World Endurance Championship AUTOMATED Balance of Performance
 

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[h=2]FIA outlines major WEC BoP system change for 2017[/h] Thursday, 06 April 2017


By Stephen Kilbey / Image by LAT

The FIA and ACO are set to utilise a new automated Balance of Performance system this year to ensure closer racing between the participating manufacturers in the FIA WEC's GTE Pro class.


This change has been agreed by the FIA, ACO and all four factory teams ahead of the season, which follows a 2016 campaign that saw 11 BoP changes across the season's nine races. Two manufacturers in particular were handed an insurmountable advantage following the Le Mans Test Day ahead of the 24 Hours. The new system, which uses raw data to decide each car's BoP will utilize new algorithms and a calculation tool with the hope to eliminate any changes being affected by human interpretation.
It will not be used after each round, with the first change being calculated after Round 2 of the season at Spa-Francorchamps for use at Round 4 when the series heads to Germany's Nurburgring. It will therefore not come into affect for the Le Mans 24 Hours which, the FIA and ACO have stated, will be treated separately.
GTE Am will also not be affected by this new system, the Pro/Am division of the WEC's GTE field still set to use the 2016 method to balance the cars.
More information on the new automatic BoP system are available in the WEC's official document on the subject.