The Challenge of Private Constructors in the WEC

Privateers have always been part of the motorsport endurance’s DNA, showing various seriousness and success over the decades. Unfortunately, they now seem to be engaged in a battle that is already lost.
15th June 1980. Le Mans. Jean Rondeau crosses the line in first, driving his own car, the Rondeau M379. A true feat that is pretty unlikely to be seen again. What other exemple could better illustrate the magic between privateer entries and Le Mans? Private entries have existed since the very first moments of racing, but could now be under a huge threat.

Everyone loves the story of David winning against Goliath, including us, motorsport fans. The smaller structures have always been cheered by the racing lovers, for their authenticity, their accessibility, and of course, their limited resources. You don’t need to get far back in time to find the perfect example, the Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus.

Behind the team hides a man, Jim Glickenhaus, an eccentric racing enthusiast powered by faith and dreams. Some mocked him when he announced its participation to the greatest race in the world, but his team later proved the haters wrong. The American isn’t another rich capricious man that doesn't know how to spend his money. That was serious business, proved by the support of Team Joest. Glickenhaus did better than great, with the cars finishing all the Le Mans races they have entered, and more impressively, beating big names like Porsche or Peugeot. In three consecutive WEC campaigns (from 2021 to 2023), the team hasn’t won any race, but it has won the fans' hearts. Last year, after Monza, Jim Glickenhaus announced that his team was set to skip Fuji, and later held the same words for the season finale in Bahrain. Everyone’s fear was later confirmed, Glickenhaus wouldn’t race in WEC anymore, for obvious budget reasons.

What about the others?

Glickenhaus wasn’t the only private constructor to make their way in the Hypercar category. It was also the case for Vanwall, who joined in 2023. Lining up big names on the grid, as 1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve, the British team was under the spotlight. Unfortunately, the car proved to be rather uncompetitive and suffered major reliability issues through the entire season, with 3 DNF, including Le Mans and a 8th place as best result in Sebring. The team suffered issues both on track and outside, firing Villeneuve in suspicious circumstances right before Le Mans and using 6 different drivers during the season. The team hasn’t convinced the officials to validate their 2024 entry, in the context of a grid that continuously expands, especially in the Hypercar category.

Is there any hope?

With Glickenhaus and Vanwall now missing, Isotta Fraschini, who joined the WEC this year, remains the last private constructor. After postponing multiple times their first participation in the endurance championship, the italian team finally entered in 2024. Interestingly, the Tipo-6 was developed with a hybrid engine, contrary to the two first previously quoted. The project seems promising but again, developing such a complex system requires money, a bunch of money. This is where we may ask: “What about the BOP?”. Well, despite low performances, the car is not helped by the ACO, being the second loudest after Peugeot 9X8 with 1060kg on the balance. And as if it wasn’t difficult enough, the two drivers alongside Jean-Karl Vernay are lacking experience, to say the least. A strange line-up decision for a car that needs development. The last hopes may be soon dashed by the decision of requiring two car entries in WEC to participate in the championship, a rule that would probably lead to the death of the italian constructor.

Is there any solution?

With the development costs rising to keep up, privateers would probably give up the idea of building their own car. Instead, the solution could be to approach other constructors to buy and use their LMDh. It proved to work fine with Hertz Jota for example, keeping up with the official Porsche Penske Team. But unfortunately, the German constructor is currently the only one to have put their car on the Hypercar market.