MissionH24 was invited by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest to the 88th 24 Hours of Le Mans and it leaves the Sarthe after experiencing some red-letter moments in its development and that of electric-hydrogen propulsion in motor racing.
On Friday, a new racing car, the H24, which is lighter, technologically more evolved and quicker that the current LMPH2G, was unveiled by the H24Racing team at the same time as the names of two new partners appeared on the bodywork of the LMPH2G and the H24, watchmaker, Richard Mille, and automotive equipment manufacturer, Plastic Omnium. These announcements were made during the traditional official press conference of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest at which the H24Racing team was the star guest!
On Saturday, a few minutes before the competitors in the 88th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans set off for their gruelling 24-hour marathon, the LMPH2G gave MissionH24 its last big moment of the week. At 14:12, after lining up in front of the competitors assembled on the starting grid it set off for a solo lap of the circuit. Once it had completed its lap and was on its way back to the Maison Blanche paddock where it was installed this week, Carlos Tavares, the CEO of the new Stellantis Automobile Group, who had already tested the LMPH2G at the end of July, gave the start to the 88th 24 Hours of Le Mans.
After this successful rendezvous with the 88th 24 Hours of Le Mans, H24Racing is going to begin a test campaign to sort out and develop the H24 and prepare for the 2021 season.
Pierre Fillon
President of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, co-President of MissionH24
“By launching MissionH24 in 2018, our ambition was to show step by step that hydrogen technology was not science fiction, but a concrete efficient promising solution, and above all a guarantor of competition and zero emission mobility. We’ve been following this road map as we’ve already concretised different stages. First of all with the LMPH2G, the first electric-hydrogen racing prototype of its kind, then with the first H2 Mobile station by Total, and finally this weekend at Le Mans the presentation of the H24, the fruit of valuable testing carried out with the LMPH2G, and also the arrival of new partners, Plastic Omnium and Richard Mille, alongside Total and Michelin-Symbio: each in its own sphere of activity, is going to contribute to the pursuit of MissionH24 and its objective - a dedicated hydrogen category at the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans.”
Jean-Michel Bouresche
MissionH24 Operations Manager and Team Principal of the H24Racing team
“This weekend at Le Mans and the LMPH2G’s lap of the track mark the end of a cycle. Since the launch of the MissionH24 project at Spa two years ago, this prototype has covered almost 10.000 km in private testing and during race weekends. In the coming weeks the H24 will take over. Our aim? to do more running at higher speeds for longer periods and then test this level of performance again in competition. Our new partners, Richard Mille and Plastic Omnium, which are joining Total and Michelin-Symbio in the programme, share the same ambition: namely, to show together with us that electric-hydrogen is a tangible solution for motor sport in endurance and beyond that for mobility.”
A NOTE ON MISSIONH24:
MissionH24 is a project developed jointly by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, organiser of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and GreenGT, specialist in high density electric-hydrogen power in particular for the propulsion of vehicles. MissionH24 is preparing the introduction of a category for electric-hydrogen vehicles at the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans.
A NOTE ON H24RACING:
H24Racing is the team created by MissionH24 to develop and race competition prototypes that will enable MissionH24 to prepare the technical and sporting regulations for the category dedicated to electric-hydrogen vehicles at the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans.