Through anecdotes and memories, 2021 Le Mans winner Kamui Kobayashi takes a look back at Toyota's history at the race as he visits the marque's temporary exhibit at the 24 Hours Museum.

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Racing drivers' gloves combine comfort, safety and performance as a true extension of the hand, a crucial component to feeling every vibration of the steering wheel as well as maintaining precise control. Jacopo Rubino, OMP representative, reveals their technological excellence.

<h2>A Direct Link to the Car</h2>

During endurance races, with drivers behind the wheel for long stretches of time, tactile feedback is essential. Jacopo Rubino, OMP representative:&nbsp;Gloves play a very important role in a driver&#39;s performance, even more so when put under stress in endurance racing. First and foremost, they must provide the best grip on the steering wheel and the best feel when using all the controls, to allow them to be operated as precisely as possible. Thanks to innovative materials and state-of-the-art design, gloves help&nbsp;drivers&nbsp;detect the smallest changes such as&nbsp;vibrations indicating tyre wear or a shift&nbsp;(even a subtle one) in the car&#39;s behaviour.

OMP, an Italian manufacturer of motorsport safety equipment founded in 1973 and based in the Genoa region, integrates&nbsp;silicone inserts in the palm to optimise grip. Ultra-light honeycomb technical fabrics also guarantee exceptional tactile feedback. These innovations offer unmatched sensitivity, essential for adjusting one&#39;s driving, even after several hours of racing.

<h2>Protection and Comfort: A Complex Alchemy</h2>

In addition to sensitivity, gloves play a crucial role in protecting hands from the risks inherent in motorsport, namely resistance to high temperatures, protection against flames&nbsp;and impact reduction. However, safety must not&nbsp;compromise comfort, an essential element in&nbsp;maintaining concentration.

Rubino: The glove must fit perfectly on the hand, and be light and breathable, without generating discomfort that can create pain and loss of concentration, affecting lap time.&nbsp;Technologies such as pre-curved fingers and&nbsp;external seams, introduced in the 1990s thanks to concerns rasied by&nbsp;legendary driver Ayrton Senna, remain benchmarks in comfort today.

Racing gloves have evolved considerably over the years. Advances in materials have made them&nbsp;lighter, more breathable&nbsp;and still able to meet the FIA&rsquo;s strict safety standards. Innovations such as angled cuts and elasticated cuffs ensure a perfect fit, reducing interference with driving.

Input&nbsp;from both amateur and professional drivers plays a central role in this evolution. At OMP, endurance races serve as a test bed to perfect the gloves, as evidenced by the models worn by teams like&nbsp;Lamborghini Iron Lynx in the Hypercar category, and&nbsp;Team WRT, Iron Lynx, Iron Dames and Akkodis ASP Team in LMGT3.

Drivers&rsquo; gloves aren&rsquo;t just about protection: they&rsquo;re an interface between man and machine. Through hours of development and innovation, companies&nbsp;like OMP strive to push the boundaries, allowing drivers to stay connected to their cars in&nbsp;the most demanding conditions. At Le Mans, where the slightest mistake can be detrimental, the&nbsp;balance between protection and feeling&nbsp;is crucial&nbsp;to translating&nbsp;performance into victory.

Drivers' gloves at the 24 Hours of Le Mans are all about comfort and protection

The French manufacturer has announced the six drivers who will represent the team in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) next season. Frédéric Makowiecki, former Porsche Penske Motorsport driver, joins the squad.

Next season, the two Alpine&nbsp;A242 Hypercars fielded by Alpine Endurance Team will be driven by&nbsp;Charles Milesi, Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg, Mick Schumacher, Jules Gounon&nbsp;and&nbsp;Fr&eacute;d&eacute;ric Makowiecki. The first four are back to build on last season&rsquo;s progress, joined by former reserve driver Jules Gounon, promoted to a full-time role. Fr&eacute;d&eacute;ric Makowiecki, formerly with Porsche Penske Motorsport, is the new addition to the team. The exact driver line-ups for each car and a preview of the #35 and #36 liveries will be revealed in early 2025.

