24h Le Mans
Alpine, BMW, Lamborghini and Isotta Fraschini leapt into the Hypercar pool at the Qatar 1812 Km, the opening round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship season. So, did they sink or swim?
After a long development phase, the Alpine A424 competed in its first race at the Qatar 1812 Km. Despite clocking up over 2,500 km during the Prologue, Alpine Endurance Team approached the race with humility. The #35 Alpine ranked 14th in qualifying (less than 0.12s outside the Hyperpole places), three spots ahead of the #36 sister car. The former incurred a five-second penalty for a pit stop infringement during the race, while the latter suffered a contact with an LMGT3 contender. Nonetheless, both French hypercars reached the chequered flag. Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi brought the #35 home in eighth place. Nicolas Lapierre, Mick Schumacher and Matthieu Vaxiviere concluded the race in 12th position in the #36. As a result, Alpine stands in fifth spot in the Hypercar World Endurance Manufacturers’ Championship.
Philippe Sinault, Team Principal, Alpine Endurance Team: We knew it would be challenging to start with a ten-hour race on a new track, but we're happy with this performance. We ran a clean race and finishing with our two cars, including one in the top ten, is a nice achievement. Getting to the finish line with both crews enabled the entire team, from the mechanics to the engineers to the drivers, to learn a great deal about our technical and human package. I want to thank and congratulate every member of the team. Rarely have I seen people so committed to a project. The foundations are now in place after these ten intense days in Qatar. We've taken another step forward, but know there's still a long way to go. We must continue to learn and acquire expertise and experience in every area.
The Lamborghini SC63 fielded by Lamborghini Iron Lynx reached the finish line in its début FIA WEC race. The Italian manufacturer has shown that its hypercar is highly reliable and offers solid foundations on which to build throughout the season. Mirko Bortolotti, Daniil Kvyat and Edoardo Mortara managed to avoid any penalties in the battle with more experienced teams while enhancing their know-how with each stint. The emphasis was also placed on operational efficiency in the pits. The only setback was a suspension problem (encountered after the halfway stage) that cost the SC63 – based on a Ligier chassis – four laps. Mortara nonetheless completed a triple stint with relative ease, making the most of the mechanical issues affecting the #15 BMW and the #38 Porsche to take the chequered flag in an honourable 14th place.
Rouven Mohr, Lamborghini Chief Technical Officer: I am super happy that we have made the finish of our LMDh début. This is a very exciting moment for us because it was a big challenge and, at the end of the day, the result has shown that the team worked very well together, and the base performance of the car is there. For sure, we have to improve a lot to be more consistent and overall, I am very happy.
The BMW M Hybrid V8’s maiden race gave BMW M Team WRT food for thought regarding the work still to be done to achieve the pace required to rub shoulders with the Hypercar frontrunners. The #20 driven by Sheldon van der Linde, René Rast and Robin Frijns ended the race in 11th place. After losing an hour in the pits with a mechanical problem, the sister car driven by Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello and Marco Wittmann ended in 15th position.
Andreas Roos, Head of BMW M Motorsport: It certainly was not the season opener we all had wished for. It quickly became apparent that we couldn’t show the necessary pace in the race. This needs to be carefully analysed now and the necessary steps must be taken to extract the maximum. Very positively, in our first race together with BMW M Team WRT in FIA WEC, all procedures worked very well. We must now build on this because we aim to win races and championships.
The Italian marque is another FIA WEC newcomer. Despite its limited resources compared with Alpine, BMW and Lamborghini, the entire team – partnered by Duqueine for this Hypercar adventure – is highly motivated and has every intention of fighting all the way. Unfortunately, however, such strong spirit is not always enough when the racing gods have decided it’s not going to be your day. The #11 Tipo6-C driven by Antonio Serravalle, Carl Wattana Bennett and Jean-Karl Vernay was forced to retire after just six hours.
Antonio Serravalle: The team is improving the car performance at every session and I feel we will be by mid-season much more competitive. I want to thank everyone involved in this programme and am looking forward to improving even more with the Isotta Franschini Duqueine Group in the next round in Imola.
The newcomers now have six weeks to analyse the data collected and attempt to iron out the issues with their hypercars before the 6 Hours of Imola. In the meantime, enjoy the race highlights from the Qatar 1812 Km.
