Le Mans 24 Hours Notebook - Notes From The Entry List Announcement

The ACO received 71 entries for 56 places on the grid (plus 10 reserve list places) - We know that Kronos (Lola Aston) and WR Salini (WR Nissan) entered and were rejected.

Withdrawals after 1st February will be replaced category by category – a GTE by a GTE and an LM P by an LMP.

If there are no withdrawals there will 25 totally new cars on the grid, eighteen heavily modified ones (with the addition of a new engine, or the adaptation of a chassis to the new regulations) and only thirteen (two LM P1s and the 11 GTE Ams) complying with the previous rules, but still allowed to race this year. 

Hope Racing has entered a revolutionary prototype in the LM P1 category. It consists of an Oreca-developed 01 chassis powered by a hybrid system. This innovation is a new form of hybrid technology that is completely mechanical (not electric), which resituates the energy recovered under braking.

There will be no 56th pit entry this year (entry accepted of a car with an innovative technological project while meeting the required standards of safety, reliability and performance). Contacts were made with several manufacturers working on such vehicles, but as these projects were not sufficiently advanced for such an entry to be forthcoming. Thus, the 56th pit will be occupied by a car entered under normal conditions.

The JetAlliance Lotus Evoras will be the first Lotus cars to race at Le Mans since 1997 when the Lotus GT1 team last fielded a Chevy V8 engined Elise GT1.

There is no sign of grandfathered GT1s on any ACO entry list despite the door being left open in the current regulations.

Julien Jousse has joined Pescarolo team as the final driver in the #16 Pescarolo Judd alongside Emmanuel Collard and Christophe Tinseau.

Scrutineering

Scrutineering will once again take place on Sunday and Monday.

The technical checks will begin on Sunday 5th June 2011 at 14h30 and will finish at 19h00.

The second day’s scrutineering will take place on Monday 6th June between 09h30 and 17h30.

The major works on the ‘Quinconce des Jacobins’ for the construction of a cultural centre, mean that scrutineering will again be held on the Place du Jet d’Eau on Les Jacobins at the foot of Le Mans cathedral.

Evening Practice

As in 2010, practice will take place as follows:

Wednesday 8th June: Free practice: 16h00-20h00 – Qualifying practice: 22h00-midnight.
Thursday 9th June: Qualifying practice: 19h00-21h00 – 22h00-midnight.

Saturday Morning Curtain-raisers

As in 2009 a Le Mans Legend race will be run in the morning of Saturday 11th June. Some sixty cars are expected to turn up.

After the Porsches last year its Ferrari's turn in 2011 - A round of the Ferrari Challenge will also be held as a curtain-raiser to the Le Mans 24 Hours. This competition is open to the 458 Challenge and the F430 Challenge. Some sixty cars bearing the Prancing Horse badge will do battle in a 45-minute heat.

Reconstruction of the Chapel

A chapel was built inside the circuit in 1932 at the foot of the Panorama hillock where masses were celebrated during the Le Mans 24 Hours. It was destroyed in the war, and during the construction of the Bugatti circuit another was built in 1965 on the interior of the first curve after the downhill stretch from the Dunlop bridge. It was christened the ‘Virage de la Chapelle.’ In 2000, to meet the safety standards demanded by the car and bike federations, it was taken down to be moved.

Unfortunately despite all the precautions taken, it did not survive and only the stained glass windows, statues and the altar were saved. A new chapel is being built near the sites of the two previous ones still in the Virage de la Chapelle. It will be finished and consecrated before the race, and will again celebrate mass during the race.