Motorsport Series News for May 18, 2022-Going Global

This week in Motorsport Series News, Lamborghini announces their new Hypercar program, the WEC and WTCR both have plans to expand their calendars while IMSA is thinking about it, the success behind the FFSA Academy, news on the new ERA Championship and more.

Motorsport Series News for May 18, 2022
  • IMSA is looking at “all schedule options” for the 2023 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season according to series president John Doonan, who has not ruled out the addition of an endurance race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Speaking to Sportscar 365 he said, “Adding more hours — no matter what facility it’s at — adds more expense. We’re trying to be smart and remain cost-effective.”
  • The FIA World Endurance Championship is targeting a return to its traditional eight-round calendar by as early as 2024 with series boss Frederic Lequien indicating that adding one race for next year would be a “good” step amid continued global logistical issues. Speaking to Sportscar365 during last weekend’s TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa, “Lequien indicated they are hoping for conservative growth although stressed outside factors including increased shipping costs and reliability, Brexit and the war in Ukraine that could impact plans.”
WTCR Grid
WTCR
  • Chevrolet have confirmed to Racer.com that the Camaro GT4 customer racing program will cease at the end of 2023 when the current car’s FIA homologation expires.
  • In last week’s The Business of Being a Race Driver I talked about the costs of racing in the French Formula 4 Championship and how the series is “half the price of Germany.” In FFSA Academy and the French F4 success story: “Results speak for themselves”, F1 Feeder Series looks at how the French series is structured and why it has been so successful. “The French federal system to form young drivers has proven to be one of the bests in the whole world. In the last decade, the FFSA Academy and the French F4 championship have revealed several world-class drivers (Gasly, Vandoorne and Hubert, to name a few) and future champions (Pourchaire, Iwasa, A. Leclerc, Collet, Martins and Hadjar). How has the FFSA Academy managed to become one of the most eminent motorsport institutions? F1 Feeder Series went behind the scenes of the FFSA Academy headquarters in Le Mans.”
  • Formula Scout has a comprehensive look at the new all-electric junior development series the ERA Championship in The first look at ERA: electric racing’s junior single-seater arrival. “The races will last 20-25 minutes and will have grids set by the results of the two qualifyings, where pole awards three points. The standard FIA single-seater points system is then used. There are two driver announcements coming in the next two weeks, and an ongoing search for more drivers who have €120,000 to hand to contest the full season.” Unfortunately, the first round of the championship has been postponed due to track homologation issues.
Mark Boudreau
Author: Mark Boudreau

Mark is the publisher of Motorsport Prospects. As a former lawyer, he applies his legal background and research skills to assist race drivers by showcasing the resources they need to make their motorsport careers happen.