To keep the playing field as level as possible, the FIA and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest apply it to the Hypercar class in three stages, which ultimately translates into adjustments to minimum weight, maximum power, maximum energy per stint and, starting with the 24 Hours of Le Mans, “power gain”, which is intended to make acceleration and top speed a little more equal between manufacturers.
This BoP is adjusted from time to time based on the characteristics of the track, which for example led to different values for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In that race, as in 2023, victory went to Ferrari; Toyota won the other six of the seven races that year.
This year, the situation on the track looks a little different. Porsche leads the championship after four races, followed by Ferrari and Toyota. The Japanese brand has only won the 6 Hours of Imola this year – for reasons related to good teamwork and strategy, not BoP factors – which has led to question marks from Leupen.
“A very difficult thing in this series is the BoP,” he said in an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com. “And we have a lot of question marks about how it is drawn up.”
As an example, Leupen cites the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans: “We received 37 kilos more a week early. It was not in accordance with the regulations and it was not good for us, and we think it should not be like that. It should be consistent and constant. All teams should receive transparent information.”
Leupen stressed that there was no problem with the BoP over Toyota failing to win in France: “But it was a decision that, in our opinion, made no sense from a technical point of view, because it was just about show. And we thought that was wrong, so we don’t like it that way.”
Regarding the BoP of this 92nd edition of the 24 Or, Leupen thinks a little more positively.
“This year it was better. But even then, you can see that the BoP process is not transparent. And transparency is important to us.”
“It’s about putting the teams in a position to compete on equal terms, and we know very well that it’s difficult to make all the cars equal. It’s not an easy task. But the engineers who do it must be able to do it. This is a bit of our frustration and we hope that the situation will improve.”
Part of the frustration comes from Leupen knowing that Toyota itself hasn’t changed anything about the GR010 Hybrid, but he’s seen the results change.
“Last year we were the fastest car. Then, if you look at the first two or three races [di quest’anno]we were the slowest. And we didn’t change anything,” the Dutchman stressed.
“It shouldn’t happen. And then when you get comments from the FIA like ‘yeah, you had a bit of bad luck’ and ‘we were a bit too harsh’… Qatar was not good for us and we lost out. That’s our opinion. I think we have to be careful about that, because obviously it could be another one of those situations where things could go wrong.”
Photo by: Marc Fleury
The demand for transparency is obvious, but how can a BoP process be more transparent, according to Leupen?
“You can define transparently the processes that the BoPs are based on. You could say, ‘Here they are and this is how we’re going to do it.’ And then you could also get feedback. We give feedback after every race, we just don’t get it in return.”
“In this case, of course, traffic is one-way. It doesn’t work. We have to work together to improve the situation. Of course, the manufacturers provide a lot of information that is top secret.”
“We don’t want Porsche, Ferrari or Cadillac to know our stuff, and the same goes the other way around. But there are ways to do it. I think you just have to step up. I think they’re also very committed to that, because they’re getting a lot of pressure and a lot of expectations – not just from us, but from all sides – that things should be different.”
While Leupen is well aware of the situation, he hopes that there will be better interaction between the teams, the FIA and the ACO.
“We also do our simulations. If it shows big differences between Ferrari, Porsche, Peugeot, Toyota and Cadillac, we also say: ‘Hey, what’s going on here? What’s the explanation? It’s not good and they realise that. For the future, they also have to step up. And I think we have to be fair, because now they are working in a championship that has grown enormously and where there are professional people who all have something to say.”
“I wouldn’t want to be in the shoes of the race director, especially during Le Mans. He has to process a huge amount of information. But there are systems that can do it. Formula 1 can do it. We have more manufacturers and cars than F1. So everything seems more complex, but it’s not. You can and must grow in this aspect and I think you have to do it a little faster.”
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