Is endurance coming back into fashion in motor sports? The World Championship organized by the FIA sees the return of major brands like Alpine, McLaren and Ford this season. In total, seven new manufacturers are arriving in endurance with in addition to the first three mentioned, Lamborghini, BMW, Isotta Fraschini and Lexus.
Nine teams will be competing for the Hypercar world title in 2024, including world champions Toyota, and still Porsche, Cadillac and Peugeot. Barely three years after its launch, the premier category has reached its maximum quota of entries for the 2024 season. Five other manufacturers will meet in the other LMGT3 category.
Rossi, Schumacher, Kubica…
As for Alpine, the French team hit hard by announcing the recruitment among its drivers of Mick Schumacher, son of Michael and ex-F1 driver, now a reserve at Mercedes. “A new challenge awaits me, I grew up and evolved with single-seaters, driving a car with a closed cockpit and covered wheels is an excellent opportunity for me to refine my driving skills,” declared Mick Schumacher. , quoted in a press release.
After a final season in LMP2, Alpine has taken the step into the Hypercar category and will enter two A424s. In the French team we will find three French drivers – Nicolas Lapierre, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Charles Milesi – already active within the team – and Paul-Loup Chatin. The Austrian Ferdinand Habsburg will complete one of the two trios.
As for the other teams, we find other big names like Valentino Rossi. The seven-time MotoGP world champion will drive for BMW, with the M4 GT3 and his favorite number, 46. Robert Kubica, the Pole, well known to F1 fans, will take the wheel of the Ferrari 499P Hypercar.
On the program for this 2024 season, with the return of Endurance to South America, for the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo (July 14): eight rounds in the four corners of the world (Doha, Imola, Spa-Francorchamps, Le Mans, Sao Paulo, Austin, Fuji and Bahrain). Endurance is indeed coming back to the fore!
