The 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship was the ninth season of the FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The series is open to prototype and grand tourer-style racing cars divided into four categories. World Championship titles were awarded to the leading manufacturers and drivers in both the prototype and grand tourer divisions.

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2021 FIA World Endurance Championship
Organizer	Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile Automobile Club de l'Ouest
Discipline	Sports car endurance racing
Number of races	6
Champions
Hypercar Team	Toyota Gazoo Racing
GTE Manufacturer	Ferrari
LMP2 Team	Team WRT
LMP2 Pro-Am Team	Racing Team Nederland
LMGTE Am Team	AF Corse
FIA World Endurance Championship seasons
← 2019–20 2022 →

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The 2021 championship was due to see a significant overhaul of the technical regulations in the top class of competition. The LMP1 Prototypes used in the top class for the first eight years of the championship had been phased out and replaced by a new prototype specification known as Le Mans Hypercars (LMH). However, non-hybrid LMP1 cars were permitted to be "grandfathered" into the season.^[1]

The 2021 championship also marked the return to an annual calendar for the World Endurance Championship, switching back to a summer calendar after the late running of the previous season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[2]

A calendar was revealed in December 2019 at the 8 Hours of Bahrain.^[3] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the previous season was extended into November 2020. However, the 2021 season will return to an annual calendar entirely instead of a winter calendar.^[2] A calendar for the 2021 season was announced during the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans event. The calendar featured six rounds as opposed to eight and saw the removal of the 6 Hours of Silverstone, 6 Hours of Shanghai and Lone Star Le Mans when compared with the 2019–20 calendar as well as the addition of the 6 Hours of Monza.^[4] The decision to run a six-round series was made to save on costs due to the financial impact of the pandemic.^[5] The 1000 Miles of Sebring was initially scheduled for 19 March 2021 as the first round of the season, but was cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and replaced by a race of the same length at Portimão on 4 April 2021.^[6] That same race would also be itself later postponed to 13 June, making Spa the site of the preseason Prologue and the first race of the season.^[7] The 24 Hours of Le Mans was originally scheduled to be run on the 12 and 13 June but was later postponed until 21–22 August for an increased chance of running the race with spectators.^[8] The 6 Hours of Fuji was cancelled due to ongoing travel restrictions in Japan, and was replaced by a 6-hour event in Bahrain.^[9]

More information Rnd, Race ...

Rnd	Race	Circuit	Location	Date
	Prologue	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	Stavelot	26/27 April
1	6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps			1 May
2	8 Hours of Portimão	Algarve International Circuit	Portimão	13 June[lower-alpha 1]
3	6 Hours of Monza	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza	Monza	18 July
4	24 Hours of Le Mans	Circuit de la Sarthe	Le Mans	21–22 August[lower-alpha 2]
5	6 Hours of Bahrain	Bahrain International Circuit	Sakhir	30 October
6	8 Hours of Bahrain			6 November[lower-alpha 3]
Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Race		Circuit	Location	Original Date
1000 Miles of Sebring		Sebring International Raceway	Sebring, Florida	19 March
6 Hours of Fuji		Fuji Speedway	Oyama, Shizuoka	26 September

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The championship introduced the Le Mans Hypercar category as a replacement for the Le Mans Prototype 1 class.^[10][11] Manufacturers are free to build and enter bespoke designs without homologation requirement or cars based on existing road-going models subject to a homologation requirement of building at least twenty road-legal models over a two-year period.^[12] The cars have a minimum weight of 1,030 kg (2,270 lb), and power output is capped at 680 hp (510 kW) in order to achieve a benchmark lap time of three minutes and thirty seconds at the Circuit de la Sarthe.^[12] Hybrid energy-recovery systems are allowed on the front axle only, and cars can derive up to 272 hp (203 kW) of their total power output from those systems. A Balance of Performance system modelled on the system used by the GTE class is applied to ensure parity between hybrid and non-hybrid models.^[12] Manufacturers are given greater freedoms in designing the bodywork of Hypercars compared to Le Mans Prototypes provided that bodywork styling does not affect safety standards.^[12] LMP2 cars received a power decrease of 40 horsepower, to 560 horsepower, in order to maintain the performance gap between the new top class and LMP2. A specification tyre was introduced in LMP2, produced by Goodyear, ending the tyre war between Goodyear and Michelin.^[13]

