The last meeting of the World Motor Council left two very prominent measures regarding resistance. The first of these was the delay in the introduction of the new generation of LMP2 prototypes until the 2025 season. The second, the decision to allow pre-homologation LMDh prototypes to compete in individual rounds of the WEC in 2022. In this way, the manufacturers that are developing their prototypes under this regulation can test their LMDh in a competitive environment before passing the homologation for the 2023 season.
At the moment, Porsche Motorsport is the firm that has more options to take advantage of this point and putting its LMDh on track at a WEC event, not least because the Stuttgart manufacturer is the only one to have entered the track testing phase with its prototype. Acura, Cadillac or BMW are still in earlier stages of development and other firms such as Alpine have focused their project on the 2024 season, while the Audi project is in an undetermined ‘stand by’ situation.
Regarding the option of having your LMDh on the track in 2022 in a WEC event, although without competing directly -by points- with the LMH and LMP1 prototypes present in the WEC’s premier class, Thomas Laudenbach as head of Porsche Motorsprot has explained that this is an interesting possibility for the brand. In fact, Porsche will study all the implications of competing in a World Cup race before homologating the prototype that is developing together with Multimatic ahead of the 2023 season.
Although Porsche Motorsport is immersed in its work program, pending several tests in Europe with its LMDh before moving the car to America, Thomas Laudenbach has positively assessed this option: «We welcome the decision of the FIA World Motor Sport Council. It could be an interesting option for Porsche. We will take a closer look at this possibility and decide at a later date based on the state of development of our LMDh prototype. The option is now on the table».
Another point to take into account is the homologation process of the LMDh prototype itself., since while IMSA has defined a homologation schedule for cars under this regulation, renamed as GTP in America, the WEC has not said this mouth is mine. In this aspect, It should be remembered that IMSA has established two ‘sanction tests’ in October and December for LMDh and LMH manufacturers who wish to homologate their vehicles for their participation in the 24 Hours of Daytona in January 2023.
Source: SportsCar365
/
Photos: porsche motorsport