[WEC] 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours

[SAM_HBSK]

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DKR LMP2 Livery

DKR Engineering are the latest squad to reveal their colours for the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours.

I quite like this actually, it's...something.

[Everso Biggyballies]

DKR LMP2 Livery

DKR Engineering are the latest squad to reveal their colours for the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours.

I quite like this actually, it's...something.

I like it a lot.. Wont need to resort to the spotters guide to ID that one.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Iron Dames Field Le Mans Livery Designed By Local Kids

2024 will see the Iron Dames take part in their sixth consecutive participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and they’ll do so with a new and significant change to the livery of their #85 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting, and Rahel Frey (replacing the injured Doriane Pin) will race under the “Every Dream Matters” banner, a new project that combines education and cutting-edge technology to create a very different look for the familiarly pink Lambo.

The team engaged with young fans on social media and with pupils from an elementary school in Le Mans where all three of the Dames visited to share their story as “Women Driven by Dreams,” and to encourage the students to envision and draw their own dreams for the future.

All of these drawings were then transformed into stunning patterns using advanced AI algorithms to create the Iron Dames livery, symbolising commitment to promoting inclusivity, diversity and the limitless potential of every individual.

Not only will the children see their work recreated as a livery on a real race car, they will have the opportunity to join the tea in race week at Le Mans!

The car will be presented in public for the first time on Friday 7 June in the city centre for public scrutineering.

https://www.dailysportscar.com/2024/06/ ... -kids.html

[erwin greven]

Power Gain Added in Le Mans Hypercar BoP

Much-vaunted Power Gain to finally make WEC debut at Le Mans after remaining unused for Imola, Spa rounds…
by Jamie Klein June 3, 2024


Photo: Javier Jimenez/DPPI

The Hypercar Balance of Performance for the 24 Hours of Le Mans has been released, confirming that the Power Gain system will be in use for the first time for the FIA World Endurance Championship centerpiece.

Tested by cars from multiple manufacturers in the Prologue test ahead of the season opener at Qatar in March, the system is designed to further equalize the field by changing a car’s maximum power above a certain speed threshold.

While the system was slated for introduction at the following round at Imola, the Power Gain, sometimes called ‘two-stage’ BoP, was not used for either race or the following round at Spa last month.

Toyota has voiced its support for the system on multiple occasions, with technical director David Floury stating that the marque was keen for it to be implemented in time for Le Mans despite not being trialled in a prior WEC race.

The relevant bulletin published by the FIA and ACO has confirmed that the system will debut at Le Mans, with the threshold set at 250 km/h (155.3 mph) instead of the 210 km/h (130.5 mph) that was listed on previous bulletins.

Seven of the nine Hypercars will have their power altered above the threshold, with four of those – namely the Alpine A424, BMW M Hybrid V8, Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6 Competizione and Toyota GR010 Hybrid – getting power increases of 0.9 percent.

The other three cars, the Ferrari 499P (-1.7 percent), Lamborghini SC63 (-1.6 percent) and Peugeot 9X8 (-0.7 percent), have seen reductions, while the remaining two cars, the Cadillac V-Series.R and the Porsche 963, will not have their power modified.

However, Ferrari and Lamborghini have both had their base power increased compared to the previous WEC race at Spa, with the 499P up 2kW to 508kW, and the SC63 up by 5kW to 519kW, the highest figure in the field.

The Porsche has also been given an extra 4kW, putting it at 511kW.

Apart from the Peugeot, which sees no change to its power, the remaining five cars have all had minor power reductions, with Toyota and Cadillac both getting decreases of 7kW to 508kW and 509kW respectively.

Alpine has dropped by 6kW to 507kW, the Isotta Fraschini is down 5kW to 515kW and the BMW has dropped 2kW to 508kW.

As previously outlined by the organizing bodies, Le Mans will run to a standalone BoP compared to previous WEC races, although there are still significant changes in minimum weight compared to the previous race at Spa.

Peugeot has been given the biggest break with the 9X8 set to run at 1047 kg, 18 kg lighter than before.

It’s a change that follows criticism voiced by the French manufacturer about its revised challenger’s lack of performance since its introduction at Imola.

Also with double-digit weight breaks are the Ferrari, down 10 kg to 1043 kg, the Isotta Fraschini, down 12 kg to 1048 kg, and the Toyota GR010 Hybrid, which drops 11 kg to 1053 kg but is now the heaviest car in the class.

The only car to have lost weight from Spa is the Alpine, which drops 7 kg to 1038 kg.

