Photo: Fabrizio Boldoni/DPPI
***The FIA World Endurance Championship Prologue test kicked off at Qatar’s Lusail International Circuit on Friday with the first of four test sessions, topped by Robert Kubica in the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P. The Polish driver’s best time of 1:41.673 was just over 2.5 seconds slower than last year’s pole time recorded by Matt Campbell.
***Porsche Penske Motorsport carried out a precautionary engine change on the No. 6 Porsche 963 in between Friday’s sessions, according to a team spokesperson. The change was made after Laurens Vanthoor encountered an issue during the first session, which led the Belgian to return to the pits on electric power only.
***The No. 77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 is set to miss the final part of Friday’s running after it suffered a fire during the opening session with Ben Tuck at the wheel, causing the final stoppage. The car needs to be stripped down before further assessment can be done, according to Ben Barker.
***Since last year’s Qatar race, several curbs have been modified around the Lusail International Circuit to make them less aggressive, with the work taking place before last November’s Formula 1 race. Additional two-meter wide strips of gravel have also been added outside certain corners in an effort to better manage track limits.
***A revised Hypercar Balance of Performance for the Qatar round has been issued, featuring minor changes compared to the original version from earlier in the week. The Alpine A424 now weighs in at 1044 kg, 1 kilogram heavier than before, while the Toyota GR010 Hybrid has been made 1 kilo lighter, bringing it in line with the Porsche 963 at 1064 kg. The new BoP table can be viewed here.
***Toyota Gazoo Racing does not have a designated reserve driver this year. Last year the role was filled by Ritomo Miyata, but Toyota instead chose to recall Jose Maria Lopez from the Akkodis ASP LMGT3 squad to drive the No. 7 car when regular driver Mike Conway was ruled out of the 24 Hours of Le Mans due to injury.
***Toyota Gazoo Racing vice-chairman Kazuki Nakajima said there was a “plan” in place in case of injury or illness among its regular drivers, and didn’t deny the possibility that Lopez could be called up again in future. “We have some drivers who can be ready, but our first priority is not to have a reserve driver in the car,” he told Sportscar365.
***Nakajima revealed that Miyata, who is focusing exclusively on Formula 2 this season after racing in the European Le Mans Series’ LMP2 class last year, did sample the GR010 Hybrid during a Toyota test at Paul Ricard in January. “We are still trying to give him some experience, but his focus is on Formula 2,” said Nakajima.
***A rules clarification has been issued regarded the new-for-2025 LED information panels, which make their debut in Qatar, replacing the previous leader light system — the provision stating that a malfunction will result in a penalty has been scrapped.
***The system of success ballast in LMGT3 has been replaced by a new success handicap that seeks to penalize cars by a certain percentage of lap time based on past results. The figure will still be calculated using the results from the two most recent races, plus the championship positions, with respective penalties of 0.24 percent, 0.16 percent and 0.08 percent awarded to the top three cars.
***The relevant bulletin states that each handicap “will be transformed into mass and/or power at ACO/FIA discretion which will be communicated in the BoP table sent before each competition”. The system will not be used for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
***A Goodyear spokesperson has confirmed that the new Eagle Hard compound that is set to debut later this year at Sao Paulo is the same compound that was original slated for a debut last year under the ‘Medium-Plus’ name. This was to make the difference between existing medium tire and the new compound easier to understand, with the new tire expected to have slower drop-off after the first stint.
***Goodyear has also announced an overhaul of its Wingfoot Award, which will now be determined by votes from both trackside attendees and viewers at home. Previously, it was given to the LMGT3 driver that achieved the fastest stint average during a race.
***The debuting Aston Martin Valkyrie has lost its original ‘AMR-LMH’ designation on WEC’s official entry list and other relevant documents, despite being referred to as such previously by the brand. An Aston Martin spokesperson told Sportscar365 that the change was made to closer align the race car with the road car it is based upon.
***Iron Lynx team principal Andrea Piccini revealed he sampled the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo at the end of the team’s first test with the new car at Portimao last December. The Italian stepped away from full-time competition at the end of the 2021 season.
***Describing the outing, Piccini told Sportscar365: “Super easy. After one corner, you go out of the garage, one corner, and you feel kind of at home. So the car seems to be very simple as a first approach, let’s say.”
***Peugeot has appointed Marco Pastorino as the new team manager for its Hypercar program. The Italian, who previously worked with Glickenhaus, will replace Christian Deltombe, who will depart the role after next week’s Qatar race.
***Ex-Ford WEC driver Dirk Mueller is in attendance in Qatar this week, working in a coaching role for his fellow countryman Mick Schumacher.
***Nine-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen is set to attend next week’s Qatar 1812km as a special guest of the WEC.
***Track action for the WEC Prologue continues with two more test sessions on Saturday totaling seven hours of running, the first taking place from 12-3 p.m. local time (4-7 a.m. ET) and the second from 5-9 p.m. (9 a.m.-1 p.m. ET).
Davey Euwema contributed to this report
