Just three races remain in the 2024 WEC season and with teams already up and running in Austin for Lone Star Le Mans, it’s beginning to feel like crunch time in the Hypercar drivers’ and manufacturers’ title races. In the drivers’ points, it’s a …
Just three races remain in the 2024 WEC season and with teams already up and running in Austin for Lone Star Le Mans, it’s beginning to feel like crunch time in the Hypercar drivers’ and manufacturers’ title races.
In the drivers’ points, it’s a three-way battle between the No. 6 Porsche crew of Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor, Ferrari’s No. 50 trio of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen and the full-season duo in the No. 7 Toyota, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries. The No. 6 Porsche drivers hold a 19-point advantage out front and just 22 points separate them.
With 20 hours of racing to come and a total of 90 points still on offer, the leaders mustn’t be feeling comfortable. One bad result could change everything. One slip-up could undo the No. 6’s stunning run through the first five races of the season, which included a win, three second-place finishes and a fourth. It could also shake things up in the manufacturers’ standings, as Porsche leads Toyota by just four points and Ferrari by 17.
The pressure is on for all three contenders, but while one would expect Porsche’s crew to be feeling the heat the most in the Texas sunshine, this weekend appears to be most vital for Ferrari.
Within the AF Corse camp, the expectation is that, of the three circuits to come, COTA represents its greatest opportunity to score a second win this season. The nature of the technical, high-speed, 3.426-mile circuit is likely to suit the 499P more than Fuji and Bahrain, the two circuits where the team struggled the most last season.
Off the back of a tricky weekend in Brazil — where AF Corse’s contending 499P finished sixth and behind both the No. 6 and No. 7 — it’s become even more important to bounce back to prevent its chances of winning the titles from slipping away.
“It’s no secret that São Paulo was very difficult for us as a team,” No. 50 driver Nicklas Nielsen told RACER. “I think our car suits a track like this much better. Circuits with slow corners and rotation are where we struggle the most, so this is very important for our championship because what we have seen from Porsche is a good step from last year, and with Toyota, we know what they can do; it’s no surprise they are strong. I think they will be the most difficult to beat, actually.”
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Last time out, Ferrari debuted its first evo “joker” update to the 499P, which focused on improving aero efficiency, braking efficiency and cooling. Is this one of the circuits where Ferrari expects to make gains from the updates?
“It’s difficult to say,” Nielsen responded. “I was optimistic before Sao Paulo, but it was one of the worst races of the season for us. Yet if you look at the bigger picture, it’s clear it will have an impact. The most important race for us will be Fuji, which is so heavy on braking. That’s the hope.”
Ferrari was one of the Hypercar manufacturers that took part in a multi-day test at COTA over the summer in advance of the WEC’s first visit to Austin since 2020. Nielsen felt that experience gave him and the team an indication of what to expect from the Hypercar category’s first race at the Grand Prix venue, even though parts of the circuit have been re-surfaced since the running.
“Testing is always better than no testing and we will see,” Nielsen said. “What we expect is more grip in the race with the new surface, and that will suit our car well.
“We’re all just eager for it to start because this place is impressive. It will make for an interesting battle because you can lose a lot of time here through traffic. It’s going to be as exciting as it is important for us.”
For Molina, Fuoco and Nielsen who won Le Mans back in June, this has been somewhat of a fairytale season, but the task isn’t over and there’s no time to relax.
Nielsen in particular is well aware that he is presented with a rare opportunity. Not only can he become a Le Mans champion and world champion in the same season, he can also complete a journey with Ferrari that has seen him rise from single-make Ferrari Challenge competition, all the way to the top in sports car racing.
“I would never have imagined I could do this,” Nielsen concluded. “Winning the title would make it a perfect season for us, not just for us drivers, but for Ferrari. To win Le Mans and close the season with a championship would be amazing; it’s what we are trying to do.
“Just winning Le Mans was unbelievable. It took time to realize what we did and it’s very difficult to describe what I felt because it was such a big achievement. We haven’t really celebrated properly yet. We are waiting until the end of the year to do that.”
The FIA World Endurance Championship teams rolled out onto Circuit of The Americas for the first time in four and a half years with opening practice for Sunday’s Lone Star Le Mans. Matt Campbell ended up with the fastest lap of the session with the …
The FIA World Endurance Championship teams rolled out onto Circuit of The Americas for the first time in four and a half years with opening practice for Sunday’s Lone Star Le Mans. Matt Campbell ended up with the fastest lap of the session with the No. 5 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963.
Conditions were sunny and very warm for the first 90-minute session of the weekend, which was interrupted by a red flag for a stalled car, and then a full course yellow to retrieve the stranded No. 60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 of Claudio Schiavoni down at Turn 19. Race control added five more minutes of track time to the session near the end.
