World Endurance Championship teams may be required to run three-driver line-ups in the WEC’s Hypercar class as soon as next season.
Series chiefs are currently considering banning two-driver teams heading into the 2025 season. Cadillac Racing have been running their cars with just two drivers during the six-hour races this year.
Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn’s best finish was 10th place at Imola before they were joined by two-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, when they finished in seventh place in France.
Teams are open to running any level of driver they wish as long as they are not bronze-rated. Drivers are also required to drive for a minimum of an hour to score championship points in WEC.
Success for two-driver line-ups have been a rarity in WEC
The decision is yet to be made about the rules on driver line-ups for next season, but the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) are deliberating over the potential rule change.
ACO president Pierre Fillon said, via motorsport.com: “We are thinking about that, but you will have to wait for an answer.”
Two-driver line-ups haven’t been overly successful since WEC was relaunched in 2012, winning just five races over their three-driver line-up counterparts.
Toyota took two wins that season with the highly accomplished pair of Alex Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre in Brazil and the final round of the year at the Shanghai International Circuit in China.
WEC teams have mixed opinions about the potential rule change
BMW are yet to win a race this season, and their cars run by Team WRT have scored a best finish of sixth place at the 6 Hours of Imola.
Vincent Vosse, the CEO of Team WRT, said his team raised the issue over driver line-ups and wants clarity heading into the future.
The Belgian said: “I would like it to be clear in the rules how many drivers you have to run, whether that is two or three.
“Two drivers, clearly, offers an advantage in terms of track time and team strategy. But we choose to run three because that is how many drivers you need for the Le Mans 24 Hours, the biggest race of the year.”
In contrast, Jota team principal Sam Hignett said two-driver line-ups should remain an option and teams should be free to decide how many drivers they want per car.
“Two drivers does offer an advantage for the six-hour races, there’s no doubt about it,” Hignett said. “But you need to be ready for Le Mans, which is why we run three. It’s the choice of the team and should be left that way.”
Three rounds remain of this season’s WEC championship with the No. 6 Porsche of Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor leading the standings with 117 points.
They took victory in the season opener in Qatar and have finished in the top four at every race on the calendar so far this season.