Toyota announced plans to enter the championship under the Hypercar regulations with a bespoke car based on the GR Super Sport Concept.^[14] Toyota launched their GR010 Hybrid on 15 January 2021.^[15] In June 2020, boutique car manufacturer Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus committed to a two-car effort with the Glickenhaus 007 LMH, in partnership with 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans winners Sauber Motorsport, 15-time Le Mans winners Joest Racing, and engine specialists Pipo Moteurs.^{[16][17][18][19]} At the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans, LMP1 competitors ByKolles Racing Team committed to a hypercar programme with its own car, the PMC Project LMH, but the team were not present on the entry list announced ahead of the 2021 season.^[20][21][22] Aston Martin initially planned to enter a car based on the Valkyrie road-going model.^[14] However, the British manufacturer later decided to put its Le Mans Hypercar program on hold.^[23][24] Long-time LMP1 privateer team Rebellion Racing will end its racing operations at the end of the 2019–20 season,^[25] despite having previously announced the joint development of a Hypercar with Peugeot.^[26] Peugeot itself has announce plans to compete from 2022 onwards, and announced Ligier Automotive as a partner in its project.^{[27][28][29][30]} Alpine announced that it will enter the championship using a single rebadged Rebellion R13 LMP1, run by Signatech Alpine.^[31][32][33] In LMGTE Pro, Aston Martin Racing ended its factory GTE Pro program run by Prodrive to focus on their Formula One team and their LMGTE Am program.^[34]

Hypercar

More information Entrant, Car ...

Entrant	Car	Engine	Hybrid	Tyre	No.	Drivers	Rounds
Toyota Gazoo Racing[35]	Toyota GR010 Hybrid	Toyota H8909 3.5 L Turbo V6	Hybrid	M	7	Mike Conway[36]	All
						Kamui Kobayashi[36]	All
						José María López[36]	All
			Hybrid		8	Sébastien Buemi[36]	All
						Brendon Hartley[36]	All
						Kazuki Nakajima[36]	All
Alpine Elf Matmut[37]	Alpine A480	Gibson GL458 4.5 L V8		M	36	Nicolas Lapierre[38]	All
						André Negrão[37]	All
						Matthieu Vaxivière[38]	All
Glickenhaus Racing[37]	Glickenhaus SCG 007 LMH	Glickenhaus P21 3.5 L Turbo V8		M	708	Pipo Derani[39][40]	3–4
						Olivier Pla[39][40]	3–4
						Gustavo Menezes[37][40]	3
						Franck Mailleux	4
					709	Romain Dumas[39][40]	2–4
						Richard Westbrook[39][40]	2–4
						Ryan Briscoe[37][40]	2, 4
						Franck Mailleux[39][40]	3

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LMP2

In accordance with the 2017 LMP2 regulations, all cars in the LMP2 class will use the Gibson GK428 V8 engine. Entries in the LMP2 Pro-Am Cup, set aside for teams with a Bronze-rated driver in their line-up, are denoted with Icons.

More information Entrant, Car ...

Entrant Car No. Tyre MISC Drivers Rounds Richard Mille Racing Team[41] Oreca 07 1 G P2 Sophia Flörsch[41] All Tatiana Calderón[41] 1–4, 6 Beitske Visser[41] 1–2, 4–6 Gabriel Aubry 5 High Class Racing[42] Oreca 07 20 G PA Dennis Andersen[42] All Anders Fjordbach[42] 1–3, 5–6 Jan Magnussen[42] 1–3 Marco Sørensen 4 Ricky Taylor 4 Robert Kubica 5–6 DragonSpeed USA[43] Oreca 07 21 G PA Ben Hanley[37] All Henrik Hedman[37] All Juan Pablo Montoya[43] All United Autosports USA[37] Oreca 07 22 G P2 Phil Hanson[37] All Fabio Scherer[37] 1, 3–6 Filipe Albuquerque[37] 1, 3–6 Paul di Resta 2 Wayne Boyd[44] 2 Jota[45][46] Oreca 07 28 G P2 Tom Blomqvist[46] All Sean Gelael[46] All Stoffel Vandoorne[46] All 38 P2 Anthony Davidson[45] All António Félix da Costa[45] All Roberto González[45] All Racing Team Nederland[47] Oreca 07 29 G PA Frits van Eerd [nl][47] All Giedo van der Garde[47] 1–2, 4–6 Job van Uitert[47] 1–2, 4–6 Nyck de Vries[48] 3 Paul-Loup Chatin[48] 3 Team WRT[49] Oreca 07 31 G P2 Robin Frijns[50] All Ferdinand von Habsburg[50] All Charles Milesi[50] All Inter Europol Competition[51] Oreca 07 34 G P2 Alex Brundle[51] All Jakub Śmiechowski[51] All Renger van der Zande[51] 1, 3–6 Louis Delétraz 2 ARC Bratislava[37] Ligier JS P217 1–3 Oreca 07 4–6 44 G PA Miroslav Konôpka[37] All Tom Jackson 1–2 Darren Burke 1 Oliver Webb 2–5 Matej Konôpka 3–4 Kush Maini 5 Nelson Panciatici 6 Olli Caldwell 6 Realteam Racing[52] Oreca 07 70 G PA Esteban Garcia[52] All Norman Nato[52] All Loïc Duval[52] 1, 3–6 Mathias Beche 2

