2024 WEC End of Year Racey Awards
In the aftermath of a stellar season of racing we here at Motorsport Media Hub have put together our first annual end of year Racey Awards to bring about the highest level of recognition possible in the motorsport world. There is no other media outlet on the planet that could wrap things up so succinctly, and there is no other award that a team or fan would want to win more than the ones that will be handed out below. The allure and prestige that come with these awards is legendary.
We'll be covering the WEC Hypercar class first up - here are your winners for the 2024 season.
Holy Shit How Did They Pull That Off?? of the Year - Toyota Gazoo Racing
With the gigantic bullseye on their back all season long Toyota Gazoo Racing showed why they are still the top dogs atop the mountain of endurance motorsports. Needing to pull off the overall race victory in order to capture their sixth-straight manufactures' title, they went out and did just that, no big deal. And as the last hour unfolded in Bahrain the No. 8 pulled away and eventually won by almost a 30-second gap. I mean come on what else can you do besides just tip your cap and call TGR your daddy.
'Nobody's Perfect' Throwback of the Year - Porsche Penske Motorsport
Porsche Penske saw TGR snatch away the Manufacturers' title and ultimately had to settle for P2 in the standings and it'll be another year before they can battle it out to try and claim the crown next season. However the second-place finish did allow for the opportunity to bring back a classic bit of cheeky self-deprecation from Porsches' perspective, courtesy of the guys at Only Endurance -
RIP We Hardly Knew Ye of the Year - Isotta Fraschini
We Isotta Bros got five great (great?) races out of the Tipo 6-C before the plug was pulled on the operation about 10 days before the Lone Star Le Mans at COTA, and given the fact that the new WEC mandate for 2025 requires manufacturers' to field at least two cars in the Hypercar field it likely means that we've seen the last of the IF gang running on track. Unless of course the privateer teams band together and create their own separate Hypercar class away from the factory programs and race against each other there, complete with ample amounts of cocaine and hookers.
'Oh My God They Finally Found A Podium Finish' of the Year - Peugeot
It took until the season finale for Peugeot to find their podium finish and it came as a result of Ferrari failing to keep track of where they placed their tires in the paddock between qualifying and racing. Well, as we know, one man's loss is another man's gain, and the P3 finish in the season finale might just be enough to keep the 9x8 program alive as the team faces immense pressure to get productive results heading into year four of the Nearly Wingless Wonder.
Best Race Pace with the Least Amount of Tangible Results of the Year - Cadillac
The Cadillac was fast all year long and was primed to compete at the top of the running order in essentially every race yet they just couldn't keep it together to deliver any legitimate, podium or race-winning result. The best we got was a P4 finish on home soil at COTA, and we thought they had something cooking at Fuji yet they couldn't turn their Hyperpole-winning effort into a race win or podium as their day ended in a wipeout with about 30 minutes to go on the clock. Earl Bamber was behind the wheel, but that wreck wasn't nearly as spectacular as...
Earl Bamber Honorary Crash of the Year - Earl Bamber and Cadillac Racing
Whenever you can red flag a race with just under two hours to go with such a bonkers wipeout it just has to earn an award. Earl Bamber's attempted swerve past the duo of the Proton 963 and the WRT BMW was deemed so insanely wreckless that the stewards docked Cadillac with a five-place grid penalty for the following race at Le Mans. Imagine bollocksing up so badly that not only did you take yourself and others out in such spectacular fashion, but you also received a penalty that punishes you further into the next race on the calendar. That's a top level of bollocksing.
Post-Race Technical Penalty of the Year - Ferrari AF Corse
Give it up to Ferrari for waiting until the last possible moment to pull off their boldest strategic move of the season - attempting to use more than the allotted tires allowed in a race, getting caught and thus losing a P2 finish. In the subsequent fallout I still don't quite understand what Ferrari meant in their official explanation, so we're left to place the blame on the guy or gal that mixed up the placement and location of the tires about the paddock. Tough scene.
Our Expectations Were Low For You But Holy Shit of the Year - Lamborghini SC63
Three race retirements and a single top-10 finish - somehow amazingly at the 24 Hours of Le Mans - produced just two points scored in the one and only season for the SC63 in the WEC. It's a tough break for the Lamborghini Hypercar as the program and car were rushed from the beginning, leaving the Iron Lynx with little time and a tight budget to develop the LMDh machine to a point where it could've been competitive on track. But, now it means we get double SC63s in IMSA, hooray!
"Sporting Fairness" Moment of the Year - Hertz Team Jota Winning at Spa
Both the No. 12 of Hertz Team Jota and the No. 83 AF Corse scored overall victories against the big boy factory programs in 2024, but Jota did it first at Spa and was aided by the absolutely wild circumstances that played out with the stewards pulling the unprecedented move to reset the clock following Bamber's wreck and red flag. Ferrari fought like hell against the restart and felt they were cheated out of a 1-2 finish, but the stewards had the fans in mind and put the time back on the clock for us in the name of "sporting fairness," and in doing so produced the only time we've ever thanked the stewards for anything.
Mid Team of the Year - Alpine
Did you know that in the final three races of the season both the No. 35 and the No. 36 Alpine's finished inside the top 10? And going one further, the No. 36 finished the season with four-straight points-finishes as they found a P10 result in Brasil? It's true look it up. Things didn't start great for the A424 and vibes were at an all-time low after their double-DNF at Le Mans, yet they came on strong in the second half of the year to beat out BMW, Cadillac and Peugeot as the best of the mid-table teams. Félicitations Alpine!
'Perfectly Balanced, As All Things Should Be'/Spiderman Meme of the Year - Ferrari winning Le Mans, Porsche winning the Driver's title, Toyota winning the Manufacturers' title
The three biggest prizes for the top class of prototype endurance racing were evenly split between the trio of Ferrari, Porsche and Toyota, producing a Mexican standoff of 'which victory matters the most?' Would you rather be Ferrari, owners of back-to-back Le Mans victories? Or Porsche with their first Drivers' championship since 2017? Or how about Toyota claiming their sixth-straight Manufacturers' title? It depends on who you ask and I don't think there's a wrong answer to be had.
Moment of the Year - Nine cars finish Le Mans on the lead lap
In an amazing testament to the durability of modern endurance race cars and the health of the overall grid, the 92nd running of Le Mans saw an astounding nine cars finish on the lead lap; in all previous 91 installments no more than two cars had ever finished on the lead lap of the race. Not only that, but the winning margin of 14.221 seconds by the No. 50 over the No. 7 also serves as one of the closest finishes in Le Mans history.
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So there you have it, all the winners for the 2024 Racey Awards for the Hypercar class. Stay tuned for the LMGT3 winners that will be coming soon.
(photo via 24.lemans.com, thecheckeredflag.com, autoguide.com)
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