From the free practice sessions, we felt that the German prototypes were a cut above, thanks in particular to excellent tire performance and the possibility of double or even triple stints on the same tires, thus gaining precious seconds in the pits. . The #6 of Kevin Estre, André Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor won, more than 30 seconds ahead of the #12 Jota of Will Stevens, Callum Ilott and Norman Nato, while the #5 of Penske Porsche Motorsport of Campbell, Chrstiensen and Mackowiecki complete the podium. The No. 5 having been delayed by punctures at the start of the race, the No. 6 led a large part of the debates. With a Bop which was lenient for the Porsche, the times were telling and could quickly lead to a revision, because the three 963s on the podium were the only ones in the race to achieve the best lap under 1’41.
Disillusionment for Peugeot
But this hat-trick was not to take place, with still 1 lap to go, since the No. 93 Peugeot 9×8 of Jensen, Nico Mülle and Jean-Eric Vergne had held its second place for several hours, after even leading briefly in the first quarter of the race. Before giving way to an advanced 9×8, the 1st generation of the Lioness was well on its way to a successful exit, helped, it is true, by the Bop which made the 9×8 the lightest on the board and also the lightest. powerful.
At the end of the race, JEV was holding the JOTA Porsche and the No. 5 Penske at bay, when a mechanical incident suddenly slowed down the French hypercar on the penultimate lap, which made us a “Toyota 2016”. JEV had to do a “reset” and the 9×8 dragged on to finish its race, painfully, in 7th place. Infuriating! Clearly, the reliability was not there for this car!
Endurance as comfort for the Arrowhead
To give some comfort to French fans, after a not very glorious weekend for French motorsport, let us note the great debut of Alpine, with its LMDh A424 prototype. Obviously well born, the Frenchwoman sailed into the heart of the peloton. The No. 35 of Chatin, Catsburg and Milesi finished in 9th place, synonymous with points, while the second Alpine, driven by the Vaxivière-Mick Schumacher-Lapierre trio, was 13th.
Nevertheless, Alpine does better than BMW which places its M Hybird V8 in 12th and 16th place, or Lamborghini which made a very discreet debut with a 15th place for the only SC63 entered. Without being very surprising, the Isotta-Fraschini sailed at the back of the pack and did not finish. However, the Bop was not kind to this beginner, since she was the 2nd most heavily weighted! (?)
And the big names of 2023, Ferrari and Toyota, in all this?
For the Scuderia, it has been an eventful race. The #50 got off to a very good start with Miguel Molina who managed to take the lead, then a big mistake crossing the white line during a refueling caused a drive-through and caused the 499P to plunge in the rankings, knowing that behind the leading Porsches and the Peugeot, the gaps were rather tight. Thanks to the supply waltzes, the positions have changed a lot. For the No. 51, it was also very complicated and, following contact with a McLaren GT3, the Italian prototype even lost the entire rear section at one point, including the wing, triggering a neutralization.
The official Ferraris thus had to settle for 8th and 14th places, the honor being saved by the yellow private 499P, driven among others by Robert Kubica, who finished 5th, just behind the Cadillac where, once again, Sebastien Bourdais was distinguished by the quality of its relays. Discreet race finally for Toyota, whose hypercars were quite handicapped by the Bop. The Japanese in fact had the maximum ballast of 70 kilos (40 more than the Porsches). The #7 of Conway, Kobayashi and De Vries finished 6th, while the #8 of Buemi, Hartley and Kirakawa completed the Top 10.
Sumptuous weekend for Porsche, which also won in the LMGT3 category, which took over from LMGTE. The No. 92 911 GT3 R from Manthey Pure Rxcing inaugurates the WEC LMGT3 prize list thanks to the Sturm / Malykhin / Bachler trio, who have just won the Asian Le Mans Series.
The podium is completed by the No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of The Heart of Racing, led by Riberas / Mancinelli / James then the No. 777 of D’Station Racing (Mateu / Sorensen / Bastard). For his first race in the WEC, Valentino Rossi held his place and finished just off the podium in the No. 46 BMW M4 GT3 of Team WRT.
In conclusion, we can say that the WEC 2024 is off to a good start, with a superb field and some great fighting, in any case more than in Formula 1. Nevertheless, the Bop still risks stirring things up behind the scenes and, above all, if the LMDh are starting to put the Hypercars (more expensive) in misery; teeth will grind…