The initial announcement that the Iron Lynx and Lamborghini were partnering up to launch a GTP program in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship sparked a frenzy amongst racing face all around the word. After months of anticipation the fans finally got their first opportunity to see the Lamborghini SC63 in action during a race. The No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63 finshed 7th overall in their debut at the 12 Hours of Sebring; a feat that the team admitted wasn’t expected.
Driver Matteo Cairoli said, “I didn’t expect such a great result and I’m delighted for what we achieved today in our first race with this car. I want to thank the team because they never stopped working as hard as possible. I’m extremely happy to be part of this team. To finish less than 30 seconds away from the lead in a 12-hour race on such a tough track is something I could not believe at the start. We now enjoy the moment, and we will prepare to get back on track even more competitive in the next rounds.”
Words from the Team Racing Director
The 12 Hours of Sebring is a test of reliability for the manufacturers. Lamborghini knows they can build a car that possess the build quality to finish an 12 hours endurance race. Emmanuel Esnault, Racing Director, “We can be proud of what we accomplished at Sebring. We completed one of the toughest races in the world and overcame every obstacle that came to us.
Our drivers and team members worked incredibly hard, constantly adapting and focusing on the big picture. There is still a lot of work to be done, but we feel we made great progress at Sebring that we will carry forward in the rest of our 2024 journey. Making our first IMSA race has been a great challenge, as this project is still very new, but here and in Qatar we proved that as a team, we can make a difference. Our focus now shifts to our home race at Imola, but we are leaving the USA extremely motivated and we cannot wait to be back on track.”
Next up for the Iron Lynx Lamborghini collaboration is the 6 Hours of Imola; a race on home soil.
Jean-Eric Vergne, Nico Muller and Mikken Jensen’s No. 93 Peugeot had a seemingly successful race that was sure to see them on the podium. However, disaster struck when the car ran out of fuel with 2 laps to go. Unfortunately today’s news was another blow for the team. Due to a breach of the technical regulations the No. 93 car has been disqualified from the race for multiple infractions. The key source of the infractions was the use of ERS below 150 km/h in an attempt to finish the race after the car had run out of fuel. The team was also cited for not returning to the pits after using MGU-K to complete the lap and not making it to parc ferme.
The official bulletin is below:
As a result the No. 93 falls to the bottom of the table. Before the decision the team had the following words:
Jean-Marc Finot, Stellantis Motorsport Senior VP
“Everyone at Team Peugeot TotalEnergies had a very good race for the final outing of the PEUGEOT 9X8 in its 2023 version. We showed the potential of the car and the team really delivered a great performance. We were right in the mix. Unfortunately, there was a refueling problem at the last pit stop, something we still need to investigate, but it meant that Jean-Eric had to finish the race with the electric motor. We’ll take the positives from this race and focus on the next round. We’re looking forward to Imola and building on today’s performance in the 2024 version of the PEUGEOT 9X8.”
Nico Müller – PEUGEOT 9X8 #93
“It’s just unbelievable, to run out of fuel on the final lap, undoubtedly due to some issue during the last refueling pit stop. We have to analyze what happened. It’s a hard one to take, as we really deserved to finish second today. We wanted to secure a final good result for the 2023 PEUGEOT 9X8.”
It was Porsche day in Qatar for the Qatar 1812km as the manufacturer secured 4 podium finishes between the Hypercar and LMGT3 classes. Porsche Penske Motorsport led the effort in Hypercar with their No. 6 car taking the checkered flag and securing the first win of the season. Hertz Team JOTA finished in a hard fought second place as the No. 12 Porsche 963 has hovered in the top 5 all weekend. The team will be pleased with the result despites falling behind the No. 6 car by 32 seconds. The sister Porsche Penske car who led practice and qualifying earlier in the weekend finished P3 to give Porsche Penske a double podium in the season opener and the lead in the team standings.
