Photo: Charly Lopez/DPPI
***The four sessions that made up the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Prologue test were paced by four different manufacturers, with Ferrari, Cadillac, Porsche and BMW all topping a session each. Robin Frijns’ 1:38.971 benchmark aboard the No. 20 BMW M Hybrid V8 in the final session cleared last year’s pole 1:39.347 set by Matt Campbell.
***Frijns commented: “I think it went alright. We had a test program before arriving to Qatar, we followed it pretty much and everything feel fine. Now we need to put the puzzle together and prepare ourselves for the race weekend which is a bit different. As we don’t drive at night during FP1 and FP2, today was our only opportunity so that was quite important for us. Now it’s all about discussions and see how we can improve the package we have for the race.”
***On the other hand, Simon Mann’s best lap aboard the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari in LMGT3, a 1:54:790, fell a little over four tenths shy of the pole time set last year by TF Sport Corvette driver Tom van Rompuy, a 1:54.372.
***Racing Spirit of Leman’s Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo did not run for the remainder of Saturday following Derek Deboer’s crash at Turn 5 early in the opening session. An Aston Martin spokesperson reported that Deboer was unharmed and that the car is expected to return to action in time for Wednesday’s opening practice session.
***Toyota Gazoo Racing’s No. 8 car was involved in a minor incident at the end of the same session as Sebastien Buemi made contact at Turn 1 with the No. 88 Proton Competition Ford. “At the restart of the full-course yellow, Seb was caught out by the cold tires and cold brakes and just locked up and hit one of the Fords,” said team technical director David Floury. “We are very sorry about that.”
***Ferrari LMGT3 driver Alessio Rovera sat out Saturday’s running due to illness, leaving co-drivers Simon Mann and Francois Heriau to pilot the No. 21 AF Corse car as a duo. Rovera was however spotted in the paddock in the afternoon and is likely to be fit in time for Wednesday’s opening practice session.
***Toyota Gazoo Racing no longer occupies its traditional place at the end of the pit lane in Qatar following the removal of the provision in the WEC regulations that allows the reigning manufacturers’ champion to decide its position. Instead, Peugeot is now positioned at the garage closest to the pit exit.
***Asked to clarify the new system, a spokesperson for WEC promoter LMEM told Sportscar365: “It is up to us as the organizer to allocate garages in line with paddock requirements and hospitality, as well as teams with cars in both categories.”
***Porsche Penske Motorsport has named David Ladouce as race engineer for the No. 5 Porsche 963, replacing Matthieu Leroy. Although his most recent experience is in Formula E, Ladouce worked as a race engineer as part of the BMW GTE-Pro program during the 2018-19 Super Season.
***Porsche LMDh factory director Urs Kuratle revealed that the engine failure suffered by the No. 6 Porsche 963 on Friday was the first such failure encountered on track across the whole of the 963 program to date, including customer cars.
***Kuratle told reporters: “[It] was the first engine failure we had in the car at the track after 420,000 kilometers or something like that. It was unnecessary but we are really confident that they understood the problem. The engine is on the way back to Weissach and will be investigated from Monday lunchtime. It’s actually already forgotten because we think we understood the problem.”
***Kuratle added that the engine in question was estimated to be halfway through its lifecycle when the failure occurred. He further indicated that both cars in action at Qatar underwent a shakedown test at Weissach on February 6.
***Meanwhile, a decision regarding the chassis and crew for the team’s anticipated third entry in June’s 24 Hours of Le Mans has not yet been made.
***Porsche has no dedicated Hypercar reserve driver for the Qatar season opener, with all six of its LMDh factory drivers already deployed across its two cars. “Usually we feel we can do it with two [drivers],” said Kuratle. “It will be a stretch but we have the six guys here and this is it. There’s no reserve driver. That will change from event to event.”
***Newly-promoted Porsche Hypercar driver Julien Andlauer described the placement of strips of gravel on the outside of certain corners at the Lusail International Circuit as “not a bad thing,” although he predicted it could lead to more gravel being left on the track during next week’s race.
***Andlauer told Sportscar365: “It’s quite tricky. It brings some gravel on a few more corners. In some corners a bit less, but it brings some. In the end I think it’s up to us drivers to stay out of the gravel. But also in the car, sometimes when you’re just pushing to the limit for some laps and have a little moment, you don’t want to go to the gravel but you have to open the wheel to avoid crashing. That’s the compromise.”
***A Michelin tire test is planned for the Sunday following the Qatar round as the French manufacturer continues to work on its 2026 range, which was originally slated for introduction this year but was postponed following a rained-off test at Portimao. A further test has also been scheduled for mid-May at Paul Ricard.
***Referring to last year’s tire development tests at the Circuit of The Americas and Bahrain, Michelin endurance racing program manager Pierre Alves commented: “These tests allowed us to optimize several parameters simultaneously, which is a true challenge in tire engineering. We are continuing our tests this year with the goal of finalizing the new range before summer.”
***For the fifth WEC race in a row, Michelin has brought the Medium and Hard tires from its allocation to Qatar. The Soft was last seen in last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
***TF Sport’s pair of Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs are running a new muffler system to meet stricter sound requirements for the LMGT3 class this year, reducing the noise level of the cars by around 12-14 decibels, per a manufacturer spokesperson.
***Ben Keating, who returns to the WEC this season after a year away, is reunited with his title-winning engineer from his GTE-Am title-winning campaign in 2023, Tyler Neff, who has been charged with running the No. 33 entry this season.
***TF driver Daniel Juncadella recently piloted an Aston Martin Formula 1 car during a promotional run at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The Spaniard said the outing marked his first time in an F1 car in more than a decade. Juncadella served as reserve driver for Force India, which has since become the Aston Martin F1 team, in 2014.
***With the Prologue wrapped up, there are three days of no track activity before action resumes with the first Free Practice session on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. local time (3:30 a.m. ET).
Davey Euwema contributed to this report
