With the “two-car rule” for Hypercar manufacturers in the FIA WEC coming into force next year, Isotta Fraschini is pushing hard to find a solution to expand its Tipo6-C program.
Racing in a category featuring eight blue-chip manufacturers all pouring huge resources in was always going to take a lot of work for the revived Italian marque. But it remains as ambitious as ever ahead of the second half of its debut campaign.
In the background, significant progress has been made. The Duqueine- and Michelotto-supported team has made positive steps forward with the Tipo6-C, improved its operational capabilities and closed the performance gap to its rivals.
The team’s most impressive showing to this point, crucially, came at Le Mans last month. The Tipo-6C ran reliably for the entire race and finished 14th, nine laps down from the winning Ferrari but five laps clear of the LMP2 winner.
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“We made progress with reliability, but the car has been reliable since the beginning,” Isotta driver Jean-Karl Vernay told RACER. “We had an issue in Qatar when the suspension broke, but aside from that, we’ve never had any issues with systems, or the gearbox or whatever.”
“We finished Imola, Spa and Le Mans without any simulations or tests, so this shows you what the car can do. And the fact it was a great run at Le Mans validates that. We knew going in that if we crashed, we were done. But we drove the race normally. We just focused on improving the package, without taking too much risk, because if we broke the car we are not sure we would have been able to send it to Brazil in time.
“We need something to happen for us to score points, but we have shown it can happen. If we keep getting closer and closer and the BoP changes a little, we will see.”
The driver lineup, headlined by the experienced and rapid Frenchman Vernay, has received its fair share of scrutiny, but it too is improving. By no fault of their own, Antonio Serravalle and Carl Bennett, who share the car with Vernay, are young and new to prototype racing. Understandably, it’s taken them time to get up to speed with both the car and the level of competition in Hypercar. Every day is still a school day at this point, though Vernay feels that as a unit, they are taking strides every race weekend.
“My teammates are doing a pretty good job, because they don’t know most of the tracks and we haven’t tested,” he explained. “So they are maximizing practice sessions so they can learn. It’s encouraging. Performance is the area we are looking at now, and I think we are getting closer.
“It’s been very difficult to fight against big manufacturers, with top and experienced drivers, without any testing.”
So what about next year? Will Isotta find a way to return to the WEC grid in 2025, when a second car will be required?
The team had examined the potential to field two cars this season, but it was eventually seen as a step too far, too soon. Next year, under new leadership, things may be different. The team has just announced that program boss Claudio Berro will step aside. He will be replaced by CEO Miguel Valldecabres in 2025.
It will not be easy for Valldecabres to find a way to expand, in part because it will come with a significant price tag, but also because space on the grid will be at a premium even with the expansion to 40 cars. Beyond the current crop of factory cars, Aston Martin via Heart of Racing is set to bring two Valkyries, Lamborghini will scale up to running a second car with Iron Lynx, as will Cadillac with its as-yet-unannounced new service provider.
Hypercar manufacturers have been given priority for spaces on the grid to this point, but Isotta will likely need to justify its place on the grid if things get tight and the organizers are forced to choose between a pair of Tipo6-Cs and LMGT3 cars entered by a major OEM.
Should Isotta figure it out, the most likely scenario appears to be a two-car effort with Duqueine running both cars, rather than a second car run by a different team. Vernay — who along with his driving duties works for Duqueine Engineering as its LMP3 sales manager and played a key part in forging the partnership between it and Isotta — feels it is ready to step up.
“If Isotta is ready to make two cars, of course, we are happy to be involved and continue. We made sacrifices to make this happen and we want to continue. It would be stupid to do this for one year. To not be there in Year 2 or 3 doesn’t make sense,” Vernay said.
“We are making progress and next year should be much better than this year. We want to run the two cars because it makes no sense to run two teams. Now we have the experience, we know what to do. We won’t have the resources of brands like Porsche, but we can improve this car.
“We aren’t the ones who decide — it’s a collaboration. But if they are there with two cars we are going to be there to support it.”
The race to get on the grid next season starts in earnest this weekend in Brazil. There are four races remaining in the 2024 campaign and each one is set to be hugely important for Isotta Fraschini as looks to attract backers and prove its worth.