WEC
Isotta Fraschini partners with Duqueine for 2024 WEC after Vector split
The revived Italian Isotta Fraschini marque will compete in the World Endurance Championship with its new Le Mans Hypercar next year in partnership with the French Duqueine squad.
Gary Watkins
Edited: Nov 30, 2023, 10:16 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Isotta has joined forces with Duqueine, a regular in LMP2 at the Le Mans 24 Hours and in the European Le Mans Series, after parting company with the British Vector Sport operation that was scheduled to run its solo Tipo 6 Competizione LMH in 2024.
The link-up with the Vector LMP2 squad was revealed in December 2022, but the team announced ahead of the publication of next season's WEC entry list on Monday that it will be taking a year out of the series after two seasons in LMP2.
Duqueine Team, part of a wider group specialising in automotive and aerospace industries, subsequently made a short announcement that it would be collaborating with Isotta and the Michelotto Engineering organisation masterminding development of the Tipo 6 in the WEC in 2024.
Isotta motorsport boss Claudio Berro told Motorsport.com that the change of team had been made for financial reasons.
Berro said: "Duqueine, the global company, came with a sponsor to support the car. As a small company, we had to go with some realistic support."
He added that it "was not an easy decision" and that Isotta is "still open" to working with Vector in the future.
Vector team principal Gary Holland confirmed to Motorsport.com that there had been an attempt by Isotta to change the terms of its agreement.
He said: "There was a 'we need some more money', and we said that is no problem, can you release this data and we would like you to perform these fairly simple requests, and it was, 'absolutely not'.
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
#10 Vector Sport Oreca 07 - Gibson: Ryan Cullen, Matthias Kaiser, Gabriel Aubry
"There was a manufacturer programme to be run by us that can no longer be fulfilled and Claudio's narrative is confirming that by citing economic factors."
Holland also stated that Isotta and Michelotto had granted Vector "minimal access" to the car during its development phase, contrary to its agreement.
Vector's drivers were due to begin testing with Isotta during the summer, but its involvement stretched to four laps by Gabriel Aubry at Monza in August prior to a fire that curtailed the test.
Holland added that Vector felt "huge disappointment" in the breakdown of its relationship with Isotta.
"We had assembled such a strong line-up of drivers, multiple championship winners and guys who had won the biggest races on the planet," he said.
"I am absolutely gutted that they are not going to be seen in the car and that programme."
Duqueine already had a relationship with Isotta: one of its companies is producing the carbon wheels for the road-going version of the Tipo 6 known as the Stradale.
The French team will be racing in the WEC for the first time in 2024, although it has been a regular at the Le Mans 24 Hours in LMP2 since 2019, claiming third in class this year.
Duqueine's race team was established in 2014 for an attack on the French GT Championship and moved into the European Le Mans Series in 2016 in LMP3 and then P2 in 2018.
Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt
#30 Duqueine Team Oreca 07 - Gibson of Neel Jani, Rene Binder, Nicolas Pino
French constructor Norma was incorporated into the group at the end of 2017, with the Duqueine-Nissan M30 claiming the ELMS P3 title in 2021 with DKR Engineering.
Two drivers have so far been announced for the Isotta; 2017 TCR International champion Jean-Karl Vernay, who has been one of the key players in the Tipo 6 test programme, and Alejandro Garcia, winner of the ELMS P3 title.
Holland stressed that Vector's aspirations to graduate to Hypercar remain intact.
"What seems like bad news today could present a huge opportunity tomorrow," he said.
"We still have ambitions to race in Hypercar in 2025 and we'd like to be testing in 2024 with a different manufacturer, and we are already in negotiations to achieve that."
Vector has already announced that it will be continuing its LMP2 programme in the ELMS next year.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article "Hard decision" for WEC to turn down Vanwall's 2024 entry
Next article WEC firms up plans to expand grid to 40 cars by 2025
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Gary Watkins
WEC Monza: Antonio Fuoco takes pole for Ferrari
WEC
WEC
Monza
WEC Monza: Antonio Fuoco takes pole for Ferrari
More from
Duqueine Engineering
Red Bull Ring ELMS: Chatin takes pole for IDEC Sport
European Le Mans
European Le Mans
Spielberg
Red Bull Ring ELMS: Chatin takes pole for IDEC Sport
Kubica to race in Renault Sport Trophy at Spa
GT
GT
Kubica to race in Renault Sport Trophy at Spa
Wet start to the 2015 Total 24 Hours of Spa
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
24 Hours of Spa
Wet start to the 2015 Total 24 Hours of Spa
Latest news
George Russell has lost 90 points to Max Verstappen in F1 2026 runner-up battle
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
34 min
George Russell has lost 90 points to Max Verstappen in F1 2026 runner-up battle
Aprilia: “Marco Bezzecchi couldn’t avoid the collision; Marc Marquez moved in on him"
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
1 h
Aprilia: “Marco Bezzecchi couldn’t avoid the collision; Marc Marquez moved in on him"
How the Racing Bulls pendulum is swinging back towards undeniable Liam Lawson
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
2 h
How the Racing Bulls pendulum is swinging back towards undeniable Liam Lawson
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe