Ferrari gets weight break under WEC Qatar BoP

Ferrari and Toyota will go to the grid for this month’s Qatar World Endurance Championship season-opener significantly lighter than 12 months ago when they both proved uncompetitive. 

The Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar will race at a 1037kg minimum weight compared with 1075kg last year, and the Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMH 1065kg, versus 1089kg at the Losail International Circuit in 2024.

For Ferrari the minimum in Qatar also represents a 16kg reduction from the figure at which the 499P raced at last November’s WEC series finale in Bahrain, whereas the Toyota’s weight is unchanged.

Ferrari has lost 2kW in maximum power under 250km/h (155mph) compared with Qatar last year and will race at 501kW (671bhp), while the Toyota is down 7kW to 503kW (674bhp)

Ferrari scored a best result of fourth in Qatar last year with its customer entry shared by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzman, while Toyota took fifth with Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries.

The Balance of Performance values for Qatar were published on Thursday ahead of the start of the official WEC prologue test on Friday and Saturday, which precedes the Qatar 1812Km 10-hour race on 28 February.

Porsche’s 963 LMDh, which dominated in Qatar last year, has lost out in the latest BoP. It will race 16kg heavier at Losail than last year, though only 8kg up on Bahrain.

The German car will be slightly more powerful than in 2024: its base figure of 508kW (681bhp) is 3kW up on Qatar but 6kW down on Bahrain.

BMW and Alpine, newcomers to the WEC’s Hypercar class last year, have also lost weight with their respective M Hybrid V8 and A424 LMDhs. The BMW is down 23kg at 1037kg and the Alpine 27kg at 1043kg.

Both the French and German car, which each notched up a podium before the end of last season, are racing close to the weight at which they completed their 2024 campaigns in Bahrain.

But BMW and Alpine have reduced base power on last year’s season finale: they have each lost 9kW and will race at respectively 505kW (677bhp) and 508kW.

Rulemakers the FIA and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest have a stated policy of helping new arrivals in the championship reach the front of the field with conservative BoP adjustments through the season.

The first BoP figures for the Aston Martin Valkyrie LMH, which will make its race debut in Qatar, are 1042kg and 504kW (675bhp).

Aston Martin Valkyrie LMH Silverstone testing

Photo by: Aston Martin Racing

Peugeot’s 9X8 2024 LMH remains at maximum power of 520kW (697bhp) and 1kg above the 1030kg minimum weight.

The Cadillac V-Series-R LMDh is on the minimum weight and will run at 503kW, 4kW up on last year. It will also be allowed a 3.2% increase in power above 250km/h under the power gain element of the BoP introduced at the Le Mans 24 Hours last June.

Toyota has got a 3.4% boost, while the Alpine and the Peugeot will respectively lose 3% and 5.8%.

The two-day prologue kicks off with the first of four sessions totalling 13 hours of track running at 13:00 local time in Qatar on Friday.