[WEC] 2024 Qatar 1812km

[Everso Biggyballies]

Bottom post of the previous page:

Cant believe the Peugeot slowed to a crawled on the penultimate lap.

Podium lost on the final lap.Pissed off after they had run so strongly all race. All I heard was no power.

I hope it wasnt no power because it had run out of fuel. Sad

And probably won't get classified. It did not reach Parc Fermé under its own power. (Toyota 2016 vibes)

It seems it was a lack of fuel issue. Peugeot believe it was a fuelling issue in the last splash and dash they did. The car was crawling because it was moving purely on the hybrid power.

The No. 93 Peugeot 9X8 of Jean-Eric Vergne, Nico Mueller and Mikkel Jensen appeared to be on course to finish second behind race winners Porsche Penske Motorsport in Saturday’s Qatar 1812km, until Vergne suddenly slowed in the closing minutes before crossing the line in seventh place.

Speaking to reporters gathered after the race, Finot said Peugeot is still working to fully identify and understand the issue, but suspected that a fueling issue was likely to blame for the team’s woes.

Vergne brought the No. 93 Peugeot in for a late fuel stop on lap 318 of the 335-lap contest, which is where the issue likely developed.

“Unfortunately, what happened in the last lap was not scheduled,” said Finot.

“We have to analyze, but I think we had an issue with the fueling of the car when we did the splash and dash. We didn’t have the expected rate of fuel. We have to analyze.”

As a result, Vergne ran out of fuel, with Finot revealing he completed the final lap on hybrid power as the No. 93 crawled to seventh place while a trio of Porsche 963s locked out the podium.

[Everso Biggyballies]

And probably won't get classified. It did not reach Parc Fermé under its own power. (Toyota 2016 vibes)

Not only did they not get classified, the got DSQ'd. Seems a bit harsh, but its the wording of the regs. I still think it is harsh.

However, following a lengthy investigation that went into the early hours of Monday, Peugeot was found guilty of breaching both the sporting and technical regulations by the stewards.

It was noted that Vergne was unable to return to the pits after taking the chequered flag, with his Peugeot having stopped on the start/finish straight soon after reaching the finish.

Consequently, the car also did not make it to parc ferme on its own power, leading to a double violating of rules.


Stewards Statement
"The competitor committed a breach of the technical regulation (art. 5.3.2 of LMH Technical regulation) by non rejoining its pits after having used the electric dc of the MGUK,” read the statements.

"Due to this violation, and the choice of the competitor not to comply with this technical rule hoping to be classified, car 93 was able to cross the line before stopping definitively in the straight, unable to rejoin the parc fermé."

"However, a competitor cannot obtain the benefit of any violation he committed with regards to the relevant regulation."

"Therefore, the stewards determined that the fact of having car 93 crossing the line cannot be taken into account with regard to the relevant sporting regulations."

"Moreover, car 93 was not able to rejoin the parc fermé under the conditions stated in articles 15.1.1 and15.1.3 of 2024 FIA WEC Sporting regulations. Consequently, the stewards decided for these two motivations, joined and separatly to impose the disqualification of car 93."

[DoubleFart]

I haven't been able to follow any of this event, but I note that Toyota were not troubling the podium, Peugeot have found something from nowhere, and Porsche looks very good.

What's the deal with that? It's a big change from last year.

[Cheeveer]

I haven't been able to follow any of this event, but I note that Toyota were not troubling the podium, Peugeot have found something from nowhere, and Porsche looks very good.

What's the deal with that? It's a big change from last year.

Partly BoP, partly that Toyota is not the only big fish in the pond anymore. While the the BoP will always be controversial and very complicated, I got the impression from the Eurosport broadcast that the Hypercar BoP makes sandbagging self-defeating; as fast as you can go in testing is as fast you can go in racing - meaning if you go slow in testing, you won't be allowed to go faster on race day. While it is always up for discussion, I don't think it is the most important thing to explain Toyota's form in Qatar, it was just that that the competition suited the track better.

[Cheeveer]

Worth noting is that the Qatar track suited the Peugeot exceptionally well: flat, smooth, fast corners, barely any low speed stuff. Ground effect dream.

I don't think they will be as good at Imola, which is next up!

[DoubleFart]

Thanks. I love endurance and it's such a pity I don't have time or access to watch it other than Le Mans.

[erwin greven]

Worth noting is that the Qatar track suited the Peugeot exceptionally well: flat, smooth, fast corners, barely any low speed stuff. Ground effect dream.

