Toyota is convinced that it would be possible for customer teams to run Le Mans Hypercars, and not just LMDh cars, in WEC and IMSA despite the lack of uptake so far:
The FIA World Endurance Championship will allow the new breed of LMDh cars to compete against LMH machinery in the Hypercar class from 2023 as part of a convergence process with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
By contrast, no manufacturer has so far managed to ink a deal to supply an LMH car, which must feature a bespoke chassis and powertrain as part of regulations that allow greater technical freedom than LMDh. “If you ask me [if] it's our strategy at the moment, no. But it's definitely possible. It would be possible to have customer teams in LMH.”Toyota also believes the cost of running an LMDh programme isn’t much lower than LMH, citing the amount of testing the likes of Porsche, Cadillac, BMW and Acura have completed as proof that one route isn’t necessarily cheaper than the other.
“Whether you test with an LMDh or an LMH, in the end you should not have a massive number of test days, which matters.”Photo by: Richard Dole /The LMDh regulations have brought Porsche back to endurance racing, with the German manufacturer about to embark on parallel programmes in WEC and IMSA from 2023 in collaboration with Team Penske.
But the German manufacturer disputes Toyota’s claims about the cost of operating an LMDh car versus an LMH.
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