Alpine is not expected to introduce an engine update to overcome the problem that led to the early retirement of both of its cars at this season’s Le Mans 24 Hours.
The French manufacturer revealed at the Interlagos round of the FIA WEC in July that a valve problem had sidelined its two A424 LMDhs in the French classic in June before the sixth hour.
Apparently, new hardware to fix the problem may not be introduced until the end of the season, with Alpine Motorsport boss Bruno Famin telling Motorsport.com that it is “very likely” that the modified valves will not be used this year.
“It’s a timing issue. You have to define what you need, produce the new part and then validate it, which is quite a long process,” he explained.
Alpine is managing engine protocols to overcome the issue in the absence of the update and believes the performance of its 3.4-liter single-turbo V6 is unaffected by the trouble.
Famin’s comments in Austin were followed by the best qualifying performance by any of the A424s since the car made its WEC debut earlier this season.
#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Charles Milesi placed the #35 Alpine fourth on the grid in Austin, three places better than the marque’s previous seventh-place finish at Spa in May.
This is despite Team Signatech missing the group test at Circuit of The Americas in July, which was attended by the other seven manufacturers competing in the WEC Hypercar class.
Explaining the absence, Famin added: “It was arranged at the last minute and we had our own testing plans, so we decided to stick to those. Also, it was quite expensive.”
Milesi believes that the resurfacing of some parts of the track after the test at the end of July and the different environmental conditions for the race weekend have reduced the disadvantage of those who were absent.
“If you do a test you always start the weekend better, but the conditions were very different and the asphalt changed a bit,” he said.
Milesi added that he could have placed the car he shares with Ferdinand Habsburg and Paul-Loup Chatin second on the grid had he not botched the final sector on his flying lap in the Hyperpole qualifying session for the top 10 cars in opening qualifying.
#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
He attributed Alpine’s improved qualifying to the way the team managed the medium-compound Michelin tyre.
“We had a problem in FP1 and lost a bit of time, but we kept improving.”
“We made a great improvement from FP3 to qualifying and the ability to put the tyre in the right window was the key to this qualifying performance.”
Milesi then added that he was not sure Alpine would be able to maintain its qualifying position in Sunday’s six-hour race in Austin.
“I don’t know if we have the pace to stay in the top five, but we’ll try. We’re in the right group now and it’s much easier to start from there than from the back of the grid.”
The #36 Alpine failed to make it into Hyperpole, with Mick Schumacher finishing 13th in the A424 he shares with Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere.
The German revealed that he was distracted by a wasp that entered the cockpit, forcing him to open the door to try to get it out. He also complained about the presence of Ferraris in his path as he was trying to set a fast lap.
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