The tiny increments that decided the final LMP1-era WEC

The system of success handicaps devised by the FIA World Endurance Championship to level the LMP1 playing field in the category's swansong season ended up having a counterproductive effect, as COVID cancellations also played in the champions' favour.

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Toyota sealed a Le Mans 24 Hours hat-trick on the way to claiming a third World Endurance Championship title, and Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez finally took the crown after a trio of seasons together. But 'three' wasn't the most important number over the course of the 2019-20 season elongated by COVID-19. It was actually 0.00455.

That's what you end up with if you subtract 0.008 from 0.01255. The difference between those two numbers defined a campaign that began in September 2019 and stretched all the way to November 2020.

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Author Gary Watkins

Gary Watkins has, for reasons best known to himself, devoted all his working life to covering sportscar racing. This season is his 32nd as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and approaching 75 24-hour races. He reckons a degree in political philosophy makes him well qualified for covering the sometimes Machiavellian world of international sportscars.

Gary, who also writes for Autoweek, Motor Sport, Autocourse, RACER and others, lives in Surbiton but spends more time on the road than at home for most of the year.