Porsche remains unbeaten in truncated second practice
Driving Porsche Penske Motorsport’s #6 963 LMDh, Estre set a blistering time of 1m39.990s at the beginning of the 90-minute session that was cut short by a stoppage for the new Lamborghini SC63 LMDh. Estre was the only driver to get below team-mate Frederic Makoweicki’s benchmark of 1m40.404s, which was set in relatively hotter conditions […]
Porsche the ‘strongest it has ever been’ in Qatar WEC round, says Estre
Porsche has led every session so far in the lead-up to this Saturday’s Qatar 1812km season-opener, with either the factory Penske team or the customer Jota squad topping the charts across Prologue and Free Practice 1. In comparatively hot and windy conditions on Thursday afternoon, all five Porsche 963s broke inside the top seven, with […]
Campbell puts Porsche top in opening practice
Matt Campbell was fastest in the #5 factory Porsche 963 LMDh in the 90-minute session as the German manufacturer maintained its monopoly of top spot in the timesheets at the Losail International Circuit since the start of the two-day pre-season test on Monday. The Australian posted a 1m42.486s to end up fastest, though Ferrari diver […]
«No secrets» between factory Ferraris and customer AF Corse in WEC
There will be a full data exchange between the works cars run by AF Corse and the satellite operation that is fielding the additional car for Robert Kubica and factory drivers Robert Shwartzman and Yifei Ye, according to Ferrari sportscar racing technical director Ferdinando Cannizzo. “Everything, we share it. There is no secret at the […]
FIA reveals plans to focus hydrogen storage development in liquid form
Following the latest meeting of the World Motor Sport Council, it was announced that in the context of hydrogen combustion applications that «development and promotion of solutions based on hydrogen stored in liquid form» would be prioritised over gas storage. No reference was made to fuel cell applications, but this is not understood to indicate […]
The data putting Porsche on the front foot for Qatar opener
The WEC hosted its annual two-day pre-season test at the Losail International Circuit on Monday and Tuesday, providing some hints about the competitive picture for the Qatar 1812Km race. The circumstances weren’t exactly usual, with the Prologue having to be delayed by two days due to the late arrival of sea freight amid the geopolitical […]
BMW confident of avoiding repeat of Daytona dramas on WEC LMDh debut
BMW is undertaking its biggest sportscar racing programme since the V12 LMR last raced at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1999, when it won the race outright with Yannick Dalmas, Pierluigi Martini and Joachim Winkelhock. But the German manufacturer heads into this weekend’s Qatar 1862km event on the back of a troubled showing in […]
Ferrari starts 2024 WEC season with no performance upgrades
The Italian manufacturer has confirmed that it has not taken any of the so-called evo jokers allowed to manufacturers competing in the Hypercar class ahead of this weekend’s WEC curtain-raiser in Qatar. Ferrari sportscar technical director Ferdinando Cannizzo said: “At the moment we have not used any jokers; we want to exploit the potential of […]
Heavy Toyota car «struggling a lot» with tyre woes in WEC Prologue
Kobayashi made the comments after the pair of Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercars ended up 13th and 15th in the combined times from the four sessions of the Prologue test on Monday and Tuesday at the start of race week for the Qatar 1812Km WEC season-opener. He explained that Toyota struggled with graining of […]