Round 2 of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) takes place this weekend in southern Portugal, which this site intends to cover as of now.
While Formula 1 paves its way into a new and massive market for the showbiz ‘product’ which the sport is increasingly becoming under Liberty Media, the American ‘owners’ of our sport – F1 that is – have hit a Netflix ‘Drive to Survive’ goldmine of an audience which We can’t blame them for pursuing as big bucks is the goal. And the sport was sold very long ago, nothing new here.
But things are changing drastically as the big-bucks are pursued single-mindedly. We, of course, being us, the supporters of the sport before the winds of change gusted into our sport twisting it to what it is today – 8 March 2019 – when Season 1 of DTS aired.
I have spoken to many F1 fans, hardcore and not, us pre-Netflix bunch, and we’re still totally madly in love with F1, forever! But, man, they are taking us on a rocky road and testing our limits, as the ‘show’ takes precedence to the ‘sport’ with WWE springing to mind.
However, while the focus on F1 has been so intense, in the shadows an incredible season of WEC is in swing, and what a season it is going to be for us die-hards, with Ferrari seriously contesting the top tier, claiming pole on their debut at Sebring and a sell-out reported already for Le Mans later this year, it’s boom-time there too.
WEC is properly upwardly mobile for the first time since Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley pulverised the hugely popular format of endurance racing, during their scorched earth policy to eliminate anything that rivalled F1.
But that cabal is long gone, and over the years WEC has grown in stature, with a quantum leap this year prompting me as Editor in Chief of this site, to confirm we will be covering the series in the months to come, hopefully intensifying coverage with a bespoke editor for WEC in the longer term.
Why? Can it be an alternative for us who crave real racing? This era’s WEC could be salvation should it be allowed to grow. And who can really stop it now? Unshackled from the Bernie-Brigade.
To rest my case in convincing y’all to follow us on this editorial journey, apart from Ferrari’s historic return to prototype racing, here are the marques entered in this year’s WEC top category: Cadillac, Toyota, Porsche and Peugeot have serious programmes, and there are more to come.
With modern reliability as it is today, ‘endurance races’ are sprints from flag to flag – ask Fernando Alonso -with squads of great drivers, many F1 veterans or guys that just missed out, when they shouldn’t have.
I expect great stories and reports in the months to come, to compliment the soul of this site: our F1 coverage no matter where they lead us as they conquer America.
So with that lengthy announcement out of the way, here is the FIA-supplied preview of the action in the Algarve this weekend. As for the rest, and the stuff in between stay tuned.
FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), Round 2 at Algarve International Circuit, Portugal
The FIA World Endurance Championship moves to the Algarve International Circuit in Portugal for the 6 Hours of Portimão later this week (April 14-16) and will be headlined by 11 Hypercars – many of which will feature in competitive action in Europe for the very first time
Having hosted an eight-hour race in 2021, this year’s six-hour event will mark the welcome return of the Portuguese venue to the 2023 FIA WEC calendar.
Cadillac Racing, Ferrari AF Corse, Porsche Penske Motorsport and Floyd Vanwall Racing Team will make their Hypercar debut in Europe while Toyota Gazoo Racing and Glickenhaus Racing were both present in Portimao in 2021.
Indeed, the majority of the teams and drivers are no strangers to the 4.653-km circuit, which has been a mainstay on the European Le Mans Series calendar for a number of years as well as being the venue of choice of some of the Hypercar manufacturers for their testing programmes.
Elevation changes are a key feature of the layout built in 2008. A lap of the circuit sends drivers swooping up and down, before culminating in a plunge down to the final right-hander leading back onto the main straight. Along the way, Hypercar drivers travel with fully-opened throttle for 48.5% of a lap and shift gears 40 times during each tour of the circuit, reaching top speeds exceeding 310kph.
Toyota started its title-defending WEC campaign on a high at Sebring last month
The Japanese team, with a 1-2 finish, but Ferrari also emerged as a force to be reckoned with by securing the first pole of the season. Both manufacturers have tested at the circuit, as did Peugeot.
The latter of the three will be looking to bounce back following a difficult outing at Sebring and will hope to benefit from the knowledge of the circuit’s characteristics. Cadillac enjoyed a strong performance at Sebring but its V-Series.R hasn’t turned a wheel in anger on European tarmac yet.
Local ace and Formula E title winner, Antonio Felix da Costa, will return to the WEC for his home race after sitting Sebring out. The fan favourite raced at Portimão in 2021 but on that occasion the race took place behind closed doors, hence this year’s edition will be the first occasion for the 31-year-old to race in the world’s premier endurance racing series in front of his home crowd.
The other faces joining the fray in Portimão that were absent in round one include Ben Hanley who will replace Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 22 United Autosports entry, with Giedo Van der Garde stepping in for Tom Blomqvist in the sister No. 23 car.
Prema Racing will have F2 driver Juan Manuel Correa taking to the wheel of the No. 9 Oreca for Portimao in place of Andrea Caldarelli while Diego Alessi substitutes for fellow Italian Stefano Costantini in the No. 21 AF Corse LMGTE Am entry.
Finally, the No. 56 Project 1 – AO has added two local names to drive alongside Matteo Cairoli as Portugal’s Miguel Pedro Ramos and Guilherme Moura de Oliveira are both listed to drive the Porsche 911 RSR – 19 in front of their home crowd.
Owing to a victory at Sebring, Toyota leads Ferrari 38 to 24 on points in the Hypercar standings, with Cadillac rounding out the top three with 18 points, three ahead of Porsche. In LMP2 it’s United Autosports (38 points), from Prema Racing (27) and Inter Europol Competition (23).
The LMGTE Am class is led by Corvette Racing, which triumphed at Sebring and sits atop the standings with 38 points, followed by Dempsey-Proton Racing (27) and Kessel Racing (23).
Free practice will kick off the action on Friday (April 14) before qualifying on Saturday afternoon. The green flag will drop at 12h00 local time to unleash the 37 entered cars for the first six-hour race of the season.
WEC 6 Hours of Portimão timetable:
Friday April 14
- Free Practice 1: 10h30 – 12h00
- Free Practice 2: 15h30 – 17h00
Saturday April 15
- Free Practice 3: 11h15 – 12h15
- Qualifying: 15h30 – 16h35
Sunday April 16
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