For Alpine, the debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship is approaching with its brand new A424 LMDh and the two weeks that will take place in Qatar will be a sort of double test.
The French brand returns to action in the Hypercar Class with a hybrid prototype that has already covered several kilometers in winter testing and is now preparing to cross arms for the very first time against its category rivals.
The #35 cars of Paul-Loup Chatin/Ferdinand Habsburg/Charles Milesi and #36 of Mick Schumacher/Nicolas Lapierre/Matthieu Vaxivière will take to the track on the Lusail International Circuit this weekend for the two-day Prologue where very important data will be collected in view of the 1812 km of Qatar which will kick off the 2024 season on March 2nd.
Alpine A424 LMDh
Photo by: Alpine
“We can't wait to get to Qatar for the first rounds of the calendar. It's our first real test after the development phase and we know it will be a great challenge, but we must also appreciate the importance of fielding two cars in the championship. This moment rewards the enormous collective effort made by the entire team”, said Philippe Sinault, Team Principal Alpine Endurance Team.
“However, being in Qatar is not the goal in itself, and we know we still have a long way to go in this learning season.”
“We started fine-tuning our preparations on the simulator last week in view of the Prologue and a truly challenging event: a 10-hour race on an extremely particular track in terms of tire wear, as our colleagues experienced of F1”.
Alpine A424 LMDh
Photo by: Alpine
Bruno Famin, Vice President of Alpine Motorsports, adds: “It's not a baptism of fire yet, but we're almost there! This will be our first test session in real conditions, with all our rivals on track and we know we have a lot to do learning at all levels.”
“The priority will therefore be to make the most of the time available on the track to work, among other things, on the set-up, both for the chassis and for the systems, to get the technical team and the crews to work together and find the right automatic mechanisms, and to understand the tires on this very atypical track”.
“The whole team is working hard to make this session as productive as possible. There is still a long way to go, but I trust in everyone's commitment, from the mechanics to the drivers.”
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