Метка: bahrain

Ferrari Hypercar driver line-up unaltered for 2025

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Ferrari will continue with an unchanged Hypercar class driver line-up in next year’s World Endurance Championship.

Antonello Coletta, Ferrari’s head of sportscar racing, confirmed on Sunday that the #50 499P Le Mans Hypercar will be raced in 2025 by Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina and #51 by James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi for a third consecutive season.

The announcement made at the Ferrari World Finals for its one-make challenge series at Imola followed news announced on Saturday that Fuoco and Molina had renewed their factory contracts for next year.

Calado and Pier Guidi were granted contract extensions this time last year.

Coletta explained that there was no reason to make changes to the driver roster for the third campaign by the factory AF Corse team in the WEC.

«It is confirmed: #50 and #51 will not change — we will have the same drivers,» he said. «The #50 and #51 will be exactly the same.

#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

«We are happy with the line-ups: we have won with both at the Le Mans 24 Hours [with #51 in 2023 and #50 in ’24].»

Coletta stressed the importance of «consistency and continuity» in terms of the drivers on its Hypercar squad.

«When we started with the 499P and chose our GT pilots some people were not happy,» he continued.

«But even the sceptics have had to change their minds. All six 499P drivers have won Le Mans, which I think validates our choices.»

There has been no confirmation of the drivers for the #83 satellite entry run by AF Corse on a customer basis and driven this year by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzman

Coletta outlined a hope to «announce it just before the Bahrain race» [this year’s WEC final on 2 November.

He ruled out Arthur Leclerc, brother of Ferrari F1 driver Charles, racing the car next year, even though he is scheduled to test one of the 499Ps in the WEC rookie test at Bahrain the day after the season finale.

Coletta explained that the younger of the Leclerc brothers, who is listed as a development driver for the F1 team, still needed to learn about sportscar racing.

He was placed by Ferrari for this year in the endurance segment of the Italian GT Championship, which he is contesting alongside his LMP2 commitments in the European Le Mans Series with Panis Racing.

«Our goal is for Arthur to keep learning about endurance and then there might be the chance for him to catch an opportunity in one of our prototypes in the future,» said Coletta.

Davide Rigon, Alessio Rovera, Daniel Serra and Lilou Wadoux, who are all part of the Ferrari factory roster of GT3 drivers, have also had their contracts extended into next year.



Source link

Pourchaire gets Peugeot Hypercar chance in Bahrain WEC test

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Reigning Formula 2 champion Theo Pourchaire will get his first run in a sportscar prototype when he joins Peugeot for the World Endurance Championship’s Bahrain rookie test next month.

Pourchaire is one of the two drivers to be selected by the French manufacturer to drive the 9X8 2024 LMH at the Bahrain International Circuit on 3 November, along with his former F2 rival Clement Novalak.

Pourchaire had previously revealed his ambition to race in the WEC, telling Autosport that he «watches almost every race» and that the Le Mans 24 Hours is an event that he «would like to do one day».

However, there will be no immediate opportunities available at Peugeot’s Hypercar squad, which has already locked in its line-up for 2025 after promoting Malthe Jakobsen to replace new Porsche factory driver Nico Muller.

«For Team Peugeot TotalEnergies, these Rookie Tests in Bahrain bring a fresh perspective, even though reconditioning the cars after the race requires a lot of work from the entire team,» said Peugeot technical director Olivier Jansonnie.

«It is always very motivating and rewarding to see young drivers arrive with wide eyes, discovering the team, the car, etc.»

«We selected two different profiles. Theo is single-seater-oriented with an already impressive track record and is recognised as one of the single-seater hopefuls.

«Clement has more endurance experience with notable results in ELMS, particularly a second place in LMP2 at the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans. His statistics in this discipline impressed us. I think it’s an interesting combination.

#93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Mikkel Jensen, Nico Muller, Jean-Eric Vergne

#93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Mikkel Jensen, Nico Muller, Jean-Eric Vergne

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

«They will be guided by Paul di Resta and Malthe Jakobsen, who also went through this process before being appointed full-time next season. It is always very interesting for us to get technical feedback from fresh perspectives.»

Pourchaire is still searching for a drive next year after admitting recently that he doesn’t have a «lot of money to put on the table».

The Frenchman started the season in the Super Formula series with Team Impul, but ended up splitting with the squad after just one round when an opportunity came to enter IndyCar with Arrow McLaren.

However, his relationship with Arrow McLaren in IndyCar also turned out to be short-lived, as the team replaced him with Indy NXT graduate Nolan Siegel at around the mid-way point of the year. Pourchaire returned to the outfit for a one-off appearance at Toronto in place of Alexander Rossi, but has been out of action since then.

Read Also:

Novalak, who previously raced against Pourchaire in F2, also left the category after 2023 in favour of a new career in sportscar racing.

Competing for InterEuropol Competition in an ORECA-Gibson 07, he finished on the podium in the recent European Le Mans Series event at Portimao. A maiden outing at Le Mans yielded a second-place finish in the LMP2 class.



Source link

Bourdais returns to WEC in Bahrain finale with Cadillac

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Sebastien Bourdais will join the factory Cadillac team for the final round of the 2024 World Endurance Championship in Bahrain early next month.

Bourdais, the outright 2014 Daytona 24 Hours winner, will join Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber in the #2 Chip Ganassi-entered Cadillac V-Series.R for what would be his third appearance in WEC this year.

The Frenchman started the season with the American outfit in the new Qatar 1812km round before returning at the Le Mans 24 Hours in Ganassi’s second entry, teaming up with IndyCar star Scott Dixon and sportscar ace Renger van der Zande in the #3 Caddy.

