The WEC endurance racing championship is growing in popularity. In addition to the influx of new brands, we can look forward to many well-known names in 2024.
In the world of motorsport, February is usually the month in which preparations for the new years of most championships peak. It is no different for the WEC endurance championship, which is becoming more popular every year and attracts more and more car manufacturers and famous racing drivers.
Championship WEC 2024 starts on the first weekend of March with the Qatar race 1812 km. The premiere year of the race at the circuit in Losail has a 10-hour limit. We will also visit the famous circuits of Imola in Italy and Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. In mid-June, the championship will move to Le Mans for the world’s most famous endurance race. In the second half of the year, WEC participants will head to Brazil, USA, Japan and Bahrain.
The lineup of cars is more packed than last year. Porsche, Peugeot, Toyota, Cadillac and Ferrari will be joined by BMW, Alpine and Lamborghini. This is already a more than worthy line-up, which the endurance race championship did not even think about three years ago.
Champion Toyota will once again field two specials. The new driver of the Japanese car company is Nyck de Vries, who unsuccessfully competed in Formula 1 last year under the Alpha Tauri team.
Ferrari, which last year won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time since 1965, enters the new year with an unchanged line-up, and will even be joined by a third line-up piloting the yellow 499P special. Yifei Ye, Robert Schwartzman and Formula 1 race winner Robert Kubica will take turns in it.
The Polish racer isn’t the only big name we see new to the 2024 line-up of the top Hypercar category. The son of the seven-time world champion and current Mercedes AMG-Petronas F1 team test driver will compete for the Alpine factory team Mick Schumacher.
2009 Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button will be competing in the JOTA team, which runs a special Porsche 963. Among the former Formula 1 pilots, Daniil Kvyat in Lamborghini and Paul di Resta with Stoffel Vandoorne in Peugeot are other newcomers in the top category.
Last year offered an interesting and exciting season, the highlight of which was the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, which celebrated its 100th anniversary and fans witnessed an even battle for victory between Ferrari and Toyota. Thanks to a greater representation of brands, the entire championship, which starts next weekend, could gain in popularity and overall viewership.