Antonio Fuoco was the first driver to crack into the 1m54s in his factory red No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari with a 1m54.118s, but he would soon be surpassed by the privateer No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari of Robert Kubica. The Pole set a 1m54.034s, his time also coming within the first 30 minutes.
But it wouldn’t finish as a Ferrari 1-2, as Oliver Rasmussen turned in a 1m54.051s in the No. 38 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche 963 — just 0.017s back of Kubica’s time.
Then, with less than two minutes left, Campbell set the fastest time at 1m53.574s, putting the factory Porsche on top. Rasmussen was third fastest in what was encouraging start to the weekend for the No. 38 JOTA crew, which is celebrating 50 years of Mobil 1 with a commemorative livery this weekend.
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The two factory Ferrari AF Corse 499Ps finished fourth and fifth — the No. 50 of Fuoco ahead of the No. 51 of Antonio Giovinazzi.
Alex Lynn was sixth fastest in the No. 2 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, just edging out Hypercar championship co-leader Kevin Estré in the No. 6 Penske Porsche that slotted in seventh, with Rene Rast eighth in the No. 20 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8. The No. 15 WRT BMW, and No. 7 Toyota completed the top 10 in Hypercar.
In LMGT3, the No. 55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 driven by Alessio Rovera was the fastest in this session with a 2m06.253s. The No. 88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang of Dennis Olsen landed in second position, 0.2s behind the class-leading car (2m06.475s). The sister car, the No. 77 Ford Mustang driven by Ben Barker, was third fastest (2m06.723s).
Further down in the LMGTE ranks, the No. 60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracán LMGT3 EVO2 had a difficult session as Claudio Schiavoni stopped on track at Turn 19 for an extended period because of technical issues.
It was a quiet session for the championship leading car, too. The No. 92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Aliaksandr Malykhin, Joel Sturm and Klaus Bachler was the slowest car in the session with a 2m08.421s set by Bachler after completing 34 laps.
Free Practice 2 starts this afternoon at 5:10pm local time.
This weekend is a significant one for TF Sport, representing Corvette on home soil at Lone Star Le Mans in the WEC’s first race at Circuit of The Americas since 2020. Up front in the LMGT3 class, it’s a three-way battle for the lead of the …
This weekend is a significant one for TF Sport, representing Corvette on home soil at Lone Star Le Mans in the WEC’s first race at Circuit of The Americas since 2020.
Up front in the LMGT3 class, it’s a three-way battle for the lead of the championship, with Manthey’s pair of Porsche sitting 1-2 in the standings and the No. 92 from Pure Rxcing holding a commanding 25-point lead after another win in São Paulo.
But the expectation is that this weekend’s six-hour race in the Texas sunshine will not be a walk in the park for either of the two 911s, or the title-contending No. 31 WRT BMW M4 LMGT3. There’s a lack of circuit knowledge to content with, success ballast to factor in and tweaks to the Balance of Performance, which should see the field tighten. The COTA circuit has also been resurfaced over the summer, making the weekend’s action a challenge for everyone.
While the title battle is in full focus with the season beginning to come to a close, there are plenty of additional storylines to follow in the category. With each passing race meeting it’s becoming more hotly contested as the teams new to the WEC and those racing with new cars grow into the season. There’s a not-so-orderly queue of teams now desperate to score a first win before the end of the season.
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One of these is TF, which has endured a challenging run through the first five races. The transition from Aston Martin to Chevrolet and the task of competing with a brand-new GT3 car was never going to be a walk in the park, but Tom Ferrier’s crew have stuck at it, balancing the team’s flagship WEC GT3 program with its European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series commitments.
“Everyone comes here happy and energized after a bit of a summer break,” Ferrier told RACER. “It’s been really hard this year. We do the same programs every year it feels like, but this time Asian Le Mans rolled straight into the additional WEC race at Qatar and the Prologue, which meant four weeks back to back, and in ELMS there was a doubleheader last year, so it’s been the same program but with more races. We’ve also done a lot more testing this year to get our heads around the Corvette.”
So far this year TF has a best finish of seventh at Imola with the No. 81 car of Tom van Rompuy, Charlie Eastwood and Rui Andrade. But Ferrier doesn’t feel that reflects the team’s progress. Regardless, priority one for this season was simply learning the ins and outs of the new car and building its relationship with GM and Pratt Miller.
“We’re taking steps forward,” Ferrier said. “We haven’t shown that in actual results, but in Brazil, for instance, we should have been P4 had we not had a drive-through, and that would have been a good result for us. We just need a big result on the board, and we hope here is where things change. Too often we’ve had flawless runs in practice and qualifying, then had issues in the race.
