Álvaro Koke

Vettel with Porsche and Peugeot with spoilers: The WEC starts the year strong

The arrival of a legend with Penske, a redesign and a Cadillac in trouble change the panorama of the championship

Between the 1812 kilometers of Qatar and the 6 Hours of Imola, the first and second rounds of the World Endurance Championship (WEC), there has been plenty of time for some salsa and important news. The two most important are, on the one hand, that 36-hour test carried out by Porsche Penske Motorsport in MotorLand in which the four-time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel took the wheel of the Porsche 963, anticipating his debut in competition. for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in one of the #4 Porsche vacancies with its lineup yet to be determined. The other is the long-awaited arrival of the revision of the Peugeot 9X8, this time with a low rear spoiler that redefines its aerodynamic concept.

Already in 2023, the arrival of Vettel to the WEC was being tested, a very beloved driver in Formula 1 – not so much in his dominant time at Red Bull, but in Ferrari and in those last two years with Aston Martin – and off the tracks. , with its commitment to the environment. Let us remember that as part of this it has several historic F1 cars that run on sustainable fuel free of fossil energy, such as the McLaren MP4/8 ex Ayrton Senna or the Williams FW14B ex Nigel Mansell, two cars that it took to the 2023 Goodwood Festival to delight. of everyone who could be there. A tandem between Vettel, Robert Kubica and Jenson Button was in fact rumored, but Button races with Jota and Kubica with Ferrari AF Corse.

Why MotorLand? Rather, where else else? We are talking about a circuit that allows 24-hour operation, so that it can run up to 36 hours in a row with the teams testing the resistance of their cars and training their staff for pit stops, which makes it ideal in itself. for the World Endurance Teams. The fact that it has a very long back straight means that teams can simulate the conditions of Le Mans with the enormous Les Hunaudières straight, characteristic of La Sarthe. Added to this is that the conditions in February and March resemble the changes in temperature and weather that can be found in France in the month of June, much more unstable than Spanish summers.

In addition to Vettel, several other drivers were testing in the Penske test with the 963, a car that already achieved its first victory in the World Endurance Championship in Qatar (being the first LMDh to achieve this since until now they were all from Hypercars, all from Toyota except for the Ferrari in Le Mans 2023). Along with his victory in the Daytona 24 Hours, also with Matt Campbell at the wheel (a driver who is winning everything, having also won the Bathurst 12 Hours with the Manthey Racing/EMA Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R 992), The 963 has become a very effective weapon.

Changes in the BOP and spoiler on the Peugeot

At least, the Porsche will be an effective car as long as the BoP (Balance of Performance) allows it, which balances the performance of all cars to offer assured competitiveness. A resource that has worked very well with GT3 cars like the LMGT3 of the WEC, but in prototypes it does not have to be as effective. This notably affected both the Toyotas and the Ferraris in Qatar, which clearly had better performance throughout 2023 (in addition to the characteristics of the Losail circuit itself). On the contrary, Porsche, Cadillac and Peugeot benefited significantly from the BoP. In other cases, such as newcomers, they will need to improve even if they have a favorable BoP, in particular the Isotta Fraschini.

In its last race without a spoiler, the Peugeot finally seemed to work (or rather, with that BoP other Hypercars did not work so well), but the concept changes from Imola onwards. Gone is the idea of generating downforce (the maximum allowed by the Hypercar regulations) without a rear wing to avoid the resulting drag, a concept that worked on paper, but changes in the regulations made it unviable in practice, of course. the same way in which other rivals were able to adapt better. It is not just a rear wing, but a whole new aerodynamic assembly around the 9X8 that will try to revalidate the victories achieved by its predecessors, the 908 LMP1 and the legendary 905 that swept the twilight of Group C.

The arrival of these revised 9X8s from Imola onwards and from Vettel for Le Mans (and who knows if he will be involved in more endurance tests, whether WEC or IMSA) further encourages a championship that continues to gain more and more strength, which always should have had and that, in one way or another, it has lost, whether due to regulatory issues or the FIA itself due to a decline in the interests of the manufacturers. It is a very sweet moment for these races that offer pure action on the track, images that true motorsport fans love to see for hours and hours.

Something that is not so exciting to see is the recent disqualification of Cadillac from the Qatar race when it was discovered that they had a part that had not passed quality control with metal plates in the diffuser that were not completely positioned as they appear on their specifications sheet. homologation. A hard blow for the Ganassi team, who until now have driven one of the most spectacular endurance cars that have ever existed – the ignition of their huge 5.5 naturally aspirated V8 has left thousands of people ‘crazy’ in both the WEC and IMSA. , where it is a car that is usually on the podium and fighting for absolute victories against Porsche, BMW and Acura, in addition to the newcomers Lamborghini.

A hard blow, moreover, that comes after the almost certain news that Cadillac and Ganassi will not continue together at the end of the year, so that the Cadillac V-Series.R will be entrusted to another team to continue the program. If this were to happen, Ganassi could also continue in the WEC and/or IMSA with another manufacturer.

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