Heartbreak for Peugeot, Lamborghini Clearly behind
As the clock ticked to the closing minutes it seems all but guaranteed that the No. 93 Peugeot would finish on the podium until disaster struck. The car ran out of fuel with just 2 laps to go. The team fell to P7 due to the failure. The sister car finished P17 in class.
Lamborghini Iron Lynx debuted the new SC63 Hypercar finishing P15 on the weekend. Given that the team has no race data on the car. One of the most important goals of the weekend was to finish the race. While they finished 5 laps behind the lead lap this weekend served as a data gathering opportunity to help them fine tune the car for the future rounds in WEC and IMSA. The SC63 will make its IMSA debut at the 12 hours of Sebring later this month.
Manthey PureRxcing Secures LMGT3 Win
Manthey PureRxcing raced its Porsche 911 GT3R LMGT3 to victory completing 299 laps and winning the LMGT3 class. There was only one other car on the in class lead lap; the No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3. In third the No. 777 D’Station Racing Aston Martin finished 1 lap behind the leaders. MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi secured a top 5 finish in his WEC racing debut. The feat was an incredible achievement as Rossi started his quest to dominate in the car racing world as he has in the motorcycle racing world for years.
#91 MANTHEY EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R of Yasser Shahin, Morris Schuring and Richard Lietz JEP/Motorsport ImagesFull Results From the Qatar 1812km
Porsche Penske solidified their place at the front in Hyperpole today after leading practice and qualifying thus far this weekend. The team repeated the result in qualifying The session was the first Hyperpole in the World Endurance Championship outside of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Matt Campbell finished ahead of the No. 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid driven by former F1 driver Nyck De Vries. Third on the grid was the No.12 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche 963 piloted by Callum Ilott.
It appears that the BoP released for the Hypercar class did its job. The Toyota’s seemingly dominated in 2023 pulling easily away from the competition in terms of performance. Porsche appears to be making a challenge for the top spot. We will see how they fare come race time. Nyck De Vries had the following words on his P2 finish.
Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7):
“I think we are all a little bit surprised by our performance. I am very happy to be up there at the front in our first qualifying of the season, especially after a tough week for everyone during the Prologue and then free practice. The whole team has worked really hard to find improvements and now we have to put it together for the race. Ten hours is a long race, so we need to be clean in our execution, but it is good to be starting from the front.”
To find out where you can watch the Qatar 1812km click here for local broadcast coverage.
Full Hyperpole Results
Day one of practice has conclude for the start of the Qatar 1812 km weekend. Porsche Penske Remain unmatched at the top of the tables after leading both practice sessions on day one. Kevin Estre drove his Porsche Penske Motorsport’s No.6 963 hypercar to set a sub 1:40 lap time a 1m39.990s lap. The feat meant Estre was the first drive ever to break the 90 second lap barrier. The No.6 car lead the second place finishers the No. 93 Peugeot by 0.782s. The Hertz Team JOTA No. 38 Porsche 963 finished FP2 third fastest.
Toyota Falling Behind?
In surprising fashion the pace of last years champions, Toyota Gazoo Racing seemed well off that of a team headed toward sure victory. Toyota Gazoo Racing dominated the hypercar class in 2023 and are looking to repeat that result in 2024. Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7) said “Everything went smoothly today but still we are not where we want to be. We are trying to find out how we can make the tires work on this track with our car, which is not easy. We have made progress and we are improving but the step forward today wasn’t as big as I hoped for. We will keep working to find more solutions and be ready for the race.” Toyota finished 8th and 13th in hypercar during FP2. The drivers also commented.
Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7)
“It is hard to get a full picture of our position relative to the competition. Everyone is running different programs and we don’t know all the details, but it’s clear we have a steep challenge in front of us. We are continuing to understand more and hopefully we can put everything together in the best way for the race, but we still have a bit of work to do.”
Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8):
“Overall this has been a better day than the Prologue. We didn’t look great on one-lap pace but on long runs we were clearly better. I feel like we have made a step in the right direction and now we will work hard to improve further. The conditions in FP2 were completely different to the earlier session, a lot cooler in the night. The end of the race will be like that, so it was important to experience it.”
LMGT3
In LMGT3 the Vista AF Corsa No. 55 and No.54 cars topped the table in class ahead of the No. 31 Team WRT BMW M4. The Ferraris were separated by 0.3s with the Team WRT No. 31 car behind by less than a tenth in third. The session was red flagged twice with the second ending the practice session early.
Full FP2 Results Are Below
The third free practice session is scheduled for 11am local time on Friday morning.
The World Endurance Championship (WEC) has released a revised schedule for the upcoming WEC prologue. There will be 4 sessions to choose from of which each team will get to participate in 3. The teams were given the option to participate in the opening session at Lusail International Circuit on Monday or the final session on Tuesday as their flexible choice. They must submit their decision to the organizers by Monday afternoon. The other two sessions are mandatory. The sessions chosen will result in 11 hours of track time for the teams as they start to shake down their cars ahead of the Qatar 1812km.
The flexibility in session schedule is a response due to the logistical issues some teams face getting their cars to the event.
The Full Provisional Prologue Schedule is Below
The FIA has extended television coverage in the United States to host all of the World Endurance Championship on Max. As motorsport grows in US markets the FIA has seen an increase in viewership over the past 5 years and is looking to piggyback on the success seen by IMSA and F1. Streaming will be available through Max’s B/R Sports Add-On where WEC will join a variety of other pro sport series.
The coverage will include both live and on demand options which will feature pre and post analysis of races. The first coverage will be available during FP3 in Qatar for the Qatar 1812 km race scheduled for 01March2024. You can find out more about Max and the B/R Sports add on here: Max B/R Sports Add on
Words from WEC CEO Frédéric Lequien
The WEC CEO Frédéric Lequien had the following comments regarding the expansion, “The USA is a huge market for the WEC and it is always an aim to make our sport as widely accessible as possible. Max, alongside our existing deal with MotorTrend, will help achieve this goal and hopefully we can attract fans to attend our race at COTA later this season to watch the action in person. With Corvette, Cadillac and a number of American drivers on our grid this year, plus our strong ties with IMSA, we are delighted that we could sign another solid broadcast deal in this region.”
2024 FIA WEC Calendar live on Max
February 24-25: Official Prologue (QAT)
March 2: Qatar Airways Qatar 1812Km (QAT)
April 21: 6 Hours of Imola (ITA)
May 11: TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (BEL)
June 15-16: 24 Hours of Le Mans (FRA)
July 14: Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo (BRA)
September 1: Lone Star Le Mans (USA)
September 15: 6 Hours of Fuji (JPN)
November 2: 8 Hours of Bahrain (BAH)
The World Endurance championship released a 63 car list of competitors for the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans. In the 63 car field 12 drivers returns as former champions to try to seize glory once again. The field includes 23 Hypercars, 16 LMP2 prototypes, and 23 LMGT3s. There also multiple reserves in the event some teams drop out before the race. The complete Entrant List can be found below:
Pierre Fillon, President of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest
“The 24 Hours of Le Mans has rarely seen a grid like this in over a hundred years. The world’s greatest carmakers will be in La Sarthe this June. I am grateful to our partners and teams for coming together to bring us another superb episode of motorsport history.”
Mohammed Ben Sulayem, FIA President
“The 24 Hours of Le Mans is one of the most iconic events in the history of motor sport and the traditional focal point of the FIA World Endurance Championship season. Last year, I had the pleasure of witnessing this fantastic race on the occasion of its centenary and I’m very much looking forward to this year’s edition, as we celebrate 120 years of the FIA. The entry list looks incredibly strong, with 23 Hypercars from 9 different manufacturers headlining the 62-car field and 23 LMGT3s promising an ultra-competitive battle in the GT ranks. Endurance racing is in a healthy state today and this entry list proves that the right regulatory approach will result in strong interest and competition.”
