The long-anticipated Balance of Performance for the Le Mans 24 Hours has been published, giving us the first hints of what to expect in the Hypercar class at the 2025 running of the race.
Considered a necessary evil, if not the real reason for the current success of the Hypercar category, the BoP continues to make headlines in endurance racing.
With the cars already in Le Mans and ready to undergo scrutineering in the city centre on Friday and Saturday, the BoP values governing the 93rd edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours were eagerly awaited. And The Race is now able to bring them to you.
The BoP in force at the Le Mans 24 Hours is not supposed to be the result of the same complex calculations as those used in other World Endurance Championship rounds. In fact, it is supposed to be based solely on the cars' homologation parameters, ie their intrinsic characteristics.
In other words, it does not depend on the performance recorded at Le Mans in 2024, nor on that of the first races of the season.
The process is different, and this is quite striking when you analyse the table above, particularly the data for the Peugeot 9X8 compared to that for the previous WEC round at Spa. The French LMH manufacturer is likely to suffer once again in La Sarthe.
Difficult for engineers to interpret, the BoP is even more so for us. So what can we take away from this? In all honesty, the battle should be at least as close as last year, with Cadillac even more incisive.
This bodes well, given that the V-Series.R is very much at home at Le Mans. Third in 2023 (pictured above), it is the only LMDh to have secured a podium finish there. Last year, it set the second- and third-fastest times in the Hyperpole qualifying shootout, as well as the second-fastest lap of the race.
The boost given to Porsche may seem less significant, but the Evo Joker that has been grafted onto the 963 is supposed to give it more top speed, and that has to be taken into account. The same goes for the power gain enjoyed by the BMW M Hybrid V8 above 250 km/h, which is a crucial factor at Le Mans.
Very fast on top speed, the Alpine A424 could suffer from its loss of power above 250km/h. Indeed, the ACO and the FIA have done everything possible to try to level the top speeds of the cars.
As for Aston Martin, being the lightest and most powerful car on the grid, it has a unique opportunity to shine on the British brand's return to the premier class after a 14-year absence.
But thanks to their racing expertise, Ferrari and Toyota will once again start as favourites. The balance of power between the two leaders in the Hypercar category seems to be the same as last year, which is a good sign.
Sunday's test day will represent the first on-track action for teams ahead of race week, which begins with first practice at 2pm local time next Wednesday.
