The 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship season was the fifth edition of the FIA World Endurance Championship auto racing series co-organised 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 meeting four ACO categories. The season began at the Silverstone Circuit in April and ended at the Bahrain International Circuit in November, and included the 84th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This season was also the last WEC season for Audi Sport Team Joest as they decided not to race in the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship Season.
Schedule The ACO announced a provisional calendar during the 2015 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas in September 2015. The calendar retains the eight rounds from 2015, but adds the 6 Hours of Mexico City at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. The World Sportscar Championship previously visited Mexico City in 1991. The Nürburgring round has been moved a month forward to July to close the gap after Le Mans.
A test session was held prior to the start of the season at Circuit Paul Ricard in March, while the mandatory test for the 24 Hours of Le Mans was held in the first week of June.
Rnd Race Circuit Location Date Prologue Circuit Paul Ricard Le Castellet, Var 25/26 March 1 6 Hours of Silverstone Silverstone Circuit Silverstone 17 April 2 WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Stavelot 7 May 3 24 Hours of Le Mans Circuit de la Sarthe Le Mans 18–19 June 4 6 Hours of Nürburgring Nürburgring Nürburg 24 July 5 6 Hours of Mexico Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Mexico City 3 September 6 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas Circuit of the Americas Austin, Texas 17 September 7 6 Hours of Fuji Fuji Speedway Oyama, Shizuoka 16 October 8 6 Hours of Shanghai Shanghai International Circuit Shanghai 6 November 9 6 Hours of Bahrain Bahrain International Circuit Sakhir 19 NovemberSources:
Entries The FIA unveiled an entry of 32 cars for the 2016 season on 5 February in Paris, divided into four categories: Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) and 2 (LMP2), and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Professional (LMGTE Pro) and Amateur (LMGTE Am). LMP1 +Key Full-season entry Additional entry (†) Eligible for all championship points Eligible only for Drivers' championship points
Entrant/Team Car Engine Hybrid Tyre Drivers Rounds Porsche Team Porsche 919 Hybrid Porsche 9R9 2.0 L Turbo V4 Hybrid 1 Timo Bernhard All Mark Webber All Brendon Hartley All 2 Romain Dumas All Neel Jani All Marc Lieb All ByKolles Racing Team CLM P1/01 AER P60 2.0 L Turbo V6 4 Simon Trummer All Oliver Webb All James Rossiter 1–2 Pierre Kaffer 3–5, 7–9 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TS050 Hybrid Toyota H8909 2.4 L Turbo V6 Hybrid 5 Sébastien Buemi All Kazuki Nakajima All Anthony Davidson 1–4, 6–9 6 Mike Conway All Stéphane Sarrazin All Kamui Kobayashi All Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 Audi TDI 4.0 L Turbo Diesel V6 Hybrid 7 André Lotterer All Marcel Fässler All Benoît Tréluyer 1–3, 5–9 8 Oliver Jarvis All Lucas di Grassi All Loïc Duval All Rebellion Racing Rebellion R-One AER P60 2.0 L Turbo V6 12 Nick Heidfeld 1–4 Nicolas Prost 1–4 Nelson Piquet Jr. 1–3 Mathias Beche 4 13 Dominik Kraihamer All Alexandre Imperatori All Mathéo Tuscher All
