Alpine A424
Setback due to early accident
Starting from ninth on the grid, the A424 car number 35 suffered damage to the front of its car after contact with a Toyota, and was also given a stop-and-go penalty.
As a result of the qualifying and hyperpole held at Fuji Speedway on September 27th, the pole position went to the Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA’s Cadillac V-Series R No. 12 (Alex Lynn, Norman Nato, Will Stevens), and second place on the grid went to the V-Series R No. 38 (Earl Bamber, Sébastien Bourdais, Jenson Button), giving Cadillacs a monopoly on the front row.
The Alpine Endurance Team began overhauling their A424, which was airlifted directly from the previous race in Austin, on Monday. The car then completed 254 laps in free practice before heading into qualifying. Two A424s were competing, with the #35 car driven by Milesi, who advanced to hyperpole to secure ninth place on the grid. Frédéric Makowiecki in the #36 A424 finished 16th, within 0.9 seconds of pole position.
The final race on the 28th, held under ominous clouds, saw all cars start a rolling start at 11:00. Habsburg was the starting driver for car No. 35, and Makowiecki was the starting driver for car No. 36. However, at 11:15, just after the start of the race, Habsburg made contact with the Toyota GR010 Hybrid No. 8, forcing him to replace his front cowl at his next pit stop. He was also given a five-second stop-and-go penalty, dropping him back to 17th place. Meanwhile, car No. 36, which had risen into the top 10 with a strong performance, also lost significant positions after making contact with a GT machine.
Leveraging strategy to achieve long-awaited top finish
With the introduction of the safety car, the A424 #35, which had dropped significantly in the rankings, rose into contention for victory. Thanks to an accurate pit strategy, it achieved Alpine’s first WEC victory.
In the middle of the race, the baton was passed to car No. 35, followed by car No. 36, driven by Jules Gounon. At this point, a heavy crash in the BMW M Hybrid V8 No. 15 brought out a Full Course Yellow (FCY) and the Safety Car was deployed. Car No. 35 had refueled in good time, and was able to move up to second place at the restart.
At 3:00 PM, with two hours remaining, the driver change for car #35 was made from Chatin to Milesi, and the team soon found itself in a fierce three-way battle with the #93 Peugeot 9X8 and the #6 Porsche 963. Milesi held on to second place until his final pit stop, during which time the team only had to change two tires. Their rivals changed four, so car #35, which had just come out of the pits in a short time, finally took the lead.
In the final stages, Milesi in car number 35 displayed perfect race management to achieve his long-awaited top finish. This was Alpine’s first victory in the hypercar class, which sees many manufacturers competing. Having won a tough battle, Milesi erupted in joy after the finish.
“It’s unbelievable! It’s surreal. No one could have predicted this result after struggling at the start of the race, receiving two penalties and being almost a lap down. The team worked phenomenally, the car was fast and consistent and our strategy was perfect to secure the win.”
“The deployment of the safety car brought us back into the fight for the lead, and two tire changes in the final stages put us ahead of Peugeot and Porsche. The last few laps seemed like they would last forever, but we maintained our pace and managed to stay in the lead until the end. I’m proud to have secured this victory today with my teammates, who have been with us since the development of the 2023 A424. We were blessed with a little bit of luck, but luck is something you make for yourself.”
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