Communiqué - MissionH24
Spa-Francorchamps was the venue for Round 3 of the 2023 FIA WEC last week (27-29 April). MissionH24 – the programme initiated by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) and GreenGT to bring a Hydrogen class to the 24 Hours of Le Mans – was invited to the meet by race organisers and the circuit’s management. A busy schedule included presentations of the project and the technology in the race village and an on-track demonstration of the LMPH2G electric-hydrogen prototype driven by Pierre Fillon, ACO president and MissionH24 joint chair, with Amaury Bertholomé, CEO of the Circuit de Spa Francorchamps, alongside him. A record crowd of over 72,000 spectators were treated to a preview of tomorrow’s zero-emission racing.
MissionH24 and Spa-Francorchamps added another chapter to their story last weekend. The programme designed to promote the use of hydrogen in endurance was officially launched in 2018 at this iconic racetrack during a round of the European Le Mans Series. Five years later, MissionH24 was back at the venue which, this time, was staging Round 3 of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), the rehearsal for the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 10-11 June.
Thousands of spectators flocked to the race village to see the H24 electric-hydrogen prototype which contested four rounds of the 2022 Michelin Le Mans Cup. It was displayed alongside the TotalEnergies mobile hydrogen filling station and a fun learning space where motorsport fans and school students could discover the advantages of hydrogen for zero-carbon racing and mobility. Georges Gilkinet, Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister and Federal Minister for Mobility, was in attendance for the start of the six-hour race but took time out to pose a number of questions on the Hydrogen programme to Stéphane Richelmi, one of the H24Racing team’s official drivers.
Meanwhile, the LMPH2G, MissionH24’s first laboratory prototype, completed two laps of the track on Saturday morning with Pierre Fillon at the wheel, and Amaury Bertholomé in the passenger seat. The tricky weather conditions called for precision and precaution in handling the innovative machine. For the two representatives, the experience was a testimony to the research undertaken by their respective entities in working towards emission-free racing.
“Sport has always played a pioneering role in mobility,” Bertholomé said. “This electric-hydrogen car also proves that the research is paying dividends.”
The demonstration introduced many in the bumper crowd to the concept of zero-emission racing or at least to the distinctive sound generated by the electric-hydrogen prototype that gives off nothing more harmful than water.
FIA WEC head Frédéric Lequien was among the witnesses of the demo along with Yoshihiro Nakata, President of Toyota Europe, and three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Kazuki Nakajima.