Icon MISC P2 LMP2 PA LMP2 Pro-Am Cup

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• Hélio Castroneves was scheduled to replace Inter Europol Competition's Renger van der Zande at the 1000 Miles of Sebring, but the round was cancelled.^[51]

LMGTE Pro

More information Entrant, Car ...

Entrant	Car	Engine	Tyre	No.	Drivers	Rounds
AF Corse[37]	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8	M	51	James Calado[37]	All
					Alessandro Pier Guidi[37]	All
					Côme Ledogar	4
				52	Miguel Molina[37]	All
					Daniel Serra[37]	All
					Sam Bird	4
Porsche GT Team[37]	Porsche 911 RSR-19	Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6	M	91	Gianmaria Bruni[37]	All
					Richard Lietz[37]	All
					Frédéric Makowiecki	2, 4, 6
				92	Kévin Estre[37]	All
					Neel Jani[37]	All
					Michael Christensen	2, 4, 6

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LMGTE Am

More information Entrant, Car ...

Entrant	Car	Engine	Tyre	No.	Drivers	Rounds
TF Sport[53]	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8	M	33	Felipe Fraga[53]	All
					Ben Keating[53]	All
					Dylan Pereira[53]	All
D'station Racing[54]			M	777	Tomonobu Fujii[54]	All
					Satoshi Hoshino[54]	All
					Andrew Watson[55]	All
Team Project 1[37]	Porsche 911 RSR-19	Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6	M	46	Dennis Olsen[37]	1, 3–4
					Anders Buchardt	1, 3–4
					Axcil Jefferies	1
					Maxwell Root	3
					Robby Foley	4
				56	Matteo Cairoli[37]	All
					Egidio Perfetti[37]	All
					Riccardo Pera	All
Cetilar Racing[56]	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8	M	47	Antonio Fuoco[56]	All
					Roberto Lacorte[56]	All
					Giorgio Sernagiotto[56]	All
AF Corse[56]	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8	M	54	Francesco Castellacci[56]	All
					Giancarlo Fisichella[56]	All
					Thomas Flohr[56]	All
				83	Nicklas Nielsen[56]	All
					François Perrodo[56]	All
					Alessio Rovera[56]	All
Iron Lynx[56]	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8	M	60	Claudio Schiavoni[56]	1–4, 6
					Matteo Cressoni[56]	1–3, 5–6
					Andrea Piccini[56]	1–3, 5–6
					Raffaele Giammaria	4
					Paolo Ruberti	4
					Rino Mastronardi	5
				85	Rahel Frey[56]	All
					Manuela Gostner[56]	1–2
					Katherine Legge	1, 5–6
					Michelle Gatting	2–4
					Sarah Bovy	3–6
Dempsey-Proton Racing[37]	Porsche 911 RSR-19	Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6	M	77	Matt Campbell[37]	All
					Jaxon Evans[37]	All
					Christian Ried[37]	All
				88	Marco Seefried	1–3
					Andrew Haryanto	1, 3
					Alessio Picariello	1, 3
					Julien Andlauer	2, 4–6
					Dominique Bastien	2, 4
					Lance Arnold	4
					Khaled Al Qubaisi	5–6
					Adrien De Leener	5
					Axcil Jefferies	6
GR Racing[37]	Porsche 911 RSR-19	Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6	M	86	Ben Barker[37]	All
					Tom Gamble[57]	All
					Michael Wainwright[37]	All
Aston Martin Racing[58][37]	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8	M	98	Marcos Gomes[58]	All
					Paul Dalla Lana[37]	All
					Augusto Farfus[58]	1–3, 5–6
					Nicki Thiim	4

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