After a month and a half break since the Sao Paulo race, the WEC will hold two rounds in 15 days, first in Austin this weekend and then on September 15 in Japan, on the Mount Fuji circuit. Two decisive events in the awarding of world titles. After the 24 Hours of Le Mans, won once again this season by Ferrari, this is the main objective that the teams and drivers competing in Hypercar are chasing, a category that no longer includes Isotta Fraschini, who decided to end its season before the race scheduled in the United States.
As we approach this Lone Star Le Mans, the official name of the 6 Hours of Austin (starting Sunday at 8pm French time, to be followed live on the L’Équipe channel), on a circuit where the WEC has not visited since 2020, the three manufacturers who have so far animated this season find themselves very close in the Championship, with 126 points for Porsche, 122 for Toyota and 109 for Ferrari. Behind, the gap is made, since 4th place is occupied equally by Alpine and BMW with 25 points.
Among the drivers, it is the crew of the Porsche 963 Penske Motorsport n°6 (André Lotterer – Kévin Estre – Laurent Venthoor) who lead the dance, with 117 points, ahead of the trio of the Ferrari 499P n°50 (Antonio Fuoco – Miguel Molina – Nicklas Nielsen), with 98 points, and the two drivers of the Toyota GR010 n°7 who have contested all the races, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries (94 points), Mike Conway having missed Le Mans due to injury.
A BoP unfavorable to Toyota
As before each new round of the Championship, the Balance of Performance (BoP) has been modified and, for the Texan race, Toyota is paying dearly for its victory in Brazil, even though the regulations have been revised and the legislators (ACO and FIA) now take into account the results of the last three races to revise the BoP. But that doesn’t stop the GR010s from being the heaviest (1,065 kg) and least powerful (497 kW) Hypercars in Austin. The 963s and 499Ps are better off from this point of view with 1,053 kg and 509 kW, 1,055 kg and 500 kW respectively. But Toyota has the best power boost beyond 250 km/h (+4.6%), which should be useful in the long pit straight.
Kobayashi, both Team Principal and driver of the No. 7, is therefore confident: “I know the team has worked hard after the tests we did in July. (organized by Michelin and only Alpine missed)which allowed us to optimize our cars to give us the best possible chances. This is a new opportunity to score big points in the World Championship, that’s our goal.” And the Japanese team will be able to rely on its tire management, one of its strong points against the competition.
“On the one hand, we have good memories of the last races in Texasexplains Thomas Laudenbach, vice-president of Porsche Motorsport, the German manufacturer having won three times in Texas, in 2015, 2016 and 2017. And on the other hand, we are back after a satisfactory test a few weeks ago. Our team is well prepared for this challenge. We are leading both Championships, and our ambition is logically to increase our advantage with a good result here. But we expect fierce competition, and a very hot race.
The big challenge of heat
“The heat will be a real issue if the predicted temperatures are there, like what we experienced in 2016 where the drivers struggled to do more than one stintconfirms Philippe Sinault, the Team Principal of Alpine, who was racing in LMP2 that year. This will have significant consequences on strategy, to position the tyres and also the drivers in the best possible performance window, as well as on tyre degradation, which will be crucial even if storms could be expected during the weekend. Other challenges include dealing with the bumpy track surface and having an optimal top speed without compromising performance in the enfilades.
