The Automobile Club de O’uest and GreenGT have today announced their partnership-founded new race team H24Racing.
H24Racing will lead the way to the hydrogen-electric powered cars that will join the combustion engine grid as part of a new class in the 2024 rendition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The team shows ACO’s first step in their MissionH24, where they plan to showcase and promote the hydrogen-electric powertrain as the mobility of the future.
Pierre Fillon, president of the ACO, stated: “A new team spells excitement, enthusiasm, expectancy and promise. I have to admit a sense of fulfilment in announcing the arrival of H24Racing. With this team, we are making our project real. GreenGT’s accomplishments in research, development and implementation in fuel cell technology are unprecedented.
“We’ll be putting our new technology to the test, on track, pitting it against other fuels and power trains.”
“With the sudden interest in hydrogen, we saw that our “high-power” approach needed to become “high-density power” given that it was no longer a question of kilowatts per motorised unit, but more a question of optimising the balance between weight, bulk and power.” president of GreenGT, Christophe Ricard said. “What better way to demonstrate this technology than on a racing track!
“That’s why GreenGT joined the ACO in this new endeavour, which combines endurance and sustainable performance, technology and emotion.”
“Le Mans 2024 is just five seasons away.” Jean-Michel Boursche, the general manager of H24Racing, pointed out. “Five seasons in which H24Racing will be racing over mid and long distances, putting the LMPH2G and its electric-hydrogen technology through its paces.
“Later this year, the competition phase [begins] where the LMPH2G takes on its first opponents under the new H24Racing banner. We shall be writing the future of the automotive world.”
CEO of the FIA World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series Gerard Neveu expressed excitement about the introduction of the hydrogen-electric cars to endurance racing. “This discipline [the WEC] is a pioneer.” He said. “Today with MissionH24 and H24Racing, the ACO and GreenGT bring hydrogen to the sporting world, and our series and championships take on a whole new dimension.
“They are the testing ground, the launch pad for MissionH24, the way towards the introduction of hydrogen-powered cars at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2024. Today, we are racing to the future.”
Further details about the new hydrogen-electric class have yet to be revealed, but the ACO has confirmed that work is well underway for the class and further details will be revealed in due course.
The new class aims to compete with the highest level of combustion engine cars (in 2024, this will be WEC’s new ‘Hypercars’), and could be seen as the ACO’s attempt to show how future technology is better than old.
“The ACO and GreenGT launched MissionH24, to promote hydrogen power and zero-emission solutions and draw attention to how fast this energy is progressing.” Fillon concluded. “The aura of Le Mans will help raise the profile of the technology.”
