Alpine Receives Power Increase in Hypercar BoP Update

Alpine has received a 7 kW power increase and an 11-megajoule raise in its stint energy allowance for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, courtesy of a mid-event Balance of Performance update.

A new BoP table for the Hypercar class shows the Alpine A480 Gibson with a maximum power output of 427 kW (around 573 horsepower), marking a 7 kW or 9 hp uptick compared to the amount it had available for the track sessions held before Thursday.

No changes have been made to the LMH cars in the top category from Toyota Gazoo Racing and Glickenhaus Racing.

The LMP1-spec Alpine’s power increase restores all but 3 kW of a 20 kW power reduction it received after the 1000 Miles of Sebring in March, which it won through Nicolas Lapierre, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Andre Negrao.

It gained 10 kW back ahead of the Le Mans test day, followed by the additional 7 kW that came after Wednesday’s first two Free Practice sessions and qualifying.

Alpine’s drivers expressed concern at their car’s straight-line performance during the test day, where the French squad finished 2.5 seconds off the overall pace and behind two LMP2-class Oreca 07 Gibsons.

In qualifying on Wednesday, Lapierre set a time of 3:29.656 to put the Alpine fourth-quickest and 2.4 seconds away from the leading No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid.

The 11 MJ increase in permitted stint energy brings the non-hybrid Alpine, which was originally built by ORECA and previously raced as a Rebellion R13, up to 785 MJ.

The Hypercar BoP change ahead of hyperpole follows on from a Wednesday BoP update in the GTE ranks that was headlined by a turbo boost pressure decrease for the Ferrari 488 GTE Evos.