WEC News: Alpine Gains Power Boost for Fuji in Balance of Performance adjustment
Alpine’s A424 LMDh has received a notable power increase for the Fuji 6 Hours, the penultimate round of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) on September 28.
The French manufacturer’s car will race with an additional 6kW (8 bhp), bringing its base power output to 512kW (686 bhp), compared to the previous round at Austin’s Circuit of The Americas (COTA). Additionally, Alpine benefits from a revised power gain adjustment, losing only 3.9% power above 250km/h (155 mph) instead of 4.5% at Austin, aimed at balancing straightline speeds across Hypercar contenders.
The Balance of Performance (BoP) for Fuji, confirmed in a Monday bulletin (see Below), shows minimal changes in the Hypercar class, likely due to wet conditions at Austin that limited usable race data. The BoP calculation for COTA relied on the best two performances from the prior three regular races (Imola, Spa, São Paulo), a shift from the São Paulo round’s methodology, which used only the two previous races.
Other Hypercar tweaks include modest power increases of 2kW for the Porsche 963 and BMW M Hybrid V8, and 1kW for the Cadillac V-Series.R and Toyota GR010 HYBRID. Peugeot’s 9X8 LMH retains its maximum base power of 520kW (697bhp) and minimum class weight of 1030kg but sees a significant power gain improvement, racing at -4.8% above 250km/h compared to -7.3% at Austin.
Minimum weights remain unchanged across all eight Hypercar entries, with Toyota and Ferrari staying the heaviest at 1069kg.
Power gain adjustments for Cadillac, Alpine, BMW, Toyota, and Ferrari are minor, up by 1% or less, while Aston Martin’s Valkyrie and Porsche remain unchanged.
LMGT3 Sees Significant BoP Adjustments
In the LMGT3 class, the Ford Mustang GT3, fresh off a pole position at COTA, faces a 15kg weight increase to 1349kg, making it the third-heaviest car behind the Ferrari 296 GT3 (up 4kg to 1358kg) and the unchanged Lexus RC F GT3 (1354kg).
The BMW M4 GT3 EVO (+8kg to 1340kg) and Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R (+3kg to 1338kg) also see weight hikes. Aston Martin’s Vantage GT3 Evo is the only car to shed weight, dropping 5kg to 1339kg.
The Lexus, McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, and Porsche 911 GT3 R retain their COTA weights.
Power adjustments in LMGT3 are limited, with the BMW M4 GT3 EVO gaining a 1% boost below the 200km/h power gain threshold. All nine cars have tweaks to their second-stage power, with Aston Martin seeing the largest reduction at -1.7%.
The Fuji BoP reflects a cautious approach in Hypercar due to limited dry data from Austin, while LMGT3 adjustments aim to level the playing field after recent performances. Exact BoP calculations by the FIA and Automobile Club remain undisclosed, though the methodology has evolved multiple times this season.