Le Mans (AFP)

Pierre Fillon, president of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) organizer of the 24 hours of Le Mans, is counting on new regulations from 2022 to revive the interest of the endurance race.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is celebrating its 88th edition behind closed doors this weekend due to coronavirus and Toyota is aiming for a third consecutive victory against weak competition.

Question: The various announcements made over the past two years on the introduction of new regulations have led to some confusion over which cars will be able to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans from 2022. Are you worried that this will discourage the public?

Answer: "There will be only one premier class which will be called the Hypercar. There will be two subcategories, the LMH and the LMDh. An LMH is a car manufactured entirely by the manufacturer, an LMDh c 'is a car that you buy from a chassis manufacturer with a common hybrid system and in which the manufacturer installs its engine and makes its bodywork. Externally, these cars will be the same, same weight, same power, same aerodynamics, same From next year, we will only talk about the Hypercar category with these two tracks to get there but people will not see the difference. There will not be an arms race either. we will have the performance balance (BoP) to balance the plateau. This gives certainty in terms of budget. We had around the table when we presented this project a dozen manufacturers ".

Q: At the same time, Le Mans has set itself the goal of aligning cars powered by hydrogen in 2024. Where are we at with this project?

A: "The Hypercar category will start in 2022 for at least five years and in 2024 the H24 category will appear which will have the same performances. There will therefore only be one category. The target of a Hypercar is a time of 3 minutes 30 seconds per lap and this will be the target of hydrogen as well (currently, the fastest cars run around 3 min 15 seconds editor's note). In 2024, it will be a test bed but there will be a championship from 2025. The two technologies will run together, thermal and hydrogen. For endurance racing, we want to go towards zero emissions. It is also the role of an automobile club and we have the 24 Hours as showcase The hydrogen project does not only concern the car but the hydrogen refueling infrastructure We also want green hydrogen and we must also work on this sector.

Q: The 88th edition of the 24 hours takes place without an audience due to coronavirus, what is the impact for the ACO?

A: "The ticket office represents 40% of the turnover of the 24 Hours. But the race had to take place because if we had not done so we would have seen at least a third of the teams disappear. We obeyed everything in the future. We compensate by improving the TV system with Eurosport2 and France TV in France (...) and a digital platform + The 24 hours of solidarity and responsibility + where we will make people experience the race from the inside as if they were were on site with 360 ° cameras. We also encourage people to share their experience and we appeal for donations for the European resuscitation company which will be used for training to improve the treatment of Covid ".

Interview by Jean-Louis DOUBLET

© 2020 AFP