Photo Gallery: 10 Photos That Sum Up WEC

The World Endurance Championship is a weird yet wonderful racing series, unlike any other. Here are 10 photos to introduce you to the sport.

1. LMP and GTE Cars

Photo credits: dailysportscar.com

The field of cars is split into two main categories. The Le Mans Prototype (LMP) cars and the Grand Touring Endurance (GTE) cars.

2. One Race, Four Classes

Photo credits: fiawec.com

The LMP and LMGTE categories are subdivided into 4 sub-categories. These are LMP1, LMP2, LMGTE-Pro and LMGTE-Am.

3-6. The Sub-Categories

Photo credits: LeMans.org

LMP1 is generally a category for manufacturer teams, whereas LMP2 is for smaller independent teams with a lower budget. Therefore, they have slightly different regulations due to the difference in budgets. The GTE-Pro and GTE-Am categories have much more similar regulations. The GTE-Pro class is the sole preservative of manufacturer teams, running only professional drivers, while GTE-Am is designed to be a place where gentlemen drivers can compete on a level playing field.

7-10. The History of the WEC

Photo credits: racingsportscars.com, drivetribe.com, dailysportscar.com, huffingtonpost.co.uk

Although the WEC started in 2012, its history can be traced back to the start of the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1923. In this time, Le Mans has been used as a battleground for massive rivalries, most notably Ford VS Ferrari in the 1960s. Both Ford and Ferrari still race in WEC today, as part of the GTE class. In recent years, the major battles to occur in WEC have included the LMP1 battles between Toyota, Audi and Porsche who fought tooth and nail for the title.