FIA WEC, Silverstone - Race Preview

Part One - LMP1

Truthfully we can now describe the premiere LMP1 class as two separate entities with the factory machines showing precious little sign of having been reeled in by the privateers.

That's not to say that there isn't real quality on display throughout the six full season entrants, indeed the promise is there for all to see of potentially wheel to wheel action right from the off.

Audi Sport Team Joest - Audi R18 e-tron Quattro

The reigning World manufacturers and drivers champions are back for more with a pair of revised diesel hybrid Audi R18 e-tron Quattros, the cars sporting an Ingolstadt interpretation of the 2012 Toyota extended wheel arch giving potentially rather better rear downforce.

It seems that an even more major change to the R18 won't be appearing on the race cars with industry sources suggesting that a revolutionary new hybrid system was outlawed by the Championship rulemakers after the factory team had already started live testing.

Has that put the Champs on the back foot? We'll soon see.

The Audi then sticks to its flywheel hybrid drive delivering the additional e-tron punch through the front wheels, but beyond the outside familiarity of the package you can be sure that the 2013 car is a markedly different beast.

For now the #1 is once again carried by double Le Mans winning and World Drivers Champion trio Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer.  They are notoriously tough to beat ( just ask their team-mates!) and will certainly be up for the scrap to come.

Obeying the Motorsport mantra that the team you most want to beat are your team-mates there's likely to be tough competition once again between the #1 and #2 Audis.

Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish are paired once again for the season and are joined in 2013 by the mercurial Loic Duval.  The chemistry here will be interesting to watch with the established superstars joined by a man whose pace stunned all that saw what he could do with a Peugeot 908!

Not taking the title, or the Le Mans win stung badly for the two elder statesmen - they'll surely be back with a plan to go one better than their second overall in 2012.

Toyota Racing - Toyota TS030

After a stunning introduction to the WEC in the second part of 2012 where the brand new, and somewhat compromised, TS030 was often able to show the Audis a clean pair of heels the Cologne based squad return for their first full season crack at the title.

They are doing so with two heavily revised 2013 versions of the TS030, the car featuring a new tub that dispenses with many of the compromises imposed on a development car last year which needed to accommodate the potential for either front or rear wheel delivery of the supercapacitor hybrid boost to its petrol V8 power plant .

In the event the team chose rear drive and the new car is better balanced as a result of the removal of some of the peripheral fixtures and fittings that the 2012 car required.

The team has worked hard too on serviceability, definitely the major weak point of the 2012 car, the travails at Bahrain when the car needed a major rebuild because of a failed electrophospherent number panel should (for instance) now be history.

Of course the major change is that the team features a pair of full season cars with driver line-ups unchanged from Le Mans 2012, the only race last year that saw two cars compete.

A full season's experience dictates that we will refer to the #7 Toyota as the team's lead car, Alex Wurz proved a hugely impressive cornerstone for the team in 2012 and was no less rapid than his highly rated team-mate Nicolas Lapierre.  Kazuki Nakajima was mighty at Fuji in 2012 but will miss a round or two in 2013 due to his existing Japanese racing commitments.

The #8 car offers up the mouthwatering prospect of two of the hands down fastest endurance racers on the planet, Anthony Davidson and Stephane Sarrazin.  The Englishman is now fully recovered after his terrifying Le Mans shunt and Sarrazin is keen to prove once again that he can pedal a Toyota every bit as fast as he could a Peugeot.

Sebastien Buemi completes the lineup, the Swiss ex F1 man will also be looking to prove a point or two, about speed, and about his adaptability from single seaters.

LMP1 Privateers

There are but two full season privateer LMP1s currently confirmed with both Oak Racing and JRM opting to give the top class, amd in the case of the English team, the WEC, a miss this year.

Rebellion Racing - Lola B12/ 60 Coupe - Toyota

The Privateers Champs from 2012 are back for more but with only a single Customer Toyota V8 engined Lola Coupe confirmed for the full season.

The early rounds will see a second car but the team's full season commitment to the American Le Mans Series means that they have trimmed their global programme.

The pre-season test saw Rebellion testing their own Toyota-esque rear end and it will be interesting to see whether, where and when that makes its race debut.

The three 'N's are back too in the #12 car, Neel Jani, Nicolas Prost and Nick Heidfeld were very impressive indeed throughout their respective 2012 programmes

Strakka Racing - Honda ARX 03c HPD

Strakka Racing start the year as the only all British team on the WEC grid, the team is unchanged, the driver line-up unchanged but the car has been substantially developed over the close season.

Now dubbed an HPD ARX 03c the most visible change is at the front end with larger front rubber as the Wirth Research outfit looks to keep their baby with the Lola and hopefully close the gap to the factories.

Danny Watts and Jonny Kane need little motivation to give of their best and the one gentleman driver in the class Nick Leventis will be looking for more pace and a continuation of his noticeable reduction in on-track errors again in 2013.