FIA WEC, 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps - Race Preview - Part Two LMP2

#23 D Signatech Nissan Jordan Tresson/ Franck Mailleux/ Olivier Lombard Oreca 03 Nissan
#24 D OAK Racing Jacques Nicolet/ Oliver Pla/ Matthieu Lahaye  Morgan Judd
#25 D ADR-Delta John Martin/ Robbie Kerr/ Tor Graves Oreca 03 Nissan
#26 D Signatech Nissan Pierre Ragues/ Nelson Panciatici/ Roman Rusinov Oreca 03 Nissan
#28 D Gulf Racing Middle East Fabien Giroix/ Maxime Jousse/ Stefan Johansson Lola B12/80 Nissan
#29 D Gulf Racing Middle East Frederic Fatien/ Keiko Ihara/ Jean-Denis Deletraz Lola B12/80 Nissan
#30 D Status GP Alexander Sims/ TBA/ TBA Lola B12/80 Judd
#31 D Lotus Thomas Holzer/ Mirco Shultis/ TBA Lola B12/80 Lotus
#32 D Lotus Luca Moro/ Kevin Weeda/ James Rossiter Lola B12/80 Lotus
#35 D OAK Racing David Heinemeier Hansson/ Bas Leinders Morgan Judd
#38 D Jota Simon Dolan/ Sam Hancock Zytek Z11SN Nissan
#40 D Race Performance Michel Frey/ Jonathan Hirschi/ Ralph Meichtry Oreca 03 Judd
#41 D Greaves Motorsport Christian Zugel/ Ricardo Gonzalez/ Elton Julian Zytek Z11SN Nissan
#43 D Extreme Limite ARIC Philippe Thirion/ Philippe Haezebrouck/ TBA Norma M200P Judd
#44 D Starworks Motorsport Enzo Potolicchio/ Ryan Dalziel/ Stéphane Sarrazin HPD ARX-03b Honda
#45 D Boutsen Ginion Racing Jack Clarke/ Bastien Brière/ Jens Petersen Oreca 03 Nissan
#48 D Murphy Prototypes Warren Hughes/ Jody Firth Oreca 03 Nissan
#49 D Pecom Racing Luis Perez-Companc/ Pierre Kaffer/ Soheil Ayari Oreca 03 Nissan

With the withdrawal of the Toyota and Pescarolo, plus the cancellation of the Zolder ELMS race there’s a substantially boosted  LMP2 grid with no fewer than 18 cars due to start at Spa, 10 powered by the Nissan/ NISMO V8, 7 by the Judd (BMW) V8 and a solo HPD V6 Twin Turbo.

Oreca dominate the chassis count with 7 03s, Lolas feature in numbers too though with 5 B12/80 Coupes plus pairs of Morgans, Zyteks and solo entries with Norma and HPD underpinnings.

Nissan backed Signatech bring both of their chassis out to play for the first time with the #23 Oreca joined by its sister #26 car.

Jordan Tresson, Franck Mailleux and Olivier Lombard will be on a points hunt for sure after their Sebring disappointment, Pierre Ragues and LMP2 debutants Frenchman Nelson Panciatici and Russian Roman Rusinov meanwhile should prove to be a very worthwhile addition to the field.

The 03 in 2012 form should be a more reliable beast than in its debut year and the Nissan motor has lost nothing in terms of power and pace.  

Also bringing a second LMP2 car to the grid for the first time this year are OAK Racing, the WEC regular #24 Morgan Judd entry for Jacques Nicolet, Oliver Pla and Matthieu Lahaye joined by the #35 car, crewed at Spa by David Heinemeier Hansson and Bas Leinders who will be joined at Le Mans by Maxime Martin.

And there’s a third LMP2 team fielding a first time two car effort as the Team Lotus squad wheel out their second Judd powered Lotus Coupe – There appears to have been a minor driver reshuffle in the latest draft entry with the #31 car crewed by Thomas Holzer and Mirco Shultis whilst the sister #32 Lola sees Luca Moro move over to join US historic racer Kevin Weeda and ex Lotus factory man James Rossiter.

We are though expecting a significant addition to this team with the rumour mill very strongly suggesting that Vitantonio Liuzzi might well race for them at Spa!  Watch this space.

The final two car effort is Gulf Racing Middle East.  They’ll be looking to put on a far more convincing display that at Sebring where the team’s #29 car was pulled out of the race by the stewards after a simply woeful display of self inflicted mechanical woes and on track tardiness – In those circumstances it was a pleasant surprise to see the #28 car finish the race though it was a more than regular pit caller in the final hours.  Must do better gentlemen – and lady – The stewards will, no doubt, be watching carefully!!

One team which could have fielded a two car effort at Spa, but opted not to, are Greaves Motorsport, their ELMS car wasn’t entered for Spa, the team opting to keep their powder dry! 

The WEC entered car though is, of course racing in Belgium, the team hoping to deliver further on some of the promise seen in early running at Sebring where Elton Julian had the Zytek Nissan in real contention.  The classic Pro-Am mix in this squad respects the spirit of the sporting regulations, but it does rather put the team at something of a competitive disadvantage against other team in this entry.

ADR-Delta’s WEC campaign has so far been somewhat stealthy, a low profile debut at Sebring saw little of the flair that we might have expected from a more than capable team, car and driver package – Spa though might see a substantial change there, a circuit that the team and the drivers know well, and with the team having had the advantage of a 12 hour race under their wheels, the assault starts here!

Pecom Racing are another team that were perhaps expected to show more early season pace from their Oreca Nissan package but they failed to show race long form either at Sebring or in the ELMS at Paul Ricard.

Again they are a team that knows Spa well so, all in all, Belgium might see several teams finding the speed they need to really compete.

The final full season WEC LMP2 contender is the team that won the class at Round One, with an incredible third overall for a team on its LMP racing debut!

Starworks certainly hit the ground running and showed that the form of the HPD ARX 03b, and of their head turning driver line-up needs no excuses.  Stephane Sarrazin is, of course right out of the top drawer, but Ryan Dalziel impressed mightily too and even the team’s Gentleman driver Enzo Potolicchio found pace good enough to better most of his peers – If Starworks can continue that sort of form on ground that they are, with the exception of Sarrazin, less familiar with, then the remainder of the WEC class grid have a season long problem. 

The final sextet of LMP2s for Spa have two things in common – All are full season ELMS entrants and all have been accepted for the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Two Judd BMW engined cars seem set to be looking for the traditional (but not lately!) LMP2 attrition, Reliability and not overall pace the stronger suits for both the Race Performance Oreca 03 and Extreme Limite Norma.

Two teams fielding Oreca Nissans, Boutsen Ginion Racing and Murphy Prototypes will be hoping for better luck than either team suffered at Paul Ricard, the Belgian entered car courtesy of accident damage, the British/ Irish reliability woes.

Both have driver line-ups capable of competing at the sharp end here. 

Jota are enjoying the early days of their LMP2 adventure and are hoping that Spa offers some invaluable race experience for Simon Dolan of dealing not only with the slower GT traffic, but also the faster LMP1 variety. A fighting finish will be a major boost to the Kentish equipe.

Status GP had an excellent start to their LMP2 effort at Paul Ricard, the Lola, the Judd and the team’s driver line-up well up to the job.  The driving talent for Spa though is not yet announced, Alexander Sims seems to be named at present but the team may opt to run their Le Mans driver line up instead, and at the time of writing that was unannounced.