Weekend Tip: Start of a new era 🎥

SO YOU ARE THERE Spa will see the premiere of the LM hypercars, and at the same time the Nürburgring will race again on Saturday. On Sunday it's GP time again. You can see everything on TV or on the Internet. Technical director Patrick Vasselon and some drivers explain currently from Spa a few backgrounds to the Toyota Hypercar. In the field of 35 cars, [...]

Editorial - April 30, 2021

Technical director Patrick Vasselon and some drivers explain some backgrounds of the Toyota Hypercar currently from Spa.

In the field of 35 cars competing for the first points in the 2021 World Endurance Championship (WEC) at the 6 Hours of Spa on Saturday, May 1, one model stands out. Toyota is the first manufacturer to debut a newly developed Le Mans hypercar, the Toyota GR010 Hybrid.

Toyota makes the start
These technically less sophisticated sports cars herald a future that promises the participation of other renowned manufacturers such as Audi, Ferrari, Peugeot and Porsche. Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus will be involved from the second race in Portimão.

Two Toyota GR010 Hybrid hypercars and the Alpine A480 embody the WEC's new premier class at Spa.

The two Toyota hypercars will feature the same pairings as in 2020 in LMP1: world champions Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López with car number #7 and last year's Le Mans winners Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley with #8.

Toyota's only competitor already in Belgium is Equipe Alpine. The Alpine A480 is based on last year's Rebellion R-13 LMP1 with Oreca chassis and Gibson V8 engine.

LMP2 debut of Fabio Scherer
From a Swiss perspective, the endurance debut of Fabio Scherer in the LMP2 world champion team United Autosports is interesting. The man from Engelberg and his two teammates Filipe Albuquerque and Phil Hanson were absolutely fastest in practice on Thursday with their Oreca-Gibson. A podium finish in LMP2 is the minimum goal and a place on the overall podium is quite conceivable.

Last year's DTM driver Fabio Scherer can look forward to the LMP2 premiere in Belgium with great confidence.

WEC Porsche premiere of Neel Jani
Scherer's opponents include Simon Trummer from Berne and Esteban Garcia from Geneva on other Oreca-Gibson cars. In the LMGTE Pro class, Neel Jani will contest his first WEC race with Porsche Motorsport.

With only five factory cars (two Porsches, two Ferraris and one Corvette), a podium like the one at the IMSA round last November in Sebring (second place) is also the minimum goal for the man from Biel.

The race will start at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 1. Eurosport 2 will broadcast live from 12.15 to 15.30 and 17.20 to 20 hrs. The free-to-air channel Eurosport 1 will broadcast a recap on Sunday morning, May 2, from 8:30 to 10 a.m.

Swiss teams and drivers in the Carrera Cup and Formula 1
The Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland holds two races in the supporting program. Fach Auto Tech is participating with three drivers. Antonio Teixeira and Ruedi Rhyn make their debut in this fiercely contested championship. It is also the race premiere of the new 992-generation Porsche 911 GT3.

Race 1 will be broadcast live on Sport1 on Friday from 3 p.m., race 2 on Saturday at 11.50 a.m. on Sport1+, and both will also be livestreamed on www.sport1.de and on the YouTube channel of the brand trophy.

The 2021 Spanish F4 Championship also begins in Belgium with three races. Jenzer Motorsport is taking part with four juniors in preparation for the Italian series. Samir Ben, who comes from karting, will be flying the Swiss flag as the driver.

Müller and Niederhauser in factory Audi
On Labor Day, the Nordschleife specialists are also at work at the third race of the Nürburgring Endurance Series season. In two factory-supported R8 LMS cars from Audi Sport Team Car Collection, Nico Müller and Patric Niederhauser will be in action. Like many other of the 165 named competitors, 33 of which are GT3 cars in the SP9 class, they are practicing for the 24-hour race at the beginning of June.

Patric Niederhauer, who is driving two Audi R8s, is hoping, like Nico Müller, to make big leaps in the standings on Saturday as well.

After having to withdraw from the NLS2 race two weeks ago due to an accident, Octane126's Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo with the driver who caused the accident, Jonathan Hirschi, who was moved back ten places on the grid, should also be back on the grid. Many other Swiss drivers and teams are in the Start list to find.

The more than eight-hour livestream on VLN.de, YouTube, Facebook and Twitch.tv starts at 8.15 a.m. Practice decides the positions on the starting grid from 8:30 to 10 a.m., and the lights for the race turn green promptly at 12 noon.

Sunday under the sign of Formula 1 and Motorcycle World Championship
There will also be plenty of top-level racing on Sunday. On SRF Info, Swiss television will be reporting live from the Portuguese GP in Portimão from 3.20 p.m. to 5.50 p.m.. The day before, qualifying for the third Formula 1 World Championship round in 2021 can be followed live on SRF zwei from 3.55 p.m. to 5.10 p.m.

Those who also like motorcycle racing can watch Moto2 with Tom Lüthi live from Spain on May 2, starting at 12.05 p.m., followed by MotoE with title favorite Dominique Aegerter (scheduled from 1.15 to 1.45 p.m.). The MotoGP broadcast in Jerez begins at 1.50 p.m. on SRF Info, immediately before Formula 1 on the same channel.