“You always have high hopes, and when we started off with pole in Qatar we thought, ‘Wow!’But we said going in, getting a podium in year one would make us happy and we wanted to be fighting for that at the end of the year. We never thought we’d come straight in and have it easy.
“The whole torque sensor addition for the class (for BoP purposes), for instance, has been tricky and created a lot of work. We felt like we were playing catch-up early on because some factories in the class had a bit of a head start with it (through parallel Hypercar programs which have been utilizing the devices since the category’s debut).
“The virtual energy aspect has really changed the in-race strategy too, because the stints are shorter, we are doing more stops and in WEC tire allocation is limited, so you have to be careful and experiment. But we are in a good place now.”
The results haven’t yet fully shown it but TF Sport is confident its pair of Corvettes are making progress with the LMGT3 learning curve. Motorsport Images
Behind the scenes, work has been ongoing throughout the season to improve the Z06 LMGT3.R, whether that be via updates to improve the car’s software and reliability, or via shared experiences with other Corvette customer teams.
Corvette Racing has been tactical at this early stage, providing a restricted number of customer cars for a set of teams who all compete in separate championships. By not pitting customers against each other, it enables them to have an open relationship.
“We’ve been doing group Zoom calls with Pratt Miller, AWA and DXDT between races, where we share information and discuss any issues we have,” Ferrier said. “That’s been so helpful at this stage.
“It makes for a really nice product. Pratt Miller and GM do so much in the background and that’s made it very positive in year one because we have had reliability issues and blind spots. But we’ve been working through it, every weekend the car receives updates and that’s been massive.”
This is just the beginning of what TF Sport hopes will be a long-term, successful partnership with GM. Plans for an expansion of its effort with Corvette are afoot following the delivery of a third chassis in June ahead of Le Mans. This third car will not only act as a test chassis going forward, it will likely be used for race programs outside of the WEC.
For starters, Ferrier hopes to use it in the Asian Le Mans Series over the winter, so he can compete for an automatic invitation to the Le Mans 24 Hours via success in the GT3 class that would guarantee a third Corvette on the grid for the biggest race of the year. Taking it to the ELMS for the first time in 2025 is also a possibility.
“It would mean more learning on the Goodyear tires and the torque sensors if we take the car to ELMS, which would boost our WEC program,” Ferrier explained.
Could appearances in IMSA to bolster GM’s presence at the big Floridian endurance races be on the cards?
“I’d like to, but probably not next year as we are focused on getting the WEC program right first,” he said. “Never say never though!”
Isotta Fraschini’s withdrawal of its Hypercar program from the remainder of the current WEC season means that two grid slots have effectively been freed up for 2025 if plans for a return come to nought. This is because the Italian brand would have …
Isotta Fraschini’s withdrawal of its Hypercar program from the remainder of the current WEC season means that two grid slots have effectively been freed up for 2025 if plans for a return come to nought. This is because the Italian brand would have been required by regulation to bring a second Tipo6-C to the grid. But that extra space doesn’t mean that next year’s entry will be a simple jigsaw to piece together.
With nine two-car Hypercar factory teams still looking set to contest the 2025 FIA WEC season (the current eight, plus Aston Martin), and the nine two-car LMGT3 efforts likely to continue, only four additional cars could be accommodated across the two classes for the expanded 40-car grid. And RACER understands that multiple parties are interested in a program.
Perhaps the most significant player comes in LMGT3, with Mercedes-AMG making it clear that it has customer teams ready, willing and able to fill those slots if called upon.
Earlier this summer Mercedes-AMG head of motorsport Christoph Sagemüller reiterated the brand’s desire to become an LMGT3 manufacturer in the future.
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“I would love to see the Silver Arrows back at Le Mans, and also in WEC,” Sagemüller said to RACER. “Nonetheless, it wasn’t up to us.
“We wondered, and we were prepared quite well to be there. But unfortunately, we didn’t get any spots. We are not part of this so far. But maybe we can be part of the future because it’s the goal. Mercedes-AMG belongs at Le Mans.
“There are many rumors, but it’s obviously because we are not part of the LMDh program – because we said we would focus first on our customer racing GT prograe. But I don’t know the reasons behind it – so this is up to the ACO. We are in good discussions with them, and can only hope that we can get some spots in the future.”
Who else is in the running at this stage?
On the LMGT3 front, Mercedes-AMG appears to be the only current new taker and with HERTZ Team JOTA switching to Cadillac to run the factory program, two of the four current privately-entered Hypercars are removed from the reckoning. In the privateer field, this leaves the returning No. 83 AF Corse 499P which, according to Ferrari management, is expected to return for a second campaign, and Proton Competition’s solo Porsche 963.
Proton, it seems, may be targeting more than a single top-class entry now. Team principal Christian Ried told RACER last week in Spa that the ideal program for the team would be two cars in LMGT3 with Ford and a pair of 963s in the FIA WEC Hypercar class, subject to commercial and driver deals being made.
