本文为原文前 6,000 字符的节选翻译，完整内容请查看原文。

Software development and rules stability: Prototype racing in 2030

The rising tide that has been the Drive to Survive effect has lifted more boats in motorsport than simply Formula 1’s. Sportscar racing is enjoying its own surge in popularity internationally at races like Le Mans in France, but also in North America in IMSA’s WeatherTech Sportscar Championship.

“生存之旅”（Drive to Survive）效应带来的浪潮不仅提升了F1的地位，也让整个赛车运动受益匪浅。跑车赛事在国际上正经历着人气激增，不仅是在法国勒芒，在北美的IMSA WeatherTech跑车锦标赛中也是如此。

For one thing, multi-hour, multi-class racing lends itself better to the age of streaming and second screens than it did linear broadcast TV, and fans are taking advantage of that: IMSA’s audience grew by more than a third domestically and almost a quarter internationally last year.

一方面，多小时、多级别的赛事比传统的线性电视广播更适合流媒体和第二屏幕时代，车迷们也正利用这一点：去年IMSA的国内观众人数增长了三分之一以上，国际观众人数增长了近四分之一。

Having some of the coolest-looking cars racing today certainly helps, whether that’s the (mostly) hybrid prototypes or the GTs, racing versions of road-going cars from Porsche, Ferrari, and others. And it definitely helps that fan access at the races is virtually unmatched, with open paddocks and grid walks that now see huge crowds get up close to the cars just before the start of each race.

如今赛场上一些最酷的赛车无疑起到了推动作用，无论是（主要是）混合动力原型车，还是保时捷、法拉利等品牌的公路车赛车版GT。此外，赛事对车迷的开放程度几乎是无与伦比的，开放的维修区和发车区巡游让大批观众能在每场比赛开始前近距离接触赛车。

“I think we’re just scratching the surface,” said IMSA President John Doonan. “I think besides the people that are here on the ground, the people watching, people engaging with us on social media, I’m seeing the passion come out more. Just on the grid walk, these fans coming up and being so excited to be here.”

“我认为我们才刚刚触及表面，”IMSA主席约翰·杜南（John Doonan）表示，“除了现场观众、观看直播的人以及在社交媒体上与我们互动的人之外，我看到了更多的热情。就在发车区巡游时，这些车迷走过来，对能来到这里感到非常兴奋。”

The series has certainly been making an effort, among other things getting local high school students exposed to the industry and starting a partnership to train more mechanics with ASE. IMSA’s 2026 season wrapped up at the start of the month at Road Atlanta in Georgia.

该系列赛确实在努力，包括让当地高中生接触这一行业，并与ASE建立合作伙伴关系以培训更多机械师。IMSA的2026赛季于本月初在佐治亚州的亚特兰大公路赛道落下帷幕。

Although the 10-hour Petit Le Mans is now the regular finale, the race predates the WeatherTech series as well as its predecessor, the American Le Mans Series, first being held in 1998 after Elan Pharmaceuticals founder Don Panoz got a bright idea to invite the cars that raced at the French enduro to come here to the US.

尽管10小时的小勒芒赛（Petit Le Mans）现在是常规收官战，但这场比赛的历史比WeatherTech系列赛及其前身美国勒芒系列赛还要悠久。它始于1998年，当时Elan制药公司的创始人唐·帕诺兹（Don Panoz）突发奇想，邀请参加法国耐力赛的赛车来到美国参赛。

It worked and led to some classic races; no one who watched it could forget Allan McNish’s recovery drive in 2008, clawing back two laps after crashing on the way to the grid to hunt down and beat the Peugeots. (Don’t take my word for it, watch it for yourself.)

这一举措非常成功，并带来了一些经典赛事；看过2008年比赛的人都不会忘记艾伦·麦克尼什（Allan McNish）的追赶表现，他在前往发车区的路上撞车后，硬是追回了两圈，最终反超并击败了标致车队。（别只听我说，自己去看看吧。）

2026’s running was perhaps not quite an all-time classic. As often happens, weather played its part, suppressing the crowd size and making life complicated for the teams and drivers on track. Nearly four hours were spent neutralized behind the safety car, with 16 cautions that prevented this year’s race from ever really developing a rhythm.

2026年的比赛或许算不上史上最经典的一场。和往常一样，天气因素发挥了作用，抑制了观众人数，也让赛道上的车队和车手们处境艰难。比赛中有近四个小时是在安全车带领下中和进行的，16次黄旗导致今年的比赛始终没能形成真正的节奏。

The first half of the race was dominated by the Acuras, and the BMWs were also strong, but in the end victory went to one of the two Porsche 963s—believe it or not, the marque’s first prototype Petit Le Mans win (although in 2015 a slower GTLM Porsche 911 RSR managed to take overall victory).

