FIA Decision on LMP2 Driver Lineup Rules Reversed

Photo: Harry Parvin/Adrenal Media

Le Mans Endurance Management has reversed the FIA’s announced shakeup to the LMP2 driver composition rules, with World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series boss Gerard Neveu stating there will be no changes to the current single Silver or Bronze-rated driver mandate in the class next year.

Announced by the FIA World Motor Sport Council on Friday, all LMP2 driver lineups were to require either one Bronze-rated driver or two Silvers per lineup and the mandatory usage of three-driver lineups per car.

The announcement is understood to have caused friction from competitors, including from teams taking part in this weekend’s 4 Hours of Monza ELMS round that would have also been subject to the change for next year.

Neveu stated that a Pro-Am Cup for LMP2, for the highest-ranked lineup with a Bronze-rated driver, will instead be introduced in the two series next year.

“There will be no requirement to have a Bronze or two Silver drivers in the LMP2 crews next year,” Neveu told Endurance-info.

“All the teams were informed on this new point this morning.

“The crews will therefore not change; the bases applied in 2020 will remain the same.

“We will set up the integration of a Pro-Am championship which will be reserved for competitors with a Bronze [rating] and there will be a podium for this LMP2 Pro-Am crew in ELMS.

“We thought about imposing a Bronze [mandate] in the crew, but we do not believe it. We wanted to better promote Bronze with this new system.

“Also, now is not the time to make major changes, so the regulations will remain quite similar to what we know.”

It’s unclear how the ruling from the FIA made it past the Endurance Commission, which would have had to theoretically approve such a change before it being rubber-stamped during Friday’s WMSC meeting.

David Bristol contributed to this report

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