Opinion: Why Hypercar's BoP Change is for the Greater Good of Le Mans

John Dagys delves into why the FIA and ACO's bold move is likely to turn the 24 Hours of Le Mans into a better race...

Last week’s Balance of Performance adjustments made to four of the Hypercar class manufacturers came as a controversial move by the FIA and ACO in the build-up to the centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the governing bodies effectively breaking their own rules laid out with the new-for-2023 BoP system.

Toyota’s GR010 Hybrid, which has been undefeated so far in FIA World Endurance Championship competition this season, along with the Ferrari 499P and LMDh cars from Cadillac and Porsche were hit with weight increases, with three of the four prototypes also receiving slight increases in energy allowances.

While a so-called platform BoP change was in the offering, per the ruleset, which would see all cars built to the LMH or LMDh set of regulations be adjusted equally as a group, possible changes to individual cars was not due to occur until after the French endurance classic.

Instead, the Toyota and Ferrari LMH cars received weight increases of 37 kg and 24 kg, respectively, with the Cadillac V-Series.R getting 11 kg of additional weight and 3 kg handed to the Porsche 963, as the only two LMDh models currently in the WEC and at Le Mans.

With the newly converged top class built around a BoP system, cars in theory should be competing on more-or-less equal footing. It’s what’s been witnessed in the opening races of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, albeit all four of the manufacturers involved there are built to LMDh regulations.

WEC’s revised system, which laid out the BoP figures for the first four races of the season prior to the 1000 Miles of Sebring, was aimed to help cut down on sandbagging, an issue that has historically been a pressure point in sports car racing, especially leading up to the biggest race of the year.