比赛前半段由讴歌（Acura）车队主导，宝马（BMW）的表现也很强劲，但最终胜利属于两辆保时捷963中的一辆——信不信由你，这是该品牌在小勒芒赛中首次获得原型车组冠军（尽管2015年一辆速度较慢的GTLM组别保时捷911 RSR曾获得过全场冠军）。

This being the real world, things in sportscarland aren’t entirely easy. The war in the Middle East has disrupted both the World Endurance Championship—the series built around the 24 Hours of Le Mans—and a new Asian Le Mans series. And as always, at the top level, the sport is dependent upon manufacturer largesse, something that usually vanishes in the face of worsening economic outlooks.

现实世界中，跑车界的事情并不总是那么顺利。中东战争扰乱了世界耐力锦标赛（WEC，以勒芒24小时耐力赛为核心的系列赛）以及新的亚洲勒芒系列赛。而且一如既往，在顶级赛事中，这项运动依赖于制造商的慷慨投入，而这种投入通常会在经济前景恶化时消失。

Porsche cut its factory prototype program in half last year, parking the two cars it had campaigned in WEC and leaving just the two cars running in IMSA. Betting heavily on an EV transition that hasn’t come to pass, plus the effect of Trump’s tariffs on US-generated profits, are mostly to blame for the decision to pull back.

保时捷去年将其工厂原型车项目削减了一半，停用了其在WEC参赛的两辆赛车，仅保留了在IMSA参赛的两辆车。对尚未实现的电动汽车转型押注过重，加上特朗普关税对美国利润的影响，是导致其撤资的主要原因。

But Porsche is not the only one; Alpine announced earlier this year that it was retiring from the WEC at the end of this year. There were hopes that the program might be saved by Geely, the Chinese automaker that owns Lotus and Volvo. Sadly, just today it emerged that it’s unlikely to happen, and two more cars will fall off the grid at the end of the year.

但保时捷并非个例；Alpine今年早些时候宣布将在今年年底退出WEC。曾有人希望该项目能被拥有路特斯和沃尔沃的中国汽车制造商吉利拯救。遗憾的是，就在今天有消息称这不太可能实现，年底将有另外两辆赛车退出赛场。

Acura is also calling time on its GTP program in IMSA, preferring to focus its motorsports efforts on IndyCar. In doing so, it almost certainly means there will be no Honda presence at Le Mans in the near future, something many fans had hoped to see. Then again, the end of those other programs does mean room on the grid for others to join.

讴歌也结束了其在IMSA的GTP项目，转而将赛车重心放在印地赛车（IndyCar）上。这意味着在不久的将来，本田几乎肯定不会出现在勒芒赛场上，而这正是许多车迷所期待的。话又说回来，这些项目的结束也意味着赛道上有了其他车队加入的空间。

This year saw Genesis enter the WEC, and next year both Ford and McLaren are joining WEC as well. So the trajectory is positive.

今年捷尼赛思（Genesis）进入了WEC，明年福特和迈凯伦也将加入WEC。因此，发展轨迹是积极的。

One reg to rule them all? That all three factory efforts have chosen the IMSA-written LMDh technical regulations rather than Le Mans’ own Hypercar ruleset says something. Hypercar gives OEMs greater technical freedom, including the option to have all-wheel drive hybrid systems or use bespoke batteries, whereas the LMDh rules mandate common hybrid systems and gearboxes, as well as requiring each OEM to start with one of four approved carbon-fiber chassis.

一套规则统领一切？这三家工厂车队都选择了IMSA制定的LMDh技术规则，而不是勒芒自己的Hypercar规则集，这说明了一些问题。Hypercar为原始设备制造商（OEM）提供了更大的技术自由度，包括选择全轮驱动混合动力系统或使用定制电池的选项，而LMDh规则强制要求使用通用的混合动力系统和变速箱，并要求每个OEM必须从四种获批的碳纤维底盘中选择一种作为起点。

The lack of spec components in Hypercar was definitely a factor when Ferrari chose those rules for its 499P, as well as Toyota with the GR010 (now TR010) and Peugeot with the 9X8. Aston Martin’s road-derived Valkyrie, too. But going that route is more expensive than using some common parts, and is that extra cost even worth it when the cars all have performance balanced to roughly the same lap times anyw

当法拉利为其499P选择这些规则时，Hypercar中缺乏统一规格组件无疑是一个考量因素，丰田的GR010（现为TR010）和标致的9X8也是如此。阿斯顿·马丁源自公路车的Valkyrie也是。但走这条路比使用一些通用零件更昂贵，而且当所有赛车的性能都被平衡到大致相同的单圈时间时，这种额外的成本是否真的值得呢？