Beyond its two-car Hypercar ambitions, Proton is also targeting a return to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. This would be with a single Porsche in GTP for the Endurance Cup rounds, at least.
Ried explained that in the wake of the switch by JOTA away from the privateer ranks and Isotta’s demise, significant driver interest is coming Proton’s way for 2025, adding to its prospects.
With those scenarios continuing to play out, Proton is actively working to double up its Hypercar effort. It is in conversation with the FIA WEC organizers about it being accommodated in the entry with an expanded program.
Should Proton receive two Hypercar entries and everyone else return as expected, that would make 39 cars and leave just a single space on the grid. This would present an issue for a Mercedes-AMG entry, because on the face of it, that space is unlikely to be filled by a single-car LMGT3 program from a new brand, which would make the category uneven.
Industry sources have also suggested that a significant single-seater team has shown significant interest in taking over the Isotta Fraschini program, but at present, this appears to be a plan that has not progressed past exploratory talks. Michelotto remains keen to see if it can source a program for its LMH platform, or a buyer for the IP associated with the car’s design.
Add into the mix the fact that at least one additional current prototype team is understood to be targeting a privateer Hypercar entry in 2025 (though it is not clear whether a chassis will be available) and yet again the selection committee is left with a number of scenarios it must consider before making a final decision.
Even with an expanded grid and no plans for LMP2 to return, the championship’s current upward curve continues to cause headaches for those in charge of putting the field together. Next year’s field will almost certainly be oversubscribed.
For the two French manufacturers in Hypercar – Peugeot and Alpine – the final leg of the 2024 WEC season presents a significant opportunity. Both are looking to generate some positive momentum ahead of what looks to be a crucial off-season for their …
For the two French manufacturers in Hypercar – Peugeot and Alpine – the final leg of the 2024 WEC season presents a significant opportunity. Both are looking to generate some positive momentum ahead of what looks to be a crucial off-season for their programs.
There’s no doubt about it, it’s been a challenging season for both, but for different reasons. These are two programs at completely different stages, fighting to make their mark racing in what is by far the most competitive top class in WEC history.
Peugeot TotalEnergies appears to be under the most pressure. It is coming to the end of its second full campaign with the 9X8, and despite switching to its 2024-spec car at Imola, has regularly struggled to compete at the sharp end of the field.
The new-look challenger, with its shift in aerodynamic concept and tire sizes, made its debut at Imola after a highly encouraging but ultimately heartbreaking Swansong for the old car in Qatar. There, the No. 93 fought for victory before hitting trouble in the closing minutes.
At that time things were looking up, the start of the season was head-turning and the promise of a new and improved 9X8 was reason for optimism. However, since the switch, Peugeot’s fortunes haven’t changed and the results of its development work over the off-season have been mixed at best.
On one hand, the 9X8 is more reliable and the drivers feel it gives them more confidence behind the wheel – it’s a more predictable car to drive. On the other, the team has struggled to extract outright pace and find consistency over a full race distance. Through four races the new car has a best finish of eighth in Sao Paulo.
Back in May, Linda Jackson – Peugeot’s CEO – praised the marketing value and return on investment that the WEC presents, referencing a spike in road car sales before, during and after the centenary Le Mans 24 Hours in 2023. But the harsh reality is that programs like this one will not be signed off by board members indefinitely if the results aren’t there.
Expectations at Peugeot are sky-high for its Hypercar project, yet it has been winless since it joined the grid at the tail end of the 2022 season.
“For the fans, for us, for the return on investment, to be honest, we need to win something,” Jackson said. “It’s time to deliver. It’s a very important investment. And, we decided to focus on the WEC we are not present elsewhere. Now is the time.”
The 2024-spec car’s journey so far featured Le Mans, the most important race for the team due to its prestige and location. Peugeot hoped its work to update the 9X8 would vault it into contention on home soil and see it compete for a fourth overall win.
But it didn’t work out that way and while both 9X8s finished the race, they failed to make an impact, coming home 11th and 12th, two laps down. That performance and subsequent struggles at Sao Paulo resulted in further frustration for its drivers.
Jean-Eric Vergne, who drives the No. 93, was both deflated and frustrated when he spoke to RACER after failing to make Hyperpole that weekend. He made it clear he feels that Peugeot needs more than just a favorable BoP change to become a contender.
“We don’t have performance,” he said. “We did the best we could. Set-up wise, plan wise, we are doing our best but we are just slow. We are losing time everywhere.
“It’s not getting better. It’s very frustrating and I don’t really know what to say. There’s no reason behind our extremely poor performance. We just aren’t quick enough.
