Breaking news

WEC

Cindric unsure if WEC hypercar regs “move the needle” for Penske

Team Penske president Tim Cindric says that the FIA World Endurance Championship’s introduction of a new breed of hypercar as its top class has not drawn the squad any nearer to a Le Mans 24 Hours return.

David Malsher-Lopez

Published: Jul 28, 2019, 11:29 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Hypercar concepts

Roger Penske, unlike U.S. rival Chip Ganassi, has shown no interest in competing for class victories at Le Mans, targeting only victory overall, for which he aimed as a driver in 1963 and as a team owner in 1971.

Both Cindric and team owner Roger Penske have therefore long wanted the top class of the WEC to consist of the same DPi cars as the top class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, in which they compete with Acura Team Penske.

In March, both gentlemen expressed their frustration that the WEC’s next-gen prototypes for the 2020/21 season were not heading in that direction, and since then, the WEC has firmed up its plans for so-called hypercars occupying its top class.

Both Toyota and Aston Martin have confirmed their commitment to racing hypercars, but Cindric said the new regulations have not proven any more enticing to Team Penske.

“Nothing’s changed for us,” he told Motorsport.com. “We’ve made it known that we’d like to compete for overall victory at Le Mans. Since the hypercar rules have been announced, I can’t say there’s been any more interest. Nothing’s changed in terms of us being approached by manufacturers or in terms of potential programs. You know, I don’t think the regulations have changed the landscape for us – for good or for bad.

“Right now, I think manufacturers themselves are still trying to decide whether the regulations make sense for them, before they even get to the stage of approaching the team aspect. It will be a little while before we all understand what the consensus is.”

Cindric emphasized that in an ideal world he’d like to see WEC and IMSA’s regulations merge closer together in the future.

“I think what’s good for motorsport should be good for everybody involved,” he commented, “and we’d like to see more of a global platform in sportscars, because I think sportscar racing needs more commonality across the water. That’s good for everybody.

“It doesn’t seem we’ve made too much progress on that yet. It seems a bit neutral from where I sit. I’m not sure [Hypercar regs] will move the needle at all for us. It hasn’t changed anything from our perspective.”

Given that Team Penske runs Chevrolet engines in IndyCar, Fords in NASCAR and Supercars, and Acuras in IMSA, Cindric didn’t foresee a problem running a different brand at Le Mans, which will see its first hypercars in 2021 in the finale of the WEC’s 2020/21 season.

However, he expressed considerable doubt that Penske would simultaneously run a WEC sportscar team for one OEM and an IMSA team for another.

“We’re talking two or three years from now, and I think the landscape will change quite a bit between now and then,” he said. “But I don’t see us doing two different sportscar programs. If you had a chance to go to Le Mans, why wouldn’t you just focus on that program and that series?

“Hopefully there will eventually be some commonality at the top level. I think you need that to make sense of the sportscar scene.

“But I think right now it’s premature to make any plans, because currently the manufacturers are digesting what [hypercar rules] mean for them, so the whole team aspect and racing aspect, the practicalities, are secondary to what their internal strategies are.”

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Toyota convinced privateer LMP1s can now win races

Next article Toyota targeting June 2020 track debut for hypercar

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

WEC Barcelona: Toyota scores dominant 1-2 to seal manufacturers’ title

WEC

WEC WEC

Barcelona

1 h

WEC Barcelona: Toyota scores dominant 1-2 to seal manufacturers’ title

Hailie Deegan eying NASCAR Truck return but future plans remain uncertain

NASCAR Truck

NSTR NASCAR Truck

Phoenix

1 h

Hailie Deegan eying NASCAR Truck return but future plans remain uncertain

When Can-Am made its controversial comeback

General

When Can-Am made its controversial comeback

Yamaha boss on MotoGP changes under Liberty: 'We must be careful not to lose our fans'

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Japanese GP

4 h

Yamaha boss on MotoGP changes under Liberty: 'We must be careful not to lose our fans'

Feature

Discover prime content

How Ford is “hitting milestones” ahead of its WEC Hypercar push

WEC

By Gary Watkins

How Ford is “hitting milestones” ahead of its WEC Hypercar push

Why there’s no perfect solution to the WEC safety car conundrum

WEC

Fuji

By Gary Watkins

Why there’s no perfect solution to the WEC safety car conundrum

How an “informed gamble” enabled Toyota to beat Alpine in the Fuji 6 Hours

WEC

Fuji

By Gary Watkins

How an “informed gamble” enabled Toyota to beat Alpine in the Fuji 6 Hours

The debate on whether WEC prioritised 'entertainment' over 'sport' in Austin

WEC

COTA

By Gary Watkins

The debate on whether WEC prioritised 'entertainment' over 'sport' in Austin

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts