When the French manufacturer first decided to enter the WEC’s top class in 2021, with the Signatech team that had represented it with great success in LMP2, it did so in little time by obtaining the Rebellion R-13 LMP1 car from its previous owner and promptly rebranding it as an Alpine A480.
It gave Alpine a relatively easy entry into the top echelon of sportscar racing, and there were wins at Sebring and Monza against stiff competition from Toyota. But running a generation-old LMP1 car was always a stop-gap measure and required a special dispensation from the rulemakers.
The Renault-owned brand has now put together a bona fide car for the Hypercar class while Signatech has spent 2023 back racing in LMP2.
Christened the Alpine A424, the ORECA-based LMDh challenger was unveiled to the world at the eve of the Le Mans 24 Hours in June, and marks the Renault group’s first proper attempt at winning the French endurance classic since 1978. The A424 is slated to make its debut at the 2024 season opener in Qatar in March, leaving Alpine with only five months to make sure it is in race-ready condition.
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Not long after the car’s public reveal three months ago, Alpine engineers went into overdrive, with work beginning on integrating its 3.4-litre turbocharged Mecachrome V6 engine into the A424 chassis. The hybrid motor was ready to be fired up for the first time on 5 July and just under a month later, on 2 August, Alpine was able to shake down its new LMDh car on track.
The next major milestone in the development of the A424 was reached at the end of August, when Alpine completed a first full-fledged test at Paul Ricard. Following an initial straightline at the adjacent airport, Nicolas Lapierre, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Charles Milesi put the A424 through its paces for three consecutive days at the former French Grand Prix venue, accumulating over 1000km of data.
The test was labelled a success, marking the culmination of months of hard work to ensure the car was ready to be put on track.
“It was a great test,” Alpine team principal Philippe Sinault told Autosport. “We are so proud to make the first run with the car. “At the end it was okay and we are really happy about the job done in the first days. It was just like a big shakedown.
Source: Autosport