It is not only Formula 1, Formula 2 and Formula 3 which kick their seasons this weekend as the World Endurance Championship also begins with its opening round in Qatar.
The first WEC event to be held at the Losail circuit, the 1,812km of Qatar – a reference to the country’s national day on 18th December – will be the first of eight rounds in this year’s championship, including the Le Mans 24 Hours in June.This year, there are more Hypercar entries than ever before in the championship. A total of 19 Hypercars will be competing in the opening round this weekend – eight more than did the same in Sebring last season.
After the pre-season test at Losail has been completed, all nine Hypercar models and 19 teams that will be racing this weekend have been seen at the Qatar circuit. Get acquainted with all of them ahead of this weekend’s race.
Cadillac
Cadillac will compete another full season in the WEC for 2024. Alongside a full season entry of the number two car of Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Sebastien Bourdais, there will also be two further Cadillacs at Le Mans; the number three car – which Bourdais will move to with multiple IndyCar champion Scott Dixon and Renger van der Zande – and the number 311 Whelen Cadillac of Luis Felipe Derani, Jack Aitken and an unannounced driver, which currently competes in the IMSA series.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Porsche
There will be no fewer than five Porsche 963s competing this weekend in Qatar – the most of any hypercar model in the field. Penske and Jota will race two each, while Proton are the entrant for the fifth.
Multiple Le Mans winner Andre Lotterer will pilot one the number six car with team mates Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor, while Formula 1 world champion of 2009, Jenson Button, will lead the number 38 Jota Porsche with Philip Hanson and Oliver Rasmussen. Harry Tincknell, Neel Jani and Julien Andlauer will share the sole Proton Porsche.
Toyota
The reigning WEC champions and very much the team to beat heading into 2024, Toyota will have a two car tandem for both the WEC and the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Last year, the Japanese manufacturer won every race in the championship except for the most important one at Le Mans. Naturally, world champions of the number eight car – Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and new McLaren F1 reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa – will return to the car for 2024, as will Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway to the sister number seven. However, Formula E world champion and former AlphaTauri F1 driver Nyck de Vries will replace Jose Maria Lopez for the new season in the eight car.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Isotta Fraschini
Not a new name to motorsport but certainly unfamiliar to the WEC and to many younger fans, Isotta Fraschini finally joins the grid later than originally planned.
Having originally intended to compete last season, Isotta Fraschini missed Le Mans and postponed their debut to 2024. The new Tipo6-C hypercar will be the sole one competing this season, driven by platinum-rated driver Jean-Karl Vernay and silver due Carl Wattana Bennett and Antonio Serrvalle.
BMW
BMW return to the top class of sportscar racing’s highest level for the first time since 1999. While the WRT-ran BMW M Hybrid is new to the WEC and Le Mans, it is not new to endurance racing having competed in IMSA last season.
The WEC driver line-up differs from that which appears in IMSA, however. In the world championship veterans Dries Vanthoor and Raffaele Maciello will share the number 15 car with team mate Marco Wittmann, while the sister number 20 entry will feature Sheldon van der Linde, Robin Frijns and Rene Rast.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Alpine
After a year away, Alpine have returned to hypercar in 2024 with the all-new A424. They launched their new car alongside their Formula 1 team earlier this month, revealing the two three-driver line-ups.
The number 35 Alpine will be driven by Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi, but the number 36 car might get more attention as Mercedes F1 reserve driver and former Haas F1 driver Mick Schumacher makes his endurance racing debut alongside Nico Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere. Both cars will be Alpine’s only representation at Le Mans.
Ferrari
Ferrari’s much-heralded return to endurance racing and Le Mans in 2023 resulted in a remarkable overall victory for the Prancing Horse in the Le Mans 24 Hours at the 499P’s first attempt.
But although they took a famous win for Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi and their number 51 car – despite the ACO and FIA’s Balance of Performance changes before the race attracting some criticism – Ferrari were beaten in every other round of last year’s championship.
This season, they will look to defend their Le Mans crown and become a stronger challenge to Toyota with the same driver line-ups in the number 51 and the number 50, driven by Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen. Ferrari have opted for strength in numbers over their key rivals Toyota by adding a third 499P, the yellow number 83 driven by grand prix winner Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman and Yifei Ye, and entered under the AF Corse banner.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Lamborghini
Another new car for 2024, Lamborghini will compete in the hypercar class with their brand new SC63 in partnership with the Iron Lynx team. After a development that could be described as somewhat challenging, the car will finally make its racing debut this weekend.
Mirko Bortolotti, Edoardo Mortara and former F1 racer Daniil Kvyat will race the number 63 car in the WEC this season. Meanwhile in the IMSA championship, IndyCar racer Romain Grosjean will compete with Andrea Caldarelli and Matteo Cairoli, with the team venturing over to France in the summer to race in Le Mans in Lamborghini’s second number 19 entry.
Peugeot
The last hypercar to complete the WEC field for 2024 is Peugeot’s, who returned to the championship towards the end of the 2022 season before their unique 9X8 made its Le Mans debut last year.
The French manufacturer has not been the contender it hoped to be so far, taking just a single podium finish across the ten events in which it has participated. Peugeot are aggressively pursuing development of the car, however, with the team expected to consider introduced a rear wing to their currently wingless design.
For the new season, Peugeot has switched drivers Paul di Resta and Nico Muller, with Muller moving to the number 93 team with Mikkel Jensen and Jean-Eric Vergne, while Di Resta now joins the number 94 sister car with Loic Duval and Stoffel Vandoorne. There will be no third entry for the team at Le Mans.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
World Endurance Championship
- Toyota’s Kobayashi keeps his nerve to deny Porsche Penske Imola win
- Ferrari lock out top three grid positions for home round at Imola
- How to watch the Chinese GP, IndyCar at Long Beach and WEC at Imola
- Fifth-placed Cadillac disqualified 26 days after WEC’s season-opening race
- Vettel completes Porsche Hypercar test at Aragon
Tim M (@tim-m)
28th February 2024, 22:46
I like that these cars are all a bit different, yet exciting in different ways. If there was a series of Hypercar grand prix/F1 length races, with one driver per car, I’d definitely tune in and watch.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
29th February 2024, 0:37
Shouldn’t the yellow Ferrari be a convertible?