Alpine Completes Aragon Endurance Test With A424

Alpine covered 5,027 km (3,123 miles) during a 30-hour endurance test with its A424 at Motorland Aragon as the French marque works towards the car’s FIA World Endurance Championship debut.

The brand stated that the covered mileage fell slightly short of a target set at 5,400 km (3,355 miles) as it encountered reliability issues related to the turbocharger, electronics as well as oil and water leaks. The A424 did complete the intended 30 hours.

In addition to assessing reliability, focus was also placed on setup work and the understanding of the Michelin tires as Alpine sought to run in representative race conditions.

“Frankly, all the team is delighted to have achieved this mileage in our first endurance test, said Bruno Famin, Alpine’s Vice President of Motorsports.

“It is a satisfaction that rewards the hard work of everyone. The main aim of the session was to test reliability by looking for weak points. We found several of them, which we will now have to address.

“And quickly as time is running out: there are 100 days until the start of the season in Qatar and we still have a huge amount to do, both in terms of reliability and even more so in terms of performance.

“We now need to analyse the data and learn everything we can from this session in order to make the most of the next one, which will be in Portimão in mid-December, to keep improving the car.”

Additionally, Alpine has begun the process of homologating the A424 with official IMSA-required wind tunnel testing at the Windshear facility in North Carolina with a second chassis.

As previously reported by Sportscar365, Alpine faces an intensive process that will then also see the car visit the Sauber wind tunnel in Hinwil, Switzerland in mid-December before it can make its competitive debut at the Qatar 1812km in March 2024.