The World Endurance Championship could introduce success handicaps in the Hypercar division for its 2026 season.
The new sporting rules for the series next year contain the provision to extend the use of the performance-balancing measure from LMGT3 to the top class.
But the FIA, which runs the WEC together with Le Mans 24 Hours organiser the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, has stressed that no final decision has been made.
It said in a statement: “As per the 2026 WEC sporting regulations, the success handicap, already in place in the LMGT3 class in previous years, may also be applied in the Hypercar class, with the exception of the Le Mans 24 Hours, if deemed necessary by WEC’s regulatory bodies [the FIA and ACO] before the start of the season.
“No decision has been made at this stage and the provision has been introduced only to allow the possibility of inclusion of such an adjustment as part of the performance balancing process [the Balance of Performance] in 2026.”
Success handicaps were previously used in the top class of the WEC over the course of the 2019/20 season in the final year of LMP1.
#95 United Autosports Mclaren 720S LMGT3 Evo: Darren Leung, Sean Gelael, Marino Sato, #27 Heart Of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3: Ian James, Zacharie Robichon, Mattia Drudi
Photo by: FIAWEC – DPPI
The system, which adjusted the power and weight of the cars according to race results, allowed the privateer Rebellion Racing squad to win two of the eight rounds ahead of Toyota, which was WEC’s only remaining major manufacturer at the time.
The use of success handicaps in LMGT3 came in on the introduction of the class in 2025, replacing the success ballast system previously in place for its predecessor, GTE Am.
Under the proposed system a lap-time handicap would be calculated and applied to each car in the form of an increase in weight and/or reduction in power and be published as part of the BoP table before each race.
FIA’s statement added: “The exact details of the performance balancing process will be determined before the first timed session of the Prologue, the official pre-season test, which is set to take place at Losail International Circuit one week before the 2026 season-opening Qatar 1812Km. The 2026 performance balancing process is being developed with full transparency and in close collaboration with the manufacturers involved in WEC’s Hypercar class.”
The potential use of success handicaps follows criticism of the BoP process this year: Porsche suggested that dissatisfaction with the BoP played a part in its decision to leave Hypercar as a factory for 2026.
The FIA and the ACO is working to again revise the BoP process for 2026 on the back of coming up with what have been described as “more robust performance windows” under the homologation process of the Le Mans Hypercar and LMDh machinery that compete in Hypercar.
This will follow a new round of wind tunnel testing in the Windshear facility in the USA. Previously only LMDh machinery had gone into the Windshear tunnel, but now the LMH will follow because the Sauber tunnel where they were formerly tested is no longer available after Audi’s takeover of the Formula 1 team.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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