The Automobile Club de l’Ouest has held their traditional press conference prior to the 24 hours race, where they were revealing some of the future plans for 2025 and beyond.
The FIA World Motor Sport Council has officially approved the demand for the Hypercar manufacturers to enter at least two cars each, if they want to compete in the FIA WEC.
The two cars will score points for the FIA Hypercar World Endurance Manufacturers’ Championship, while any additional entries will run for the FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams.
The FIA WEC will be expanded to a maximum of 40 cars, which is a change from 37 for this season. The current single-car entrants in the FIA WEC are Cadillac Racing, Lamborghini, and Isotta Fraschini, but we have had indications from Aston Martin, that they would like to compete in the FIA WEC with their Valkyrie Hypercar. So the 40 grid slots are quickly going to be filled for 2025.
The limit of 40 cars is of course not present at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Photo: ACO
The technical regulations for the Hypercar category has been extended to the end of 2029. That is to give more stability, and to make sure that potential new teams like Aston Martin, will have at least five seasons with the car, before any change to a different rule set.
The “old” brands in the category will also get something, with two additional joker updates being allowed, to update and develop the cars. But these jokers are not allowed until 2028 and 2029.
The current LMP2 cars will have another two seasons, so the new car will appear in 2028, instead of 2026. The choice of engine hasn’t been made yet, as it would simply be too tight in development terms, to introduce the new cars in 2026. But the goal is use a downsized engine, and one that is lighter than the current one.
It is also confirmed, that the LMP2 category won’t be a part of the FIA WEC in 2025 (except for Le Mans), but that it will continue in the European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series.
The aim is to introduce a Hydrogen Prototype category in 2028. There has been work going on for a long time on various hydrogen cars, and the brand new H24EVO was revealed this week (see picture above), and that one is expected to hit the track for the very first time in 2025 – but not in the 24-hour race. The current and previous models of the MissionH24 cars has competed at some Michelin Le Mans Cup weekends, with the first generation competing in some free practice sessions, while the second generation has had a race at Imola in Italy.
