Habsburg “Amazed” by Speed During First Alpine LMDh Test

New Alpine recruit Ferdinand Habsburg admits he was “amazed” by the speed of the French marque’s A424 LMDh contender when he first sampled the car.

Habsburg was revealed as one of Alpine’s six drivers for its return to the top class of the FIA World Endurance Championship this season in November shortly after the Signatech-run team completed an endurance test at Aragon.

The Austrian driver had his first taste of the ORECA-based A424 machine during the 30-hour test as he prepares to step up to the Hypercar category after three seasons racing in the LMP2 class with Team WRT.

Reflecting on that outing, Habsburg noted the similarities between the Oreca 07 Gibson he has campaigned in recent seasons and the A424, but admitted that the step up in sheer straight line speed caught him by surprise at first.

“You always feel like you are ready for the next step, but this was the first time the opportunity arose,” Habsburg told Sportscar365.

“When I first drove the car, I was amazed how fast it was on the straights. I left the pits on my first lap at Aragon, I looked at the steering wheel because I felt so fast, and it said 342 km/h (212.5 mph). I was thinking, ‘that is bloody quick.’ 

“I was impressed at how similar it felt to the LMP2 car, slightly heavier but with more downforce. A real attacking car, and it’s quite natural with how you can get into it.

“The people at ORECA know how to make a chassis, and they haven’t disappointed. 

“The team also seemed very well organized. I didn’t know anyone beforehand, but immediately I felt like I knew how the system works. I was impressed by the team.”

Alpine has yet to reveal how it will arrange its driver combinations for its Hypercar campaign in 2024, having also signed Mick Schumacher and Paul-Loup Chatin to join Nicolas Lapierre, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Charles Milesi in the two-car squad.

Habsburg said that while it remains “impossible” to predict where Alpine stacks up in terms of competitiveness, he is hopeful that LMDh cars will be able to fight for wins more frequently against their LMH rivals than they were able to in 2023.

He cited the involvement of AVL RACETECH in the WEC’s Balance of Performance process as a reason to be hopeful of closer competition between the two platforms.

“Our focus is to make the car predictable, reliable, and maximizing the double stint of the tyre while also ensuring we can warm the tyre up,” said Habsburg.

“Then we also have the BoP to fight against. It’s not a secret that some teams are better than others at playing with it, at trying to maximize it. 

“But the WEC has brought in AVL as an advisor, I know them very well because I had a long-time partnership with them, and I know how talented they are. They did the BoP for the DTM, and you’ve seen how close that is. 

“Hopefully as they get more familiar with the Hypercar and LMDh, it will become equally balanced.”