2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship


The 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship was the seventh season of the FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series co-organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest. The series is open to Le Mans Prototypes and grand tourer-style racing cars divided into four categories. The season marked the first move to a winter schedule for the championship, with the season starting at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in May 2018 and concluding at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June 2019. World championship titles were awarded for LMP drivers, GTE drivers, LMP1 teams and GTE manufacturers.

Schedule

The series announced a provisional schedule on 1 September 2017 that shifted the season calendar from a spring to autumn layout with the 24 Hours of Le Mans marque event held in the middle of the championship, to one running from the May 2018 and to June 2019, including two runnings of Le Mans. This "super season" of eight races spans across more than a year instead of the usual eight months. This shift in calendar length allows the following 2019–20 season to return to a shorter length by starting in the autumn and concluding at Le Mans in the summer.
The schedule does not include the Circuit of the Americas, Bahrain, Mexico City, or the Nürburgring which were all part of the 2017 championship. In addition to Le Mans being included in both 2018 and 2019, the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps is also run twice. Sebring International Raceway returns to the series for the first time since the inaugural season in 2012, although the WEC does not participate in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship's 12 Hours of Sebring. The WeatherTech series runs their race the day after WEC's 8-hour, 1,000-mile event.
The schedule was revised two weeks later with the announcement of the eighth round of the championship, returning to Silverstone Circuit in the United Kingdom. The unannounced event was originally planned for February 2019, with negotiations taking place over a return to Mexico City. With the Mexico City deal failing to materialize, the event at Silverstone was moved to August 2018 to bridge the gap between Le Mans and the Asian rounds of the series starting in October. Further, the Fuji and Shanghai rounds had their dates changed, however Fuji was later returned to its originally scheduled date.
RndRaceCircuitLocationDate
16 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps Circuit de Spa-FrancorchampsSpa, Belgium5 May 2018
224 Hours of Le Mans Circuit de la SartheLe Mans, France16–17 June 2018
36 Hours of Silverstone Silverstone CircuitSilverstone, United Kingdom19 August 2018
46 Hours of Fuji Fuji SpeedwayOyama, Japan14 October 2018
56 Hours of Shanghai Shanghai International CircuitShanghai, China18 November 2018
61000 Miles of Sebring Sebring International RacewaySebring, United States15 March 2019
76 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps Circuit de Spa-FrancorchampsSpa, Belgium4 May 2019
824 Hours of Le Mans Circuit de la SartheLe Mans, France15–16 June 2019

Teams and drivers

LMP1

LMP2

In accordance with the Le Mans Prototype LMP2 regulations for 2017, all cars use the Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 engine.
EntrantCarTyreDriversRounds
TDS RacingOreca 0728 François PerrodoAll
TDS RacingOreca 0728 Matthieu VaxivièreAll
TDS RacingOreca 0728 Loïc Duval1–3, 5–6, 8
TDS RacingOreca 0728 Jean-Éric Vergne4
TDS RacingOreca 0728 Norman Nato7
Racing Team NederlandDallara P21729 Giedo van der GardeAll
Racing Team NederlandDallara P21729 Frits van EerdAll
Racing Team NederlandDallara P21729 Jan Lammers1–2
Racing Team NederlandDallara P21729 Nyck de Vries3–8
DragonSpeedOreca 0731 Roberto GonzálezAll
DragonSpeedOreca 0731 Pastor MaldonadoAll
DragonSpeedOreca 0731 Nathanaël Berthon1–2
DragonSpeedOreca 0731 Anthony Davidson3–8
Signatech Alpine MatmutAlpine A470
36 Nicolas LapierreAll
Signatech Alpine MatmutAlpine A470
36 André NegrãoAll
Signatech Alpine MatmutAlpine A470
36 Pierre ThirietAll
Jackie Chan DC RacingOreca 0737 Jazeman Jaafar1–5
Jackie Chan DC RacingOreca 0737 Weiron Tan1–5
Jackie Chan DC RacingOreca 0737 Nabil Jeffri1–5
Jackie Chan DC RacingOreca 0737 David Heinemeier Hansson6–8
Jackie Chan DC RacingOreca 0737 Jordan King6–8
Jackie Chan DC RacingOreca 0737 Will Stevens6–7
Jackie Chan DC RacingOreca 0737 Ricky Taylor8
Jackie Chan DC RacingOreca 0738 Gabriel AubryAll
Jackie Chan DC RacingOreca 0738 Stéphane RichelmiAll
Jackie Chan DC RacingOreca 0738 Ho-Pin TungAll
Larbre CompétitionLigier JS P21750 Erwin CreedAll
Larbre CompétitionLigier JS P21750 Romano RicciAll
Larbre CompétitionLigier JS P21750 Julien Canal1
Larbre CompétitionLigier JS P21750 Thomas Dagoneau2
Larbre CompétitionLigier JS P21750 Yoshiharu Mori3
Larbre CompétitionLigier JS P21750 Keiko Ihara4
Larbre CompétitionLigier JS P21750 Enzo Guibbert5
Larbre CompétitionLigier JS P21750 Gunnar Jeannette6
Larbre CompétitionLigier JS P21750 Nicholas Boulle7–8