LMP2 Entrant/Team Car Engine Tyre Drivers Rounds G-Drive Racing Oreca 05 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 26 Roman Rusinov All René Rast 1–6, 9 Nathanaël Berthon 1–2 Will Stevens 3, 7–8 Alex Brundle 4–9 Gibson 015S 38† Simon Dolan 2–3 Jake Dennis 2–3 Giedo van der Garde 2–3 SMP Racing BR Engineering BR01 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 27 Maurizio Mediani All Nicolas Minassian All David Markozov 2 Mikhail Aleshin 3, 7–9 37 Vitaly Petrov All Viktor Shaytar All Kirill Ladygin All Extreme Speed Motorsports Ligier JS P2 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 30 Scott Sharp 1–6 Ed Brown 1–6 Johannes van Overbeek 1–6 Sean Gelael 7–9 Antonio Giovinazzi 7–8 Giedo van der Garde 7, 9 Tom Blomqvist 8 Tom Dillmann 9 31 Pipo Derani All Ryan Dalziel All Chris Cumming All Baxi DC Racing Alpine Alpine A460 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 35 David Cheng All Ho-Pin Tung All Nelson Panciatici 1–6 Paul-Loup Chatin 7–9 Signatech Alpine Alpine A460 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 36 Gustavo Menezes All Nicolas Lapierre All Stéphane Richelmi All Strakka Racing Gibson 015S Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 42 Jonny Kane 1–7 Nick Leventis 1–6 Danny Watts 1–3 Lewis Williamson 4–7 RGR Sport by Morand Ligier JS P2 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 43 Filipe Albuquerque All Bruno Senna All Ricardo González All Manor Oreca 05 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 44 Tor Graves 1–4 James Jakes 1–2 Will Stevens 1–2 Matt Rao 3, 5–9 Roberto Merhi 3, 6–7 Antônio Pizzonia 4 Matthew Howson 4 Richard Bradley 5–9 Alfonso Toledano Jr. 5 Alex Lynn 8–9 45† Matt Rao 1–2, 4 Richard Bradley 1–2, 4 Roberto Merhi 1–2, 4, 9 Tor Graves 7–8 Alex Lynn 7 Shinji Nakano 7 Roberto González 8–9 Mathias Beche 8 Julien Canal 9
LMGTE Pro Entrant/Team Car Engine Tyre Drivers Rounds AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Ferrari F154CB 4.0 L Turbo V8 51 Gianmaria Bruni All James Calado All Alessandro Pier Guidi 3 71 Davide Rigon All Sam Bird All Andrea Bertolini 3 Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford GT Ford EcoBoost D35 3.5 L Turbo V6 66 Olivier Pla All Stefan Mücke All Billy Johnson 1–3 67 Andy Priaulx All Harry Tincknell All Marino Franchitti 1–6 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR Porsche M97/80 4.0 L Flat-6 77 Richard Lietz All Michael Christensen All Philipp Eng 3 Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage GTE Aston Martin AM05 4.5 L V8 95 Nicki Thiim All Marco Sørensen All Darren Turner 1–3 97 Richie Stanaway 1–5, 7–8 Fernando Rees 1–3, 6 Jonathan Adam 2–3, 9 Darren Turner 4–9
LMGTE Am Entrant/Team Car Engine Tyre Drivers Rounds Larbre Compétition Chevrolet Corvette C7.R Chevrolet LT5.5R 5.5 L V8 50 Pierre Ragues All Yutaka Yamagishi 1–5, 7 Paolo Ruberti 1–2, 4 Jean-Philippe Belloc 3 Ricky Taylor 5–9 Lars Viljoen 6 Romain Brandela 8–9 KCMG Porsche 911 RSR Porsche M97/80 4.0 L Flat-6 78 Christian Ried All Wolf Henzler All Joël Camathias All AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 Ferrari F136 4.5 L V8 55† Duncan Cameron 3 Aaron Scott 3 Matt Griffin 3 83 François Perrodo All Emmanuel Collard All Rui Águas All Gulf Racing Porsche 911 RSR Porsche M97/80 4.0 L Flat-6 86 Michael Wainwright All Adam Carroll All Ben Barker All Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR Porsche M97/80 4.0 L Flat-6 88 Khaled Al Qubaisi All David Heinemeier Hansson All Klaus Bachler 1 Patrick Long 2–5, 7–9 Kévin Estre 6 Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage GTE Aston Martin AM05 4.5 L V8 98 Paul Dalla Lana All Pedro Lamy All Mathias Lauda All 99† Andrew Howard 3 Liam Griffin 3 Gary Hirsch 3
Technical changes
The FIA have introduced a number of changes to the LMP1 cars for 2016 to reduce their speed. This is due to the 2015 cars being significantly faster than 2014 with most track records broken in 2015. The pace of development of the hybrid powertrains has resulted in cars racing with more than 1000 hp.
Results and standings
Race results The highest finishing competitor entered in the World Endurance Championship is listed below. Invitational entries may have finished ahead of WEC competitors in individual races.
