WEC Cracks Down on Garage Blocking Tactics

Photo: John Dagys

The FIA Endurance Committee has cracked down on a recent series of tactics by the LMP1 manufacturers to prevent its cars from being visible from the front of each garage.

FIA World Endurance Championship rules state that garages must remain free of any obstruction, something that Porsche, Toyota and Audi have all disobeyed at least at one point this season, particularly with the use of shields, bodywork and even human shields in the case of Audi.

The Endurance Committee, in reaction, has added the following clarification to the rules, prohibiting such measures from happening again.

“Any bodywork element stored in front of the car will be considered as an obstruction to the visibility inside the garage unless it is stored flat on the ground and does not hide totally or partially the race car inside the garage.

“Anybody staying in front of the car when it is inside the garage is considered as an obstruction to the visibility inside the garage unless he has to work on the car. A line of people in front of the car is strictly prohibited.”

The measures, which go into effect for next weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, comes in the wake of reprimands from both Porsche and Toyota for its garage blocking tactics at the Le Mans Test Day.

The secrecy from the three LMP1 manufactures has been fueled by new cars or new-for-2016 developments that each manufacturer is attempting to keep heavily guarded from the competition.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John