WEC, the BoP for Imola: Ferrari big leap, limited Porsches | FP

By Carlo Platella
The WEC returns to the track in Imola for the second round of the World Championship. The Federation has published the Balance of Performance for the Italian stage, which respects what was announced at the beginning of the year evolves from race to race to adapt to the characteristics of the individual circuits. The second BoP of the season presents numerous new features, taking into account the peculiarities of the Santerno track, the lessons learned in the inaugural event in Qatar and the debut of the advanced version of the Peugeot 9X8.

Peugeot's influence

The new version of the 9X8 makes its debut in Imola, now equipped with a wing and wider rear wheels. The Stellantis brand has revolutionized the concept of its Hypercar, initially created with a balance shifted to the front to make the most of all-wheel drive, but slowly limited by the regulation in recent years. Until now, Peugeot has raced with all four wheels of the same width, lacking traction compared to rivals which instead fitted wider rear tyres.

To make up for the shortcomings of the 9X8, in Qatar the Balance of Performance assigned to Peugeot the minimum weight and maximum power allowed by the regulation, furthermore weighing down and weakening all its rivals. The arrival of the advanced version leads to a complete rewriting of the BoP, which sees the 9X8 lose 10 kW of power and gain 31 kg in weight. At the same time, all the rivals decrease in weight and increase in power, outlining a picture in which Peugeot is now the car with the worst power/weight ratio on the grid, to which is added the raising of the minimum speed for the car to 190 km/h. activating the hybrid. However, the Imola BoP is based only on the wind tunnel homologation data of the new 9X8, suggesting a probable correction already in Spa based on what will emerge on the banks of the Santerno.

Ferrari lurking on Porsche

Without the need to compensate for Peugeot's structural delay, in Imola the entire starting fleet drops in weight, in particular the LMHs, all lightened by around 30 kg. The highest earnings are for Ferrari, which gets rid of 34 kg of ballast and acquires 7 kW of power, positioning itself as the car that most of all improves its weight/power ratio compared to the event in Qatar, when it was identical to that of Toyota. There is thus a reversal of the situation compared to the latest events, given that at the end of last season it was the world champions who boasted a better ratio than the 499P.

On the eve of the season, organizers promised that changes to the BoP would be more timely for cars that exceeded expected performance, rather than helping those that failed to express their potential. After Lusail's exploit, the Balance of Performance thus tries to stem Porsche's superiority, which progressed significantly during the winter to the point of catching the FIA ​​and ACO off guard in Qatar. At Imola the 963s are lightened by just 15 kg, also gaining just 3 kW more power. The theoretical flying lap advantage over Ferrari is now less than tenth, while in Lusail it came close to second.

In Italy it will be Cadillac that will enjoy the best weight/power ratio on the grid. The Italian-American LMDh gains above all in power, with 18 kW more than the Qatar, a consequence of the fact that the short straights at Imola reduce the need to limit its excellent top speeds. The most important changes, however, affect the debuting LMDhs, with the FIA ​​and ACO now also having the data collected in the inaugural event. BMW and Alpine will be particularly lightened in Italy, while Lamborghini grows above all in power.

Double power postponed

The new BoP parameter was supposed to debut in Italy which would regulate the maximum power of the cars above 210 km/h. The novelty has already received the approval of the various competitors, as it offers an additional tool to iron out differences in terms of top speed without compromising the traction phases. At the moment, however, the Balance of Performance does not foresee any of this for the Santerno race, where the straights are not particularly long anyway.

LMGT3

Not even the GT class is exempt from the BoP changes. The Ferrari 296 GT3 is the car that gains the most weight of all, taking on board 8 kg of extra ballast. Instead, the opposite path is taken for Aston Martin, which gets rid of 12 kg, while switching to a more conservative engine mapping. Furthermore, the first Success Ballast weights are assigned to Imola, calculated on the basis of the order of arrival in Qatar and the championship ranking. The Porsche #92 that won in Lusail gained 30 kg in weight, while the Aston Martins #27 of the Heart of Racing and #777 of D'Station Racing grew by 20 and 10 kg respectively.