I don't think they will be as good at Imola, which is next up!

Where they will debut their EVO car.

[leon_90]

So happy to have found this thread, was looking for people to talk to about this series since I started following it last year!
I'll just add some infos that I haven't seen discussed so far: yes, Peugeot will debut a winged version of their car at Imola, however Porsche should also sport a new version of their engine after Le Mans, hence why they're not selling any more private cars for the moment. The engine will have a redesigned crankshaft. Ferrari is also considering debuting the 499P EVO either during the closing stages of this season or at the beginning of the next one.

Yes, BoP was very unfavourable to Toyota and Ferrari. They were the heaviest and that isn't great on a sandy surface like that of Qatar. After all, Toyota cannot have lost all of its margin of performance in the space of a few months (back in Bahrain they were still lapping the whole field essentially). On the other hand, Porsche and Peugeot especially had a very favourable BoP. Not to detract from their performance, mind you. Porsche is notorious for building "wrong" cars and then improving them consistently to the point of making them absolute winners. Peugeot had, as noted by Cheever, the advantage of racing on a fast track, suited to the configuration of its car.

Since I'm here, I'll post the quali session that has been uploaded on the official WEC channel. Race *should* be up during the weekend.
EDIT whoops I see there's a dedicated section for that and someone who alredy does that, sorry!

[leon_90]

As a side note, I noticed last Friday and Saturday how Ferrari's social accounts were posting photos and updates only regarding the F1 race in Bahrain. The most absolute zero concerning the presence in Qatar with the 499P. A silence that says a lot about what sells more and how much more.

[DoubleFart]

If it's not Le Mans, it's not interesting. If they're not winning, it's not interesting. Simple as that.

[ariz7581]

My heart broke when Peugeot stopped. Pug undeniably had the best BoP advantage out there so I'm not sure if Peugeot can get any other real chance to win. It's a Porsche sweep in the end but it was like something more. Enjoyed the whole race a lot.

[erwin greven]

[Everso Biggyballies]

Wow.... as a result of 3D Scans post race.... thats quite fancy and hi tec scrutineering. Should send a message to others thinking of tweaking the rules, or as in this case not checking the delivered items for quality or as per design.....

According to the report, a 3D scan performed at post-race scrutineering found discrepancies between the bodywork used at the event and the official bodywork CAD model supplied by Cadillac at the car’s homologation.

It was determined that the rear diffuser strakes fitted on both the left and right hand sides of the car were both fitted higher and misaligned than the nominal value from the CAD model, including the allowed tolerances.

After additional checks, stewards summoned team manager Stephen Mitas, who was able to produce evidence from Cadillac chassis partner Dallara.

This came in the form of a report stating that the infringement was the result of an error, with the parts having been delivered “without final quality control.”

It does say that there is no suggestion it was a deliberate act, just that it was not as per homologation so the only option was DSQ.



In a statement in the wake of the disqualification, Cadillac copped it sweet with an it is what it is type statement. Making a fuss would only make it more difficult to make it go away, and its not like they lost a win or even a podium.

“During the FIA World Endurance Championship race in Qatar on March 2, the rear diffuser strakes on the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R were unintentionally out of specification relative to the homologated height. We have cooperated with the FIA and ACO and accept their findings.”

[erwin greven]

As part of the BoP revision of early last year, remember the ACO tried to implement a new BoP system, the 3D scan was part of this. No team could easily make a few unnoticeable changes to the chassis.

Glad this worked tremendously well.

I still got the feeling that the BoP system deliberately was sabotaged by the manufactures to get rid of it. One of the ideas behind the new BoP system of the ACO was to get rid of sandbagging. And i think the teams were sandbagging massively to make it seem as if the LMDh cars were way too slow compared to the LMH cars.

[Everso Biggyballies]

As part of the BoP revision of early last year, remember the ACO tried to implement a new BoP system, the 3D scan was part of this. No team could easily make a few unnoticeable changes to the chassis.

Glad this worked tremendously well.

Interesting video of the 3D Scanner in use and a bit of what it does, how it ultimately saves time and is consistent.. A full scan of a car can be done in less than 30 minutes. Doing the job manually would not only be less accurate, more prone to (human) error, but would also take many times longer . This video is actually the IMSA application and presented by Marshall Pruett, but WEC use the same application and software. It also suggests these scanners are used on all cars multiple times per weekend.