While the debut of Toyota’s TS030 at last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans did not go well as expected, being plagued by mechanical difficulties and a major crash, they did prove that Audi now has a new and strong competitor to keep an eye on during endurance racing. During the 2012 Season of the FIA World Endurance Championship, the TS030 snatched a couple of victories that on some occasion really startled the Four Rings.
So although there are 32 full season entries confirmed for the 2013 FIA WEC, it will be no doubt that the attention will be drawn to the battle between these two giants; Toyota and Audi. A total of 21 teams from 11 different countries will be competing, which includes six LMP1, 12 LMP2, six LMGTE Pro, and eight LMGTE Am race cars.
Toyota will again field a pair of TS030 Hybrids, and facing them off from Audi is the proven duo of R18 e-tron Quattros. But soon to join in this LMP1 face-off is the Stuttgart automaker Porsche as they also intends to make an entry into the game anytime soon.
The LMP2 class will be featuring race cars from Nissan, Morgan, Lotus, Oreca, HPD-Honda, Zytek, and Lola. The GTE classes on the other hand are dominated by the supercar lineup of five Ferrari 458s, four Porsche 911 RSRs, four Aston Martin Vantage V8s and one lone Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1.
“We are extremely pleased to announce a grid of 32 full season entries for the 2013 season. 2012 was a great first year for the championship and we hoped to secure between 28 and 30 cars on the list for 2013. To receive 32 full season entries underlines the importance of the WEC and a great indication that we have created a world championship that teams and manufacturers want to take part in”, said the President of the ACO, Pierre Fillion.
