Romain Dumas (FRA) / Ryan Briscoe (AUS) / Oliver Pla (FRA) #708 Glickenhaus Racing, Glickenhaus 007. 17.03.2023. FIA World Endurance Championship, Round 1, 1000 Miles of Sebring, Sebring, Florida, USA. – www.xpbimages.com, EMail: [email protected] © Copyright: Price / XPB Images
Jim Glickenhaus told MotorsportWeek.com that he’s “not sure” whether there will be a place in future for privateers in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
“We’re fighting guys who are outspending us by 10 or 15 to 1. Guys who tested for 100,000 kilometres. We certainly can’t afford to do that, and, you know, whether or not there’ll be a place for privateers in the future, I’m not sure there will be. But we’re going to do our best this year and see how we do and have a good time,” Glickenhaus said prior to the 1000 Miles of Sebring last weekend.
That said, the American former film producer is delighted to be racing in the WEC this year. When asked if he was honoured to race Ferrari on equal terms in the same category, Glickenhaus replied: “Absolutely, I mean we’re honoured to be able to do that, but frankly, I’m more honoured or as honoured to race Toyota.
“Toyota is the greatest car company in the world. If you look at what they’re doing here and if you look at their cars, they’re going to win every race and Le Mans, and I think the season is going to be pretty dull!”
It’s well known that Glickenhaus have not tested the 007 LMH since its last outing at Monza in 2022, which caused the team to be off the pace at the 1000 Miles of Sebring last weekend. “The problem is, if you don’t have the money to test, you can’t get your car where it should be. There’s nothing that BoP [Balance of Performance] can magically fix,” said the 72-year- old.
Regarding next year, Glickenhaus remained vague on his team’s prospects. “It’s neither a final year or not. We’ll see how it goes and we’ll see if we’ve got sponsors. I think we could get sponsors a huge amount of publicity. I think we could have privateers join us with the lowest cost car, the lowest running cost, the lowest spares cost. Do those people exist? We’ll find out. If they do, fantastic. If they don’t, fantastic,” he said.
Keyword: Jim Glickenhaus ‘not sure’ if there’s a place for privateers in WEC’s future