Alpine unveils 2024 Le Mans hypercar and eyes US prizes

Alpine has revealed the car it's expecting to race next season. The A242_ß is set to meet FIA requirements to enter the LMDh hypercar category, alongside Audi, Porsche and Cadillac.

Unveiling it's 2024 hypercar at this year's Le Mans race, the French firm also confirmed its ambitions to race Stateside. The A242_ß has been built from the ground up, taking inspiration from the hydrogen-powered Alpenglow and A110 – but of course.

We’re told Alpine’s vision was to have a ‘pure’ design, keeping everything as streamlined as possible to avoid the LMP 'cube' look. Working with partners Oreca, Mecachrome and Signatech, safe to say Alpine's knocked out something pretty special.

A 3.4-litre V6 turbo engine has been matched up to an Xtrac gearbox and Williams battery. The 50kW Bosch hybrid box helps it to push a juicy 665bhp. The A242_ß sits on 18” Michelin-clad rims.

There’s a fancy arrow lighting suite and the whole car has kept to the minimum weight of 1,030kg.

Creating a hybrid enables Alpine to race on both sides of the pond in the World Endurance Championships (WEC) and the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship. Alpine will be in good company too, with nine other manufacturers competing in this class.

Testing of the A242_ß hasn’t finished. Christophe Chapelain, chief engineer on the Alpine Hypercar-LMDh project, said: “All of us can't wait for our first laps. In the meantime, our engine continues to run on the dyno before a first start scheduled for 28 June. Then we will conduct a shakedown by the end of July before starting a series of test sessions from August.

“By August, we should have built a second car and fitted it with an engine to send it to the United States for wind tunnel testing in mid-November. With two preparation sessions, we'll need to get as close as possible to the final configuration of the Alpine A424 as it will be used for homologation purposes."

Laurent Rossi, CEO of Alpine, said: “Today we unveil the Alpine A424_β, the forerunner of our Hypercar designed to challenge the best competitors starting next year. True to our values, this new prototype takes the A-arrow brand into the future; while following in the footsteps of our creations, beginning with Alpenglow and the A290_β. The Alpine A424_β is racy, elegant and distinctive with its iconic and emblematic design. It embodies both our present and our future thanks to the involvement and investment of our designers in its development.”

All being well, the A424_ß will compete in its first 24h endurance at Motorland Aragon in November.