Qatar Sunday Notebook

***The final sea-freight containers holding cars and equipment finally arrived at Lusail International Circuit on Sunday morning ahead of the start of the Prologue test, which is now due to begin at 2 p.m. on Monday according to the latest schedule.

***A revised schedule for the two-day test was issued on Sunday, giving teams a choice of whether to run in the first or final session of the test. It’s expected that the teams that were not impacted by the freight delays will choose to run in the first session, while those that had their preparations affected – namely Cadillac Racing and the majority of LMGT3 teams – will opt for the final session.

***Among the items that were delayed in the sea freight was the WEC’s scrutineering infrastructure, which would have made it impossible for the pre-season test to go ahead as originally planned. Sportscar365 understands that more than 50 containers were delivered between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.

***A handful of teams, including Toyota Gazoo Racing, Porsche Penske Motorsport, Ferrari AF Corse and Hertz Team JOTA, had the majority or nearly all of its equipment already on-site, having elected to keep the majority of its equipment over from last year’s season-ending 8 Hours of Bahrain and complete off-season testing in the Middle East.

***JOTA team co-owner Sam Hignett told Sportscar365: “We haven’t gone home since Bahrain. I don’t know why anyone went home, to be honest. We’ve done a bit out here and it just made more sense to get it all done and leave it out here.”

***The British squad, which expands to a two-car Porsche 963 privateer effort, was part of the Porsche Penske-hosted group test at Lusail in late November, while also having tested at Bahrain International Circuit earlier this year.

***Hignett said that the team received its second 963 chassis in early December. “Porsche are in a much better position than they were 12 months ago, so we can have [all] the parts and the car,” he said.

***Toyota’s Hypercar project leader John Litgens revealed that the two-day November test at Lusail took place in considerably warmer temperatures, reaching the low 30s Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), than those forecast for this week. Temperatures are not forecast to exceed 24 degrees (75 degrees Fahrenheit) for the remainder of the event.

***Toyota has a new race engineer on the No. 7 GR010 Hybrid in the form of Bastian Kernstock, who makes the step up from the role of performance engineer. He replaces Marco Fuga, who has gone to work as a race engineer for the Williams Formula 1 team.

***Kernstock has already completed three tests in his new role, starting with the Lusail test in November, followed by further private outings for Toyota at Motorland Aragon and Paul Ricard in January.

***Team director Rob Leupen said of Fuga’s exit: “Formula 1 is always a big pull, and it’s a compliment for us that our race engineers are going there. It’s also a big motivation for people in the company, because they can see there is a progression.”

***While Toyota has not introduced any significant upgrades to the GR010 for 2024, there are some minor revisions, including to the headlights and the adjustable anti-roll bar system. Neither of these changes involved the use of any so-called EVO Jokers.

***Litjens explained that the decision was taken to revert to the 2022-spec lighting system following driver complaints last year. “When we brought in the new car last year, we tried some different lights from the supplier, but in the end the performance was not what we are used to,” he said. “Especially in the night, or in rainy and foggy conditions, the driver complained about some glare.”

***As part of the alterations made to the Hypercar BoP system for this year, the maximum weight that can be added to any model has been increased from 50 kg to 70 kg. The Toyota has already been impacted by this rule as it is now running at 1089 kg, 59 kg more than the car’s base weight.

***The WEC has added a ‘Newcomers Meeting’ for team managers and drivers new to the championship this afternoon. This year sees numerous additions to the paddock, not only in Hypercar with BMW, Lamborghini and Isotta Fraschini but also the new-look LMGT3 class that has attracted new manufacturers, drivers and teams.

***Sebastien Buemi is on course to become the driver with the most WEC starts in history this year, assuming he starts all eight races. That would put him on 86 starts, one more than Proton team owner Christian Ried, who has stepped down from driving duties this year having been on the grid for every one of the 85 races that have taken place so far.

***Valentino Rossi has revealed that he could get his first test in BMW’s M Hybrid V8 LMDh car later this year, with the MotoGP legend saying the post-season Rookie Test in Bahrain “could be a good moment”.

***Rossi told Sportscar365: “I always push on Andreas [Roos, BMW M Motorsport director] for trying the Hypercar. I did the test with the LMP2 at the end of last year to try a prototype. I hope around the October or end of the season this year I can drive one time the car.”

***TotalEnergies, the ACO and LMEM have announced an extension of its partnership through 2028 in support of the ACO’s “Race to 2030” objective of achieving net zero by 2030 and cutting carbon emissions by 30 percent while developing an carbon offset plan.

***The French energy company developed a 100 percent sustainable Excellium Racing 100 racing fuel, produced from wine waste and residue, which debuted in 2022 and is used in all cars competing in the WEC and European Le Mans Series.

***Ferrari has unveiled a new partnership with L’OR Espresso, as part of a multi-year agreement that will see sponsorship on not only the two factory Ferrari AF Corse Hypercar entries but also activation in Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli.

***Le Mans Ultimate, the official game of the WEC and 24 Hours of Le Mans, went on sale on Tuesday via the worldwide PC gaming platform Steam. The game features the entire grid of cars and tracks from the 2023 season. Click Here for more information.

John Dagys contributed to this report