“Our performance has nothing to do with Sao Paulo. Le Mans wasn’t great, Spa wasn’t great, Imola wasn’t great. It’s very difficult and it’s hard for the guys that do such a good job in our team. It doesn’t matter who you put in the car, you can’t go faster than this. It’s not the mechanics, drivers or engineers that are at fault.
“We need a better car. The car needs to change, 100 percent. There is nowhere to hide anymore.”
Peugeot has struggled in relation to its Hypercar rivals. JEP/Motorsport Images
A day later, the race itself proved to be kinder to the 9X8s, but still, they were no match for the likes of Porsche and Ferrari and certainly not Toyota, which dominated the race.
The No. 93 ran towards the front – but out-of-sequence – for much of the race before finishing eighth. So, with the race at CoTA just days away and visits to Fuji and Bahrain looming, where does Peugeot go from here?
Peugeot managed to test in Austin ahead of Lone Star Le Mans over the summer and took part in the Michelin tire test focused on the new Hypercar compounds, which were due to debut in 2025 but have been delayed to 2026
Peugeot has also announced another tweak to its driver roster ahead of what it hopes will be a more fruitful 2025 season. Gone is Nico Mueller who is off to Porsche (via Andretti in Formula E) for a fresh start, in is Malthe Jakobsen, who has been promoted rapidly from junior, to reserve and now a full-time driver.
The young Dane will become a Hypercar factory driver next year at age 21 and if his performances in an LMP2 car over the past two years are anything to go by, he will serve as an injection of fresh, positive energy.
Olivier Jansonnie, Peugeot’s technical director, knows that turning the program around will not be easy though. It needs to do more than freshen up its driver roster.
While there are no opportunities to debut any further updates to the car before the end of the current season due to the logistical constraints caused by the flyaways, developments are being explored for the 2025 season.
Speaking with RACER after the race in Brazil, Jansonnie gave a pragmatic assessment of the current situation.
“We didn’t have the pace to be at the front (in Sao Paulo). We knew tyre strategy would be paramount. But overall we executed a good strategy and we got the best out of our package,” he reflected. “That’s a positive. But we have to find more performance in the car. That’s for sure.
“There’s no reason why we can’t extract more pace. We are missing grip overall, that’s clear and we have ideas and options to fix it. We just need time to test.
“It’s difficult to improve during race weekends because practice is short and when you go to new circuits you are learning. I agree that we need to find pace in most areas. But I believe that will come from testing and set-up work.
“When you look at the timing of the season, the races are close so it’s unlikely we can bring something new for this season. But for sure we are thinking about what we can do during the winter in time for next season.
“For now we look to the final races.”
Meanwhile, at Alpine, the mood surrounding the program has its similarities and differences. Like Peugeot, its home race in June was a huge disappointment, but this is a younger project and it feels like there’s plenty more to come from the A424 ahead of its sophomore season next year. In general, there is more optimism to be found.
Of the new crop of Hypercar factories in 2024, you could argue that Alpine has shown the most promise. Look at the standings and the full-season No. 35 duo of Paul-Loup Chatin and Charles Milesi sit 15th, ahead of the two BMW crews and both the Lamborghini and Isotta trios, after points scores at Qatar and Spa.
There is still work to be done before Alpine can contend for race wins, and the disastrous outing at Le Mans has posed questions about the team’s engine package that still require answers. But, there is quiet optimism in the camp that the 2025 campaign will be a stronger one, with the French marque aiming to follow in Porsche’s footsteps and take a big step after its first year of competition.
Speaking with Alpine Endurance Team boss Philippe Sinault ahead of Alpine’s first race with the A424 in the USA, he made it clear he feels the team’s performances this year have been in line with his pre-season expectations – Le Mans aside.
Reliability has been a weakness for the A424, and the car has proven to be sensitive to different circuit styles. Sinualt rightly pointed out though that it is still early days for the project, which made its debut in Qatar after a test program that wasn’t as comprehensive or lengthy as he would have liked.
Nevertheless, the French brand is here with an ORECA-based challenger that looks the part, sounds the part, and has real potential to turn heads in the not-so-distant future.
“The expectation stays the same, even though Le Mans was not like we expected,” Sinault said ahead of the final leg of the 2024 season, We have to keep optimizing the time we have on track to build up knowledge and understanding of the car to be ready to fight at the front in 2025.
Reliability has been Alpine’s Achilles heel. JEP/Motorsport Images
“It’s not a lack of ambition, we are just growing step by step. We are closer to the others now, the gap is six, seven-tenths, and if we want to progress we have to keep finishing races.
“It’s important to understand that we had two options with a new car and a new program,” he continues. “We could have either tested alone to understand the car or enter it immediately for competition. We made the second choice, we were brave and we have to accept that sometimes we have issues. We feel the best way to understand a car and progress is to compete. That’s why we are here.”
