Porsche Gets Largest Weight Break in Imola BoP

Porsche has been given the biggest weight break of the eight Hypercar manufacturers in the Balance of Performance for this weekend’s second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship season at Imola.

According to the latest BoP bulletin published on Monday, the Porsche 963 will run at 1053 kg for the 6 Hours of Imola, marking a reduction of 11 kg compared to its minimum weight for February’s opening round of the season in Qatar.

It follows a tough curtain-raiser for the Stuttgart marque, which came away with just two points for 10th in the Qatar 1812km, in which its 963 was the joint-heaviest of the eight Hypercar machines together with the Toyota GR010 Hybrid.

The bulletin released by the WEC Committee is the first since the FIA and the ACO revealed details of this year’s revised BoP methodology.

With the values set using data from the most recent three regular WEC races, this weekend’s BoP is determined from data taken from last year’s final two rounds at Fuji and Bahrain, plus the Qatar 1812km.

Five of the eight Hypercars have been handed weight increases since Qatar, with the largest going to the Cadillac V.Series-R, up 11kg to 1041 kg, and the new Aston Martin Valkyrie, which now runs at 1051 kg following a 9 kg increase.

Data taken from the fastest cars from last year’s Fuji and Bahrain rounds is being used to set the BoP for the Valkyrie, as it is a new entry for this year.

The Qatar-winning Ferrari 499P has also been given a weight increase of 8 kg for the Maranello brand’s home race, bringing it up to 1045 kg and making it the fourth-heaviest car after the Toyota, Porsche and Aston Martin.

Toyota’s GR010 Hybrid has been given a 1 kg increase despite an uncompetitive showing for the Japanese brand at Qatar, and now runs at 1065 kg, which is 5 kgs higher than the weight at which it won last year’s rain-impacted race.

For reference, the Ferrari is 4 kgs heavier than last year’s Imola round, and the Porsche is 20 kg heavier.

Lightest of all is the Peugeot 9X8, now at the minimum regulatory weight of 1030 kg following a one kilo reduction, weighing in at 11 kg less than the next-lightest car, the Cadillac, and 12kg less than the Alpine A424 (-2 kg) and BMW M Hybrid (+5 kg).

Peugeot is the only manufacturer not to have been given a change of maximum power below the Power Gain threshold of 250 km/h (155.3 mph): it remains at 520kW (697 hp), the maximum permissible under the rules.

The biggest change goes to Alpine, which is now up by 11kW to 519kW, while the BMW (+8kW/513kW), Cadillac (+7kW/510kW) and Ferrari (+7kW/508kW) have all been compensated for the weight increases with increased power.

On the other hand, Porsche has a 5kW reduction, dropping to 503kW, while the Toyota is now the least powerful car below 250 km/h at 500kW.

All eight cars have had their Power Gain values modified since Qatar.

Gaining power above the threshold are Toyota, Cadillac and Porsche, with Toyota now gaining 3.6 percent (18kW), the Cadillac two percent (10kW) and the Porsche 1.2 percent (6kW), while Peugeot and Alpine face steep reductions of 5.4 percent (-28kW).

Weight Breaks for Ford, Mercedes, Porsche in LMGT3

In the BoP issued for the LMGT3 class, significant weight breaks have been handed to the Ford Mustang GT3, Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo and Porsche 911 GT3 R.

All three cars struggled for performance at Qatar, with only Proton Competition’s No. 88 car scoring points for 10th place among the three marques.

The Mustang GT3 has the biggest weight break of all, down 21 kg to 1328 kg, making it the lightest car in the class, while the Mercedes-AMG (1352 kg) and Porsche (1336 kg) have been handed reductions of 19 kg and 16 kg respectively.

That makes the Porsche the third-lightest car behind the Mustang and the BMW M4 GT3 EVO (1335 kg), which has been given a 9 kg reduction.

McLaren’s Qatar pole-winning 720S GT3 Evo is the only car to have had its minimum weight upped, an increase of 6 kg to 1357 kg making it the second-heaviest car behind the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R (-2 kg/1372 kg).

TF Sport’s race-winning No. 81 Corvette is also hit by an extra 36 kg of success ballast, bringing it to 1408 kg, while the second-placed car from Qatar, the No. 59 United Autosports entry, runs at 1381 kg with 24 kg of ballast.

Porsche has also benefitted from the largest power increase in the class of three percent, with the remaining cars all getting adjustments of one or two percent with the exception of the Mustang, which sees its power levels unchanged.