Fr&eacute;d&eacute;ric Makowiecki is a household name in endurance racing and set to begin an exciting new chapter with Alpine.

With an impressive career in a number of high-profile teams, the French driver has excelled in both the GT and Hypercar classes, boasting four podium finishes last season. This development specialist, renowned for his technical expertise and racing acumen, will be a significant asset to the team.

 
His presence will be a real benefit as the A424 enters its next phase. &ldquo;I am extremely proud as a French driver.&nbsp;It&rsquo;s something special to represent a French manufacturer in the FIA World Endurance Championship with&nbsp;the possibility of aiming for an overall victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, especially as Alpine has a vibrant motorsport history. I truly liked the team&rsquo;s approach and development.&nbsp;Alpine improved and excelled in its first season against very tough competition. I&rsquo;m joining humbly, but I want to contribute to the team significantly. Doing everything better than everyone else will be crucial if we are to get over the final hurdles, and I&rsquo;m already looking forward to Qatar!&rdquo;

Having secured a commendable fourth place in the Hypercar manufacturers&rsquo; world championship in the A424s inaugural season, Alpine Endurance Team is now fully focused on its second FIA WEC campaign. Drawing from the experience and achievements from the eight rounds of the 2024 season, the French brand is <a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/alpine-endurance-team-firmly-focused-on-2025-59122" target="_blank">determined to&nbsp;edge closer to the front in 2025</a>.

Bruno Famin, VP Alpine Motorsports&nbsp;says,&nbsp;&ldquo;We have selected talented drivers who are not only fast but also have an exemplary analytical capacity and mindset. We are well acquainted with Charles Milesi, Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg and Mick Schumacher, all fully committed to the project. Our reserve driver Jules Gounon will become a full-time driver after preparing for this role over the past year. As for Fr&eacute;d&eacute;ric Makowiecki, his experience, feedback, and race craft will all be assets that will bolster our progress. Each driver brings unique potential, with a single ambition: to improve the team and the A424 as much as possible. We have formed&nbsp;a strong, close-knit group&nbsp;to build on the foundations of our first campaign, and the commitment of our drivers, coupled with their talent, will allow us to rise to the challenges that await us in the 2025 season.&rdquo;&nbsp;

Alpine unveils its 2025 driver line-up

Team Peugeot TotalEnergies has confirmed Théo Pourchaire as reserve and test driver for its FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) campaign.

After making a strong impression during the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/theo-pourchaire-the-peugeot-9x8-hypercar-is-a-great-drive-59116" target="_blank">FIA WEC Rookie Test&nbsp;in Bahrain</a>, where he drove the Peugeot&nbsp;9X8, Th&eacute;o Pourchaire has secured his place as reserve driver with Team Peugeot TotalEnergies for 2025, tasked with developing and preparing the Peugeot&nbsp;9X8 hypercars for the seasons ahead.

As part of his duties, Pourchaire will participate in private test sessions and&nbsp;assist in refining the 9X8&rsquo;s technical capabilities. His readiness to step into the lineup if needed also adds depth to the team&rsquo;s driver roster. Pourchaire expressed his enthusiasm:&nbsp;&ldquo;I am very excited to join Peugeot Sport as a development driver for the upcoming season; this is an incredible opportunity. I see it as a fresh start, as endurance racing is a new challenge for me.&nbsp;&nbsp;I really enjoyed the Rookie Test in Bahrain, which went very well. The PEUGEOT&nbsp;9X8 is a very powerful car, unlike anything I&rsquo;ve driven before. Endurance cars are highly advanced and cutting-edge in terms of technology, making them similar to Formula&nbsp;1 cars. Being a test driver is a fantastic opportunity, and I&rsquo;m grateful to Team Peugeot TotalEnergies for offering me this chance. I can&rsquo;t wait to begin this new role.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;

With this move, Team Peugeot TotalEnergies is bringing on board a driver with considerable single-seater experience, a significant benefit in the development of the French hypercar. Pourchaire takes over from Denmark&rsquo;s Malthe Jakobsen, who will take on a full-time racing role with the team in 2025.

