its first victory, in 2016 when Kamui Kobayashi took a tense victory alongside Mike Conway and Stephane Sarrazin. The car, which has won a total of 14 WEC races since then, remains undefeated at the Fuji Speedway.

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Goodyear returns to international sportscar racing

Teams from the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) recently took the track for the pre-season ‘Prologue’ at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain. This event is a prelude to the start of a new championship season and this year, the public test session saw the return of Goodyear to international motorsport competition.

The tyre company has announced its global racing comeback earlier, confirming that it will develop tyres for the 2019/2020 WEC season which begins at Silverstone on September 1. Goodyear has a proud history in motorsport. In addition to 14 wins in the Le Mans 24 hours, Goodyear tyres were on the racing cars that won 368 Formula One GPs – a record that stands unbeaten.

*Goodyear was involved in F1 as a tyre supplier up till 1997.*

New tyres for Le Mans Prototypes
Goodyear has been developing a new range of tyres for Le Mans Prototypes for over a year at their innovation centres in Germany) and Luxembourg. The first phase of this development plan is to introduce 5 new specifications of tyre for the highly-competitive LMP2 class in WEC.

This class, for 600-bhp prototypes, is one of the most demanding in WEC as it features a battle between tyre manufacturers. At the Prologue, the Jota Sport, Jackie Chan DC Racing, High Class Racing and TDS teams will try Goodyear’s latest development tyres. The WEC regulations allow tyre manufacturers to supply a range of 3 dry weather, one intermediate and one wet weather tyre to racing teams.

Goodyear will use the Prologue, followed by a 3-day private test session, to evaluate different tyre options. They will then reveal their 2019/2020 WEC tyre range at the Silverstone season-opener.

“The nature of the races (varying from 4 hours to 24 hours) mean tyre choice and strategy are critical and it provides a motivating challenge for our technology team in our European innovation centres ahead of exploring other racing opportunities for the brand.”

Ben Crawley – Director Goodyear Racing EMEA

To deliver high performance to teams
“For the Goodyear comeback, we are aiming high to deliver performance for our teams. The 2018/2019 WEC season featured an intense battle between the tyre manufacturers. Our priority has been to offer driveability and consistency that provides the teams with a significant step forward. These test sessions will allow us to evaluate the all-new range options against the competition before we define our range at Silverstone,” said Ben Crawley, Director Goodyear Racing EMEA, explaining the objectives.

“For the forthcoming season, Goodyear will focus on delivering success in LMP2 whilst evaluating other racing options for 2020 and beyond. These could be in other WEC classes or in other international racing categories,” he added.

The 2019/20 WEC season will feature 8 races on circuits of varying lengths, concluding at Le Mans in June 2020. The season also includes two 4-hour races (Silverstone and Shanghai), three 6-Hour races (Fuji, Sao Paulo and Spa-Francorchamps) and two 8-hour races (Bahrain and Sebring). The Toyota GAZOO Racing team won the 2018/2019 season.

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