Richard Mille, FIA Endurance Commission President
“The announcement of the entry list for the 24 Hours of Le Mans is always a very special moment and this is very much the case this year. The entry is incredibly rich both in terms of numbers and quality. The figures in Hypercar and LMGT3 classes are simply staggering. I would argue that this is perhaps the strongest entry ever when it comes to competition for both the overall victory as well as for the honors among the GT cars. Having a strong LMP2 representation joining the fray will also give the fans something extra to follow and get excited about. We are set for another memorable edition, there is no question about that.”
This time of year welcomes a flurry of livery design reveals ahead of the start of the 2024 race season. Next up is the Ferrari Hypercar set to compete in this years rendition of the World Endurance Championship.
From Ferrari…
Press Release: Maranello, 18 February 2024 – Ferrari marks the anniversary of the birth of Enzo Ferrari on 18 February 1898 with the unveiling of the livery of the 499P that will compete in the Hypercar class of the FIA WEC 2024. The spotlight is now on the second world championship season, which will kick off on 2 March in Qatar and feature car numbers 50 and 51 fielded by the Ferrari – AF Corse team.
Tradition and innovation intertwine in the new livery of the Ferrari Hypercar. While closely recalling that of last season, when the Italian team won the Centenary 24 Hours of Le Mans and finished runner-up in the Manufacturers’ standings, the new racing colours look to the future and introduce innovative elements.
Ferrari’s red, synonymous worldwide with the Italian sporting spirit, is coupled with the company’s traditional Giallo Modena yellow already seen on the 2023 livery, and together they emphasise the car’s sculptural and dynamic lines.
The color scheme celebrates the Ferrari 312 PB, the last prototype to compete in the World Championship in 1973 before a half-century interlude broken last year when the Prancing Horse returned to the top endurance class. A racing red specifically designed for the new season dominates the 499P and is combined with the Giallo Modena yellow highlights. The deep, intense red of the bodywork takes inspiration from the F2007 single-seater with which Scuderia Ferrari competed in Formula 1 in 2007, but with the addition of new elements: these produce a glossier version of the Hypercar that boosts the car’s visibility at night and in conditions with poor visibility.
The composition of the livery designed for the two 499P numbers 50 and 51, driven by the six official Ferrari drivers, is also a departure from the previous year. The main objective is to accentuate the car’s body and cockpit with two staggered colour blocks, creating a fluid, compositional rhythm and with a design that, by blending the two hues, enhances the lines and three-dimensional quality of the surface geometry.
These aspects are apparent when viewing the Hypercar side-on: the Giallo Modena surrounds the entire cockpit, underlining its physical and symbolic importance. New graphic features, lines and horizontal bands in the same color further accentuate the concept of dynamism and speed by expanding in the lower part of the bodywork near the rear wheelarches, on the upper part of the tail fin and inside the rear-wing end plates.
The team line ups for the number 50 and 51 hypercars are Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, and Nicklas Nielsen, and Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, and Antonio Giovinazzi respectively .
Its been 18 months since the development of the Alpine A424 Hypercar started. Alpine has officially announced a two car entry into the 2024 World Endurance Championship. Paul-Loup Chatin, Charles Milesi and Ferdinand Habsburg will pilot one car with Nicolas Lapierre, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Mick Schumacher.
The team released their new livery for 2024 which sports the Alpine iconic blue. Philippe Sinault, Team Principal, Alpine Endurance Team said, “We are writing the next lines of the history of Alpine in Endurance. We must be humble, but ambitious for our project. We experienced big changes and a huge step forward as a team. To reveal our Hypercar for the 2024 season alongside our drivers is truly a special moment. We will learn to use the technical package, rely on our drivers’ experience, be reliable and, of course, finish the races. I think it’s difficult to say if we will go for the win this year, but we are hungry for good results, and expecting to shine quickly with everything we have put in place.”