Ferrari and Toyota will go to the grid for this month’s Qatar World Endurance Championship season-opener considerably lighter than 12 months in the past after they each proved uncompetitive.Â
The Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar will race at a 1037kg minimal weight in contrast with 1075kg final 12 months, and the Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMH 1065kg, versus 1089kg on the Losail Worldwide Circuit in 2024.
For Ferrari the minimal in Qatar additionally represents a 16kg discount from the determine at which the 499P raced ultimately November’s WEC sequence finale in Bahrain, whereas the Toyota’s weight is unchanged.
Ferrari has misplaced 2kW in most energy beneath 250km/h (155mph) in contrast with Qatar final 12 months and can race at 501kW (671bhp), whereas the Toyota is down 7kW to 503kW (674bhp)
Ferrari scored a finest results of fourth at Qatar final 12 months with its buyer entry shared by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzman, whereas Toyota took fifth with Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries.
#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa
Photograph by: JEP / Motorsport Photos
The Stability of Efficiency values for Qatar had been printed on Thursday forward of the beginning of the official WEC prologue take a look at on Friday and Saturday, which precedes the Qatar 1812Km 10-hour race on 28 February.
Porsche’s 963 LMDh, which dominated in Qatar final 12 months, has misplaced out within the newest BoP. It should race 16kg heavier at Losail than final 12 months, although solely 8kg up on Bahrain.
The German automotive shall be barely extra highly effective than in 2024: its base determine of 508kW (681bhp) is 3kW up on Qatar however 6kW down on Bahrain.
BMW and Alpine, newcomers to the WEC’s Hypercar class final 12 months, have additionally misplaced weight with their respective M Hybrid V8 and A424 LMDhs.
The BMW is down 23kg at 1037kg and the Alpine 27kg at 1043kg.
Each the French and German automotive, which every notched up a podium earlier than the tip of final season, are racing near the burden at which they accomplished their 2024 campaigns in Bahrain.
However BMW and Alpine have diminished base energy on final 12 months’s season finale: they’ve every misplaced 9kW and can race at respectively 505kW (677bhp) and 508kW.
Rulemakers the FIA and the Car Membership de l’Ouest have a said coverage of serving to new arrivals within the championship attain the entrance of the sector with conservative BoP changes via the season.
The primary BoP figures for the Aston Martin Valkyrie LMH, which is able to make its race debut in Qatar, are 1042kg and 504kW (675bhp).
Aston Martin Valkyrie LMH Silverstone testing
Photograph by: Aston Martin Racing
Peugeot’s 9X8 2024 LMH stays at most energy of 520kW (697bhp) and 1kg above the 1030kg minimal weight.
The Cadillac V-Collection-R LMDh is on the minimal weight and can run at 503kW, 4kW up on final 12 months. It should even be allowed a 3.2% enhance in energy above 250km/h beneath the facility acquire factor of the BoP launched on the Le Mans 24 Hours final June.
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Toyota has bought a 3.4% enhance, whereas the Alpine and the Peugeot will respectively lose 3% and 5.8%.
The 2-day prologue kicks off with the primary of 4 classes totalling 13 hours of observe operating at 13:00 native time in Qatar on Friday.
On this article
Gary Watkins
WEC
AF Corse
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