WEC Round One: Qatar - March 2nd, 2024

[Mike E]

It's a long race on Saturday. Could see a bit of this:

'***Numerous drivers were hit with penalties for track limits abuse throughout Tuesday’s two sessions. Three drivers were hit with 10-minute stop-and-hold penalties: Marino Sato in the No. 95 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo and two of the drivers of the No. 15 BMW M Hybrid V8, Raffaele Marciello and Marco Wittmann.

***Picking up five-minute penalties were Paul di Resta in the No. 94 Peugeot 9X8, Antonio Fuoco in the No. 50 Ferrari 499P, both Timur Boguslavskiy and Kelvin van der Linde in the No. 78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3, Darren Leung in the No. 31 WRT BMW M4 GT3 and Giorgio Roda in the No. 88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3'

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/...sday-notebook/

[Mike E]

The race is called 1812km but is it actually going to run to a time like the 1000 Miles of Sebring?

[tomcug]

https://storage.googleapis.com/fiawe...dd55b1fa23.pdf
10 hours maximum but can be shorter if they reach 1812 km sooner

[Matador]

Originally Posted by tomcug

https://storage.googleapis.com/fiawe...dd55b1fa23.pdf
10 hours maximum but can be shorter if they reach 1812 km sooner

How long is the track? About how many laps would make the 1812?

[tomcug]

5.419 km so 335 laps.

[Adam43]

Circuit is 5.418km. 335 will do it.

Fastest lap was 194.3km/h. 1:40.404. But that’s fastest.

Looking at it the other way round is probably best. 1812km in ten hours is 181.2km/h is an average of 1:47.642 lap time.

It’s tight with pitstops and cautions.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Adam43

Circuit is 5.418km. 335 will do it.

Fastest lap was 194.3km/h. 1:40.404. But that’s fastest.

Looking at it the other way round is probably best. 1812km in ten hours is 181.2km/h is an average of 1:47.642 lap time.

It’s tight with pitstops and cautions.

Tight indeed, and I was only paying attention to fastest times of the test, not stint lengths and tire fall off. 1:47 could be race pace for all we know.

[veeten]

That and considering the time distance between the entire Hypercar field was 0.03 seconds during the 3rd session. That's just incredible...

[Mike E]

Originally Posted by Mike E

I'm curious to see how the 'old' Peugeot goes in Qatar. It's a smooth track with low kerbs to keep the bikers happy. It might suit the Pug?


https://youtu.be/RQcmXtkppRY?si=qGt4ULUa32lbHgfV

Interesting...

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/...elt-at-lusail/

[flatlandsman]

So is the only reason theya re racing ehre money?

I know Sebring was a loss leader for many reason with IMSA being almost the support race etc, but there is far more history there, I spose the two are not compatible anymore,

But Qatar! I know they probably pay triple what anyone else does, but cmon chaps

[broadrun96]

The number of folks who think money is meaningless to making a series work is sadly flat earth believer levels of delusion. You don't think if Sebring rolled out the funding (not happening and the dates are massively restricted for the full course) WEC wouldn't be there instead? Or the costs at Silverstone were profitable? Fact is it isn't and that's been a part of racing since it stopped being aristocrats burning the family money in pursuit of their fun.

I would also guess teams and partners have connections and events in ME that help to buy ticket packages and event spaces that fund YOUR reduced price to all events. Take away a profitable event and well you'll be watching only old Group C or GTP events from the past and wondering what happened.

TLDR: It's the money stupid, it's always the money

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by Mike E

Interesting...
https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/...elt-at-lusail/

Yep: “I think a lot of people are hiding their pace, so we’ll see where we are."

[tomcug]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui-vbhElFas
Decent burnouts on EV launches

[joeb]

Porsche still quickest at FP1.

https://www.dailysportscar.com/wp-co...tar-Free-1.pdf

[AndrewCherry]

Quite striking how many of the cars are in manufacturer pair groups in LMGT3 - does make you think that performance differences are more about BoP than driver difference at this stage, although I dare say there'll be adjustments.

[tomcug]

1:39.990 from Estre. Seems indeed in qualifying times should be down into 1:38s.

[KlBD]

Originally Posted by AndrewCherry

Quite striking how many of the cars are in manufacturer pair groups in LMGT3 - does make you think that performance differences are more about BoP than driver difference at this stage, although I dare say there'll be adjustments.

With a lot of the GT3 teams being affected by the delayed freight to the prologue, maybe the case is that whoever has figured out their cars first will be at the front this weekend?

[AndrewCherry]

Originally Posted by KlBD

With a lot of the GT3 teams being affected by the delayed freight to the prologue, maybe the case is that whoever has figured out their cars first will be at the front this weekend?

Yeah, first race of the year, some with very new cars, others with cars that probably haven't done a lot of running in this spec before, there is going to be a bit of a race to get on top of the package you've got. Good point.

[pach233]

So first day of the season in the books.. what are everyone's thoughts?? Porsche consistently quick both factory and private teams. Cadillac solid, Pug doing well and Toyota still off the pace. Is the Porsche form for real?

[kartman24]

Porsche look to have a slight edge on speed over a lap with Cadillac and Ferrari close behind and Peugeot next up. I believe Toyota`s race pace will put them in the ball park as well, they are just not showing on one lap pace, whether that is `sandbagging` or true one lap pace remains to be seen. Glad to see Lambo doing a solid job in their first competetive running of the car, i hope Issota can pick the pace up with a bit more running on their car, not helped by an missing most of the last session by getting beached in the gravel trap. I do think we are in for a competetive race with several different leaders.............

[JoeW04]

Going on the result at Daytona and their pace so for in Qatar the pace of the Porsche is ominous, it’s very reminiscent of the 919, quick at times in the first year but fragile, a winter to get on top of it and then the rest is history.

[KlBD]

Although there was quite a bit of separation in terms of fastest laps, during the 2 practices so far, most of the field was actually decently close to each other in terms of their average green flag pace. Most brands seem to have one car that was performed noticeably stronger in practice.

The Lamborghini and IF are the most noticeably separated from the rest of the field, although the SC63's best lap was somewhere in the middle of the pack, so that's somewhat encouraging for them if they can find that car's best operating window.

It may be stating the obvious, but the ability of the GR010 to manage its tires was probably blunted significantly by the extra ~90lbs of BoP weight. Toyota do not seem as far behind as the single lap pace may suggest, I think they may have a chance on Saturday, but it will take some doing to get the win, unless the other hypercar teams are affected by mistakes or reliability.

This may be a good race for the Cadillac with its strong tire management and low BoP weight. Could also be a good race for Peugeot - a relatively flat track, low starting weight and front hybrid deployment speed seem to play to the 9x8's strengths.

[Ferrari333SP]

Free Practice 3 will be shown live on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/live/RbEFJZH...xOvlFbOxpvbHQK

[GT3_Fan]

What happened to Prema Racing by the way? They had 2 cars in LMP2 in 2023.

[KlBD]

Originally Posted by GT3_Fan

What happened to Prema Racing by the way? They had 2 cars in LMP2 in 2023.

They are collaborating with Iron Lynx to run the SC63 in WEC. Their Orecas have already been sold to customers that will run them in ELMS this year.