Alpine Endurance Team closed the first half of the FIA WEC season with a hard-fought 6 Hours of São Paulo at Interlagos. The A424 reached Hyperpole for the first time, qualifying third and fifth, but two punctures and alternative strategies dropped both cars to tenth and eleventh. The team leaves Brazil with three championship points and fresh evidence that its Hypercar is making progress.

Alpine Endurance Team returned to action just three weeks after the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the 6 Hours of São Paulo, round four of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship and the season’s first race outside Europe. The weekend at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace delivered strong single-lap pace but a frustrating race result.

A breakthrough in qualifying

After fine-tuning balance, braking stability and Michelin tyre choices across practice, the team set the fastest time in the final session and reached a Hyperpole shootout for the first time with the A424. On his WEC qualifying debut, Victor Martins matched the car’s best result with third, just 0.067s off pole. Teammate Charles Milesi qualified fifth, a further 0.060s back.

A race unravelled by punctures

Frédéric Makowiecki (#36) and Ferdinand Habsburg (#35) started on a track still damp from overnight rain. Both lost ground early — Makowiecki slipping to fourth from the wetter side of the grid, Habsburg dropping six places — before the crews gambled on contrasting strategies to recover.

The two Alpines ran near the front through the pit-stop cycles, with António Félix da Costa keeping the #35 in the lead at one stage. But a five-second penalty and a front-left puncture hampered the #36, while a rear-right puncture with 40 minutes remaining forced the #35 into an early final stop, costing places and points. Both cars ultimately came home tenth and eleventh, a result the team said did not reflect their weekend pace.

“It’s disappointing given our potential, as we had the pace to fight for a podium finish,” said Félix da Costa. “We just needed a little bit of luck to see it through, but the puncture ultimately ended our chances.”

Sporting Director Nicolas Lapierre echoed the sentiment: “We failed to fulfil our potential, even though the pace shown by the A424 was strong enough to aim for a much better ending. The two punctures, one on each car, also didn’t help our strategies.”

Where it leaves the championship

BMW M Team WRT won the race with its #15 car. In the Hypercar drivers’ standings, the Da Costa / Habsburg / Milesi crew sits 12th on 29 points, with Gounon / Makowiecki / Martins 19th on four. Alpine holds fifth in the manufacturers’ table on 41 points, behind championship leader Toyota on 132.

What it means

The headline result is modest, but reaching Hyperpole for the first time and qualifying inside the top five at a circuit where Alpine struggled last year points to real gains for the A424. The team now heads into the summer break with a clearer picture of the car’s potential.

The WEC resumes with Lone Star Le Mans on 4–6 September at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

Source: media.alpinecars.com