While the car’s debut at Qatar was its most impressive showing so far, with the No. 35 finishing an impressive seventh overall and in the points, the opening phase of the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours, unfortunately, lives longer in the memory.
Alpine headed into Le Mans with high hopes, but these were quickly dashed when terminal engine issues saw both of its cars retire with the same root cause before 10 pm on Saturday night.
“It was huge, it was intense,” Sinualt reflected. “We learnt the most about the car there, even though we finished the race so early. We took a lot of experience from the week before, during testing and practice.
“It’s a young project, we identified that our issue could happen. We had issues of this type before but not before 24 hours of testing, not that early. It surprised us that after five hours we had these issues.
“We identified the trouble. Now we will react with some inputs into an update but it’s too soon to say if it will be in a joker loop or not. We can’t make changes now, we just have to adapt the way we use the engine.
“Le Mans is key to the project, the foundation is there. After Le Mans, we remain convinced that the package is perfect.”
Sinault explained that the problem has been identified and is being managed. A permanent fix is being evaluated, and the determination needs to be made if it requires a ‘Joker’ (update). Depending on how it all comes together, the change will be made in either “September, October or 2025.”
“Everyone has worked hard to prevent this issue from happening again,” he says. “It’s too early (now) to make big changes and play ‘Jokers’. The main part of the improvements to the car will be on this side with the team.
“The package and the base are really good. We are close to the others with very low mileage. So we prefer to say at the moment that we have to work well as a team. We have identified items that could be better but there’s no time for this at the moment.”
With the summer break now over, the remaining races present interesting challenges.
“Our car is a low downforce car at the moment,” Sinualt said. “If we want to progress, we have to work on tracks with different profiles, and the end of the calendar has three very different tracks. It’s going to give us a clear view by the end of the season. On low downforce tracks, we are okay, we’ve made progress with the brakes and TC and so on.
“The freight between Sao Paulo and COTA means we haven’t had the opportunity to book tests in Europe. But we have identified some subjects in terms of management of the engine and MGU and so on, and we are working on that.
“It will be an intense autumn and winter program because we have to summarize all our information and make some improvements. Maybe we will play some ‘Jokers’, we don’t know, but the winter will be the right time to prepare for 2025, not now.
“You never know how it will play out, but we expect to take steps with the car and keep the same drivers (for 2025). We have created a foundation with them.”
Isotta Fraschini’s Tipo6-C LMH Hypercar has withdrawn from the FIA WEC ahead of Lone Star Le Mans next week, with the revived Italian marque pulling its car from the forthcoming races at CoTA, Fuji and Bahrain. This news comes just days before the …
Isotta Fraschini’s Tipo6-C LMH Hypercar has withdrawn from the FIA WEC ahead of Lone Star Le Mans next week, with the revived Italian marque pulling its car from the forthcoming races at CoTA, Fuji and Bahrain.
This news comes just days before the WEC teams arrive in Texas ahead of the sixth round of the 2024 season at COTA in Austin, where the car is currently being shipped. Isotta pulling out means the entry list has been reduced to 36 cars for the race.
It also comes ahead of the two-car mandate for Hypercar manufacturers coming into force for 2025, which would require Isotta to scale up its program to two cars via either a second factory car or a customer car.
In addition to stating a wish to return to the WEC in the future, Miguel Valldecabres, who took over as Isotta CEO last month when Claudio Berro departed the company, said:
“We are immensely proud of our achievements in our debut season.
“Competing in the WEC has been an incredible honor and experience, with the 24 Hours of Le Mans being a particular highlight. This very difficult decision has not been made lightly, but it allows us to build on our successes, fostering the growth of our brand and the development of our products in both the racing and Hypercar markets.
“As a new manufacturer with great ambitions, not continuing in the WEC 2024 season is a strategic obligation to conserve our resources and ensure the continuity of our project.
“Despite this difficult setback, we are excited about the future. Our journey as a performance brand continues, and we are eager to achieve new milestones.”
RACER also believes that behind the scenes, Michelotto – which designed the car – has been working hard to save the program, attempting to sell the design to prospective manufacturers looking to join Hypercar in the future, but so far without success.
The racing career of the Isotta Fraschini Tipo-6 Competizione has numbered just five races, all in the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship. The team managed three finishes, the best of which was at Le Mans where the car finished 14th overall and just one position outside the Manufacturers World Championship points.
Isotta is believed to be restructuring its motorsports business, leading to the withdrawal.
This story has been updated since its original publication to include additional information.
Porsche is exploring opportunities for Nico Mueller alongside Formula E following his signing to the manufacturer’s factory driver roster. The manufacturer confirmed his signing on Wednesday, a day after he was announced as a race driver for …
Porsche is exploring opportunities for Nico Mueller alongside Formula E following his signing to the manufacturer’s factory driver roster.
