The Alpine Elf Endurance Team is gearing up for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, one of the world's most prestigious and challenging races. The team competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), had a successful test day at the Circuit de la Sarthe on Sunday, August 15th, where they clocked the third-fastest lap time in the Hypercar category.
The team’s Alpine A480-Gibson car, driven by Nicolas Lapierre, André Negrão, and Matthieu Vaxiviere, completed 71 laps during the eight-hour test session, covering a total distance of 966 km. The car showed consistent performance, reliability, and impressive speed, reaching a top speed of 341.1 km/h on the Mulsanne Straight.
The test day was an opportunity for the team to fine-tune their car’s setup, aerodynamics, tires, and fuel consumption and familiarize themselves with the 13.626 km track, which includes public roads that are only closed for racing purposes. The team also had to adapt to the new Balance of Performance (BoP) regulations, which aim to level the playing field between different types of cars in the Hypercar category.
The Alpine Elf Endurance Team is the only team in the Hypercar category that uses a non-hybrid car, which means they have less power and more weight than their hybrid rivals. However, the team has proven that they can compete with the best, as they have won two races out of four in the WEC season so far, and are currently second in the championship standings, only 19 points behind the leaders.
The team’s director, Philippe Sinault, said he was satisfied with the test day results and aware of the challenges ahead. “We are happy with this test day, which allowed us to validate our technical choices and to collect a lot of data that will be useful for the race. We also confirmed that we have a good pace and are close to our competitors. However, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is a demanding race where anything can happen. We must be flawless in every aspect: performance, strategy, reliability, and safety. We are confident in our potential and determined to fight for the win.”