Théo Pourchaire named reserve driver for Team Peugeot TotalEnergies

Toyota Gazoo Racing Technical Director David Floury looks back at the highlights of the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans and tells us how eager his team is to return to the top of the podium in 2025.

What did you feel while watching the official film of the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans and looking back on your journey this far?

David Floury: It was a hotly contested race. Ferrari AF Corse won the day and, once again, I congratulate them on their victory. Watching the official film, my mind cast back to the first time I came to the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a young boy. I remember marvelling at the cars and promising my big brother who brought me that I&rsquo;d be on the other side of the fence one day. I&rsquo;ll never forget my childhood dreams or where I came from. I&rsquo;m pleased to make a contribution to this spectacle so that others can dream.

This year, your two Toyota GR010 Hybrids failed to qualify for Hyperpole. What was going through your mind during qualifying?

DF: I&rsquo;m a competitor and it&rsquo;s true that qualifying was hardly the high point of the week for us. When you come to Le Mans, and you&rsquo;ve worked very hard all year to be ready for the race, it&rsquo;s quite frustrating to not qualify as well as we&rsquo;d hope. We nonetheless remained focused on what we had to do.

What do you need to do to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans again?

DF: We just need to climb one step further up the podium to win the race for a sixth time after 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. I could say we need a little luck on our side, but that&rsquo;s something we have no control over. We&rsquo;re going to work hard until next June to be in good shape to win the race. As a team, Toyota never gives up. We showed as much at the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain by picking up the Manufacturers&rsquo; title. We&rsquo;ll be in the same frame of mind in June 2025.

How does Toyota view its future commitment to the Hydrogen class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans?

DF: It&rsquo;s a topic we&rsquo;re examining closely and one we&rsquo;re already working on with the FIA, the ACO and other manufacturers. It&rsquo;s a real technological challenge. It&rsquo;s much greater than the hybrid challenge we overcame over ten years ago now. We&rsquo;re lucky to have the MissionH24 project already underway. Toyota has entered races in Japan with a Corolla GR H2. We&rsquo;re using this car as a learning tool. I can&rsquo;t give you an exact time frame for entering the Hydrogen class. However, it&rsquo;s a project that we hold dear. We fully intend to use racing as a platform to develop better cars.

David Floury: “As a team, Toyota never gives up”

When 2021 24 Hours winner and fastest pole-sitter Kamui Kobayashi (#7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid) visited the Toyota exposition at the 24 Hours Museum, naturally he stopped in front of the Toyota TS050 Hybrid, the car that won the race in 2018, 2019 and 2020. He also remarked on the aerodynamics of the 1999 Toyota GT-One before commenting on the engineer booth set up in the exhibition that allows visitors to experience the atmosphere at the edge of the race track. Kamui Kobayashi: "It is crucial for drivers to communicate with the engineers. There is a lot of stress involved in a 24-hour race. Obviously, you have to go to the pit wall at the end of your stint, but I need to rest. So we do a quick debrief, or rather we send a simple message to the engineers and then discuss the rest of the race together."

Kobayashi won the FIA Endurance Hypercar Drivers trophy this year with teammates Mike Conway and José María López.

Sneak a peek at the 24 Hours Museum Toyota exposition with Kamui Kobayashi in this video. The temporary exhibit will be on display until 22 February.

For more info, go to the <a href="https://www.lemans-musee24h.com/en/">24 Hours Museum</a> website.

24H LE MANS

Kamui Kobayashi checks out the 24 Hours Museum Toyota exhibition

Related News

Drivers' gloves at the 24 Hours of Le Mans are all about comfort and protection

Alpine unveils its 2025 driver line-up

Théo Pourchaire named reserve driver for Team Peugeot TotalEnergies

David Floury: “As a team, Toyota never gives up”

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