Cadillac’s V.Series-R remains the lightest car in the class at 1036 kg despite an increase of 6 kg, while the Porsche (+5 kg/1042 kg), Lamborghini (+4 kg/1039 kg) and BMW (+1 kg/1039 kg) have all seen smaller increases.

All five cars that are returning to Le Mans are running at lower minimum weights compared to the same event last season, and with less base power.

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/pow ... ercar-bop/

[erwin greven]

Live: Scrutineering June 7th 2024.



LIVE ON YT NOW!

[erwin greven]

LINK for SATURDAY!

[DoubleFart]

Just realised that I have childcare Le Mans weekend, so I won't be able to watch the race. I did get Monaco and Indy weekend this year so I guess I can't win them all.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Big news....

Mike Conway To Miss Le Mans

Cycling injury counts out 2021 Winner - Pechito Lopez called Up

Double FIA WEC World Drivers Champion and 2021 overall winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans Mike Conway has been forced to withdraw from his role driving the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 HYBRID after suffering fractures to his ribs and collar bone in a cycling accident on Thursday.

Conway’s long-time team-mate José María López returns to the cockpit of the #7 GR010 HYBRID, with Akkodis ASP yet to confirm who will replace him at the wheel of the #87 Lexus RCF GT3 in LMGT3.

“Mike will immediately begin an intensive rehabilitation programme, under the supervision of Toyota Gazoo Racing medical staff, with the target of returning to FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) action as soon as possible.”
Full story https://www.dailysportscar.com/2024/06/ ... -mans.html

[erwin greven]

Le Mans Friday Notebook

Check out Sportscar365’s first notebook after the opening day of Le Mans scrutineering…
by Jamie Klein June 7, 2024


Photo: MPS Agency

***A total of 37 of the 62 cars entered in this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans passed through scrutineering in the Place de la Republique in downtown Le Mans on Friday, with the remaining 25 cars set to feature on Saturday.

***Hypercar teams that saw their cars pass through the sporting and administrative checks on Friday included BMW M Team WRT, Hertz Team JOTA, Lamborghini Iron Lynx, Isotta Fraschini Duqueine, Alpine, Cadillac (both Chip Ganassi Racing and Action Express Racing) and Peugeot.

***Jordan Pepper was confirmed on Friday as Lamborghini Iron Lynx’s official reserve driver. The South African is set for seat time aboard both Lamborghini SC63s during Sunday’s test day.

***Peugeot reserve driver Malthe Jakobsen told Sportscar365 that he is not expecting to turn any laps aboard the 9X8 on Sunday, despite featuring on the entry list for the test, as he focuses on his duties aboard the No. 37 Cool Racing Oreca 07 Gibson. “Right now, my main focus is on Cool Racing, because that’s where I expect to do the race,” said Jakobsen.

***By contrast, Jakobsen’s co-driver in the No. 37 car Ritomo Miyata is expecting to pull double duty on Sunday aboard both the LMP2 car and the Toyota GR010 Hybrid, in what is set to mark his third outing at the wheel of the Japanese LMH car.

***One of the drivers from Cool’s No. 47 machine, Frederik Vesti, was absent as the car passed through scrutineering on Friday. The Dane is with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team at the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix as a reserve driver.

***BMW’s Raffaele Marciello revealed a special helmet design for his Le Mans debut, inspired by and paying tribute to the late Jules Bianchi. The two drivers were part of the Ferrari Driver Academy at the same time, with Bianchi going on to compete in Formula 1 before his crash in the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix that eventually cost the Frenchman his life.

***While Marciello attended scrutineering alongside Dries Vanthoor, Robin Frijns was the only driver for the No. 20 BMW M Hybrid V8 to be present as co-drivers Sheldon van der Linde and Rene Rast are both in Zandvoort.

***Sportscar365 understands that all drivers affected by the DTM clash (Rast, van der Linde, Marco Wittmann, Kelvin van der Linde, Mirko Bortolotti and Jack Aitken) are set to share the same private jet to go to and from Le Mans this weekend, with a helicopter on stand-by to transport them from Amsterdam airport to the nearby Zandvoort circuit.

***GM sports car racing program manager Laura Wontrop Klauser indicated she was not concerned about Alex Palou’s absence from Sunday’s test day as a result of clashing commitments with the NTT IndyCar Series round at Road America. “In a perfect world, we’d have people maximizing their seat time as much as possible, but he’s a well-renowned, very good driver, and he’s going to come in, and he’s going to do the best that he can,” Klauser told reporters.

***Palou is one of five drivers in action at Road America this weekend, along with Chip Ganassi IndyCar stablemates Scott Dixon and Kyffin Simpson, Romain Grosjean and Nolan Siegel.

