A month has now passed since the presentation of the Alpine A424_ß for 2024 and the French LMDh is about to finally put its wheels on the track.
After the veils fell in the 24h of Le Mans, the transalpine manufacturer has brought to Monza the ‘show-car’ model of the hybrid prototype with which it will make its return to the Hypercar class of the FIA World Endurance Championship next year.
Meanwhile, work is continuing on fine-tuning the engine and building the first example around the chassis supplied by Oreca which will then go into action in a few weeks, officially kicking off the development tests.
It had already been explained at Le Mans that this route will be a race against time to be ready for the start of the 2024 season next March and in Brianza Motorsport.com was able to chat with André Negrão about it.
The 31-year-old Brazilian first hosted us on his A110 for a hot-lap on the Brianza track and then granted this exclusive interview in which he took stock of the current situation of the new Alpine prototype.
#36 Alpine ELF Matmut – Alpine 480 Gibson, Andre Negrao
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Presented the LMDh, now it’s up to you pilots: what will your job be like?
“It will be long and demanding, also because everything is a bit late, between the engine, chassis and all the electronic parts. We have already seen the engine, it is on the Renault dynamometer and we are developing it. We have to wait for the electronic components that arrive from McLaren, the shell from Oreca which is almost ready, plus some other parts which obviously do not depend on us”.
Do you think it is plausible to be ready in March 2024 for the first race in Qatar?
“I think the Shakedown will take place between the end of July and the first half of August, that’s the goal. However, other brands have also carried out a few tests, such as Acura, which immediately won at Daytona. However, the timing shows that there are still seven months to develop the whole car and get the electrical part to work well with the internal combustion engine. In my opinion, we’re in pretty good shape”.
What will it be like to drive a hybrid car?
“On an LMDh the battery isn’t as big as it can be on a Hypercar and the traction remains only at the rear. For the drivers it’s a bit simpler work, the engineers have to assemble and make everything work, while for us it’s enough push a button and activate the hybrid part. It will be necessary to understand how the hybrid and internal combustion engine work together, but we will do it with the engineers”.
Alpine A424
Photo by: Alpine
Regarding the preparation for the simulator, what are you doing?
“Today we work a lot on the simulator, we still have more than 60 days of testing to do. We don’t know the data until the car goes on the track, so we only do virtual preparation. It depends when the car will be ready, if it will arrive at the end of July… In any case, as soon as it can turn around we will collect all the information and continue the work in parallel”.
Acura also has Oreca chassis, has the French company provided you with any information to help you prepare your LMDh?
“We know that the chassis works 100% very well and so does the electronic part, which is the same as ours. From this point of view, the car is very good and in IMSA Acura has already shown that it is successful and competitive. The difference is obviously it’s in the engine; they have Honda and we have Renault. But we still have a lot to do in development.”
Did you already get an idea of the differences between LMH and LMDh on the track?
“It’s very difficult to evaluate them, but looking at the times you understand that there is still an important difference between Hypercar and LMDh in the management of the Balance of Performance. Ferrari, Peugeot and Toyota remain far behind Porsche and Cadillac, which have no never had a real chance to play it. This year will help everyone to study and understand how to improve and achieve parity in 2024, when BMW and Lamborghini will arrive in the WEC with the LMDhs as well as us”.
Alpine A424
Photo by: Alpine
This year you’re back on the LMP2, do you think the LMDh will have any affinity with this model?
“Certainly the LMDh will be much faster, but in terms of driving the car I think it will be similar. As was the LMP1 we had last year. We’ll find out on the track.”
As a driver, how much have you grown in two years of LMP1?
“From a driving point of view, very little, while I learned a lot about chassis, fuel management and strategies. Last year we didn’t have the battery and the only thing we limited ourselves to doing in the race was petrol management; we developed a software to simulate the fact of having a battery and this helped us a lot in terms of LMDh”.
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