Le Mans Series, 6 Hours Of Le Castellet - Friday Morning

It’s gloriously sunny with a light breeze here at Le Castellet – The Peugeot Sport trucks were leaving as we arrived this morning – Their endurance test seems to have gone better this time around, flights were reported to have been uninterrupted from the adjacent airfield!

We’ve had a withdrawal from the original entry the Guess racing Europ Lola Judd is a no show so LMP1 is down to five.

Paddock intelligence on the GruppeM Eterniti Porsche absence appears to point to a potential debut rather later this season – The car certainly not expected for Spa.

The Aston Martin AMR One is here though, but the team are very much in ‘test’ rather than ‘race’ mode.  The car is not due to run in the first lunchtime track session with a spare engine en route from Banbury. 

George Howard-Chappell said: “We have been through a tough development phase since unveiling the car in late February. Since then we have performed a shakedown at Fen End and Snetterton and conducted a first test at Dijon-Prenois in France with more work being required to get ourselves up to a competitive position.

“Initial feedback from the drivers is very positive with reports of good stability, brake and mechanical feel. Paul Ricard will be our first real-world test, and we aim to learn as much as possible about the new car. This is the very start of a two year programme and we aim to become competitive as quickly as possible.”

The Hankook Farnabacher and JMW Ferrari 458s are here and looking very shiny indeed, these the seventh and eight cars reportedly off the Michelotto line with GT3 cars now finally in production too (DSC believes the 458’s GT3 orderbook currently numbers 30+ cars!!).

James Walker managed to test the JMW car together with Rob Bell at Adria, the newcomer getting a reasonable number of laps in on a public test day.

There are a number of runners that we’ve previously only seen in bare carbon that now sport rather more inspiring liveries – These include the TDS Racing, Boutsen Energy and Race Performance Orecas.

Also fully liveried now is the #16 Pescarolo Team Pesca Judd – Les Bleus are back!!

The Greaves Racing Zytek Nissan is here too, now completely refettled post Imola with the car looking absolutely pristine.  Tom Kimber Smith was characteristically modest about the last time he competed in this very car, setting pole position at Silverstone in LMP2 in 2007 when the car was run as a one-off by Team LNT. 

There are a number of changes to the entry list on the driver front - The TBA triplets fail once again to get their race debut, ceding their JMB FLM seats to Manuel Rodrigues, Jean-Marc Menahem and Nicolas Misslin. 

Julien Schell is added to the Pegasus roster, Nygaard joins the Young Driver AMR team and Giuseppe Ciro completes the #72 AF Corse Ferrari 430 line-up.