LMGTE Pro

LMGTE Am

Results and standings

Race results

The highest finishing competitor entered in the World Endurance Championship is listed below. Invitational entries may have finished ahead of WEC competitors in individual races.
Rnd.CircuitLMP1 winnersLMP2 winnersLMGTE Pro winnersLMGTE Am winnersReport
1Spa-Francorchamps No. 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing No. 38 Jackie Chan DC Racing No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK No. 98 Aston Martin RacingReport
1Spa-Francorchamps Fernando Alonso
Sébastien Buemi
Kazuki Nakajima
Ho-Pin Tung
Gabriel Aubry
Stéphane Richelmi
Billy Johnson
Stefan Mücke
Olivier Pla
Paul Dalla Lana
Pedro Lamy
Mathias Lauda
Report
2Le Mans No. 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing No. 36 Signatech Alpine Matmut No. 92 Porsche GT Team No. 77 Dempsey-Proton RacingReport
2Le Mans Fernando Alonso
Sébastien Buemi
Kazuki Nakajima
Nicolas Lapierre
André Negrão
Pierre Thiriet
Michael Christensen
Kévin Estre
Laurens Vanthoor
Julien Andlauer
Matt Campbell
Christian Ried
Report
3Silverstone No. 3 Rebellion Racing No. 38 Jackie Chan DC Racing No. 51 AF Corse No. 77 Dempsey-Proton RacingReport
3Silverstone Mathias Beche
Thomas Laurent
Gustavo Menezes
Ho-Pin Tung
Gabriel Aubry
Stéphane Richelmi
James Calado
Alessandro Pier Guidi
Julien Andlauer
Matt Campbell
Christian Ried
Report
4Fuji No. 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing No. 37 Jackie Chan DC Racing No. 92 Porsche GT Team No. 56 Team Project 1Report
4Fuji Mike Conway
Kamui Kobayashi
José María López
Jazeman Jaafar
Nabil Jeffri
Weiron Tan
Michael Christensen
Kévin Estre
Jörg Bergmeister
Patrick Lindsey
Egidio Perfetti
Report
5Shanghai No. 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing No. 38 Jackie Chan DC Racing No. 95 Aston Martin Racing No. 77 Dempsey-Proton RacingReport
5Shanghai Mike Conway
Kamui Kobayashi
José María López
Ho-Pin Tung
Gabriel Aubry
Stéphane Richelmi
Marco Sørensen
Nicki Thiim
Julien Andlauer
Matt Campbell
Christian Ried
Report
6Sebring No. 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing No. 37 Jackie Chan DC Racing No. 91 Porsche GT Team No. 77 Dempsey-Proton RacingReport
6Sebring Fernando Alonso
Sébastien Buemi
Kazuki Nakajima
David Heinemeier Hansson
Jordan King
Will Stevens
Gianmaria Bruni
Richard Lietz
Julien Andlauer
Matt Campbell
Christian Ried
Report
7Spa-Francorchamps No. 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing No. 31 DragonSpeed No. 97 Aston Martin Racing No. 77 Dempsey-Proton RacingReport
7Spa-Francorchamps Fernando Alonso
Sébastien Buemi
Kazuki Nakajima
Anthony Davidson
Roberto González
Pastor Maldonado
Alex Lynn
Maxime Martin
Matt Campbell
Riccardo Pera
Christian Ried
Report
8Le Mans No. 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing No. 36 Signatech Alpine Matmut No. 51 AF Corse No. 56 Team Project 1Report
8Le Mans Fernando Alonso
Sébastien Buemi
Kazuki Nakajima
Nicolas Lapierre
André Negrão
Pierre Thiriet
James Calado
Alessandro Pier Guidi
Daniel Serra
Jörg Bergmeister
Patrick Lindsey
Egidio Perfetti
Report

Drivers' championships

Four titles are offered to drivers, two with world championship status. The LMP World Endurance Drivers' Championship is reserved for LMP1 and LMP2 drivers while the GTE World Endurance Drivers' Championship is available for drivers in the LMGTE categories. FIA Endurance Trophies are awarded in LMP2 and in LMGTE Am.
Entries were required to complete the timed race as well as to complete 70% of the overall winning car's race distance in order to earn championship points. A single bonus point was awarded to the team and all drivers of the pole position car for each category in qualifying. Furthermore, a race must complete two laps under green flag conditions in order for championship points to be awarded.
Event1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th10th
6 hours2518151210864210.5
Le Mans38272318151296321
Sebring32231915131085321

World Endurance LMP Drivers' Championship

World Endurance GTE Drivers' Championship

Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers

Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Am Drivers

Manufacturers' and teams' championships

A world championship for LMGTE manufacturers is awarded, while the former title for manufacturers in LMP1 has been replaced by a world championship for LMP1 teams. FIA Endurance Trophies are awarded for LMP2 and LMGTE Am teams, while the former trophy for LMGTE Pro teams had been eliminated for 2018.

World Endurance LMP1 Championship

Points are awarded only for the highest finishing competitor from each team.
TeamSPA
LMS
SIL
FUJ
SHA
SEB
SPA
LMS
Total
points
1 Toyota Gazoo Racing11DSQ11111216
2 Rebellion Racing33134724134
3 SMP Racing5Ret343333109
4 ByKolles Racing Team4RetRet5Ret34Ret22.5
5 DragonSpeedDNSRet25Ret6RetRet8.5
6 CEFC TRSM RacingWD411

World Endurance GTE Manufacturers' Championship

The two highest finishing competitors from each manufacturer are awarded points.
ManufacturerSPA
LMS
SIL
FUJ
SHA
SEB
SPA
LMS
Total
points
1 Porsche21312132288
1 Porsche42953585288
2 Ferrari34145421194
2 Ferrari11611106669194
3 Ford13237353178
3 FordRet1268918104178
4 Aston Martin654618112136
4 Aston Martin7138949714136
5 BMW59528246114
5 BMW8RetRet7107915114

Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams

Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Am Teams