24h Le Mans
Ferrari AF Corse, Team WRT and Alpine Endurance Team are the winners of the 2024 Sustainable Endurance Award by DHL at the 24 Hours of Le Mans
Introduced by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest in 2021, the award acknowledge competitors’ commitment to Social & Environmental Responsibility. There were 22 entries this year. Ferrari took the overall Positive Innovation prize, while Alpine Endurance Team received the president’s prize and Team WRT were Highly Commended by the judging panel.
Ferrari’s CSR commitments are diverse. The team has adopted an overall sustainable approach to their FIA World Endurance Championship campaign to reduce its environmental impact and improve its social repercussions. Energy savings and waste reduction and recycling are two of the focal points.
This year, the brand’s VIP glampsite is based at the circuit rather than further afield, to cut down on transport. Last year’s refurbished shipping containers used for the accommodation are in use again this year, having remained on site, again to reduce transport.
Team kit and corporate gifts are all sustainably sourced or made from recycled materials.
The Casa Ferrari hospitality venue has a lift to enable access for all.
Alpine’s mechanical excellence contest (CEMA), which promotes meritocracy in the automotive sector, earned the French team the President’s Prize. Aimed at student and apprentice mechanics, it is designed to further equal opportunities and collaboration. Technical expertise and soft skills are of importance in the assessment.
Entrants are encouraged to stretch themselves. The winners are invited to join the Alpine teams to help design race car engines of the future, including the A424 Hypercar’s entered for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The Belgian team competing in Hypercar and LMGT3 this year supports the Fondation Arthritis. The charity is the leading source of private funding to support the emergence of high-quality research into rheumatism and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs).
Team WRT’s 24 Hours of Le Mans entries are donating to the cause and the team’s sponsors are contributing to the effort. The funds raised will help further research into gut peptidoglycan in juvenile idiopathic arthritis. A group of children affected by the disease are Team WRT’s guests at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this weekend.
The new Sustainable Endurance Award trophy was made in Brittany by Ewan Bryce, using responsibly and locally sourced wood. It symbolises the positive impact of the 24 Hours of Le Mans’s three-pronged approach to Corporate Social Responsibility.