The manufacturer confirmed his signing on Wednesday, a day after he was announced as a race driver for customer team Andretti. But while his move to Porsche will initially have him placed at Andretti – which is not only a paying customer, but enjoys a close relationship with Porsche in Formula E – Porsche has also left the door open for him to race in other categories.
“Whether and in which other racing series Nico Mueller will compete for Porsche Motorsport is currently being planned and will be announced at a later date,” Porsche motorsport said in a statement.
Thomas Laudenbach, vice president of Porsche Motorsport, added: “We are delighted to welcome another professional with such extensive and varied motorsport experience to our squad. Nico has already successfully demonstrated his skills in various challenging racing series. Among other things, he has won the Nurburgring 24 Hours and was twice runner-up in the DTM.
“We initially expect his expertise in formula racing to play a crucial role for Porsche’s Formula E program. We will announce at a later date whether and in which other series Nico will also drive for Porsche.”
The Swiss driver previously dovetailed his Formula E commitments with Abt Cupra with a drive in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Peugeot, a role he vacated ahead of his Porsche signing. He is rumored to be in line for a drive in a Porsche 963 next year, though in a customer car, in a similar vein to his Andretti Formula E role.
Mueller, who tested with Porsche’s Formula E operation after the Diriyah E-Prix earlier this year, described joining the Porsche fold as “a childhood dream come true for me”.
“When I first came into contact with Porsche, I immediately realized: this is something very special,” he said. “As a racing driver, Porsche is the brand you look up to. To be able to represent Porsche now is a great honor that fills me with a great deal of pride.”
FIA GTE Am world champion Ben Keating is set to return to the FIA WEC for his home race at Circuit of The Americas on Sept. 1. The Texan, who has been competing full-time in IMSA’s LMP2 class this year with United Autosports, features on the event’s …
FIA GTE Am world champion Ben Keating is set to return to the FIA WEC for his home race at Circuit of The Americas on Sept. 1. The Texan, who has been competing full-time in IMSA’s LMP2 class this year with United Autosports, features on the event’s provisional entry list in LMGT3. He will take up the third seat in Proton Competition’s No. 88 Ford Mustang, which was previously filled by Giorgio Roda until São Paulo, where team owner Christian Ried stood in on short notice.
Keating has already featured in a WEC race this year, as part of United Autosports’ effort at the Le Mans 24 Hours in the LMP2 class. However, this will be his first regular WEC race outside of Le Mans since the 2023 season finale in Bahrain last November. There he drove with Corvette Racing in what was the final race for GTE cars globally.
The only other change on the provisional 37-car entry list comes in Hypercar. Harry Tincknell will rejoin Proton’s Porsche lineup alongside Neel Jani and Julien Andlauer after missing the trip to Brazil. That weekend he took part in the IMSA race at CTMP.
Lone Star Le Mans will be Tincknell’s fourth WEC race of the season with Proton. He also missed Round 3 at Spa.
Sitting in the press conference room at Daytona back in January of 2020, when IMSA and the ACO first revealed the global LMDh concept, paving the way for the “convergence” of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance …
Sitting in the press conference room at Daytona back in January of 2020, when IMSA and the ACO first revealed the global LMDh concept, paving the way for the “convergence” of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship’s top categories, it was hard to imagine how it would play out. It all sounded great, but would it work?
That day, senior representatives from the sport’s governing bodies and manufacturers described the LMDh reveal as a “game changer,” “a sensible approach,” “enormous,” “huge” and “historic.” Yet nobody truly knew where things would lead, or whether manufacturers would come in numbers when when the ruleset debuted globally.
Fast forward four years and we have a growing IMSA GTP field that will feature six factories next year and a WEC Hypercar grid with almost 20 full-season cars from nine manufacturers. It’s taken off and the task at hand is now very different.
Before, the focus of the rule-makers was to build the grids, attract new manufacturers and encourage investment for the future. Now, it’s about sustaining what we have and building an audience for on-track products that have never looked better.
Looking specifically at IMSA, it’s fair to say that within the castle walls the level of growth that the WeatherTech Championship is experiencing is currently exceeding all expectations. IMSA President John Doonan is buoyed by recent progress, yet remains far from complacent.
This astonishing era of convergence in sports car racing is peaking, and fast. Crowds are attending races in record numbers on almost a weekly basis and broadcast viewing figures are on an upward curve globally.
But Doonan knows as well as anyone that it can all change in a heartbeat. This is an area of motorsport which is cyclical by nature, with manufacturers coming and going as rulesets evolve. Right now we are in the midst of an era that will be looked back on fondly for decades to come, yet champagne celebrations are not a weekly feature at head offices. Nobody at IMSA is under the illusion that it will last forever.