“It’s good to get back in the car with Alex and Earl,” said Bourdais, who finished third in the recently concluded IMSA SportsCar Championship with the US arm of the Ganassi Cadillac squad. 

“Performance-wise, it seems like the car is in a really good window. It’s pretty light, good on power and competitive, so there is definitely something to play for. Bahrain is a really big challenge. It’s an extremely abrasive racetrack. 

“Tyre deg is very high and using the tyre the right way and not hurting it but making it function without making it slide is a critical thing to do. You have to do it with setup, dampers, traction control and you name it. We’ll try to find some recipes that work and hopefully, we’ll wind up in a good spot.”

Ganassi/Cadillac Racing has been one of the few teams to take advantage of the regulations to run a two-driver line-up for six-hour races this year.

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Sebastien Bourdais

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Sebastien Bourdais

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

This meant that Lynn and Bamber raced as a duo in five of the eight rounds this year, with Bourdais partnering them for the pair of rounds in the Middle East at either end of the campaign and IndyCar champion Alex Palou serving as the third driver in the Le Mans centrepiece event.

It marked a shift in the marque’s approach from 2023, when the now-retired Richard Westbrook took part in every round along with Lynn and Bamber.

The WEC was planning to mandate three drivers in each Hypercar entry from 2025, but appears to have gone back on that idea after pushback from teams.

Cadillac’s best result of the season so far is a fourth-place finish achieved at the returning Austin event in September.

The General Motors brand will end its partnership with Ganassi following the Bahrain event to begin a new chapter with Jota, which will be running a pair of V-Series.Rs in Hypercar next year after competing in 2023-24 with customer Porsche machinery.

“We started off the season really well. Eventually [we] didn’t get the result because of the circumstances, but we certainly deserved a good finish,” said Bourdais.

“The car was very competitive in the race and we played the short game really well. Unfortunately, it’s been a bit of a tough season results-wise. There was always something coming in the way of a good result. If we could send it off on a high that would be pretty cool.

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Sebastien Bourdais

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Sebastien Bourdais

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Other changes

Elsewhere, Alpine has shuffled its driver line-up following Nicolas Lapierre’s decision to retire from racing. While Jules Gounon will join the team as expected, he has been drafted in the #35 Alpine A424 alongside Ferdinand Habsburg and Paul-Loup Chatin.

Charles Milesi moves from the #35 car to team up with Mick Schumacher and Matthieu Vaxiviere in the #36 car, taking the spot previously occupied by Lapierre.

In LMGT3, Conrad Laursen will replace Clemens Schmid in the #78 ASP Lexus RC F GT3, while Giorgio Roda and Giammarco Levorato will race the #88 Proton Ford Mustang GT3, with both Mikkel Pedersen and team owner Christian Ried stepping away from the cockpit for the bonus points finale.



Source link

Rossi confirmed for Bahrain WEC rookie test in BMW LMDh

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi will get his first run in BMW’s LMDh prototype in the World Endurance Championship rookie test in Bahrain.

Rossi will get to sample the BMW M Hybrid V8 at the Bahrain International Circuit on 3 November, a day after the 2024 WEC concludes in the Gulf nation.

The German manufacturer had first revealed plans to give the Italian a chance behind the wheel of its prototype when he was added to its factory roster for the beginning of the 2023 season.

The original timeline involved Rossi driving the Dallara LMP2-based racer towards the back end of last year, before BMW moved the planned outing to 2024.

Speaking exclusively with Autosport on the sidelines of this weekend’s GT World Challenge Europe event in Monza, Rossi himself confirmed that he will finally get the opportunity to drive the BMW LMDh in a little over a month’s time.

«At the Rookie Test I’m going to try the BMW LMDh and I’m very, very happy because last year I got to drive the LMP2, so the next goal is to see what the M Hybrid V8 is like,» he said.

«And then who knows, maybe in the future there will be a place in Hypercar. Let’s see.»

#20 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Sheldon Van Der Linde, Robin Frijns, Rene Rast

#20 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Sheldon Van Der Linde, Robin Frijns, Rene Rast

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

At last weekend’s penultimate round of the WEC at Fuji, BMW motorsport boss Andreas Roos already hinted at Rossi getting behind the wheel of the marque’s LMDh car in the Bahrain rookie test.

He said: “It will be a surprise, maybe! We will see. He definitely will get the test this year.

“We said from the beginning that Valentino will be in the car and we clearly said at the beginning that it will not be at the beginning of the season, because then we have more than enough to do to get our things sorted, and the focus was clearly there to get everything prepared.

“But he will be in the car this year.”

Manufacturers have regularly taken advantage of the now-traditional Bahrain test to both evaluate and reward newcomers, including drivers who are more famous for their exploits in other disciplines.

Two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso got his first taste of the Toyota TS050 LMP1 car in Bahrain in 2017 before embarking on the 2018/19 superseason.

The Japanese marque then put its World Rally Championship star Sebastien Ogier in its new LMH car at the end of the 2021 season in the Gulf nation.

Rossi, a seven-time champion in MotoGP, got to complete his first laps in a prototype in Bahrain last year when he took the wheel of a WRT-run Oreca 07 LMP2.

He subsequently entered the WEC this year in a BMW M4 GT3 entered by WRT in the new LMGT3 division.

The 45-year-old’s comments at Monza on Friday indicated that he still harbours aspirations of racing in the top class of either the WEC or the IMSA SportsCar Championship in the BMW M Hybrid V8.



Source link