Rene Rast, piloting for BMW, and Sam Hignett, co-owner of Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA, have downplayed any edge either brand might gain from testing in Barcelona ahead of the forthcoming penultimate FIA World Endurance Championship round.
Barcelona is set to stage its inaugural WEC race after being added swiftly to the calendar, alongside Monza, to substitute for the canceled Qatar and Bahrain rounds.
While the Spanish circuit has long been a favored testing venue, just three of the current eight Hypercar outfits visited Barcelona this year, with BMW, Cadillac and Genesis taking part in a two-day test on Aug. 26-27.
Cadillac participated only on the second day of running, which, according to Hignett, was “hastily added to the schedule” once it became clear the WEC would race there.
Yet he believes the advantages relative to teams that did not test will be limited come race week.
“It was good to test there and learn,” Hignett told Sportscar365. “It’s always valuable for the drivers as well, as a lot of them haven’t been there since their junior formula days.
“But I don’t think we can take much from it because it’s going to be a very different weather window when we get there in a month’s time. I don’t think we found any silver bullets that are going to put us head and shoulders above those that didn’t test.”
Rast, who was one of the BMW drivers at the Barcelona test, also noted that a cooler forecast and potential rain mean any benefit from having run there is likely to be fairly modest.
“For sure it’s not a disadvantage,” Rast told Sportscar365. “But I don’t think it’s a huge advantage. You can fine-tune your set-up in certain directions, but without the competition you don’t know where you are at. So in terms of lap times, we have no indication of how competitive we will be. We will only see once the competition is there and everyone puts their cards on the table. And the weather is a question mark. It might even be raining, so let’s see.”
Other squads such as Ferrari and Peugeot have chosen to allocate their limited test days to developing their 2027 cars, while Alpine has not tested since the 24 Hours of Le Mans amid the Renault-owned marque’s forthcoming withdrawal.
Toyota, however, cited logistical issues as the reason it could not travel to Barcelona, a location they have not tested at for several years.
“When it was announced that Barcelona would be on the calendar, it was difficult to organize a test there because we had logistics already in Brazil on the way here [to Japan],” said Floury. “So it’s a bit difficult. We could not organize a test there.
“We will try our best. We will work on the simulator before the race to prepare. We need to maximize free practice to get stronger.”
Asked whether he had concerns about Toyota’s main title rival BMW having tested there beforehand, Floury replied: “For sure they should have a performance advantage.”
On the other hand, Aston Martin driver Harry Tincknell said he wasn’t overly concerned about other manufacturers heading to Barcelona with a head start around a circuit that he believes could suit the Valkyrie.
“Naturally, if you’ve run the track and you’ve sort of been able to optimize the setup on that day, then I think there’s definitely some advantage,” Tincknell told Sportscar365.
“But at the same time, by the time we do get there, we’re coming into winter and track temperatures and stuff can be quite different. No doubt, I think you go into FP1 sort of a little bit more prepared, but I think we can catch up pretty quick.
“The new layout [with no chicane] is definitely much better for us with the quick last two corners. It’s a high tire deg track as well, and we’re generally pretty good on our tires.
“There’s no doubt that Qatar would have been a really strong race for us, but I think we’ve got a pretty decent replacement.”
