PREVIEW: 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship – 24 Hours of Le Mans

The most prestigious and highly anticipated event of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) has arrived. The 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans takes place on 15/16 June, with an astonishing line up of 62 cars and 186 drivers spread between three classes ready to tackle the ultimate test in endurance racing.

Fans on the pit lane on 11 June in Le Mans race week. Credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI

The Circuit de la Sarthe needs no introduction. The 13.6 kilometre circuit is driven with fully open throttle for 70% of the lap and features no fewer than 38 corners, including some of the most iconic in all of motorsport. Over 300,000 spectators are expected to attend the race itself, soaking up the incredible festival atmosphere that only the 24 Hours of Le Mans can provide.

The race is no less of a highlight of the race calendar for the teams. Not only is it the longest, most challenging race (last year’s winner covered a race distance of over 4,600km), but it’s also an opportunity for the 19 permanent entries in the Hypercar class and the 18 LMGT3 entries to score double points. There are 50 awarded to the victor of the 24 hour race in each class, a mighty haul that could prove vital in this year’s extremely close championship.

Hypercar

Ferrari AF Corse ready for action at Le Mans. Credit: Ferrari Media Centre

As the winners of the 2023 centenary running of the race, Ferrari AF Corse are one of the main contenders heading into the 2024 race. The Italian team have had a torrid start to the 2024 WEC season, with a combination of strategic errors at the 6 Hours of Imola and a red flag period at the 6 Hours of Spa scuppering their chances for victory so far. However, with the team’s experience of winning Le Mans last year, this race could be the chance to turn everything round and mount a charge against their rivals.

At the top of the Hypercar tree, Porsche have been sensational all season. The factory Porsche Penske Motorsport team claimed pole position and victory at the 1812km Qatar, with the privateer Hertz Team JOTA Porsche securing a fantastic maiden win at Spa. The #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport car has not finished lower than 2nd all season, and the sister #5 car has been lighting fast as well. A total of 6 Porsche 963 cars will contest in Hypercar, with the addition of a third Porsche Penske Motorsport car being added to the mix.

The #6 Porsche leads a gaggle of cars onto the Mulsanne Straight. Credit: Porsche AG

Porsche set the pace in testing. The #6 Porsche was fastest with a lap time of 3:26.907, closely followed by the #4 Porsche. The #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing car was the only non-Porsche to feature in the top four, with the final Porsche Penske Motorsport car posting the fourth fastest time. Last year’s winners, Ferrari had to make do with fifth.

Cadillac Racing are also bolstering their efforts, expanding from one car to two for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The #2 Cadillac was enjoying a great race at Spa before a huge crash meant their race ended in disaster. Whelen Cadillac Racing are also heading over from the USA to compete, meaning three Cadillac V-Series.R machines will be providing mighty naturally aspirated V8 thunder. Lamborghini Iron Lynx are also bringing in a car from their efforts in the 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship. The #19 Lamborghini SC63 will make its European and WEC debut at Le Mans with IMSA teammates Romain Grosjean and Matteo Cairoli teaming up with Andrea Caldarelli.

The #19 Lamborghini SC63 in Le Mans for the traditional Pesage event. Credit: Lamborghini Media Centre

The previously all-conquering Toyota Gazoo Racing have had a muted start to their 2024 campaign. Despite a win at Imola, the Japanese team have struggled to cope with the developments achieved by their rivals. After a second place finish in the 2023 race where the team battled with Ferrari until almost the very end of the race, the team will be determined to bounce back stronger. The only major change to the driver line up is in the Toyota garage. Britain’s Mike Conway will have to sit out this race due to a cycling accident in which he fractured his ribs and collar bone. His seat in the #7 Toyota will be taken by former Toyota Hypercar racer José María López.

