The new BoP for WEC Imola round is known

WECHyperCarLMGT3

Apr 16

12/04/2024, ACO/FIA did publish the new Balance of Performance (BoP) tables that will govern both Hypercar and LMGT3 categories for the Imola round of the 2024 World Endurance Championship. Both are set via Committee Decision (Read our Thierry Tassin interview to understand the process). See both decisions at the end of this news.

Those are complicated figures set through a highly sophisticated program, linked to the configuration of the track, the simulations carried out in wind tunnel, the engines on the test benches and number of meetings/adjustments made in collaboration between FIA/ACO and manufacturers engineers.

FIA WEC Hypercars BoP

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Losail 1812.

First observations are that

All nine manufacturers in the Hypercar class of the WEC will be lighter and run more power power than in Qatar for the Imola round to start next Friday with the exception of the re-homologated Peugeot 9X8 (Table 4).
The Peugeot 9X8 is no more the lightest in “dry weight” but the Cadillac becomes the new base still with 1030 kg as it was for the former Peugeot 9X8 at Qatar; Ferrari (-34kg), Toyota (-29kg), Alpine (-28kg) and BMW (-25kg) have got a serious reduction in weight (see Table 4).
Both additional Max. Power below 210 kph and Maximum Stint Energy (MJ) metrics have been increased for all cars where the Porsche 963 becomes base line with 508 MJ Max. Power and 901 KW Stint Energy instead of the Cadillac in Qatar with 499 KW and 899 MJ (details in Table 3).

At Qatar, it was obvious that the BoP « did its job » by leveling the LMDh based homologated Hypercars with the LMH based cars contrary that our conclusions for last season (LMH versus LMDh). Ferrari and Toyota (LMH) were no more dominating, facing a fierce competitor with Porsche who won both Hyperpole and race.

Table 1: Hypercars BoP metrics with lowest as base line

📷 © Car Racing Reporter. Table 1: Hypercars BoP metrics with lowest value as base line for 3 metrics.

Comparing each metric (Table 1), one see that

LMDh based cars are still the lightest with the exception for the Alpine which becomes as heavy as the Ferrari (+ 1kg);
Cadillac, Lamborghini and Toyota have the highest power and stint energy;
Cadillac receives the biggest increase in power with a 18KW addition and stint energy with a 18 MJ addition (table 4) also being the lightest (table 1).

Bottom of the line, it becomes difficult to draw any major differences between LMDh and LMH hypercars (except weight). Based on the numbers, we can hope to have an even better race at Imola than Lusail in the Hypercar class.

Note: We voluntary forget about Isotta which we consider as a second league, Bycolles type of machine with no chance of success.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Losail 1812. Porsche 963 squat the podium.

FIA WEC LMGT3 BoP

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Losail 1812. P2 for Heart of Racing Team’s Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3

The Imola BoP table (Table 5 hereafter) for LMGT3 see the Aston Martin facing the biggest change with a minimum weight reduced by 12kg, the lowest possible power and one of the lowest Max. Stint Energy with the Lamborghini, the Ferrari having the lowest Stint Energy from all as one can see in Table 2.

Table 2: LMGT3 BoP metrics with lowest value as base line in weight and stint energy metrics.

What might be more significant is the success ballast imposed for LMGT3 cars based on the results of the Qatar race and their ranking in the championship which, obviously, multiply the ballast by 2 for Imola.

Table 3: Success ballast per LMGT3 car

Source: DECISION N°: WEC_2024_D34_LMGT3_BOP 12/04/2024

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Lusail 1812. Winning Manthey PurerXcing Porsche 911 GT3 R (911) #92.

The winning Porsche 911 GT3 R receives 30kg ballast and both Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 receive respectively 20 kg for #27 Heart of Racing Team and 10kg for #777 D’Station Racing.