The 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship was the ninth season of the FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The series is open to prototype and grand tourer-style racing cars divided into four categories. World Championship titles were awarded to the leading manufacturers and drivers in both the prototype and grand tourer divisions.
The 2021 championship was due to see a significant overhaul of the technical regulations in the top class of competition. The LMP1 Prototypes used in the top class for the first eight years of the championship had been phased out and replaced by a new prototype specification known as Le Mans Hypercars (LMH). However, non-hybrid LMP1 cars were permitted to be "grandfathered" into the season.
The 2021 championship also marked the return to an annual calendar for the World Endurance Championship, switching back to a summer calendar after the late running of the previous season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Calendar A calendar was revealed in December 2019 at the 8 Hours of Bahrain. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the previous season was extended into November 2020. However, the 2021 season returned to an annual calendar entirely instead of a winter calendar. A calendar for the 2021 season was announced during the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans event. The calendar featured six rounds as opposed to eight and saw the removal of the 6 Hours of Silverstone, 6 Hours of Shanghai and Lone Star Le Mans when compared with the 2019–20 calendar as well as the addition of the 6 Hours of Monza. The decision to run a six-round series was made to save on costs due to the financial impact of the pandemic. The 1000 Miles of Sebring was initially scheduled for 19 March 2021 as the first round of the season, but was cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and replaced by a race of the same length at Portimão on 4 April 2021. That same race would also be itself later postponed to 13 June, making Spa the site of the preseason Prologue and the first race of the season. The 24 Hours of Le Mans was originally scheduled to be run on the 12 and 13 June but was later postponed until 21–22 August for an increased chance of running the race with spectators. The 6 Hours of Fuji was cancelled due to ongoing travel restrictions in Japan, and was replaced by a 6-hour event in Bahrain.
Rnd Race Circuit Location Date Prologue Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Stavelot 26/27 April 1 Total 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 1 May 2 8 Hours of Portimão Algarve International Circuit Portimão 3 6 Hours of Monza Autodromo Nazionale di Monza Monza 18 July 4 89th 24 Hours of Le Mans Circuit de la Sarthe Le Mans 21–22 August 5 Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain Bahrain International Circuit Sakhir 30 October 6 Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain 6 November Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemicRaceCircuitLocation Original Date1000 Miles of Sebring Sebring International Raceway Sebring, Florida 19 March6 Hours of Fuji Fuji Speedway Oyama, Shizuoka 26 SeptemberSources:
Regulation changes The championship introduced the Le Mans Hypercar category as a replacement for the Le Mans Prototype 1 class. Manufacturers are free to build and enter bespoke designs without homologation requirement or cars based on existing road-going models subject to a homologation requirement of building at least twenty road-legal models over a two-year period. The cars have a minimum weight of , and power output is capped at in order to achieve a benchmark lap time of three minutes and thirty seconds at the Circuit de la Sarthe. Hybrid energy-recovery systems are allowed on the front axle only, and cars can derive up to of their total power output from those systems. A Balance of Performance system modelled on the system used by the GTE class is applied to ensure parity between hybrid and non-hybrid models. Manufacturers are given greater freedoms in designing the bodywork of Hypercars compared to Le Mans Prototypes provided that bodywork styling does not affect safety standards. LMP2 cars received a power decrease of 40 horsepower, to 560 horsepower, in order to maintain the performance gap between the new top class and LMP2. A specification tyre was introduced in LMP2, produced by Goodyear, ending the tyre war between Goodyear and Michelin.
Entries Toyota announced plans to enter the championship under the Hypercar regulations with a bespoke car based on the GR Super Sport Concept. Toyota launched their GR010 Hybrid on 15 January 2021. In June 2020, boutique car manufacturer Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus committed to a two-car effort with the SCG 007 LMH, in partnership with 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans winners Sauber Motorsport, 15-time Le Mans winners Joest Racing, and engine specialists Pipo Moteurs. At the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans, LMP1 competitors ByKolles Racing Team committed to a hypercar programme with its own car, the PMC Project LMH, but the team were not present on the entry list announced ahead of the 2021 season. Aston Martin initially planned to enter a car based on the Valkyrie road-going model. However, the British manufacturer later decided to put its Le Mans Hypercar program on hold. Long-time LMP1 privateer team Rebellion Racing will end its racing operations at the end of the 2019–20 season, despite having previously announced the joint development of a Hypercar with Peugeot. Peugeot itself has announce plans to compete from 2022 onwards, and announced Ligier Automotive as a partner in its project. Alpine announced that it will enter the championship using a single rebadged Rebellion R13 LMP1, run by Signatech Alpine. In LMGTE Pro, Aston Martin Racing ended its factory GTE Pro program run by Prodrive to focus on their Formula One team and their LMGTE Am program.
Hypercar
Entrant Car Engine Hybrid Tyre Drivers Rounds Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 Hybrid Toyota H8909 3.5 L Turbo V6 Hybrid 7 Mike Conway All Kamui Kobayashi All José María López All Hybrid 8 Sébastien Buemi All Brendon Hartley All Kazuki Nakajima All Alpine Elf Matmut Alpine A480 Gibson GL458 4.5 L V8 36 Nicolas Lapierre All André Negrão All Matthieu Vaxivière All Glickenhaus Racing Glickenhaus SCG 007 LMH Glickenhaus P21 3.5 L Turbo V8 708 Pipo Derani 3–4 Olivier Pla 3–4 Gustavo Menezes 3 Franck Mailleux 4 709 Romain Dumas 2–4 Richard Westbrook 2–4 Ryan Briscoe 2, 4 Franck Mailleux 3
LMP2 In accordance with the 2017 LMP2 regulations, all cars in the LMP2 class will use the Gibson GK428 V8 engine. Entries in the LMP2 Pro-Am Cup, set aside for teams with a Bronze-rated driver in their line-up, are denoted with Icons.
Entrant Car Tyre MISC Drivers Rounds Richard Mille Racing Team Oreca 07 1 P2 Sophia Flörsch All Tatiana Calderón 1–4, 6 Beitske Visser 1–2, 4–6 Gabriel Aubry 5 High Class Racing Oreca 07 20 PA Dennis Andersen All Anders Fjordbach 1–3, 5–6 Jan Magnussen 1–3 Marco Sørensen 4 Ricky Taylor 4 Robert Kubica 5–6 DragonSpeed USA Oreca 07 21 PA Ben Hanley All Henrik Hedman All Juan Pablo Montoya All United Autosports USAOreca 07 22 P2 Phil Hanson All Fabio Scherer 1, 3–6 Filipe Albuquerque 1, 3–6 Paul di Resta 2 Wayne Boyd 2 Jota Oreca 07 28 P2 Tom Blomqvist All Sean Gelael All Stoffel Vandoorne All 38 P2 Anthony Davidson All António Félix da Costa All Roberto González All Racing Team Nederland Oreca 07 29 PA Frits van Eerd All Giedo van der Garde 1–2, 4–6 Job van Uitert 1–2, 4–6 Nyck de Vries 3 Paul-Loup Chatin 3 Team WRT Oreca 07 31 P2 Robin Frijns All Ferdinand Habsburg All Charles Milesi All Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07 34 P2 Alex Brundle All Jakub Śmiechowski All Renger van der Zande 1, 3–6 Louis Delétraz 2 ARC Bratislava Ligier JS P217 Oreca 07 44 PA Miroslav Konôpka All Tom Jackson 1–2 Darren Burke 1 Oliver Webb 2–5 Matej Konôpka 3–4 Kush Maini 5 Nelson Panciatici 6 Olli Caldwell 6 Realteam Racing Oreca 07 70 PA Esteban García All Norman Nato All Loïc Duval 1, 3–6 Mathias Beche 2 Icon MISC P2 LMP2 PA LMP2 Pro-Am Cup Hélio Castroneves was scheduled to replace Inter Europol Competition's Renger van der Zande at the 1000 Miles of Sebring, but the round was cancelled.
LMGTE Pro
Entrant Car Engine Tyre Drivers Rounds AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo Ferrari F154CB 4.0 L Turbo V8 51 James Calado All Alessandro Pier Guidi All Côme Ledogar 4 52 Miguel Molina All Daniel Serra All Sam Bird 4 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR-19 Porsche M97/80 4.2 L Flat-6 91 Gianmaria Bruni All Richard Lietz All Frédéric Makowiecki 2, 4, 6 92 Kévin Estre All Neel Jani All Michael Christensen 2, 4, 6
LMGTE Am
Entrant Car Engine Tyre Drivers Rounds TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR Aston Martin M177 4.0 L Turbo V8 33 Felipe Fraga All Ben Keating All Dylan Pereira All D'station Racing 777 Tomonobu Fujii All Satoshi Hoshino All Andrew Watson All Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR-19 Porsche M97/80 4.2 L Flat-6 46 Dennis Olsen 1, 3–4 Anders Buchardt 1, 3–4 Axcil Jefferies 1 Maxwell Root 3 Robby Foley 4 56 Matteo Cairoli All Egidio Perfetti All Riccardo Pera All Cetilar Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo Ferrari F154CB 4.0 L Turbo V8 47 Antonio Fuoco All Roberto Lacorte All Giorgio Sernagiotto All AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo Ferrari F154CB 4.0 L Turbo V8 54 Francesco Castellacci All Giancarlo Fisichella All Thomas Flohr All 83 Nicklas Nielsen All François Perrodo All Alessio Rovera All Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GTE Evo Ferrari F154CB 4.0 L Turbo V8 60 Claudio Schiavoni 1–4, 6 Matteo Cressoni 1–3, 5–6 Andrea Piccini 1–3, 5–6 Raffaele Giammaria 4 Paolo Ruberti 4 Rino Mastronardi 5 85 Rahel Frey All Manuela Gostner 1–2 Katherine Legge 1, 5–6 Michelle Gatting 2–4 Sarah Bovy 3–6 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 Porsche M97/80 4.2 L Flat-6 77 Matt Campbell All Jaxon Evans All Christian Ried All 88 Marco Seefried 1–3 Andrew Haryanto 1, 3 Alessio Picariello 1, 3 Julien Andlauer 2, 4–6 Dominique Bastien 2, 4 Lance Arnold 4 Khaled Al Qubaisi 5–6 Adrien De Leener 5 Axcil Jefferies 6 GR Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 Porsche M97/80 4.2 L Flat-6 86 Ben Barker All Tom Gamble All Michael Wainwright All Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR Aston Martin M177 4.0 L Turbo V8 98 Marcos Gomes All Paul Dalla Lana All Augusto Farfus 1–3, 5–6 Nicki Thiim 4
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.