24h Le Mans
On Monday and Tuesday, the 19-strong Hypercar field gathered for the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) Prologue. An opportunity to cover some serious distance ahead of the 1812km of Qatar, the opening round of the 2024 season, scheduled for Saturday 2 March. So which marque went all out at the start of this new year? Here, we look at who did what.
With its two GR010 Hybrids, the Japanese manufacturer covered the greatest distance during the Prologue. Toyota completed 11 hours of testing and focused on fine-tuning its Hypercars. Lap times were not a priority as the #7 Toyota finished 13th overall while the #8 came in 15th. “It was fun to be back in the car and get the Prologue done, although it has not been an easy two days,” said Sébastien Buemi, driver of the #8 Toyota. “We did a lot of laps without issues, so in terms of reliability it has been positive, but we struggled a bit for pace. We have a day to look into all the data and look for improvements before the first practice sessions. We will work hard and see what we can achieve.”
The Italian team made the most of the Prologue to compare the set-ups and fuel loads of its 499Ps, with the overall aim of tuning the cars’ performance ready for Saturday’s race. During the final session, Ferrari simulated a few qualifying laps. The result was fourth place for the #50, ahead of the #51. The #83 Ferrari is entered privately by AF Corse. This car is thus competing in the FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams. It clocked the third-fastest time, but we haven’t included its laps in the total distance covered by the Italian marque.
The BMW M Hybrid V8 has now completed its very first laps in the FIA WEC Endurance World Championship. The two Hypercars run by Belgian outfit Team WRT covered a total of 527 laps, setting their best times in the final session. The #15 driven by Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello and Marco Wittmann finished tenth, 1.2 seconds behind the #5 Porsche, which recorded the fastest time of the Prologue. The #20 with Van Der Linde/Frijns/Rast at the wheel finished eleventh.
Peugeot was counting on the Prologue to build on the lessons learned last season and get the best out of the 2023 Peugeot 9X8, before the updated 2024 version hits the track at the next round of the FIA WEC, in Imola. In the final practice session, the 9X8s finished seventh and eighth, less than a second behind the #5 Porsche 963. “We learned a lot during the Prologue but where we are at compared to the other is hard to know as everyone tested different programmes,” admits Stoffel Vandoorne, driver of the #94 car. “We need to get all the piece together before the race. The track smoothness might help us but between the graining and the wearing, tyre management will be crucial.”
Alpine used the Prologue as an opportunity to get its A424 race-ready for its début in the championship. The drivers’ task was to check that the various systems were working as expected and to gather as much information as possible. Having completed 467 laps, the French manufacturers will now have plenty of precious data to work with. They were also able to observe the performance of the Michelin tyres. Unfortunately, however, the #35 suffered an engine problem yesterday morning. The two cars finished 14th and 15th in the standings, less than two seconds behind the #5 Porsche 963. “This Prologue was particularly exciting as it was the first official session of our project with the A424,” commented Nicolas Lapierre, driver of the #36 A424 alongside Mick Schumacher and Matthieu Vaxiviere. “Overall, things went pretty well, and we tried out everything we wanted on the car, energy management and tyres, but this hectic week has only just begun. We’ve learned a lot in different conditions over two days. We must quickly analyse all the data we’ve gathered now to fine-tune our set-up and prepare our strategy.”
Porsche says its two days of testing were “positive”. The two official 963s and the cars entered by the private teams (Hertz Team JOTA and Proton Competition) certainly maintained a brisk pace, even over long distances. The #5 car driven by Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen and Frédéric Makowiecki set the fastest time at 1:40.404. “You can’t read too much into the timesheets,” says Urs Kuratle, head of Porsche’s Hypercar programme. "We worked meticulously through the extensive to-do plan. We were only concerned with minimal issues – no drama at all. It was a successful test that once again boosted our confidence as we head into the new season.” .
The single Cadillac V-Series.R fielded this season was the only Hypercar to finish in the top 5 in each of the three sessions [participation in the first session was not compulsory]. It even set the second fastest time of the Prologue at 1:40.458, a gap of just 0.054 seconds with the #5 Porsche 963. “We’ll have a competitive package,” insists team leader Stephen Mitas. "We made some adjustments to strengthen some areas. We have a new strategy engineer (Elise Moury) who comes to the team with a lot of experience. The core of the team is the same and for good reason because the team did a fantastic job last year. That continuity helps. The more you learn alongside each other, the easier it is to operate together.”
Alongside Alpine, BMW and Isotta Fraschini, Lamborghini Iron Lynx has now officially made its FIA WEC début with the SC63. The marque headquartered in Sant’Agata Bolognese no doubt set out to gather valuable data and rack up experience. At the end of the Prologue, the #63 Lamborghini SC63 finished 16th overall, two seconds behind the #5 Porsche 963. Its Hypercar is driven by Mirko Bortolotti, Edoardo Mortara and Daniil Kvyat.
For Isotta Fraschini, the Prologue was an opportunity to learn more about the Tipo6-C and to give Antonio Serravalle, Carl Wattana Bennett and Jean-Karl Vernay some precious time behind the wheel. While Vernay was already involved during the car’s development, Serravalle and Wattana Bennett are newcomers. Their Hypercar has been entered with technical support from Duqueine Team, a French outfit that made a name for itself in LMP2. Although the car finished at the back of the Hypercar field during the Prologue, it improved its time by 1.7 seconds between the first and third sessions.
The teams in the Hypercar and LMGT3 classes will be back on track tomorrow for free practice ahead of the 1812km of Qatar. The race starts on Saturday 2 March at 11:00 local time (9 am in Paris).
