FIA WEC, 6 Hours of Silverstone - Race Preview - Pt 3 - LMP2

LMP2 (15 Cars)
 
23 Signatech-Nissan Jordan Tresson/ Franck Mailleux/ Olivier Lombard Oreca 03-Nissan
24 OAK Racing Jacques Nicolet/ Matthieu Lahaye/ Olivier Pla  Morgan-Nissan
25 ADR-Delta John Martin/ Tor Graves/ Jan Charouz Oreca 03 Nissan
26 Signatech-Nissan Pierre Ragues/ Nelson Panciatici/ Roman Rusinov Oreca 03 Nissan
29 Gulf Racing Middle East Fabien Giroix/ Keiko Ihara/ Jean-Denis Deletraz Lola B12/80 Coupé-Nissan
30 Status GP Alexander Sims/ Julien Jousse/ Maxime Jousse Lola B12/80 Coupé-Judd HK
31 Lotus Thomas Holzer/ Mirco Schultis/ Luca Moro Lola B12/80 Coupé-Lotus
32 Lotus Kevin Weeda/ James Rossiter/ Vitantonio Liuzzi Lola B12/80 Coupé-Lotus
35 OAK Racing Bertrand Baguette/ David Heinemeier Hansson/ Dominik Kraihamer Morgan-Nissan
38 Jota Simon Dolan/ Sam Hancock/ Nicolas Minassian Zytek Z11SN-Nissan
41 Greaves Motorsport Christian Zugel/ Ricardo Gonzalez/ Elton Julian Zytek Z11SN-Nissan
42 Greaves Motorsport Alex Brundle/ Martin Brundle/ Lucas Ordonez Zytek Z11SN-Nissan
44 Starworks Motorsports Enzo Potolicchio/ Ryan Dalziel/ Stéphane Sarrazin HPD ARX-03b-Honda
48 Murphy Prototypes Brendon Hartley/ Warren Hughes/ Jody Firth Oreca 03-Nissan
49 Pecom Racing Luis Perez Companc/ Pierre Kaffer/ Soheil Ayari  Oreca 03-Nissan
 
If there’s one class at Silverstone that has a real ‘wow’ factor it’s LMP2 – No fewer than 15 cars are set to take to the track with just one season regular WEC car absent, that the #28 Gulf Racing Middle East Lola Nissan, the team having had two unlucky breaks, one for Frederic Fatien at Spa and another for Stefan Johansson in China, both men breaking a leg and both out for a while.

The #29 car will be there though, but has failed to even dent the level required to be competitive at this level so far.

So that’s one two car team down to a single entry but happily there are four two car LMP2 efforts at Silverstone, three of whom have boosted their squad for this race.

Nissan backed Signatech have their regular pair of Oreca 03 Nissans, two of no fewer than 11 Nissan engined LMP2s in the field!    Philippe Sinault’s well drilled squad will be keen to find the form that has so far been a little lacking in 2012 – There’s nothing lacking in the basic machinery, nor the driver line-ups, the team will have been spending the summer break looking for the holes in their armour.

Oak Racing have made several changes for Silverstone – There’s a second LMP2 car for the remainder of the season in place of the previous LMP1 Pescarolo Judd.

Both Morgan badged chassis are now equipped with the Nissan V8 too, the team are believed to be unhappy with some recent reliability issues.

The #24 car sees no change from the season long trio but the #35 car sees LMP1 refugees Dominik Kraihamer and Bertrand Baguette team up with 2012 standout gentleman driver David Heinemeier Hanssen.  The #35 is also racing in Gulf livery this time out making a total of 6 cars on the grid in blue and orange!

The Lotus LMP2 squad made clear that their plans extend to a new car for 2013 but for now they are concentrating on their Lotus badged Lola Judd package.

After only receiving a single entry for Le Mans the team return to a 2 car squad for Silverstone  - The biggest news there is the addition of Vitantonio Liuzzi to the #32 car’s line-up of American historic racer Kevin Weeda and ex Lotus factory man James Rossiter
 
Last, but very much not least of the two car teams is Greaves Motorsport, the demise of the ELMS allowing a gathering of the Zytek Nissan clans once again, the #41 car driver squad is unchanged from the season long line-up but in #42 there’s a second outing of the season for Martin Brundle alongside his son Alex and Lucas Ordonez.

The team are confident that the new Silverstone circuit will suit the Zytek rather better than Le mans where the car was not quite on the ultimate pace.  The Brundles will surely draw interest to the race and that’s a very good thing, but Martin in particular will be keen to show that he’s lost very little in terms of pace from the last time he raced a sportscar here – back in 1991 in the Jaguar XJR14!!  He won that race driving solo!!

Oddly there’s no team running a two car squad here that features in the top three of the LMP2 Teams standings, and there are a further trio of ELMS refugees that don’t either of course!

Status GP field their regular Judd engined Lola Coupe for Alex Sims and the Jousse brothers, Maxime and Julien.

With plans on the horizon that might see Status playing a bigger part in the sportscar world in the future they’ll be keen to impress, particularly as, like several others on this grid, it’s very much a home race for the team.

Jota Sport are another team playing to a home crowd, and they’ll be doing so knowing that they came out on top of the last 6 hour WEC race back in May at Spa Francorchamps. 

The Kentish crew don’t sit on their laurels though and they’ve added considerably to their weekend prospects by signing up none other than Nic Minassian, a popular figure in the paddock and from the stands. Quick Nic’s empty calendar in the wake of Peugeot’s withdrawal just keeps getting busier!

And the Bolton based Murphy Prototypes crew are looking for a home win too, the #48 Oreca 03 Nissan is back with the familiar and very effective crew of Warren Hughes, Jody Firth and Brendon Hartley – This has looked like a potential challenger all year – This would be an ideal time for all the pieces to slot together!

To win though the ELMS contingent will have to come out on top of all three of the teams currently occupying the top three in the WEC.

Pecom Racing currently sit third in the points after consistent, if not exactly sparkling, performances thus far in 2012.  The AF Corse run Oreca Nissan will need a win to stake a claim to a title run sooner rather than later though.

ADR Delta are yet another team racing this weekend on home ground, their Oreca Nissan lies second in the Championship standings just a couple of points ahead of the similar Pecom car courtesy again of some consistent scoring.  A fumbled strategy call at Spa blunted their edge but they’re unlikely to make the same mistake again.

Jan Charouz replaced Robbie Kerr at Le Mans and he continues this weekend too – The #25 car is yet another one to watch!

That leaves just one – and who, before the season, would have guessed that Starworks would have been leading the WEC by a distance?

LMP2 newcomers, they had fabulous runs at Sebring and Le Mans, but stumbled at Spa – despite that wobble they’re 18 points to the good – A comfortable margin but by no means an insurmountable one

The sole LMP2 HPD in the field has proven to be fast and reliable - Stephane Sarrazin is back after his Toyota outing at Le Mans after being very ably supersubbed by Tom Kimber Smith and Ruan Dalziel and season partner Enzo Pottolicchio return too.

If Peter Baron’s squad can come away from Silverstone with an increased advantage over their competition they could be a very tough nut to crack for the remainder of the season.