As a result, the hard work hasn’t stopped and is ongoing behind the scenes to build the audience for IMSA’s WeatherTech Championship and its support series. The foundations are important — they need to be as strong as possible so any and all future storms can be weathered.
IMSA’s revitalization in the LMDh era has gone hand in hand with a concerted push into digital media. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images
A great example of IMSA’s forward thinking came back in March, when it began streaming races for free on YouTube at Sebring for fans outside the U.S. IMSA didn’t promote this addition to its broadcast offering that week; instead, it was a soft launch. The powers that be wanted to see what would happen if broadcasts were placed on its channel — which has a following of more than 350,000 people and potential for growth via “the algorithm” — with no promotion.
It was, quite literally, an overnight success. The live race broadcast for the 12 Hours now sits on the IMSA Channel with 542 thousand views and prompted the decision to add YouTube as a permanent home for race broadcasts alongside its desktop platform and app.
With moves like this, IMSA is seizing the moment. The WeatherTech Championship may be based in the U.S. (with the exception of the annual race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park), but the “I” in IMSA stands for “International” and as time goes on, growing and servicing the championship’s global fan base is becoming more of a priority.
“With convergence, sports car racing is in the spotlight more than at any point we’ve seen in our careers,” Doonan explains to RACER. “When we moved to YouTube at Sebring, for the oldest endurance race in America, we had about 500,000 viewers live at the peak during that broadcast. We had high hopes, but that was beyond what we thought was possible.
“The North American market is incredibly important to our OEMs, our drivers, and our partners. IMSA is the largest ‘international’ racing series in North America. Those two points, coupled with the fact that we have 18 manufacturers choosing to compete with us and dozens of drivers from all around the world on our grid, means that getting our IMSA product and broadcasts in front of a growing international audience is incredibly important.”
Balancing the needs and expectations of fans alongside those of OEM principals like GM’s Todd Christensen (right) is critical to the growth strategy being executed by IMSA President John Doonan. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images
Post-Sebring, the data has continued to provide encouraging signs. The audience outside the USA didn’t just tune in for the race with the highest profile and bolt. Instead, Doonan revealed, fans have stayed put, making for a remarkable statistical jump year on year.
“We had 4.3 million hours watched on YouTube in 2023, and through the year to date so far we’ve had 15 million hours watched. It’s a special opportunity for us and we’re really happy,” he says. “It’s making our manufacturers and partners happy too. The North American market has been named by almost every single manufacturer as the most important market for them when it comes to growing a brand.
“But with 18 manufacturers, their global headquarters may not be in the USA — they may be elsewhere. So, giving their executive teams — and people in the boardroom who agree racing is a proper marketing tool and an R&D tool — an easy way to view the races and see their return on investment is critical.
“Alpine (a target for IMSA in GTP going forward) is a tremendous example. They want to come to the U.S. and sell road cars. If you bring the racing program as part of the brand launch, it’s an authentic way to launch a brand. To do that you need lots of elements, retail locations and a distribution network, but you need awareness more than anything else. What better way to get that than via showing the public what you can do on track?”
Michelin has decided to delay the introduction of its new FIA WEC Hypercar and IMSA GTP class tires by a year, to the start of the 2026 season. The French tire manufacturer’s decision comes in the wake of a test with the new rubber at Circuit of The …
Michelin has decided to delay the introduction of its new FIA WEC Hypercar and IMSA GTP class tires by a year, to the start of the 2026 season.
The French tire manufacturer’s decision comes in the wake of a test with the new rubber at Circuit of The Americas last week, which formed part of a multi-day run at the Austin-based circuit for the majority of the WEC’s Hypercar manufacturers ahead of Lone Star Le Mans.
According to Michelin, several reasons led to the delay, including the fact that its dry tire test program in Europe earlier this year at the Autodromo do Algarve was severely disrupted by adverse weather.
A company spokesperson also told RACER that strategically, Michelin feels there is no need to move quickly to a new range due to the capabilities of its current offering and believes that this move will give its engineers ample time for fine-tuning.
“Michelin is currently developing its new range of Pilot Sport tires for endurance racing,” Michelin endurance racing program manager Pierre Alves said in a statement supplied to RACER. “The aim of this future range is to improve warm-up, particularly on harder compounds, while improving consistency and durability. The new tires will also contain more renewable and recycled materials. Initially scheduled for introduction next season, the new range will finally hit the track in 2026.
“In agreement with all its partners and the sporting authorities, Michelin has decided to take more time, as there have been fewer test opportunities this year than expected.
“The current Michelin Pilot Sport Endurance range is perfectly suited to the requirements of the FIA WEC and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship grids and has already been integrated into the BoP process. So, we’re going to continue with it in 2025.”
The debut of the new tires is now expected to take place in January 2026 at the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona.
