The 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship season was the third season of the FIA World Endurance Championship auto racing series, co-organized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The series was open to Le Mans Prototypes and grand tourer-style racing cars from four ACO categories. World Championship titles were awarded for Le Mans Prototypes drivers and for LMP1 manufacturers, and several World Endurance Cups and Endurance Trophies were also awarded. The eight race series began in April at the Silverstone Circuit and concluded in November at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace.
The World Endurance Championship for Drivers was won by Toyota Racing pairing Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi, as they won four of the season's eight races. Davidson and Buemi finished as champions by 39 points, ahead of Audi Sport Team Joest trio Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer, who won successive races at Le Mans and the Circuit of the Americas. Ten points further behind in third place, was the Porsche Team's Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb. With their victory in São Paulo, Dumas, Jani and Lieb gained the tie-break over Audi Sport Team Joest's Lucas di Grassi and Tom Kristensen. The season's other event was won by the sister Toyota team of Mike Conway, Stéphane Sarrazin and Alexander Wurz in Bahrain, while Nicolas Lapierre was a part of the winning team at Silverstone and Spa with Davidson and Buemi. With five wins, Toyota won the World Endurance Championship for Manufacturers, 45 points ahead of Audi. Rebellion Racing won the two privateer trophies on offer for the LMP1-L cars, winning all eight races; five wins for the No. 12 entry of Mathias Beche, Nick Heidfeld and Nicolas Prost, with three wins for the sister No. 13 entry of Andrea Belicchi, Dominik Kraihamer and Fabio Leimer.
Consistent finishing within the LMP2 class was enough to give the No. 27 entry from SMP Racing the FIA Endurance Trophy for the class, while Sergey Zlobin won the drivers' championship. Despite only winning at Le Mans – which awarded double points, where he was partnered with Anton Ladygin and Mika Salo – Zlobin, achieved six podium finishes with four different teammates and won the championship by nine points. G-Drive Racing, with drivers Julien Canal, Olivier Pla and Roman Rusinov won four races, but retirements at Le Mans and São Paulo ultimately denied them the titles. Similarly, seven points further in arrears, KCMG with drivers Richard Bradley and Matthew Howson won three races but also suffered two retirements at Le Mans and Shanghai. Tsugio Matsuda (Circuit of the Americas) and Alexandre Imperatori (Bahrain and São Paulo) were also part of winning KCMG teams, but did not contest the whole season.
In the GT element of the series, the World Endurance Cup was won by AF Corse and drivers Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander. Bruni and Vilander took 4 victories during the season, and finished 33.5 points clear of the next best driver Frédéric Makowiecki, driving for Porsche Team Manthey. Makowiecki won twice during the season, winning with Marco Holzer and Richard Lietz at Silverstone, and with Patrick Pilet in Shanghai. Lietz and Pilet finished third and fourth in the standings respectively. The only other winners in the GT standings as a whole, was Aston Martin Racing at the Circuit of the Americas and São Paulo, with drivers Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner. In the Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Pro teams standings, AF Corse finished 20 points clear of Porsche Team Manthey. In the separate sub-classifications for the LMGTE amateur class, Aston Martin Racing won seven out of the eight races, to take a 1–2 in the teams' championship. In the drivers' championship, David Heinemeier Hansson and Kristian Poulsen won the title with four wins and four second places. They finished 34 points clear of the sister entry of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Christoffer Nygaard, who won a trio of races. Third place went to Nicki Thiim, 20 points further adrift, who was a part of the Heinemeier Hansson-Poulsen entry at 5 events. The season's other winners were AF Corse at Spa, with drivers Marco Cioci, Luis Pérez Companc and Mirko Venturi.
Calendar A provisional calendar was published by the FIA World Endurance Championship on 20 September 2013. All eight races remained from the 2013 schedule, although with some dates changed. On 18 October, the calendar was revised to avoid some collisions with Formula One races. At the World Motor Sport Council meeting on 4 December 2013 the FIA confirmed the 2014 schedule. The round at Fuji Speedway took place on 12 October, avoiding a clash with the United SportsCar Petit Le Mans, and the provisional round at Interlagos was confirmed. The schedule was revised again on 31 January 2014, moving the São Paulo round to 30 November to avoid clashes with Formula One.
The rounds at the Circuit of the Americas and the Bahrain International Circuit both finished in night-time conditions.
Rnd Race Circuit Location Date Prologue Circuit Paul Ricard Le Castellet, Var 28/29 March 1 6 Hours of Silverstone Silverstone Circuit Silverstone 20 April 2 WEC 6 Heures de Spa-Francorchamps Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Stavelot 3 May 3 24 Heures du Mans Circuit de la Sarthe Le Mans 14–15 June 4 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas Circuit of the Americas Austin, Texas 20 September 5 6 Hours of Fuji Fuji Speedway Oyama, Shizuoka 12 October 6 6 Hours of Shanghai Shanghai International Circuit Shanghai 2 November 7 6 Hours of Bahrain Bahrain International Circuit Sakhir 15 November 8 6 Hours of São Paulo Autódromo José Carlos Pace São Paulo 30 NovemberSources:
Entries The FIA unveiled an entry of 31 cars for the 2014 season of the World Endurance Championship, divided into five categories: Le Mans Prototype 1-Hybrid (LMP1-H), 1-Lightweight (LMP1-L), and 2 (LMP2), and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Professional (LMGTE Pro) and Amateur (LMGTE Am).