***Rahel Frey cut a baffled figure at the ACO’s decision to allocate 25 extra kgs of minimum weight to the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 for Le Mans, with the Swiss driver saying “it will hurt” the brand going into the event.

***Frey added: “Honestly speaking, it’s a bit difficult to understand why we got 25 kilos and even less power under 200 [kph]. It will hurt us. But in the end, we cannot change it, so we have to make the best out of it.”

***TF Sport boss Tom Ferrier says he’s “very conscious” of representing Corvette Racing’s history at Le Mans, now that the British squad is the only representation of the marque at the race this year. “We’re all focused on doing the best job we can for them,” Ferrier told Sportscar365. “The guys from Pratt Miller, the guys from GM are here in masses supporting us as well.”

***Ferrier estimated that roughly eight technical staff members are on site to assist the TF crew, noting that the team has “all of the support that you might ever want.”

***TF’s No. 82 Corvette Z06 GT3.R, featuring Daniel Juncadella, Sebastien Baud and Hiroshi Koizumi, is one of two cars in the LMGT3 class featuring driver lineups with no Le Mans starts between them. The other is the No. 59 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 of Nicolas Costa, James Cottingham and Gregoire Saucy.

***Juncadella said he doesn’t see his crew’s total lack of Le Mans experience as a disadvantage. “Nowadays we have simulators and many tools to help us prepare,” the Spaniard told Sportscar365. “I feel like I’ve been to Le Mans before because I’ve done so many laps virtually. I’m intrigued to see whether the track is actually like it is on the simulator.”

***United Autosports LMP2 driver Ben Keating is set for his third Le Mans start at the wheel of an LMP2 car, but doesn’t hold fond memories of the times he piloted an Oreca 03R and Riley-Multimatic Mk. 30. “Both the 2016 experience and the 2017 experience were terrible,” he laughed. “I don’t mind saying that, I was in the wrong car. I didn’t have the right tire. That was back when you had decisions to make on those types of things.”

***Defending LMP2 winner Fabio Scherer, who is driving for Nielsen Racing this year, joked he is aiming to avoid any injuries in this year’s Le Mans after breaking his foot en route to the top step of the podium in 2023. He said: “I told someone at home, if I need to break my foot again to win it this year, I’m fine with it!”

***ORECA held the grand opening of its new Technocentre on Thursday. The 86,000 square-foot facility, located adjacent to Circuit Paul Ricard in the Signes business park, is dedicated to the design, construction and assembly of race cars.

***As well as the remaining cars passing through scrutineering, a parade featuring 17 of this year’s cars (including nine Hypercars, one from each brand) will also be held on the streets of Le Mans starting at 3:30 p.m. local time (9:30 a.m. EDT).

John Dagys and Davey Euwema contributed to this report

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/le- ... tebook-17/

[MonteCristo]

Long term forecast is ... a wet MonteCristo.

Showers for the race are showers on Saturday afternoon and evening, clear overnight and Sunday morning, and rain in the afternoon.

Gulp.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Long term forecast is ... a wet MonteCristo.

Showers for the race are showers on Saturday afternoon and evening, clear overnight and Sunday morning, and rain in the afternoon.

Gulp.

Sacré bleu.

Make sure you have a few large bin liners..... cut a slit in the bottom for your head and a cut each side of the bottom for your arms. Of course the fact you are 2 metres tall is a slight disadvantage. Or a roll of glad wrap (for furreners thats Aussie for cling-film)
Talking Aussie things, an Akubra would be good.

Knowing the French they wont allow umbrellas because of restricting others view.

[erwin greven]

Le Mans Saturday Notebook
Sportscar365’s latest notebook as 24 Hours of Le Mans scrutineering wraps up…

by Jamie Klein June 8, 2024


***The remaining 25 cars passed through scrutineering in the Place de la Republique in downtown Le Mans on Saturday, including the factory Penske Porsche 963s, the three AF Corse Ferrari 499Ps and the two Toyota GR010 Hybrids.

***Akkodis ASP substitute Jack Hawksworth showed up for scrutineering some time after teammates Takeshi Kimura and Esteban Masson, having made the trip overnight from Mid-Ohio. The British driver was seen wearing Kelvin van der Linde’s overalls, with van der Linde away on DTM duty at Zandvoort.

***Incidentally, Hawksworth had been in Europe late last month to test the as-yet unnamed 2026 Lexus GT3 car at Spa-Francorchamps.

***Elsewhere within the Akkodis ASP stable, Timur Boguslavskiy was not seen with his teammate in the No. 78 car, Arnold Robin. Team principal Jerome Policand revealed to Sportscar365 that Boguslavskiy was delayed getting through passport control.

