Track impressions
After two days of track time during the pre-season Prologue test, expectations for Saturday’s WEC season opener on the Lusail International Circuit are becoming clearer.
DSC polled various drivers and senior team members up and down the pit lane over the course of the Prologue, and is pleased to report that the majority of the feedback it received was positive.
As a facility, shipping delays aside, it’s proving to be popular. The paddock is spacious, the garages are well equipped, the weather at this time of year is warm but manageable and there are plenty of nice places to stay and eat close to the circuit.
“It’s fantastic,” HERTZ Team JOTA’s Sam Hignett said. “We based ourselves just up the road over the winter after Bahrain last year and moved into a facility near here. The whole country has been a massive help for us. It’s a great place to go to, with perfect weather. This country has built the infrastructure to support events like this.”
By basing its effort in the Middle East over the winter Hignett said the benefits were twofold. There were no issues with freight delays as the cars were already nearby and it was able to test at both Bahrain and Qatar over the winter break and ready itself for the season to come. Assuming the season starts and ends in the Middle East going forward, this could become the norm for the team.
As for the circuit itself, it presents two clear challenges: traffic management and left-side tyre wear.
Watching a MotoGP race at Lusail makes the circuit seem far wider than it is. In reality, it’s narrow in places, and with so many corners packed together, there will be pinch points and bottlenecks to navigate when things get busy in the race.
As for the tyres, the general consensus is that teams will double stint the right side and single stint the left to combat the heavy, constant load applied to the front and rear left tyres each lap.
“It’s a cool track with a bit of everything,” Proton Competition Hypercar driver Harry Tincknell told DSC. “It’s quite low grip with one line, it feels like a damp track with a dry line. The kerbs are definitely interesting too, in a prototype you actually use a lot of kerbs around here because they’re quite flat. We can’t cut as much as the GTs but it’s not normal for us.
“Traffic wise, there are sections where it’s very difficult to overtake, especially the triple right, if you don’t get a good run it can be tough to get past a GT car and you have to sit behind. I think it will create a good race.”
On the other end of the spectrum, Team WRT LMGT3 driver Ahmad Al Harthy echoes Tincknell’s thoughts. He expects it to be a tricky race for the drivers in GT3 cars too.
“It’s a difficult circuit to learn and race on. I would compare some areas to Portimao, just without the elevation changes. It’s flat but it’s tight and there are areas where the Hypercars aren’t pulling away from you so your laps are constantly being compromised. It’s so tight early in the lap between Turns 2 and 3,” he explained.
“I have been here before but it was so long ago I consider it my first time really.”
Taki Inoue’s two roles
Some eyebrows were raised when TF Sport requested that its driver Hiroshi Koizumi be permitted a Japanese translator for safety critical radio messages this week. It was not the request that raised the eyebrows, as exactly the same request was made and granted for AKKODIS ASP Lexus driver Takeshi Kimura.
Instead, it was because the chosen translator for TF Sport was none other than 1995 Footwork F1 driver Taki Inoue. Inoue, who is somewhat of a cult figure in F1 and motorsport fandom, was in any case present in the WEC paddock this week on driver management duties for Marino Sato at United Autosports.
The Japanese veteran has been in good company with his old friend of 35 years Richard Dean, their friendship dating back to their Formula Ford 1600 sparring days when both lived in Snetterton.
The approval for both drivers to have Japanese translation is necessary because from 2024 it is mandatory for all radio traffic to be in English. Both teams explained that their drivers spoke very limited English.
Robert Reid present
The FIA’s deputy president for motorsport Robert Reid is attending what is believed to be his second FIA WEC event, after being present at Spa last year shortly after his appointment.
Reid is of course yet another FIA World Champion in the FIA WEC paddock, having claimed the 2001 World Rally Championship alongside Richard Burns.
TotalEnergies station
Amongst the new additions to the WEC paddock for 2024 is a portable TotalEnergies charging station for a small fleet of electric scooters used by FIA WEC paddock management and logistics staff.
Free audio on WEC app returns
After being absent last year, the 2024 season will see the return of the highly popular free-to-air audio commentary available via both the FIA WEC app and FIAWEC.com’s timing screen, featuring the returning WEC commentary team of Martin Haven, Anthony Davidson, Louise Beckett and Graham Goodwin.
Details of the FIA WEC app and broadcast TV options are available via the championship website.
Again in 2024, as in last season, FP3 will be streamed live and free on YouTube with full commentary and special guests.
Trap speeds
Until the final session of the Prologue yesterday, the fastest trap speed recorded went to Jean-Karl Vernay in the #11 Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-C. The Frenchman ran at 307.7kph (192.3mph).
That was until the final session when the timing sheets recorded that Jean-Eric Vergne had passed through the trap at a blistering 319.5kph (199.7mph) in the #93 Peugeot 9X8.
ORECA ever-present maintained
The WEC debuts this weekend of both the Alpine A424 and the Ferrari 296 LMGT3 preserve an ever-present record for ORECA-built cars in the FIA WEC, from the very start back in 2012. That record includes the LMP2 ORECA 03, 03R (plus the Alpine A450B version of that car), 05 (and its A460 variant), 07 (A470 and Aurus 01) plus the Rebellion R-One, R-13 and A480.
By comparison, the debut of the Lamborghini SC63 is set to see the first full-season Ligier chassis on the FIA WEC grid since Larbre Competition’s JSP217 completed the 2018/19 season.
New Hypercars
Whilst the Ford Mustang LMGT3, Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R and 2024 version of the Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 all made their global debuts at the Rolex 24 Hours back in January, this weekend’s race will see the global debut of three new Hypercars, the Alpine A424, Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-C and Lamborghini SC63.
Continuing the theme of ‘new’ for the 2024 season, one remarkable statistic is that only one team in the entire 37-car field has arrived at Qatar with an unchanged car and driver line-up, that being Ferrari AF Corse and its factory 499Ps. Even here, just across the garage, AF Corse has expanded the effort with a privateer #83 car.