The distinctive #20 BMW art car. Credit: Charly Lopez / DPPI

For the rest of the Hypercar field, it is no change. Peugeot TotalEnergies return to their home race with the 2024 version of their Peugeot 9X8. Alpine Endurance Team are also racing at home for the first time in WEC Hypercar, while BMW make their return to the top flight of racing at Le Mans 25 years after their last and so far only victory in 1999. The #20 BMW will be easy to spot, running a special art car livery for this race. Rounding off the grid, Isotta Fraschini will be aiming to make it to the finish line, with their car still in its development stage and the Italian team learning valuable lessons at every race.

LMP2

Uniquely for 2024, the Hypercar and LMGT3 classes will be joined in WEC by the LMP2 category. The category, which sat in between Hypercar and LMGTE for years, was dropped from the 2024 WEC grid due to increasing attention on Hypercar and LMGT3. The category has continued in the 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship and the 2024 European Le Mans Series, and now the teams are bringing their racing skills back to Le Mans.

A gaggle of LMP2 cars leave the pits as they make their welcome return to WEC. Credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI

All 16 of the LMP2 entrants at Le Mans are racing Oreca 07 – Gibson cars with 600 horsepower V8 engines powering them. 2023 winners Inter Europol Competition return to defend their title, perhaps unsurprisingly as the favourites, especially after securing victory at the 4 Hours of Le Castellet. Team WRT, last year’s runners up, are no longer a threat in LMP2, having teamed up with BMW in Hypercar and running their own team in LMGT3. 2023 LMGTE winner Ben Keating makes a welcome return to WEC, this time in a United Autosports USA LMP2 contender.

LMGT3

LMGT3 has provided some cracking racing so far in 2024. These cars have replaced the old LMGTE category in order to open the class up to more teams and drivers from across the motor racing world.

The Heart of Racing Aston Martin. Credit: Javier Jimenez / DPPI

Porsche currently lead this class as well, with Manthey PureRxing at the top of the WEC standings in their Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3. Behind them, the battle for second is extremely tight. The #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 is tied in second position on 37 points with the #31 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3. Just behind them in third is the #46 Team WRT machine. This tight competition was echoed in testing, where Heart of Racing and Team WRT posted the exact same lap time (3:59.520).

The team at the top of LMGT3 testing was TF Sport. The Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R is a popular feature at Le Mans every year. The team have been unlucky so far in 2024, with disappointing results not accurately representing the unquestionable pace that the team can deliver. The #81 car secured pole position in Qatar, and now the #82 car has gone to the top of the testing time sheet.

The #46 Team WRT BMW heads onto the start finish straight. Credit: Charly Lopez / DPPI

The Belgian BMW team were extremely unlucky last time out at the 6 Hours of Spa with both of their cars being taken out by Hypercars in accidents which were not of their making. The team, which has been very successful at Le Mans in the past, know the dangers associated with navigating traffic and much faster machinery in such a long race. Having won the 6 Hours of Imola with a magnificent 1-2 finish, Team WRT will be wanting to bounce back to the top spot and close the gap to Porsche at the top of the table.

The most prominent driver change in LMGT3 comes for the Iron Dames. Young French superstar Doriane Pin has been forced to sit out the iconic race due to a rib injury, meaning the temporary line up in the #85 car of Michelle Gatting, Sarah Bovy and Rahel Frey continues from Spa. The Iron Dames arguably deserved victory in the 6 Hours of Spa, with Bovy in particular putting in an extraordinary stint behind the wheel of her Lamborghini Huracán LMGT3 Evo2 before falling foul of the red flag and ending the race in 5th.

The Iron Dames drivers: Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting, Rahel Frey. Credit: Marius Hecker / DPPI

The sister car, the #60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini, almost secured a most unlikely victory at Spa. Having qualified dead last on the grid, the Lamborghini led the final stage of the race before having to stop for one final “splash and dash” fuel stop on the penultimate lap. If the team can better navigate their strategic decisions, they have a real chance to challenge for victory.

Up Next

The talking and the preparations are over. The most prestigious event on the motor racing calendar has arrived. Qualifying takes place on Thursday 13 June, before the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans kicks off at 3pm GMT on Saturday 15 June.

Who will be holding the ultimate prize come Sunday afternoon? Credit: Charly Lopez / DPPI