***Toyota team director Rob Leupen described the decision to put Jose Maria Lopez in the No. 7 GR010 Hybrid over official reserve Ritomo Miyata as a “very simple one.” He said: “Ritomo has never driven here at Le Mans, and he is with Cool Racing. The other option was Jose. It’s because of his experience and [Miyata’s] lack of experience.”

***Leupen said working out who would replace Lopez at Akkodis ASP was a harder task, with both Miyata and Ben Barnicoat, Hawksworth’s fellow Lexus IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship full-timer, also under consideration. “We had options, Ben was considered, but he had other commitments [with AF Corse in LMP2]; Ritomo was considered. But thank God Jack arrived, just from Mid-Ohio.”

***Leupen confirmed that Miyata will turn “a few laps” in a GR010 Hybrid for the test day, and remains on hand should Toyota need a further stand-in. He added: “If Jose was not there, we would have put Ritomo in. But this is [theoretical].”

***Sportscar365 understands that Ferrari has filed an appeal about the outcome of last month’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. A hearing is set for Sept. 9, which is in between the Circuit of The Americas and Fuji rounds of the championship.

***Spokespeople from both Ferrari and FIA acknowledged the appeal when approached for comment by Sportscar365, but declined to go into specifics as to the contents of the appeal. Ferrari’s initial protest, issued on May 12, was thrown out as a stewards decision (which was used to restart and lengthen the race after the initial red flag) “can not be the subject of a protest under article 13.2.1 of FIA International Sporting Code.”

***However, the same stewards document states that “competitors are reminded that they have the right to appeal certain decisions of the Stewards, in accordance with 7.2.6 of WEC Sporting Regulations, Article 15.1.5 of the FIA Sporting Code and Article 9.1.1 and 10.1 of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules, within the applicable time limits.”

***Proton Competition’s No. 99 Porsche is decked out with a revised livery with lime green elements that are reminiscent of the Joest Porsche 962 that won the 1991 Rolex 24 at Daytona. Ironically, the scheme replaces the one used for the opening three rounds of the WEC season, which pays tribute to the 1994 Le Mans-winning Dauer 962 LM Porsche.

***Bent Viscaal, who is driving Proton’s LMP2 entry at Le Mans, told Sportscar365 that he is open to additional outings with the team’s GTP effort in the WeatherTech Championship, although he added that at present he is focusing on his European Le Mans Series commitments with the Christian Ried-led squad instead.

***Hertz Team JOTA’s Callum Ilott arrives at Le Mans fresh from contesting the Indianapolis 500, where he finished 11th for Arrow McLaren. The Briton joked that “I’ll have to remember to turn right sometimes!” as he makes his second Le Mans start and first since 2021, when he drove for Iron Lynx in the GTE Am class.

***On contesting two of the three Triple Crown races in the same year, he added: “The others racing in both aren’t here [for test day], so I’m the only one who gets to experience both events in full. To do it two very competitive cars as well is awesome.”

***Asked whether his future is more likely to lie in sports cars or single-seaters, Ilott replied: “IndyCar is officially done for the year, and the focus is now on Le Mans. Once we get this race out of the way, that’s when things will start falling into place.”

***Louis Deletraz, who is representing AO by TF Sport in the LMP2 ranks, believes that an expanded Hypercar field won’t make much difference to those in the secondary prototype class, but feels that GTE Am being replaced by LMGT3 could change the nature of how to negotiate slower traffic.

***Deletraz explained: “The LMGT3s have ABS, so they can brake into the corner and with a lower top speed they can brake a bit later anyway. It’s becoming more of a risk to overtake under braking now, we might have to overtake more on the straights, and it might be worth to lift and coast because they brake so late. The Test Day will be important for everyone to learn about this.”

***Roman De Angelis, who is making his LMP2 and Le Mans debut in Algarve Pro Racing’s Oreca 07 Gibson, will be keeping a close eye on one LMGT3 car in particular, given that his normal employer Heart of Racing Team is competing in the production-based class.

***De Angelis told Sportscar365: “It’s never good when your boss and your teammates are in another class and you have to pass them! So I have to behave myself a lot in traffic against those guys. Now I’m the problem so I have to be pretty careful about what I do. I don’t want Ian [James], Alex [Riberas] and Dani [Mancinelli] to be too upset with me. I’m going to give them tons of room.”

***Sunday’s test day is split into two three-hour sessions. The first session begins at 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. EDT) and runs until 1 p.m. (7 a.m. EDT), while the second runs from 3:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m. EDT) to 6:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m. EDT).

