The abundance of strict regulations in the FIA World Endurance Championship has led to “almost preordained” races at places like Le Mans, complains Corvette Racing Program Manager Doug Fehan. He’s not been quiet since last weekend’s 24-hour race, which resulted in a fourth-in-class finish for the No. 63 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R and a DNF for the No. 64 car, saying previously that there was no real battle for the lead spot in the GTE-Pro class after Hour 4, when a safety car period gave the No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR a two-and-a-half-minute lead.
But it wasn’t just the GTE-Pro pack being split up by safety cars that spoiled Le Mans 2018, he notes; new-for-2018 regulations like pit stop rules, minimum refueling times, and maximum stint lengths all played a part in reducing the importance of good strategy.
“I don’t think it’s intentional, but I think that we’re going to find that we have really gotten close on a BoP situation and now we need to focus on a sporting regulations situation,” Fehan told Sportscar365. “I think the sporting regulations have made the race almost too mechanical, almost preordained, and not real racing. And that’s not a criticism.”
At this year’s Le Mans race, cars in the GTE-Pro class were limited to 14-lap stints, except for the first (11-lap limit) and final (13-lap limit) stints. Like last year, teams also had to adhere to refueling time limits, with a minimum of 35 seconds to refuel for GTE Pro.
According to Sportscar365, Doug Fehan is rather pleased with how the FIA and ACO have managed to balance performance between GTE-Pro teams, resulting in a fairly level playing field. But, he says, the new pit stop regulations have reduced the team’s role in producing a good outcome. Refueling and tire changes are now conducted at the same time, which Fehan would like to see changed.
“I am a huge advocate of separating car work and fueling,” he said. “I like it when the pit stop plays a role in how effectively you compete in the race. Where it’s more than just a driver in the car, it’s the whole team that has a role.
“The unintended consequence of that is that it encourages less tire usage. Because now you really have to ask yourself, ‘Should I keep the set of tires on, or should I take the time to put a new set on?’… I like that.”
Comments
That is the blessing and curse of BoP.
When you get it right everyone is happy when you get it Wong only one team is happy.
The truth is without the BOP the Vette team would be lucky to have gotten the 4th place with the old car. The team itself and prep got the to where they did finish.
But to be fair for Doug you have to make some noise and threats to get regulator attention.
If the Vette was on the podium someone else would be complaining.
The truth is the IMSA series has been doing a much better job over Lemans on keeping things even.
BOP affects old and new cars. The current vette is fast enough if BOP is properly applied.
It sounds like they turned what used to be a pure endurance race, into a series of “sprint” races broken up by pitting every 14-laps. If they created more pitting for spectator enjoyment, they need to give pit teams the freedom to pit as fast as possible. Not every pit should be fuelling or tyres or both, that is where the overall race strategy comes into play.
Of course a 14/15 lap fuel cell is naturally going to be lighter than a 30-lap fuel cell so that makes the cars lighter and faster on the average lap time across the 14 laps they need to complete.
I can see how they have tried to even up the cars on the track, but at the cost of out-and-out, balls-to-the-wall racing on the margins of tyre wear or running a fuel light to the max. That stuff is just as exciting as seeing the car flying at 180mph+.
It was an endurance race but endurance is no longer an issue as these cars could run for days. Years ago few could make 24 hours.
There was many strategies over the years employed like the team cars with one running yards and the rest pacing.
Today the series tries to temper the race with fueling strategy and team work. Just look at the pit rules.
It has turned into a sprint race as most endurance races have done. Generally if you do not crash or lose a tire you make the finish.
At Lemans they also like to expand into new technologies. Hydrogen is the new one being considered.
“I don’t think it’s intentional, but I think that we’re going to find that we have really gotten close on a BoP situation and now we need to focus on a sporting regulations situation,” Fehan told Sportscar365. “I think the sporting regulations have made the race almost too mechanical, almost preordained, and not real racing. And that’s not a criticism.”
This is why BOP style racing needs to go!
You will be able to retire on the money you make if you can come up with a sustainable alternative.
Brian when ever the rules hurt a MFG they become critical. They lobby for changes with criticism and or threats to leave. Doug is just doing his job. It is no different than a coach challenging a refs call.
The truth is some of these BOP mistakes are just where they missed it. But it has happened to where they have given teams an advantage like the GT a few years back.
Like I told you before Racing is now a business not a pure sport. When the names went on the cars the pure and innocence of racing vanished.
Today racing is like a heroin addict. They need the money to survive but the series have sold their soul for the money and factory support.
No problem! Getting people to do it that’s a different story!
I read comments where the old vette just can’t run. Really… you know nothing about racing or BOP. Stop making excuses.
These sanctions benefit the meek manufacturers and feed the pocket of sanction house.
True if the manufacturers couldn’t win due to meek machinery they may leave, but that should inspire to go back to the drawing board and engineer a better machine. Not to settle for equality when there isn’t.
HP and weight should be set and may the best manufacturers win…
Old vette…. if the mid engine performs to hype, major BOP will be applied to the same speed as today’s old vette. So they can have an equal race….
Exactly. The current C7.R is plenty fast if BOP’d correctly. They did manage to beat 2 of the 4 Ford GT’s. More than anything, it was the safety cars that screwed their race. Practically gave the Porsche a 1 lap lead and with lap times and reliability being what it is now, there was no way anyone could catch them unless they had a failure. Props to the Porsche team for executing a flawless race. Those are the breaks in racing sometimes.
Personally the BOP can determine the winner. It seems 24 hours want to control who wins so no one manufacturer will win to much. Because if one marque wins to often the others won’t compete. Their approach is not healthy.
Racing aint what it used to be. There was a time the officials would spell out type and size of engines, weight, and type of vehicles and may the best cars win. It was up to the teams to extract more power from their Engines as long as they played by the rules. Same thing with handling and drivers. It was up to the other team owners including the Manufacturers to make their vehicles competitive. To me to be penalized for winning even when you are playing by the rules just seem wrong. Oh I forgot in the case of the Corvetts they were in no way dominating their catagory before the race.
Equalizing “type and size of engines, weight, and type of vehicles and may the best cars win” is what rules LMP2, and I find this boring.
LMP2 cars have to use one of four or so different chassis, and the same engine. The Dallara 217, which the Cadillac uses in IMSA is one of the allowed bases.
GT cars are meant to be production cars, which may be modified a little for the race.
You wont force all manufacturers to produce their sports cars to the same specifications of enginge displacement, fuel selection, weight etc. So you end up single manufacturer races like the existing “Porsche Cup” or many others where all cars racing are the same model of the same manufacturer.
Besides, nothing “aint what it used to be”, everything is changing, even the future is no longer what it once was.