Le Mans 24 Hours Updates to the regulations

The Endurance Committee has just agreed some important decisions concerning the technical regulations governing the LM P1 category as well as the sports regulations in the LM GTE categories. These decisions come into force immediately. Here are the details.

Modification to Appendix B

Following the tests carried out by the manufacturers in LM P1 on circuits or on test beds, the table defining the values of energy of the cars has been adjusted thanks to the measurements declared by the teams, and then published. It defines the exact maximum amount of fuel that can be used on a lap of the Le Mans 24-Hours circuit.

According to this reference base the data relative to the Silverstone and Spa circuits, which will host the first two rounds of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship, have been extrapolated taking into account their length.

2014 group photo shoot

Photo by: World Endurance Championship

Thus, the fuel allocation – measured in energy – has been finalised according to the values of specific fuel consumption (ratio between consumption and performance) stated by the manufacturers. Of course this quantity also depends on the power of the on-board hybrid system (s) in the cars.

The aim of this rule is to guarantee a technical equivalence between the different fuels to provide identical chances of victory. The first table was drawn up in December 2013, and it was modified with the approval of the manufacturers as a result of the information gathered during testing and practice carried out until the end of March.

This table will remain in force until the end of the 2014 Le Mans 24 Hours. If it has to be modified, this will be done before the fourth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship on the Circuit of the Americas (Austin USA) on 20th September 2014. No further modifications will be made before the end of the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours.

See the decision, no. 14-D0010-LMP1 of the Endurance Committee

Diameter of the refuelling restrictors

The FIA Endurance Committee has published the diameter of the refuelling restrictors for LM P1 cars for the first three races of the season.

Diesel engines: 25 mm for the first three races.

Petrol engines: 25.7 mm for Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps and 25.9 mm for the Le Mans 24 hours.

Note that height of the fuel reserves (in the pits) is 2.60 m at Le Mans and 2 m at the other circuits. The fuel tanks for petrol-engined cars are 14-litres bigger than those of their diesel counterparts (68.3 litres compared to 54.3 litres) so the air restrictor is larger for petrol-engined than for diesel-engined cars.

See the decision, no. 14-D0011-LMP1 of the Endurance Committee

Rebellion Racing

Following the request from Rebellion Racing the Endurance Committee has agreed to let this team use its 2013 LM P1s from the previous seasons in the opening races of the 2014 championship.

They must, however, use an air restrictor of 44.4 mm, weigh 890 kg minimum and have an 83-litre fuel tank.

See the decision, no. 14-D0009-LMP1 of the Endurance Committee

LM GTE Am and LM GTE Pro categories

In the context of balance of performance in these two categories it has been decided to raise the ride height of the Aston Martin Vantage by 5 mm to 55 mm like all the other cars in the category. Aston Martin has also been given a weight break of 15 kilos. The air restrictor on the Porsche GT3 RSR (997) has been increased to 1.6 mm.

To see the decision, no. 14-D0008-LMGTE of the Endurance Committee

The first round of the FIA World Endurance Championship will take place on 20th April at Silverstone (GBR), and the second on 3rd May at Spa-Francorchamps (BEL).

The Le Mans 24 Hours, the pinnacle of the championship, will take place on 14-15 June 2014.

WEC - ACO