John Dagys and Davey Euwema contributed to this report

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/le- ... otebook-9/

[erwin greven]

Kobayashi Quickest in Opening Test Session at Le Mans

Kamui Kobayashi lays down quickest lap in first test session at Le Mans…
by John Dagys June 9, 2024



Photo: James Moy/Toyota

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Kamui Kobayashi set the pace in the opening test for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, putting the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid atop the time charts following an interrupted session at Circuit de la Sarthe.

Kobayashi reeled off a best lap of 3:28.467 early in the three-hour session, which featured two red flags, a safety car test as well as a Full Course Yellow.

The session came to an early end with three minutes to go for an accident by the No. 37 Cool Racing Oreca 07 Gibson of Lorenzo Fluxa at the Porsche Curves.

Fluxa climbed from the LMP2 machine under his own power, although there appears to be damage in three corners of the car.

The No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 of Kevin Estre ended the session second quickest, with a 3:29.205 lap time, followed by the Robin Frijns-driven No. 20 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 Art Car and No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63 of Mirko Bortolotti in an impressive fourth quickest.

The No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P of Robert Kubica completed the top-five, meanwhile.

Job van Uitert in the No. 28 IDEC Sport Oreca was quickest in LMP2, thanks to a 3:37.044 lap time, which was 0.132 seconds quicker than the No. 22 United Autosports entry of Oliver Jarvis in second.

AO by TF’s car, sporting the ‘Spike the Dragon’ livery, was third amongst the LMP2 contenders and quickest in the Pro-Am subclass, in the hands of Louis Deletraz.

LMGT3 was led by the No. 78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F GT3 of Kelvin Van der Linde, who laid down a 4:00.106 during his opening stints before jetting off to Zandvoort for the second DTM race of the weekend.

Van der Linde has been among a half-dozen drivers traveling between France and The Netherlands to fulfill their duties this weekend.

The sister No. 87 Lexus of Esteban Masson was second quickest in class, prior to a session-ending incident involving co-driver Takeshi Kimura.

Team WRT’s No. 31 BMW M4 GT3 ended the session third in class, with the McLaren 720S GT3 Evos from United Autosports (No. 59) and Inception Racing completing the top-five in class.

The first red came out at the 40-minute mark for the No. 3 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Renger van der Zande, which stopped on track with suspected fuel issues.

It led to a resumption of racing for approximately five laps prior to a practice safety car period that lasted upwards of 40 minutes.

A Full Course Yellow was also deployed for what’s understood to have been seperate incidents involving Dries Vanthoor’s No. 15 Team WRT BMW and the No. 87 Akkodis ASP Lexus of Kimura.

Van der Zande, meanwhile, rejoined later in the session to log a total of ten laps in the Cadillac, the lowest number out of the 62 cars that took part.

The second and final three-hour test session of the day gets underway at 3:30 p.m. local time (9:30 a.m. EDT).

RESULTS: Test Session 1

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/kob ... t-le-mans/

[Everso Biggyballies]

Kobayashi Quickest in Opening Test Session at Le Mans

Kamui Kobayashi lays down quickest lap in first test session at Le Mans…


RESULTS: Test Session 1

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/kob ... t-le-mans/

Interesting.. Only first day of testing I know, but great to see 5 manufacturers in the top 5 and all covered by just over a second in the hypercars...( I haven't even looked at the classes yet.) I know we have no idea who was running in what configuration, who had what sandbags onboard and so many variables, but it's a great start for Le Mans week.

I must admit I haven't really followed the whole BOP maze this year, and I know in previous years there have been last minute BOP changes made that have messed things up. Maybe this year all the BOP stuff is out of the way and finalised already and what we have is what we get.

I did notice that the anticipated weather has gone from being basically a dry race weekend to now being more of a wet one. Hopefully for those making the journey (@MonteCristo I'm looking at you) it will be better than the latest forecasts I have seen.

[MonteCristo]

I did notice that the anticipated weather has gone from being basically a dry race weekend to now being more of a wet one. Hopefully for those making the journey (@MonteCristo I'm looking at you) it will be better than the latest forecasts I have seen.

Yeah, the original 15-day forecast was all clear and lovely.

But it keeps changing. Now the forecast is for "showers" (rather than rain periods) for all of Saturday and Sunday. Urgh.

That said, the French weather bureau gives the forecast for Saturday and Sunday as "2/5". So hopefully it still changes in the coming week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wouldn't say no to a nice shower at around 3pm on the Sunday though .

[erwin greven]

SPOTTERS GUIDE 2024 24H OF LEMANS