Rnd. Circuit LMP1 Winners LMP2 Winners LMGTE Pro Winners LMGTE Am Winners Report 1 Silverstone No. 2 Porsche Team No. 43 RGR Sport by Morand No. 71 AF Corse No. 83 AF Corse Results Marc Lieb Neel Jani Romain Dumas Filipe Albuquerque Bruno Senna Ricardo González Davide Rigon Sam Bird François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Rui Águas 2 Spa-Francorchamps No. 8 Audi Sport Team Joest No. 36 Signatech Alpine No. 71 AF Corse No. 98 Aston Martin Racing Results Oliver Jarvis Lucas di Grassi Loïc Duval Gustavo Menezes Nicolas Lapierre Stéphane Richelmi Davide Rigon Sam Bird Paul Dalla Lana Pedro Lamy Mathias Lauda 3 Le Mans No. 2 Porsche Team No. 36 Signatech Alpine No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK No. 83 AF Corse Results Marc Lieb Neel Jani Romain Dumas Gustavo Menezes Nicolas Lapierre Stéphane Richelmi Stefan Mücke Olivier Pla Billy Johnson François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Rui Águas 4 Nürburgring No. 1 Porsche Team No. 36 Signatech Alpine No. 51 AF Corse No. 98 Aston Martin Racing Results Mark Webber Brendon Hartley Timo Bernhard Gustavo Menezes Nicolas Lapierre Stéphane Richelmi Gianmaria Bruni James Calado Paul Dalla Lana Pedro Lamy Mathias Lauda 5 Mexico City No. 1 Porsche Team No. 43 RGR Sport by Morand No. 97 Aston Martin Racing No. 88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing Results Mark Webber Brendon Hartley Timo Bernhard Filipe Albuquerque Bruno Senna Ricardo González Darren Turner Richie Stanaway Khaled Al Qubaisi Patrick Long David Heinemeier Hansson 6 Austin No. 1 Porsche Team No. 36 Signatech Alpine No. 95 Aston Martin Racing No. 98 Aston Martin Racing Results Mark Webber Brendon Hartley Timo Bernhard Gustavo Menezes Nicolas Lapierre Stéphane Richelmi Nicki Thiim Marco Sørensen Paul Dalla Lana Pedro Lamy Mathias Lauda 7 Fuji No. 6 Toyota Gazoo Racing No. 26 G-Drive Racing No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK No. 98 Aston Martin Racing Results Stéphane Sarrazin Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Roman Rusinov Alex Brundle Will Stevens Andy Priaulx Harry Tincknell Paul Dalla Lana Pedro Lamy Mathias Lauda 8 Shanghai No. 1 Porsche Team No. 26 G-Drive Racing No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK No. 98 Aston Martin Racing Results Mark Webber Brendon Hartley Timo Bernhard Roman Rusinov Alex Brundle Will Stevens Andy Priaulx Harry Tincknell Paul Dalla Lana Pedro Lamy Mathias Lauda 9 Bahrain No. 8 Audi Sport Team Joest No. 26 G-Drive Racing No. 95 Aston Martin Racing No. 88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing Results Oliver Jarvis Lucas di Grassi Loïc Duval Roman Rusinov Alex Brundle René Rast Nicki Thiim Marco Sørensen Khaled Al Qubaisi Patrick Long David Heinemeier HanssonSource:
Entries were required to complete the timed race as well as to complete 70% of the overall winning car's race distance in order to earn championship points. A single bonus point was awarded to the team and all drivers of the pole position car for each category in qualifying. For the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the race result points allocation was doubled. Furthermore, a race must complete three laps under green flag conditions in order for championship points to be awarded.
Driver championships Five titles were offered to drivers in the 2016 season. The World Championship was reserved for LMP1 and LMP2 drivers, while the World Cup for GT Drivers was available for drivers in the LMGTE categories. Further, three FIA Endurance Trophies were also awarded to drivers in the LMP2 and LMGTE Am categories, and privateers in the LMP1 category.
+Points systems Duration 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Pole 6 Hours 25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1 0.5 1 24 Hours 50 36 30 24 20 16 12 8 4 2 1 1Source:
World Endurance Drivers' Championship