The 2024 WEC season is about to begin and will officially kick off with the prologue on 24-25 February, when the cars will meet in Qatar before returning to the same circuit for the first race, the 1812 km on 12 March.
For the 2024 championship, Ferrari has great ambitions, with its hypercar, the 499P which will take part in the competitions with 3 examples, which, explained Antonello Coletta, global head of endurance and customer racing, will allow the Ferrari team to collect more information and more quickly, to accelerate development.
But the Maranello company expects a lot from the third car also in terms of results, given that the brand's objective, again according to Coletta, is to try to repeat the victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, trying to achieve more successes during the 'year.
The list of opponents, however, is quite large, judging by the official list of cars that have already confirmed their presence at Le Mans.
The premier class is made up of nine different brands: Ferrari, Toyota, Cadillac, Peugeot, Porsche, Lamborghini, Alpine, BMW and Isotta Fraschini.
Specifically, in addition to the 2 Toyota GR010 Hybrids, which are the reference in the category, and the 3 Ferrari 499Ps, there are 6 Porsche 963 LMDhs, 3 of which are official;
2 Cadillac V-Series R;
2 BMW M Hybrid V8;
2 Lamborghini SC63;
2 Alpine A424;
2 Peugeot 9X8;
and the Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6-C.
Among these, Toyota aims to regain the scepter of victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as confirming itself at the top of the drivers' and constructors' rankings, where it will be threatened by Ferrari with greater determination than in 2023, the year of the 499P's debut in the WEC between hypercars.
Porsche will want to capitalize on the experience gained last season, Peugeot wants to redeem itself, while BMW, Lamborghini and Alpine have the ambition to enter the fray as leading brands.
Isotta Fraschini is ready to bring a high-sounding name back to the top, and Cadillac can count on a concrete prototype developed during the previous season.
The LMP2 class is less crowded, with 16 cars, all Oreca 07s, while the cars that will race in the LMGT3 category will equate the number of hypercars to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where there will be 23.
The same category promises to be particularly exciting throughout the season with cars that have performed well in other championships, such as the BMW M4;
the always fearsome Porsche 911;
the class winner in the Nurburgring 24 Hours Ferrari 296;
the competitive Lamborghini Huracan;
the Aston Martin Vantage;
the McLaren 720 S;
the Corvette Z06;
the Lexus RC;
and the Ford Mustang.
In short, such a heterogeneous variety of models that will attract the attention of spectators and enthusiasts, and will generate quite a few headaches for the BOP, acronym for balance of performance, considering the technical differences between the various cars.
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