LMP1-H LMP1-H became the unique category for the factory prototype teams in 2014 after the LMP1 category was split in two. Audi returned with a revised R18, led by the defending World Champion duo of Tom Kristensen and Loïc Duval, joined by Lucas di Grassi. 2012 World Champions Benoît Tréluyer, Marcel Fässler, and André Lotterer were in the sister Audi, while a third car also entered the Spa and Le Mans rounds. Toyota also returned with an all-new TS040 while retaining the same drivers from their past two seasons. Porsche expanded their World Endurance Championship effort beyond LMGTE with their all-new 919, bringing with them a collection of factory drivers, former Formula One driver Mark Webber, and newcomer to the championship Brendon Hartley.
Entrant/Team Car Engine Tyre Drivers Rounds Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 e-tron quattro Audi TDI 4.0 L Turbo V6 (Diesel) 1 Tom Kristensen All Lucas di Grassi All Loïc Duval 1–2, 4–8 Marc Gené 3 2 André Lotterer All Benoît Tréluyer All Marcel Fässler All 3 Marco Bonanomi 2–3 Filipe Albuquerque 2–3 Oliver Jarvis 3 Toyota Racing Toyota TS040 Hybrid Toyota RV8KLM 3.7 L V8 7 Alexander Wurz All Stéphane Sarrazin All Kazuki Nakajima 1–3, 5–6 Mike Conway 4, 7–8 8 Anthony Davidson All Sébastien Buemi All Nicolas Lapierre 1–4 Porsche Team Porsche 919 Hybrid Porsche 9R9 2.0 L Turbo V4 14 Marc Lieb All Romain Dumas All Neel Jani All 20 Timo Bernhard All Mark Webber All Brendon Hartley AllKey Full-season entry* Eligible for all championship points Additional entry* Eligible only for Drivers' championship points Third manufacturer entry* Eligible for Drivers' championship points* Only eligible for Manufacturers' championship points at Le Mans
LMP1-L The new LMP1-L category, designed solely for privateers without hybrid systems in their cars, featured two-time winners of the FIA Endurance Trophy for Private LMP1 Teams, Rebellion Racing. The team developed two all-new Toyota-powered R-One chassis, but started the season with their familiar Lolas while they awaited the completion of the R-Ones. Fabio Leimer of Switzerland became the new rookie on the team, replacing Neel Jani, who was promoted to the Porsche factory team. The Kodewa-backed Lotus team moved up from the LMP2 category with their new CLM P1/01 with a new engine in the World Championship from British firm Advanced Engine Research (AER). However, Lotus missed the season's first three races as the car was not yet ready.
Entrant/Team Car Engine Tyre Drivers Rounds Lotus CLM P1/01 AER P60 2.0 L Turbo V6 9 James Rossiter 4–5 Christophe Bouchut 4–5 Lucas Auer 4, 6, 8 Pierre Kaffer 5–8 Simon Trummer 7 Nathanaël Berthon 7 Rebellion Racing Lola B12/60Rebellion R-One Toyota RV8KLM 3.4 L V8 12 Nicolas Prost All Nick Heidfeld All Mathias Beche All 13 Dominik Kraihamer All Andrea Belicchi All Fabio Leimer All
LMP2 The LMP2 class, nine strong in 2013, saw a significant reduction in its entrant list for 2014, with defending LMP2 champions OAK Racing downsizing their operation to a single Morgan entry, taking over the Russian G-Drive title that came with driver Roman Rusinov, before being replaced mid-season by OAK's newer Ligier JS P2 model. Russian outfit SMP Racing, in conjunction with AF Corse, shifted from the European Le Mans Series with their pair of Orecas, while Hong Kong-based team KCMG moved from the Asian Le Mans Series with a solo Oreca, after running invitational entries in the WEC in 2013. Greaves Motorsport returned to the European Le Mans Series for 2014 after two years in the WEC, while PeCom Racing's LMP2 effort was dissolved. Delta-ADR and Fabien Giroix, formerly of Gulf Racing Middle East, merged their teams under the Millennium Racing name, but the two-car entry withdrew from the series prior to the first round due to financial problems. Strakka Racing announced a switch from the LMP1 category to co-develop an LMP2 coupé with Japanese manufacturer Dome, the S103. However, Strakka's 2014 program was delayed and eventually cancelled after issues with developing the car evolved.
Entrant/Team Car Engine Tyre Drivers Rounds G-Drive Racing Morgan LMP2Ligier JS P2 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 26 Roman Rusinov All Olivier Pla All Julien Canal All SMP Racing Oreca 03Oreca 03R Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 27 Sergey Zlobin All Maurizio Mediani 1–2, 4–8 Nicolas Minassian 1–2, 4–8 Anton Ladygin 3 Mika Salo 3 37 Kirill Ladygin All Viktor Shaytar 1–2, 4–8 Anton Ladygin 1–2, 4–8 Maurizio Mediani 3 Nicolas Minassian 3 KCMG Oreca 03Oreca 03R Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 47 Matthew Howson All Richard Bradley All Tsugio Matsuda 1, 4 Alexandre Imperatori 2–3, 5–8
LMGTE Pro Much remained the same in the LMGTE Pro category, with Porsche, Aston Martin, and AF Corse Ferrari each with two full-season cars. Davide Rigon was promoted within AF Corse following the departures of Giancarlo Fisichella and Kamui Kobayashi, while Frédéric Makowiecki switched allegiances from Aston Martin to Porsche. Fernando Rees, LMGTE Am champion in 2012 with Larbre Compétition, was promoted to LMGTE Pro alongside Darryl O'Young and Alex MacDowall, with their World Touring Car Championship team Bamboo Engineering, associated with Aston Martin to lead one of the company's entries. British privateers Ram Racing moved to the World Endurance Championship after their 2013 European Le Mans Series LMGTE title led by Matt Griffin and Álvaro Parente in the first of the team's Ferraris. However, the team withdrew from the series after Le Mans.