World Endurance Championship

The FIA World Endurance Championship, frequently abbreviated to simply the WEC, is an international sportscar racing series, organised by the FIA and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest. Built upon the success of the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans race, the WEC is among the most successful racing series of the modern era, with mixed class racing of prototypes and GT cars.
The WEC came into existance in 2012 as a revival of the World Sportscar Championship, which had run alongside Formula One as one of the prime motorsport categories in the world between 1953 and 1992.'Archives', fiawec.com, (World Endurance Championship, 2017), http://www.fiawec.com/en/past-seasons/36, (Accessed 20/11/2017) Although the WEC and F1 have lacked a close relationship, with frequent calendar clashes, the continuing growth of interest in sportscar racing has meant that there has been an ever increasing amount of crossover between the two.
==Links to Formula One==
Aside from the fact that the FIA organise both series, the WEC and F1 have a far greater connection than is often realised. Becoming Champion of either the LMP1 or GTE Pro classes in the WEC is viewed as the equivalent as taking the F1 World Championship title by the FIA, while winning the WEC has a significant influence on a driver's Super Licence points.Lawrence Barretto, 'FIA makes changes to planned Formula 1 superlicence points system', autosport.com, (Haymarket Media, 11/07/2015), https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/119938/changes-to-f1-superlicence-points-plan, (Accessed 30/11/2017)
Below are various lists of personnel, drivers, manufacturers and more that have competed in, or have been involved in, both the WEC and Formula One.
===Drivers===
Note: Only drivers who have completed in a round of the Formula One World Championship are listed here.
Driver 	WEC years 	F1 years 	Races
Christijan Albers 	2012 	2005-2007 	1
Fernando Alonso 	2018, 2019 	2001, 2003-2018, 2021-present	9
Sébastien Bourdais 	2012 	2008-2009 	2
David Brabham 	2012, 2015 	1990, 1994 	9
Martin Brundle 	2012 	1984-1989, 1991-1996 	2
Gianmaria Bruni 	2012-2016 	2004 	40
Sébastien Buemi 	2012-present 	2009-2011 	43
Karun Chandhok 	2012 	2010-2011 	8
Max Chilton 	2015 	2013-2014 	1
Anthony Davidson 	2012-2017 	2002, 2005, 2007-2008 	41
Lucas di Grassi 	2012-2016 	2010 	28
Giancarlo Fisichella	2012-2015 	1996-2009 	18
Emerson Fittipaldi 	2014 	1970-1980 	1
Marc Gené 	2012-2014 	1999-2000, 2003-2004 	5
Antonio Giovinazzi 	2016 	2017 	2
Brendon Hartley 	2014-2017 	2017-present 	34
Nick Heidfeld 	2012-2016 	2000-2011 	28
Nico Hülkenberg 	2015 	2010, 2012-present 	2
Stefan Johansson 	2012 	1980, 1983-1991 	3
Christian Klien 	2015 	2004-2006, 2010 	2
Kamui Kobayashi 	2013, 2016-present 	2009-2012, 2014 	26
Pedro Lamy 	2012-present 	1993-1996 	41
Vitantonio Liuzzi 	2012-2013, 2015 	2005-2007, 2009-2011 	12
André Lotterer 	2012-present 	2014 	50
Allan McNish 	2012-2013 	2002 	16
Roberto Merhi 	2016-2017 	2015 	8
Franck Montagny 	2012 	2006 	1
Tiago Monteiro 	2015 	2005-2006 	1
Kazuki Nakajima 	2012-present 	2007-2009 	37
Vitaly Petrov 	2016-present 	2010-2012 	18
Nelson Piquet, Jr. 	2016-present 	2008-2009 	11
Antônio Pizzonia 	2013, 2016 	2003-2005 	3
Alexander Rossi 	2013 	2015 	1
Mika Salo 	2014 	1994-2000, 2002 	1
Stéphane Sarrazin 	2012-present 	1999 	44
Takuma Sato 	2012 	2002-2008 	2
Bruno Senna 	2013-2014, 2016-present	2010-2012 	23
Will Stevens 	2016 	2014-2015 	5
Giedo van der Garde 	2016 	2013 	4
Jean-Éric Vergne 	2017-present 	2012-2014 	8
Mark Webber 	2014-2016 	2002-2013 	25
Alexander Wurz 	2012-2015 	1997-2000, 2005, 2007 	28
*Bold indicates a WEC Champion overall.
===Personnel===
===Manufacturers===
Toyota is the most recent competitor in both the WEC and Formula One, although the Japanese firm have not campaigned in both series simultanously. Other prominent WEC brands Porsche and Audi have left the series in recent seasons, and expressed interest in F1, although neither has committed to join F1 in the near future.
The GT field in the WEC has always featured multiple entries from , whom have won all bar one of the World GT Manufacturers' Championships since 2012. Other than Porsche, the only other F1 associated manufacturer are , who have flirted with an F1 return for 2021.
In terms of suppliers, famed Italian chassis builders Dallara have built both F1 and WEC cars, selling their own customer LMP2 chassis in the latter. 
===Venues===
The WEC and Formula One have used the same venues several times apiece, including:
* Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez
* Autódromo José Carlos Pace
* Bahrain International Circuit
* Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
* Circuit of the Americas
* Fuji Speedway
* Nürburgring
* Sebring International Raceway
* Shanghai International Circuit
* Silverstone
Formula One has also visited the WEC's best known venue, the Circuit de la Sarthe, although the 1967 French Grand Prix, infamously known as the "Grand Prix of the Car Parks", used the "Bugatti Circuit".
==More Information==
For more information on the World Endurance Championship head to one of the following sites:
*Motorsport Wiki
*FIA WEC
*Wikipedia
==References==
Images and Videos:
*
References:
Category:Motor racing series
Category:Endurance racing