A fire and significant damage to a Alpine A424 in Qatar

The opening week of the World ChampionshipEndurance 2025 is definitely one to forget for Alpine. After a disappointing race on Friday, which ended outside the points with both cars, the French manufacturer suffered a further mishap on Sunday March 2.

The Hypercar category manufacturers were invited by Michelin to a test session intended to prepare the new range of tires expected for 2026. All of them responded, with the exception ofAston Martin.

It is in this context that a Alpine A424 encountered a problem late in the day. Driven by Jules Gounon, the #35 car began to catch fire on the track. The Frenchman immediately stopped near a marshal's post and exited the car without incident, rushing to find someone who could put out the flames.

However, outside of racing conditions, the reaction time of those located at the edge of the track would have been too long to control the fire in time, the flames causing significant damage to the French prototype. The origin of the problem causing the fire was technical and not human.

This should not, however, prevent Alpine to line up its two cars at the 6 Hours of Imola on April 20, for the next round of the World Endurance Championship. The French manufacturer will also be on track on the Italian circuit on March 11 and 12 for a test session with a single car, as initially planned before the incident in Qatar.

Contacted by AUTOhebdo, Alpine confirmed the incident: " On Sunday March 2, during tire tests organized by Michelin, we had a minor technical problem that quickly escalated. We deplore the circuit's inability to quickly deal with this incident which should never have had such consequences on the car. We are working on the matter with the stakeholders. »

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