The Alpine A424[5] is an LMDh sports prototype racing car designed by Automobiles Alpine and built by Oreca to compete in the Le Mans Hypercar class in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Background
On 5 October 2021, Alpine formally announced an entry into the FIA World Endurance Championship starting from the 2024 season, using an LMDh-compliant racing design.[6] It was also confirmed on the same day that Oreca was chosen as the chassis supplier for their LMDh contender.[7]
Alpine unveiled a prototype show car, named the A424_β (pronounced "A424 Beta"[8]), on 9 June 2023, at the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans. It was also announced that the car would use a hybrid powertrain, consisting of a Mecachrome-based V6 single turbocharged internal combustion engine and standardized hybrid drivetrain components provided by Williams Advanced Engineering, Bosch and Xtrac, and that Signatech would run two cars.[5][9]
The car is built on the "next generation" Oreca LMP2 chassis.[9] The A424's engine is said to be a "heavily modified" version of the Mecachrome V634 engine used in the FIA Formula 2 Championship; Alpine confirmed that the car's engine was unrelated to the engine briefly used in the Ginetta G60-LT-P1 LMP1 car in 2018. Dyno tests for the engine were completed on 28 June.[10] The car was first fired up on July 5. The program first completed 2 shakedown tests at Lurcy-Lévis at the end of August. The test programme then continued running at Circuit Paul Ricard, Motorland Aragón, Jerez and Portimão.[11][3][10]
Alpine unveiled their driver lineup for 2024 on 22 November 2023.[4]
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A424_β show car on display at the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans -
Right-side view of the A424_β showcar at launch -
Frontal view of the A424_β showcar at launch -
Showroom view of the A424_β showcar at launch
Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results
(key) Races in bold indicates pole position. Races in italics indicates fastest lap.
| Year | Entrants | Class | Drivers | No. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Points | Pos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Alpine Endurance Team | Hypercar | QAT | IMO | SPA | LMN | SAP | COA | FUJ | BHR | 70 | 4th | ||
 Paul-Loup Chatin
|
35 | 7 | 13 | 9 | Ret | 12 | 5 | 4 | ||||||
| Charles Milesi
|
7 | 13 | 9 | Ret | 12 | 5 | 7 | 9 | ||||||
 Ferdinand Habsburg
|
7 | Ret | 12 | 5 | 7 | 4 | ||||||||
| Jules Gounon
|
13 | 9 | 7 | 4 | ||||||||||
| Nicolas Lapierre
|
36 | 11 | 16 | 12 | Ret | 10 | 9 | 3 | ||||||
 Mick Schumacher
|
11 | 16 | 12 | Ret | 10 | 9 | 3 | 9 | ||||||
| Matthieu Vaxivière
|
11 | 16 | 12 | Ret | 10 | 9 | 3 | 9 |
References
- ^ Taylor, James (18 June 2023). "Alpine A424 Le Mans hypercar makes public debut". Evo. Archived from the original on 13 July 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
- ^ "Christophe Chapelain (Alpine A424): "The best LMDh while anticipating future BoP changes"". en.endurance-info.com/. 18 June 2023. Archived from the original on 13 July 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
- ^ a b Chilton, Chris (9 June 2023). "671-HP Alpine A424_β Hypercar Is On Track For Le Mans 2024". Carscoops. Archived from the original on 9 June 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Schumacher: A new chapter beginning for me with Alpine". Grand Prix 247. 22 November 2023. Archived from the original on 22 November 2023. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
- ^ a b Oakley, Phil (9 June 2023). "Alpine launches 2024 Hypercar, the A424_β, at Le Mans". Motorsportweek. Archived from the original on 13 July 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
- ^ Baldwin, Alan (6 October 2021). "Renault's Alpine announces new endurance entry from 2024". Reuters. Archived from the original on 13 July 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
- ^ "Alpine chooses an ORECA chassis to compete in LMDh starting in 2024". Oreca. 6 October 2021. Archived from the original on 13 July 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
- ^ Staff (18 June 2023). "Alpine A424_β endurance racer revealed". Drive. Archived from the original on 13 July 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
- ^ a b Klein, Jamie (9 June 2023). "Alpine launches A424 Beta LMDh car for 2024 WEC campaign". Autosport. Archived from the original on 13 July 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
- ^ a b Oakley, Phil (16 June 2023). "New Alpine A424 Hypercar will use 'heavily modified' version of F2 engine". Motorsportweek. Archived from the original on 13 July 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
- ^ "First Shakedown Imminent For Alpine A424 LMDh | dailysportscar.com". www.dailysportscar.com. Archived from the original on 1 August 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
