WEC “Flexible” if Glickenhaus Forced to Miss Races

Photo: MPS Agency

The FIA World Endurance Championship will be “flexible” if Glickenhaus Racing is forced to miss races later this season, despite previously requiring the American Hypercar class entrant to contest the full season with at least one car.

FIA Endurance Commission President Richard Mille told Sportscar365 that it is prepared to make concessions that would ensure the LMH car’s future participation in the world championship.

It is a reversal of the WEC’s previous strict protocol that each full-season Hypercar team must contest all races with at least one entry.

The rule, which is not stated in the sporting regulations, has already been broken with the two-car Peugeot 9X8 LMH effort, which appeared on the full-season entry list but will not debut until the fourth round of the season at Monza next month.

“Normally we do everything by the [book],” Mille told Sportscar365.

“But we try always to be flexible and do a few things a la carte. We can understand that some manufacturers have got issues and budget requirements and constraints, so we will adapt ourselves.”

When asked if the WEC is willing to work with Glickenhaus, which is rumored to be missing the upcoming Fuji round in September, Mille acknowledged their support.

The team, which is fresh off its first podium finish at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, has not defined its participation beyond next month’s 6 Hours of Monza, where it will field a single Glickenhaus 007 Pipo with a to-be-determined driver lineup.

“We are very happy to have Glickenhaus,” he said. “They’re fantastic people.

“We are pushing our friends at IMSA to accept Glickenhaus in IMSA races because they deserve to be there. They’re very courageous. I think it’s kind of an initiative we must applaud.”

Team principal Jim Glickenhaus said they’re still trying to “figure out” what it can do moving forward with its Hypercar program.

“The problem is that we’re a very small company,” he told Sportscar365.

“I have a lot of employees, shareholders. If we race the Nürburgring and Baja, we sell out our productive capacity. Our shareholders, quite rightly, are saying what is the WEC and Le Mans about?

“They realize that it means a lot to me personally and I want to do it. But at a certain point I can’t just take a big percentage of the company profits and go racing because I want to.

“So there are several things in the mix.

“When I know exactly where I stand and what I can and cannot do, I’m going to go to the ACO and WEC and say what I can do. It might be that in good conscience, all I can do is Sebring and Le Mans. And do you want me or not? And I understand it.

“We’re taking it a day at a time. We’re having some very serious meetings with investors and other people who are interested. I think in the next two weeks we’ll have more clarity on what our future is.”

Daniel Lloyd 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