There have been no changes to the Balance of performance for either the WEC points-leading Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrids, or the pair of Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus 007 Hypercars for the Test Day ahead of the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans later this month.
That sees Toyota peak power set at 515kW and the non-hybrid Glickenhaus at 520kW, with no change since Portimao in June, confirming, it seems that there is consideration being given, at the very least, to amend the previous power ceiling for the WEC’s new top class at the 24 Hours itself. There are no changes either to the maximum energy usage permitted over a full stint for wither team.
The initial published regulations saw maximum power set at 500km for Le mans with the remaining WEC races adjusted at the start of the season to a maximum of 520kw as part of the package of changes to reaffirm a performance gap between the Hypercars and the now reeled-in LMP2s.
There is no indication of whether any further changes will be considered between the 15 August Test Day and the race the following weekend though the regulations do allow for this.
Whilst the new-for 2022 cars from Toyota and Glickenhaus see no BoP changes there has been a significant change for the grandfathered Rebellion R13 LMP1 that now runs as the Alpine A480 which has seen its maximum stint power allowance reduced to 844 Mj from the previous 965 Mj (The Toyota remains at 962 Mj and the Glickenhaus at 965 Mj)
There is no clarification on the reasoning behind the change for the car which runs this season with reduced power and added weight compared to the 2020 spec rebellion, but also has the highly effective low drag aero of the R13.
The Alpine has been close to the pace of the Toyota in early races this season but has, thus far, been unable to match the GR010s over a race distance principally because the A480 is not able to run with the full fuel load permitted under the regulations as the car’s homologated fuel tank does not have sufficient capacity.
That has seen the car having to make one more routine stop in a 6 hour WEC race than the Toyotas, an advantage that would see over a lap worth of difference over a full green Le Mans 24 Hours between the two teams.
