The 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship was something of a walk over for Toyota, who won every round other than Le Mans, which went the way of Ferrari.
There was controversy throughout, notably around the Balance of Performance system, which changed for Le Mans to ensure closer competition. There was also a new tyre specification from Michelin for this year, and a new category of cars with the arrival of LMDh competitors from Porsche and Cadillac for the first time.
Toyota and Peugeot continued their programmes with updated cars, and faced new challenges from Ferrari in the LMH class. Privateer entries came from Jim Glickenhaus and Colin Kolles, which meant there was the variety that the organisers intended.
However, each of these changes came with challenges for the governing bodies.
Balancing the LMDh cars, which are very different in concept to LMH, became a major topic of conversation. Ferrari’s new 499P had speed, but not over a race distance, while the new tyres achieved Michelin’s goal, yet tyre warmers were reintroduced as a safety measure at Le Mans.
Loose talk
While the FIA and ACO banned talk of BoP in the paddock, it remained one of the key differentiators on the track. The organisation issued a BoP table for the opening race at Sebring, which, due to its bumpy nature, was considered an outlying track. A second BoP table was then issued for the next three races, at Portimão, Spa and Le Mans, with the proviso that if the LMDh cars needed further adjustment to allow them to race competitively with the LMH cars, a platform change would be implemented.
Toyota dominated the opening races at Sebring, Portimão and Spa, so the ACO and FIA decided to break their rule for Le Mans. They issued an updated BoP table, giving the Toyota more weight and the Ferrari more power, while also balancing the cars within the LMDh category in a bid to have better racing at the centenary edition.
While the FIA and ACO banned talk of Balance of Performance in the paddock, it remained one
