General
Porsche and Button start WEC season strongly
While Formula 1 is gearing up in Bahrain for the first Grand Prix of the season, the World Endurance Championship starts in Qatar. After a successful test earlier in the week, Porsche are making an excellent impression so far in the hypercars, the series' premier class. The German team were ahead in both the first and second free practice sessions for the 1812 kilometres of Qatar.
Kevin Estre put the Porsche (in which Andre Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor are also driving) in first place in the second session of the day, with a handsome time of 1:39.990. This made him almost eight-tenths faster than the next closest, the Peugeot of Jensen, Müller and Vergne. Jenson Button, who is making his full-time comeback as a driver with Team JOTA, achieved the third-fastest time. Team JOTA is a customer team of Porsche. The difference with the Peugeot was just 0.010 seconds.
Incidentally, the session lasted shorter than the 90 minutes planned initially. The session didn't resume after the Lamborghini stalled ten minutes before the end, and a red flag was waved. At that point, the Toyotas could only be found in eighth (with former F1 driver Nyck de Vries) and 13th place. This is remarkable, considering that Toyota has dominated WEC recently and are the reigning world champions. The winner of the last edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans - the Ferrari with Pier Guidi, Calado and Giovinazzi - also had to concede to Porsche. Trailing by 1.4 seconds, the Italian car finished seventh in the second session.
BMW and Lamborghini newcomers in hypercars
The field of hypercars has expanded considerably in 2024. In Bahrain, for instance, AF Corse - with Kubica, Ferrari reserve Shwartzman and Ye - are making their debut. BMW is also new to the sport. Robin Frijns, Sheldon van der Linde and Rene Rast are driving one of the German cars, which have still struggled to get close to the leaders. Lamborghini is another new, interesting manufacturer that has appeared in the hyper-class of WEC. Bortolotti, Mortara and former Red Bull Racing driver Daniil Kvyat.
Qualifying for the race in Qatar is on Friday, with the race taking place a day later. New this season in WEC, at least, is the so-called Balance of Performance (where the best teams carry extra weight in the car). The regulations have been relaxed compared to previous years. The reference point is no longer the fastest time set by a team but the slowest.
