2023 World Endurance Championship entry list announced

Porsche dominates the LMH category – with two cars for the factory Porsche Penske Motorsport team and two privateer entries for Jota and Proton Competition – but it is the entry for Vanwall that is perhaps the most surprising. The team formerly known as ByKolles had claimed to have bought the rights to the Vanwall name before the 2022 season, but was denied an entry after a dispute arose over those rights. 

But for 2023 the Vanwall Vandervell 680 has been given a full season entry subject to homologation of the chassis. It will be the second independent entry alongside a single car from Glickenhaus, which returns after providing the only independent LMH competition for Toyota in the category’s first two years.

Banner headlines will also go to Ferrari’s return to the top level of sportscar racing with its 499P. Two of 499Ps have been entered under the Ferrari AF Corse banner, a number repeated by current champions Toyota and fellow returnees Peugeot.

Eleven cars make up the LMP2 category, all from well-established teams, and include a return to the second tier for the Alpine squad. The French brand stepped up to the top class for 2021 and 2022 to field a grandfathered LMP1 Oreca, but will return to running its Alpine A470 LMP2 machine (itself a rebadged Oreca 07) for 2023 while the firm’s future top class car is developed. 

The grid is completed by GTE Am entries. This is the first season that there will be no GTE Pro class, with that era of top-level GT racing having come to and end after the 2022 season. Fourteen GTE cars will compete, from Aston Martin, Ferrari, Porsche and Corvette, all with a mixture of pro and gentlemen drivers behind the wheel. 

What cars are racing in the LMH category?

The Le Mans Hypercar category includes a mixture of cars built to LMH and LMDh regulations. LMH cars come from Toyota, Peugeot, Ferrari and Glickenhaus while Cadillac and Porsche’s machines will be the only two LMDh machines competing. The two sets of rules will be balanced together by a BoP formula. 

What’s the difference between LMH and LMDh?

There’s a full article to follow on this, but in short LMH cars are fully designed and built from the ground up by the manufacturer, or whoever the team has contracted to design it, while LMDh cars take chassis from one of four designated LMP2 chassis designers and the rest of the car is built by the manufacturer.

There are other differences – LMH cars can be based on either road-going or racing chassis, and can be hybrid or non-hybrid while LMDh cars all use the same spec-hybrid system from WAE and Bosch – but the cars on track will compete as equals.

How come LMP2 has shrunk?

The first reason is that quite simply it is not needed as much as before. With LMH and LMDh cars now designed to be relatively affordable, not only are more manufacturers entering the championship, but independent teams are beginning to field cars in the top category. As a result there’s no need to fill out the prototype ranks with more LMP2 cars.

When is the first race?

The World Endurance Championship starts at Sebring in March. You can find the full calendar here.

What cars will be racing at Le Mans?

Every car from the World Endurance Championship gets an automatic entry into the big double points race at Le Mans, so Ferrari, Porsche, Toyota, Glickenhaus, Peugeot and Cadillac will all be represented. But more cars will join from IMSA, the European Le Mans Series and the Asian Le Mans Series.

Are any F1 drivers racing in WEC?

Yes! There are multiple in the LMH category – including a debut for 1997 F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve in the Vanwall. Sebastiem Buemi and Brednon Hartley team up in a Toyota again, Jean-Eric Vergne and Paul Di Resta share a Peugeot and Antonio Giovinazzi makes his top flight debut in a Ferrari 499P. 

The full list of drivers is yet to be confirmed, with all cars only requiring a single driver to be announced for entry. Expect more upates to follow. 

Click here to see the provisional 2023 WEC entry list.