WEC Hypercar BoP unchanged for Spa, no tweaks for Le Mans

A change before the Spa 6 Hours, round three of the 2023 WEC, was the only opportunity for revision in the first half of the season under a new BoP system introduced for 2023.

The BoP for the first four races up to and including Le Mans was set ahead of the season-opener at Sebring in March, with a shift in the balance between the Le Mans Hypercars and LMDh machinery being the only permissible change after two races.

Rule makers the FIA and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest confirmed that there would be no tweaks to the so-called platform BoP for Spa on Thursday morning ahead of the start of free practice.

The next opportunity for change will be after the double-points Le Mans round on 10/11 June when the platform BoP and the manufacturer BoP can be revised.

This will allow for wholesale changes for all cars from the seven makes represented in Hypercar this season.

The BoP will then be set for the remainder of the season, with a possible platform revision after a further two races in time for the season finale at Bahrain in November.

The latest system is based on simulation rather than lap-time data and has been devised to remove the possibility of sandbagging in order to gain a favourable BoP.

The FIA’s Endurance Committee has also approved a request by Michelin to allow all three specifications of slick tyre available this year to be used at Spa.

Hypercar field will run to the same BoP as Portimao, and through to Le Mans

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Series sporting rules allow Michelin to supply only two specs of tyre to all races with the exception of Le Mans.

But the French supplier applied to bring a third slick compound to Spa in light of uncertainty over the weather conditions during the race weekend.

It also pointed out the teams’ unfamiliarity with using the tyres without pre-heating in the pits, which was banned for the 2023 season.

According to the request, the “availability of the three specifications for all competitors in the Hypercar category allows Michelin to supply the right tyre for each weather condition”.

So far this season the Hypercar field has run on the high-temperature soft and high-temp medium Michelin slicks.

The third tyre is the low-temp soft, which can be used in wet-dry conditions.

Only one specification of wet-weather tyre is allowed.

The tyre allocation for the Spa weekend is unchanged. That means 12 tyres for free practice and 18 tyres for qualifying and the six-hour race.