LMP2 powerhouse Inter Europol targeting step up to Hypercar

Double Le Mans-winning LMP2 team Inter Europol Competition is eyeing a move into the FIA WEC's Hypercar class in the years ahead.

The Polish outfit, widely considered an LMP2 super team following its stunning class win at the Centenary Le Mans race in 2023, has been pushing hard behind the scenes to grow and eventually become a factory service provider.

Any future move into Hypercar though would need to come via a full factory deal, according to Inter Europol’s team manager, Sascha Fassbender.

"The ambition of the team is clearly to move into Hypercar with LMDh," he told RACER. "We will only do it as a manufacturer, as I don't see a privateer financing it in the WEC. If you want to participate there, the only goal should be to win.

"Maybe it's possible with private budgets, but I can't find the person so far who wants to finance it. There's so much technology and development included that you can only be successful with a manufacturer."

In turn, this stance means that Inter Europol is not actively seeking a move into the Asian Le Mans Series' forthcoming Hypercar class, and is not one of the teams that HRC USA recently teased has been enquiring about taking an Acura ARX-06 to the series.

"We don't have a Hypercar, and buying one to bring to Asian Le Mans, is tough," Fassbender said. "It's not just buying a car and driving it. Operating it needs a lot more effort, and I don't see how, if I were to buy a Hypercar now, I could deliver the quality of JOTA, for instance. It would be like an amateur football team playing against Chelsea."

It is also not looking to enter the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship's GTP class.

"It's a business in the end," Fassbender added. "But as much as I love IMSA races, the way we operate in IMSA (in LMP2), we couldn't operate a GTP car. We'd have to change our operation, build a facility."

Fassbender says he and the team came close to a deal to take the Acura/HRC brand and the ARX-06 LMDh to the world championship for 2027. But it fell through at the 11th hour, leaving the team back at square one before the Sebring 12 Hours back in March.

"On the Acura topic, it was very, very close to happening," Fassbender said. "The rumors published were all true (about WEC). It was written that there would be a decision made at Sebring, even that was true.

"I don't know where the information came from, but it was the truth. We worked out the paperwork; everything was done, but a decision within Honda stopped the project. The follow-up was them stepping out of IMSA. It would have been Acura by Inter Europol, or Inter Europol by Acura.

Inter Europol was in talks to take the Acura ARX-06 into the WEC, but those plans were derailed when Honda elected to pause its entire GTP program. Brandon Badraoui/Getty Images

"There was a lot of hard work needed. We discussed the project, but it was not in our hands. You can do the maximum effort to make it happen, but it was out of our hands. It would have been for 2027, so I had a full year to set up the team, and it would have been a separate department within Inter Europol.

"For 2027, I now don't see it (IE entering Hypercar). If something comes on the market, it would be earliest for 2028. It's not something you can do in six months."

RACER approached HRC USA for comment on Fassbender's claims. When rumors and subsequent reports of a potential Hypercar program for Honda surfaced back in January, HRC USA denied it was a real prospect. As it turned out, it was working towards announcing its IMSA GTP pause at that time.

In response, David Salters, the President of Honda Racing Corporation USA, said: "Like all motorsports decisions, we carefully consider many factors including business objectives and global strategy before making final choices. 

"We talk to different teams and explore different options and challenges for our associates on what’s best for our racing future. However, we do not discuss any of these closed-door conversations publicly. 

"What we can talk about is what you see on the race track with our current teams with whom we have great relationships and a lot of success.”

In the meantime, Inter Europol is fully focused on delivering a third LMP2 victory in four years at Le Mans next weekend. It is running two cars in the category once again, and has high hopes. Crucially, in defense of the crown, it brings back its complete 2025 winning trio of Tom Dillmann, Kuba Śmiechowski and Nick Yelloly in the No. 43, but both cars look set to feature at the sharp end.

Fassbender believes he can sense how well the team will do before its cars roll into Le Mans city center for scrutineering, which kicked off on Friday with Inter Europol the first team through.

“I’ve won many 24 hour races in the past, and it’s a special feeling in the workshop before a big race," he says. "It’s difficult to describe, but you feel the atmosphere in the workshop before the race, if it will be a good or a bad event. If you have a mess and everything is in a rush, it will be tough; if you have everything organized, you can win. 

“Winning the race starts in the workshop. I noticed that special atmosphere in 2023, and in 2024 it wasn’t the same and we finished second, and last year we had it again.  We have everything organized and in place, so it should be a good atmosphere this year. 

“I think the biggest teams in LMP2 work very, very hard to build up our personal standards and remain a benchmark in the paddock. 

"The aim for this year is clear: we have two strong line-ups, we have last year’s winners, then in the other car Bijoy and Reshad de Gerus have been strong, they finished second in Barcelona’s ELMS race, and we have a Formula E race winner (and ex Peugeot Hypercar driver), Nico Müller, in that car, so I expect we have two cars that can fight for the win.”