{"id":231115,"date":"2025-12-13T15:56:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T15:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/231115\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T15:56:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T15:56:12","slug":"wec-hypercar-systems-like-a-holiday-after-formula-e-complexity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/231115\/","title":{"rendered":"WEC hypercar systems \u201clike a holiday\u201d after Formula E complexity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nick\u00a0Cassidy<\/a>\u00a0says his move to the World Endurance Championship has been eased by simpler hypercar systems, which he claims is “like a bit of a holiday\u201d compared to Formula E machinery.<\/p>\n

Cassidy\u00a0will combine his Citroen<\/a> Formula E commitments with a full campaign in the WEC\u2019s top category at the factory Peugeot<\/a> team in 2026.<\/p>\n

It will mark just the second season in the WEC for the Kiwi, who previously raced a Ferrari 488 GTE for AF Corse in the final year of the GTE Am class in 2022.<\/p>\n

Modern LMH and LMDh prototypes remain complex in their own right, featuring hybrid systems that pair an electric motor with an internal combustion engine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But for Cassidy, learning hypercar software has been relatively straightforward after five seasons in Formula E, where drivers constantly manage energy, regeneration and a wide range of system settings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m just going to grow in confidence all the time, and I hope that I’m just going to continue improving. But I\u2019m happy with my initial level,\u201d he said following his second test with the Peugeot 9X8 in Bahrain.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of the complexities and systems, it’s probably 30% now of what we have in Formula E. So it’s almost like a bit of a holiday for me in terms of systems.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Nick <\/p>\n

Nick Cassidy, Citroen Racing<\/p>\n

Photo by: Beto Issa \/ LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Cassidy\u00a0arrives in the WEC with extensive experience in both single-seaters and high-downforce sportscars.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the second half of the 2010s, he raced in Japan\u2019s two biggest categories, winning titles in both Super Formula and Super GT\u2019s GT500 class before switching to Formula E in 2021.<\/p>\n

While the WEC\u2019s top class once featured the fastest prototypes in the world, current-generation hypercars are notably slower than the LMP1 machines they replaced.<\/p>\n

Asked to compare hypercars with the GT500s\u00a0he raced in the past,\u00a0Cassidy\u00a0said: \u201cI think the actual manoeuvring through traffic or the lap time difference to GT3 is similar. I hope that’s going to make the adaptation for [multi-class] racing easier. I’m quite comfortable with that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mechanical grip, the tyre grip and the downforce level is just quite a lot lower in hypercars. As a driver, you don’t have the feeling you are attacking the car. You’re almost driving on eggshells.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI’ve been very surprised by the lack of grip in hypercars these days, and the lack of downforce performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at hypercars now, not to sound negative, but compared to what I was used to in Super GT or Super Formula, it’s a different world.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s almost more in line with Formula E than the adaptation I’ve done in the past [when I first moved to Formula E after racing in Japan]. It helps me to have two categories that are similar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cassidy\u00a0faces a packed schedule in 2026 as he balances his new WEC programme with another season in Formula E. He is also adjusting to a new environment in the all-electric series after leaving Jaguar to join Citroen, which previously competed under the Maserati banner.<\/p>\n

Formula E commitments will occupy even more of his time as the year progresses, with manufacturers already starting to shift resources to Gen4 powertrain development<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old admitted time isn\u2019t on his side as he prepares for 2026, but credited Peugeot for helping him balance the two championships.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m blown away [by Peugeot]. They’ve been super great to work with, super kind in terms of understanding my schedule. Doing their best to integrate me with the almost limited time I have.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m trying at the moment to give full focus to two programs. But it’s true, with Gen 4 coming in Formula E, with the current season in Formula E, and making that move across, that’s been extremely busy. And obviously with WEC as well to integrate.<\/p>\n

“I’m short on time, in terms of days I can spend on simulators, in meetings and things. But I’m [working] five days a week across all programs for the last two-and-a-half months just to make sure I can be prepared for both championships.\u201d<\/p>\n

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– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nick\u00a0Cassidy\u00a0says his move to the World Endurance Championship has been eased by simpler hypercar systems, which he claims…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[18,123475,19,17,123473,123471,123472,82,123474],"class_list":{"0":"post-231115","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-formula-e","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-nick-cassidy","13":"tag-nicku00a0cassidy-wec-hypercar-systems-u201clike-a-holidayu201d-after-formula-e-complexity","14":"tag-peugeot-sport","15":"tag-technology","16":"tag-wec"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115713080690694970","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}