OAK Racing Confirms 2011 Plans
Three Car Assault On ILMC

A new-look OAK Racing has confirmed that it's 2011 programme will consist of a three-car assault on the 2011 ILMC - with two LMP1s and one LMP2 - and a second LMP2 for the Le Mans 24 Hours.

The ILMC entries will not be confirmed until the official entry list is revealed this Wednesday, but with the team having already received four automatic invites in LMP2, there is a good chance that we will indeed see four OAK-Pescarolos on the grid at La Sarthe in June.

The P1 cars will run to 2011 regulations and will be powered by the V8 Judd DB 3.4 litre engine, while the P2s will use the new V8 Judd HK 3.6 litre engine. “We want to prove that our LMP2 is one of the best products on the market. In a way it will be like our ‘show car’, the flag bearer of our manufacturing activity,” said OAK Racing Managing Director François Sicard.

The driver lineups are as follows:

LMP1

Matthieu Lahaye
Guillaume Moreau
Pierre Ragues

Jacques Nicolet
Richard Hein
Jean-François Yvon (Sebring, Petit Le Mans and the Le Mans 24 Hours)

LMP2

Patrice Lafargue
Fréderic Da Rocha
Andrea Barlesi

The drivers for the Le Mans-only LMP2 have yet to be finalised.

“I am delighted to sign with OAK Racing for a fourth year,” said Lahaye. “It’s a bit like my second family as I’ve been part of this adventure from the beginning. The move to LMP1 and the ILMC is a logical one after three rewarding seasons in LMP2. I was hoping it would happen and to do it with OAK Racing alongside two excellent drivers and friends is a great pleasure. I know the entire team well and I know what is being done with the car, so I am sure that OAK Racing can be an excellent LMP1 team. It is a great opportunity for us.”

“I am delighted with the trust that OAK Racing has shown by welcoming me for the 2011 season,” said Barlesi. “I come here in a very humble frame of mind and with the desire to learn as much as I can from my very experienced team-mates as well as the younger drivers in LMP1. The team spirit here makes OAK Racing a formidable environment in which to grow in endurance racing and make progress.”

OAK Racing will have the considerable support of Dunlop behind them - the team being the official development partner for the tyre manufacturer - as well as racing in very familiar colours, following the signing of another significant partner; “I am delighted to start a new collaboration with OAK Racing following their excellent 2008 and 2009 seasons when we were also partners,” says Michel Majot, Chief Executive Officer of CAR OIL SA. “The MAJOT group has manufactured and sold lubricants since 1910. Our links with Gulf also go back a long way as the collaboration started around 1930. In 1998, Gulf Oil International offered CAR OIL the exclusive license for the manufacture and sale of lubricants under the Gulf brand in Belgium, France and Luxemburg. CAR OIL has been for many years, and will continue to be, a regular sponsor of motorsport.”