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Alpine A424
Sports prototype racing car From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Alpine A424[5] is an LMDh sports prototype racing car designed by Automobiles Alpine and built by Oreca to compete in the Le Mans Hypercar class in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
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On 5 October 2021, Alpine formally announced an entry into the FIA World Endurance Championship starting from the 2024 season, using an LMDh-compliant racing design.[6] It was also confirmed on the same day that Oreca was chosen as the chassis supplier for their LMDh contender.[7]
Alpine unveiled a prototype show car, named the A424_β (pronounced "A424 Beta"[8]), on 9 June 2023, at the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans. It was also announced that the car would use a hybrid powertrain, consisting of a Mecachrome-based V6 single turbocharged internal combustion engine and standardized hybrid drivetrain components provided by Williams Advanced Engineering, Bosch and Xtrac, and that Signatech would run two cars.[5][9]
The car is built on the "next generation" Oreca LMP2 chassis.[9] The A424's engine is said to be a "heavily modified" version of the Mecachrome V634 engine used in the FIA Formula 2 Championship; Alpine confirmed that the car's engine was unrelated to the engine briefly used in the Ginetta G60-LT-P1 LMP1 car in 2018. Dyno tests for the engine were completed on 28 June.[10] The car was first fired up on July 5. The program first completed 2 shakedown tests at Lurcy-Lévis at the end of August. The test programme then continued running at Circuit Paul Ricard, Motorland Aragón, Jerez and Portimão.[11][3][10]
Alpine unveiled their driver lineup for 2024 on 22 November 2023.[4]
A424_β show car on display at the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans
Right-side view of the A424_β showcar at launch
Frontal view of the A424_β showcar at launch
Showroom view of the A424_β showcar at launch
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Racing history
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The car debuted at the opening round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship in Qatar, one of four new manufacturers joining the championship (the others being BMW,[note 1] Lamborghini, and Isotta Fraschini).[12] Two A424s were entered: the #35, driven by Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg, and Charles Milesi; and the #36, driven by Nicolas Lapierre, Mick Schumacher and Matthieu Vaxivière.[13]
The A424 placed best of the newcomers, with the #35 car finishing 7th, the only points-scoring finish of the new manufacturers.[12][14][15] After Habsburg was injured in a crash during testing, reserve driver Jules Gounon stood in for the next two rounds at Imola and Spa-Francorchamps.[16][17]
At the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans, both Alpine A424s suffered catastrophic turbo failures within the first six hours of the race, which forced them to retire, despite showing good pace.[18][19] Work on engine upgrades began immediately after, and were in place for the Lone Star Le Mans, where the #35 car finished 5th, Alpine's best result yet.[20][21] At the 6 Hours of Fuji, Alpine scored their first podium finish, where the #36 placed third.[22] Another good result at the final race of the season — fourth for the #35 at the 8 Hours of Bahrain — meant that the team finished fourth in the constructor's standings.[23]
Ahead of the 2025 WEC season, further updates to the car's engine were carried out,[24] and the driver line-ups for both cars were tweaked: Vaxivière and Lapierre were replaced with Frédéric Makowiecki, a former Porsche Hypercar driver, and Gounon, who was promoted from reserve to full-season driver.[25][26]
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Racing results
Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results
(key) Races in bold indicates pole position. Races in italics indicates fastest lap.
* Championship still ongoing.
Notes
- BMW had already raced for one year in the IMSA SportsCar Championship prior to joining the WEC.[12]
References
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