The 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship begins its eight-race global tour with this weekend’s Qatar Airways Qatar 1218km (race begins 3am ET on Saturday, March 2). It’s set to be a must-see season for endurance racing’s pinnacle series, and here are just six reasons why you shouldn’t miss a moment…
1. It’s the deepest field in the championship’s 12-year existence.
The 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship’s full-season entry list features 37 cars across its two-class structure, with 19 cars in the headlining Hypercar class, a record for the series. It promises to be the most competitive season of racing yet. But it’s not just the depth, it’s the sheer variety that’s special, too.
Nine factory programs from Alpine, BMW, Cadillac, Ferrari, Isotta Fraschini, Lamborghini, Peugeot, Porsche and Toyota are all set to do battle in the Hypercar class. And the grid is further bolstered by four privateer entries.
Add to that list the nine marques represented in the new-for-2024 LMGT3 class, and you have 14 different manufacturers on show, with Aston Martin, Corvette, Ford, Lexus and McLaren adding to the makes represented across both categories. That’s a record, too – no FIA World Championship has ever played host to as many OEMs before.
2. There are three brand-new Hypercars joining the fray
This year’s FIA WEC paddock is packed with brand-new machinery. With the LMP2 and GTE Am classes retired, the Hypercar and LMGT3 fields are fit to burst with cars making their debuts in the series.
Beyond the BMW M Hybrid V8, which is new to the WEC, but spent 2023 racing in IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GTP class, three all-new Hypercars are competing this year. All make their global race debuts this weekend in Qatar.
The first is the stunning Alpine A424 (above), which the French marque hopes will deliver its first victory at Le Mans since the Renault Alpine A442B’s triumph back in 1978.
The second is Lamborghini’s SC63. There’s a lot of buzz surrounding the world-famous Italian performance marque’s new prototype, which is powered by a roaring 3.8-liter, twin-turbo V8 that will quickly become a sonic favorite for fans trackside.
And finally, adding to Hypercar’s Italian flavor, is revived manufacturer Isotta Fraschini. Once a Targa Florio-winning name in the early years of the 20th century, it’s back producing road cars and racing at the highest level, assisted by longtime Ferrari racecar constructor Michelotto.
3. The race to catch Hypercar top dog Toyota is heating up
Toyota has dominated the FIA WEC in the Hypercar era, but could that be about to change? Never before has the competition for the Japanese marque been stronger.
It will not be easy for the field of brand-new and maturing machinery to match the most refined car on the grid, the Toyota GR010 HYBRID (above, with a new-for-2024 look), now in its fourth year of competition. But as Ferrari AF Corse proved last year at the centenary running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, anything is possible in endurance racing at this level.
Last year’s WEC campaign emerged as a Toyota vs. Ferrari battle, with Cadillac, Peugeot and Porsche each showing glimpses of what’s to come. But 2024 promises to be a different story, with those glimpses potentially turning into season-long challenges from last year’s chasing pack.
Cadillac’s growling V-Series.R brings momentum and experience from its title-winning 2023 IMSA GTP season, while Porsche’s Penske-run 963 has proved it can go the distance by winning IMSA’s season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona in the build-up to the WEC’s Qatar kick-off. Peugeot’s 9X8 often flattered to deceive last season, but don’t let its recent form fool you. From Imola’s second round onward, a radically new aerodynamic concept for the car is expected to debut, boosting the team’s ambitions.4
4. It’s a new era for GT racing on the world stage
The introduction of LMGT3 to the FIA WEC for 2024 brings with it so much promise. Nine manufacturers and 11 customer teams are set to do battle, headlined by three brand-new cars in the shape of the Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3, Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R and Ford Mustang LMGT3 (above)