Part 1: FIA WEC Super Season Preview – Introduction

Part 2: FIA WEC Super Season Preview – LMP1

Last season was something of a golden year for the LMP2 class. Close racing, affordable cars and high entry numbers meant the best of the prototype action was in LMP2. We also nearly saw an LMP2 car take the overall honours at Le Mans. It looks to be a similar story going into the WEC Super Season. The increase in participation in LMP1 has impacted the number of LMP2 entries slightly – down from 10 to 7 for the WEC Super Season.

Teams entering LMP2 have a choice of four chassis – the ORECA 07 (also badged as the Apline A470), the Dallara P217, the Ligier JS P217 or the Riley-Multimatic MkXXX (as used in IMSA).

FIA WEC Super Season Resources

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DragonSpeed

DragonSpeed’s LMP2 effort has a big name signing in Venezuelan driver Pastor Maldonado. The much-maligned 2012 Spanish Grand Prix winner is making a move to sports car racing after two years on the sidelines after losing his seat in F1. Maldonado will be partnered by occasional ChampCar driver Roberto Gonzales.

It will be interesting to see how Maldonado copes with both lapping slower cars and being lapped by faster LMP1 machinary. Formula One fans will be all too aware of the numerous incidents he managed to find himself involved in which have greatly overshadowed his fantastic single victory.

Jackie Chan DC Racing

LMP2 runners up (and almost outright Le Mans winners) Jackie Chan DC Racing return. Though a second overall at Le Mans looks unlikely this season, the team are well run and have a good driver line-up. With Rebellion having moved up to LMP1, Jackie Chan DC Racing look good for taking the WEC Super Season LMP2 title.

Signatech Alpine

Signatech Alpine are down to a single car for the 2018/2019 Super Season. Nicolas Lapierre, André Negrão and Pierre Thiriet will be piloting the Alpine A470 (a re-badged ORECA 07).

Racing Team Nederland

Racing Team Nederland are moving over from ELMS to WEC, having competed in the 2017 running of Le Mans. With two former Formula One drivers (Giedo van der Garde and Jan Lammers) they have a strong line-up. The Dallara, however, wasn’t as sorted as the ORECA last season. This is the first full-time WEC entry for the Dallara chassis.

Larbre Competition

Moving up from the ELMS is French team Larbre Competition, swapping their Chevrolet C.7R GTE for the Ligier JS P217. This marks the first full-time Ligier entry in the WEC LMP2 class.

Fernando Rees departs after Larbre lost a key sponsor. French perfumers Erwin Creed and Romano Ricci could be partnered by Romain Brandela or Thomas Dagoneau, though no official announcements have been made as to who will be replacing the Brazilian. The fact that Rees has been dropped does point to money issues for the storied French outfit.

TDS Racing

TDS Racing remain in LMP2 a single ORECA 07. The French outfit retain the services of François Perrodo, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Loïc Duval, who all raced together last season.

Join us tomorrow where we take a look at the incredibly close GTE Pro field.