Single-car manufacturer entries in the FIA World Endurance Championship are no more this year, with every manufacturer factory entry now requiring two cars full-time in the series.
Single-car entries have long been the bedrock of sportscar racing. Just recently the Glickenhaus and Alpine single car entries kept up the competition against Toyota when the Japanese-German manufacturer was dominating the world championship.
Phil Oakley
We've already lost Lamborghini, as the Italian team was unable to commit to two full-time cars in WEC for 2025, irrespective of other issues faced by the Lamborghini Iron Lynx entry. Isotta Fraschini, too, have pulled their 2024 single-car entry from competition. And Vanwall haven't entered either, although this may not be due to the 2-car mandate.
It's possible we'll lose more in the future when, inevitably, the manufacturer boom in Hypercar dies down. Let's look at the reasons for and against the requirement.
For — easier to understand
At its heart, in theory, the 2-car mandate makes WEC easier to understand. And that's a good thing for everyone — fans, teams, drivers, media, commentators, the lot.
With two cars for every works team, it does away with the old system of the top car in a race scoring constructor points, but both cars scoring points towards the driver's championship.
If the series wants to entice more fans into watching, it's probably good to follow what other FIA and European championships do, with each team having two cars. They both score manufacturer points, and they both contribute. In the previous system, looking at race results, it required manually looking at who finished where to determine who scored points. That's gone now, though, with a much easier system similar to other FIA championships.
Level playing field
It also gives the manufacturers a level playing field. If a team has a single car, and that car retires, they're out. But, as long as they can afford it, if they're required to enter two cars, they've now got equal opportunity compared to their rivals.
It also means that teams do the same amount of running in a race environment. No longer will a team be in a self-perpetuating cycle of only running a single car, gathering less data and knowledge compared to their two-car rivals. This becomes a vicious circle of the two-car teams gathering more data, so they pull further and further ahead.
More competition
In theory, this could also mean in future we see more competition. While Lamborghini's Hypercar programme wasn't designed with two cars in mind, future manufacturer programmes — Hyundai/Genesis, Ford — will be. So instead of, potentially, two new entries, one from each, we'll see four.
Already it's having positive effects. We've seen Cadillac go from a single-car entry, run by Chip Ganassi, to a two-car effort run by JOTA. Awesome.
Phil Oakley
Against — smaller manufacturers sidelined
However, mandating two-car entries effectively sidelines smaller manufacturers unable or unwilling to field multiple cars.
The small, independent manufacturers are a key part of sportscar racing. They prop up the series when there's a dearth of manufacturer entries, and they add to the show when, like now, there are droves of manufacturer entries into the sport.
By sidelining them, it means they can't enter the series. And that is a massive shame. 2025 will be the first time in years without an independent manufacturer in the top class, a team dedicated to racing.
Removes space for customer entries
While it's great seeing the number of manufacturer entries — imagine saying a decade ago that we'd have eight manufacturers racing in the top class of WEC — it does mean that there's a lack of space for customer entries.
Customer entries are a newish concept to WEC, since they weren't really viable in the LMP1 era with the very complex hybrid spaceships. And, technically, there is space for four more cars in 2025, with the maximum entry being 40 and the entry list standing at 36.
But, the Hypercar entry will expand in the next couple of years. Currently WEC has 2 customer entries, the Proton Competition-run Porsche 963 and the AF Corse #83 Ferrari 499p, although for the latter, "satellite" may be a better term.
If the grid is going to expand further, these customer cars will be the first to go. Much like independent manufacturers, customer cars are a vital part of sportscar racing, so it'll be a shame if or indeed when there's no longer space for them.
Two cars or no cars
The other problem with requiring manufacturers to enter two cars is it means if a manufacturer quits, they'd be required to leave the series altogether, instead of downscaling to a single-car entry.
We've already seen this with Lamborghini. In the past, teams such as Glickenhaus ran two cars for a little while, then downscaled to one. Rebellion did the same. It might have been an option for other teams in the current mid-late 2020s Hypercar era, if they don't see the success they want. But it's now not an option.
Of course, there is the possibility of customer entries for these manufacturers picking up the slack. But, as long as you could afford a proven, successful car like the Porsche 963 — at the moment the only true customer LMH/LMDh available anyway — why go for something lesser that even the factory team, or at least partnered factory team in some cases, couldn't make work?
Pros and cons
As is evident, there are benefits to this new-for-2025 rule. But there are significant drawbacks too. It remains to be seen what impact it'll have on the series going forward — right now it's probably too early to tell.
Let us know what you think on social media. Tag @onlyendurance and let us know!
Feature image: Julien Delfosse / DPPI
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