Meanwhile, Ferrari and Toyota are the heavyweights of the WEC in every respect, weighing around 1075 and 1089 kg respectively – a difference of between 2.5% and 6%.
The top sports car racing championship will be held for the first time at the Lusail circuit, which features a large number of fast corners that transfer a huge amount of energy to the tires, resulting in increased wear on the Michelin rubber. The heavier your car is, the more it penetrates the connections.
WEC's BoP is the opaque and slightly mysterious technical system designed to eliminate, through fixed weight and performance adjustments, any advantage gained or lost by choosing a particular powertrain and chassis philosophy. It often causes controversy. The changes for this season were released two weeks ago until “further notice.”
“That’s the problem with this race,” Coletta told Motorsport about the weight issue. “In fact, if you look at the times after the prologue or the end of the two practice sessions, all the lighter cars than LMH – BMW, Cadillac, Porsche – are very, very fast.
“We have a difference of about 45 to 50 kilos. Firstly, it's ridiculous to me because all of my co-workers don't understand this weight difference – we can't imagine why this choice in ballast was made [has been made].
Will Ferrari be completely at sea in the first WEC race?
Ferrari
“It is very stupid that we are putting weight on the car. And on the other hand, we have drivers who are making more and more sacrifices to lose a kilo, two kilos. I think it’s dangerous.”
The almost 20-strong Hypercar field means the competition is now even tougher for Ferrari and Toyota, who dominated the race last year. Coletta admits that this only makes the severe headaches worse.
“I think this weekend will be very complicated,” he says. “The track is probably better for MotoGP – we only have one line, otherwise it's dirty [off-line].
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