The forthcoming Isotta Fraschini Hypercar program continues to make steady progress behind the scenes ahead of its targeted debut in the FIA WEC later in the season.
Gary Holland, the team principal at Vector Sport, which will partner with Isotta to run the Hypercar program, which was first revealed last month, told RACER that the new Tipo 6 LMH Competitzione will undergo a shakedown test at the end of the month. If that proves to be successful then the car will begin its full test program. To this point, the car has been through extensive work on the dyno, with the feedback said to be all positive.
The intention for Isotta is to test the car and then request race-by-race entries for it later in the season. The aim is to debut the car in July for the brand’s home race at Monza, which is final European stop on the schedule.
In the meantime, Vector Sport is focused on running its full-season LMP2 class ORECA in the FIA WEC with Gabriel Aubry, Matthias Kaiser and Ryan Cullen. RACER understands that the LMP2 car will complete the season — the program won’t be affected by Vector’s commitment to competing with Isotta in Hypercar.
There is no news yet on who will drive the Tipo 6 LMH Competitzione. RACER understands that only Aubry and Kaiser are confirmed for the full-season in LMP2.
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Aubry spoke to RACER and says he is really pleased to be part of the program, in its second WEC season.
“I really like how this team operates,” the 24-year-old said. “It also has a lot of familiar faces, with guys from JOTA, Prema and Algarve Pro that I know well and worked with before. They have lots of experience and run the car very well, it allows me to focus completely on my driving.”
In preparation for Sebring the team spent three days testing, at Portimao and Paul Ricard, which Aubry says went well.
“We may not have a lineup of the biggest stars, but we should still be in the mix this season,” Aubry said when asked about the team’s goals this year. “We’d like to be regularly finishing in the top five in the second half of the season.”