Spa WEC Friday notebook

News and notes from the Six Hours of Spa World Endurance Championship weekend.

Hanson set to break WEC record

Tockwith Motorsport's Phil Hanson is set to become the youngest driver ever to compete in an FIA WEC race tomorrow.

Hanson, at just 17 years old, will break the record set by TDS Racing driver Matthieu Vaxiviere back in 2014 when he was driving for ProSpeed Competition at age 19.

While he will be the WEC's youngest ever driver, he won't be the youngest to race at the Le Mans 24 Hours when he makes his debut in June. For the French classic, American driver Matt McMurry's record – set in 2014 when he was 16 years old, driving with British outfit Greaves Motorsport – will stand.

Road to Le Mans entry expands

Lemans.org released the full timetable earlier this week for the Le Mans 24 Hours, as well as the size of the entry for the Road to Le Mans support races.

This year, the two 50-minute LMP3/GT3 races on the full Circuit de la Sarthe will feature 46 entries. Last year the race featured 42 cars.

Gerard Neveu on LMP2 potential format and calendar changes

FIA WEC CEO Gerard Neveu spoke to select members of the media this morning, including RACER, in a roundtable discussion about the future of the championship. Among the many topics, he spoke about the WEC's calendar and race format going forward.

"We have to consider changes to the calendar – do we scale back to eight races, stay at nine or do 10?" he said. "We need to consider the needs of the manufacturers and teams in each category, especially with cost. The length of races is also under discussion; there are many different opportunities.

"Do we find somewhere to do a shorter race, a longer race, or a big race at the end of the season? Our job is to try and estimate and work in the best interest of the global paddock. If you do one less race but make another double the length, you don't save any money.

"When you sign circuits for three years you don't have to keep going back and talking to them. This year the contracts for Fuji and Mexico are both up. Of course, with Fuji we will be back for another three years there's no doubt about that."

Neveu also commented on the current cost concerns in the LMP2 class, which this year has seen four new chassis introduced and a spec Gibson engine, as well as the look of the class in 2018.

"We have to keep an eye on LMP2," he added. "It's good that we have the four chassis and single engine, but there are ways people need to spend less money. For example, I found out that in the ELMS, people replace the wheel guns twice a year – once after Le Mans. In the WEC it's after every race, because they want to gain a fraction of a second in the pits. This costs 10 thousand euros each time.

"The race-by-race entries for this year is all about opportunities," he continued when asked to comment on the interest for wild card entries going forward. "We know that there's interest for additional cars in China, Japan and Mexico. The big advantage with LMP2 is that there's chassis all around the world, and we are always happy to welcome them, especially if they race Le Mans.

"Next year," he concluded, "we are convinced you will see some Ligiers, some ORECAs and maybe even Dallaras."

Tockwith Motorsport & TDS handed penalties

LMP2 teams Tockwith Motorsport and TDS Racing have been handed stop-and-go penalties, to be served in the opening laps of the race, following an infringement of the rules in yesterday's Free Practice 2 at Spa. The teams fitted and used laser ride height-measuring devices on pit road during the session.

TDS was warned about this at Silverstone last month.

Wirth added to Manor driver roster

Former SMP Racing ELMS driver Andreas Wirth has been signed by CEFC TRS Manor Racing as its development and reserve driver in the WEC. This makes Wirth the team's seventh driver, an addition to the team's six full-season drivers for the 2017 season.

"I can't thank CEFC Manor TRS Racing enough for this opportunity," said Wirth. "It means a lot to me that, after just one season racing in the ELMS, a team like Manor believes in me enough to give me this chance.

"It's truly an honor to be working with such a legendary team, and I can't wait to get on track where I will certainly be taking every opportunity I can to learn from them and the strong driver line-up that they've put together. Since we have a long-term plan with the team, I will be doing all I can to make sure I'm up to speed and ready to fight hard with these guys."