Milesi: Alpine Using Early Races for Le Mans Prep

Charles Milesi reckons Alpine’s focus in the early stages of this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship should be on preparing the A424 for its debut in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, although he believes the team will be able to fight for podiums as well.

Alpine’s new-for-2024 LMDh challenger is set for its first WEC race outing in the season-opening Qatar 1812km, which will mark the French brand’s return to the Hypercar class after a season in LMP2.

However, Alpine’s circumstances for its second attempt at Hypercar glory are vastly different compared to the 2021 and 2022 campaigns, when it raced an ORECA-built grandfathered LMP1 car.

The A424, which is still based on an ORECA chassis as part of the LMDh technical regulations, is the first car built from the ground up after years of primarily racing rebadged LMP2 machinery.

Milesi, who will share the No. 35 car with Ferdinand Habsburg and Paul-Loup Chatin for the full season, said Alpine is primarily aiming to use the opening three WEC races in Qatar, Imola and Spa-Francorchamps to get ready for Le Mans in June.

“I think it’s difficult to say what would be a success and a failure,” Milesi said.

“But I think we’re just trying to get the car running properly, do some mileage in races to get ready for Le Mans. I think it’s the main thing to do.

“It’s just that we just need to improve at every race. It will be difficult to see where we are at before Qatar and I think all the manufacturers are trying to get ready for Le Mans.

“There are also other manufacturers coming so it will not be easy. That’s why everybody knows that the level is quite high now in WEC.

“We just need to stay focused and like I said improve every race and then we’ll see where we are.”

Despite the seemingly cautious approach, Milesi remains upbeat about the A424’s potential to compete for podium finishes in its first season.

“I think we can achieve that for sure,” he said. “When, for the moment we don’t know.

“It’s difficult to know exactly where we are in pace for the moment. So we’ll have some answers in Qatar for sure.”

Last year, debuting LMDh manufacturers Cadillac and Porsche both secured podiums, with the Chip Ganassi Racing-run stable finishing third overall at Le Mans while Porsche Penske Motorsport grabbed third places at both Portimao and Fuji.

However, Milesi said that Alpine views the Qatar season opener as a “big test” and is trying to remain level-headed, with a significant focus on preparation for the 92nd running of the French endurance classic.

“I think for for all the manufacturers, all the races before [Le Mans] is just trying to get everything ready,” he said.

“Trying to win Le Mans [in] the first year will probably be difficult because we are just trying to get the car ready now. I think Qatar will be a big test for us to see how we are performance-wise, reliability-wise, because it’s a ten-hour race.

“Then the other races we will just try to get the team ready for the big one because like I said it’s a different way [of] driving and working for the mechanics and for the engineers.

“Before Le Mans we need to get all of this ready to be the most perfect possible for this race. And then if we can get some good results out of it, we’ll take it for sure.

“Now we’re just thinking Le Mans and not trying to be optimistic for the moment.”