Will Ferrari, Toyota Breaks Spice Imola WEC Up?
Balance of Performance Shake Up for Italian Road to Le Mans
The World Endurance Championship has confirmed a significant Balance of Performance shake up for the next stop on the Road to Le Mans in Italy this Sunday 21 April. 2023 Le Mans 24 Hour winners and home team Ferrari, and Gazoo Toyota Racing benefit most from breaks applied to all cars except the heavily revised new Peugeots for the weekend’s 6 Hours of Imola.
The Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercars (top) will drop 75 pounds from their opening round Qatar 1812 minimum weight to 2,295 pounds. at Imola. The 499Ps however gain an extra nine horsepower. The Toyota’s GR010 Hybrid LMHs lose 64 pounds. and gain 8 HP in the FIA WEC Committee’s latest Balance of Performance tables table.
8 out of 9 Get Imola Reprieves
Both Toyota and Ferrari were humbled by the Porsches and Peugeots at the previous round. So Sunday’s changes certainly promise to shake up the 2024 WEC pecking order. The rest of the Hypercar grid however also gain BoP breaks. Alpine’s A424 LMDh also loses 61 lbs, the Lamborghinis and Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6 drop 60 pounds, and the BMW M Hybrid LMDhs shed 58 pounds.
The Qatar winning Porsche 963 LMDhs will be 33 pounds lighter as they power an additional 5 HP up. The solo Cadillac V-Series LMDh gets only a 3-pound reprieve down to the 2,270 pounds. LMDh class limit. But the Caddy also gains a healthy 24 HP.
An All-New Peugeot for Imola
The entirely re-imagined Peugeot 9X8 2024 will race 68 pounds heavier than the 2,340 pounds 2023 car as it also loses 14 HP. That in line with its change from an unusual ground effect set-up to a more regular winged configuration. The Peugeot will also now deploy its electric front axle hybrid system for at the same 125 mph as its LMH rivals. It will additionally run standard staggered wheel sizes, rather than four smaller tires.
The changes have as much to do with Imola’s different, undulating track traits versus the flat, desert Qatar, as they do on reeling in the cars that enjoyed an advantage in the Gulf race. The WEC is yet to introduce its planned ‘power gain’ Balance of Performance component to equalise the various cars’ straight line speeds.
Small Changes, But a Big Shake Up in italy?
The only changes to the Imola Hypercar entry list over Qatar will be Cadillac running only two drivers in Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn. Sebastien Bourdais sits the Italian round out. And Peugeot has replaced the injured Ferdinand Habsburg with Jules Gounon for Imola.
All of which means anything can happen at Imola’s Road to Le Mans race as all teams arrive with a different specification to what they ran in the Qatar season opener. The Imola 6 Hour starts at 13h00 European time Sunday, April 21.
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Photos: WEC