WEC Qatar, analysis: Porsche, Ferrari and Toyota equal dominance | FP

By Carlo Platella
Historic day for the World Endurance Championship, which sees Porsche return to the top step of the podium. The golden moment continues for the Zuffenhausen manufacturer, which had already inaugurated the season with victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona. Ferrari and Toyota, the great expectations of the day before, limit the damage. The debut of Alpine and Lamborghini is surprising, immediately reaching the finish line without reliability problems.

Race at high pace

Qatar consigns to the archives one of the most challenging marathons in the history of the WEC. The absence of neutralizations gives us almost ten hours under the green flag regime, in which drivers and teams push with few reserves. The mild temperatures and the extremely level asphalt keep tire degradation to a minimum, placing attention instead on the management of graining, wear accentuated by slipping and cool conditions.

Race times thus decrease over the course of the stints, with the lighter fuel tank prevailing over the loss of performance from the tyres. The table shows the changes in pace over the stints, calculated by comparing the best times between the following 5 laps and those before each stop. The gain in pace expressed by the winning Porsche is surprising, with Laurens Vanthoor, André Lotterer and Kevin Estre capable of lowering their times by more than a second in 6 out of 11 stints, an objective achieved on only three occasions by the Toyota #7 and on two by Ferrari #50.

The Porsche hat-trick thus arises from the excellent conservation of the rubber for the entire duration of the stint, making the most of the performance advantage with empty tanks. In the comparison between the Ferrari #50 and the Toyota #7, the Red car expresses greater competitiveness at the start of the stint, and then also lowers its times at the end of the stint from the second third of the race onwards. The impression is that the official 499P had the potential to impose itself on the GR010, but not enough to compensate for the initial Drive Through and the loss of position on the track.

Cadillac's race, fourth at the finish line, is a story in itself, with car #2 paying for the time lost in the first hours following a contact on the track. At that point the pit wall took a risky strategy, saving fuel and making one less stop, a move that would have been nullified by the entry of the Safety Car. However, the delay suffered by Porsche weighs heavily, as it comes close to second in qualifying and reaches 1.8 seconds in the fastest lap of the race. A very different scenario compared to the equal match at Daytona and with a change in BoP that is certainly less penalizing for the General Motors company. It is further demonstration of how the track factor, the setup and the work of the different teams that compete between the WEC and the IMSA championship can make the difference.

LMH overweight

Balance of Performance remains an important variable in defining hierarchies, although it is important not to attribute every verdict to the decisions of the organizers. The direct comparison between Toyota and Ferrari sees the two rivals closer in pace than what was seen in Bahrain, thanks to the rebalancing of power-to-weight ratios and the greater ballast imposed on the Japanese Hypercars. If anything, doubts hover around the balance between LMH and LMDh, the latter cars which monopolize the top four positions in Qatar. In reality, the best of the Hypercars, Peugeot, holds its own for a long time against the fittest LMDh, Porsche, but that of the French car is an atypical case that deserves separate considerations.

Best qualifying lap:
Porsche: 1'39''154'''
Toyota: +0.357
Ferrari: +0.822
Peugeot: +0.919
Cadillac: +0.949

Fastest lap in the race:
Porsche: 1'39''748'''
Peugeot: +1,693
Ferrari: +1,847
Cadillac: +1,877
Toyota: +2,585

The doubts about the BoP of the first event concern the repercussions on the race pace rather than the flying lap in qualifying. “We saw the fears of the day before confirmed, i.e. the high impact on competitiveness of the weight-power ratio which placed us in a condition of inferiority which effectively precluded any chance of fighting for the podium”, the thoughts of the Ferrari house expressed by Antonello Coletta. Toyota technical director David Floury echoes this: “With the weight we run at here, it's not easy.”

The LMHs have a greater weight than the LMDhs, necessary to compensate for the advantage deriving from all-wheel drive, having the electric motor on the front axle. In Qatar the FIA ​​and ACO have increased the ballast for the Hypercars, with Ferrari and Toyota credited with 27 and 41 kg more respectively in the comparison with Porsche. If on the flying lap Lusail's BoP manages to keep the times under one second, in the race the extra weight proves debilitating for the LMH's tire management.

The new BoP

In 2024 the Balance of Performance relies more on correlation with on-track performance, while the 2023 approach was entirely simulation-based. The latest feedback for the FIA ​​and ACO dates back to the Bahrain marathon last November, a race in which the LMDhs were actually lagged by the reference Hypercar, which was then Toyota. The corrections to the BoP for Qatar, however, could hardly take into account the progress made by Porsche and Cadillac over the winter, at a time when the learning curve is still steep.

It is reasonable to think that the organizers will recalibrate the BoP in view of Imola, now having more recent and updated data, but the LMHs will likely continue to suffer from a significant overweight. The new Balance of Performance parameter will also make its debut at Santerno, which will correct the power granted above 210 km/h. The novelty meets the favor of manufacturers, as it will compensate for the speed advantage of more aerodynamically efficient cars, such as Ferrari and Cadillac, without weakening the engine's acceleration. In fact, as already seen in Bahrain, even in Qatar the short straights do not allow the most efficient cars to reach speeds high enough to compensate with aerodynamics for the power disadvantage incurred in acceleration.

Qualifying speed (slowest car for each manufacturer to mitigate the slipstream variable)
Peugeot: 296.7 km/h
Alpine: 296.7 km/h
Lamborghini: 295.9 km/h
Porsche: 295.1 km/h
Toyota: 293.5 km/h
Cadillac: 293.5 km/h
Isotta Fraschini: 293.5 km/h
Ferrari: 292.7 km/h
BMW: 291.1 km/h

The Peugeot illusion

Broken hearts in the Lion's box. In what is probably the last appearance of the 9X8 without wings, Peugeot comes close to second place, only to stop on the last lap due to a problem relating to the fuel draft. However, the satisfaction remains for the best ride ever from the French Hypercar. Despite a very generous BoP, in Bahrain the 9X8 was still far from the top positions. In Qatar, however, the car without wings encounters a more level asphalt, allowing it to turn low and make the most of ground effect, while the absence of hairpin bends minimizes losses of traction due to the narrower rear tyres. Lusail's characteristics are very similar to Le Mans, saying a lot about what the objective of the iconic 9X8 without rear wing was.

Promising debuts

The other big surprise of the day also speaks French. Alpine, making its absolute debut in the premier class, brought both cars to the finish line, with the #35 even reaching the points zone after ten hours of trouble-free racing. On their first outing, the French LMDhs perform well against BMW, which already boasts a year of experience with the car in the IMSA championship. More important gaps for Lamborghini, whose debut without technical problems should in any case be framed. In comparison, the first months of the Porsche program were much more troubled, and one year later it is already ahead of everyone.