Le Mans 24 Hours, Race Preview - Part Two The LMP2s #23 D Signatech - Nissan Jordan Tresson/ Franck Mailleux/ Olivier Lombard - Oreca 03 Nissan
#24 D OAK Racing - Jacques Nicolet/ Matthieu Lahaye/ Olivier Pla - Morgan Judd
#25 D ADR-Delta - John Martin/ Jan Charouz/ 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/ Ludovic Badley/ Stefan Johansson - Lola B12/80 Nissan
#29 D Gulf Racing Middle East - Keiko Ihara/ Jean-Denis Deletraz/ Steve Quick - Lola B12/80 Nissan
#30 D Status Grand Prix - Alexander Sims/ Yelmer Buurman/ Romain Ianetta - Lola Judd
#31 D Lotus - Thomas Holzer/ Mirco Schultis/ Luca Moro - Lola B12/80 Coupé Lotus (Judd)
#33 D Level 5 Motorsports - Scott Tucker/ Christophe Bouchut/ Luis Diaz - HPD ARX-03b Honda
#35 D OAK Racing - David Heinemeier Hansson/ Bas Leinders/ Maxime Martin - Morgan Nissan
#38 D Jota - Sam Hancock/ Simon Dolan/ Haruki Kurosawa - Zytek Z11SN Nissan
#40 D Race Performance - Michel Frey/ Ralph Meichtry/ Jonathan Hirschi - Oreca 03 Judd
#41 D Greaves Motorsport - Christian Zugel/ Elton Julian/ Ricardo Gonzalez - Zytek Z11SN Nissan
#42 D Greaves Motorsport - Alex Brundle/ Martin Brundle/ Lucas Ordonez - Zytek Z11SN Nissan
#43 D Extreme Limite ARIC - Fabien Rosier/ Philippe Thirion/ Philippe Haezebrouck - Norma M200P Judd
#44 D Starworks Motorsport - Enzo Potolicchio/ Ryan Dalziel/ Tom Kimber Smith - HPD ARX-03b Honda
#45 D Boutsen Ginion Racing - Bastien Briere/ Jens Petersen/ Shinji Nakano - Oreca 03 Nissan
#46 D Thiriet by TDS Racing - Pierre Thiriet/ Mathias Beche/ Christophe Tinseau - Oreca 03 Nissan
#48 D Murphy Prototypes - Jody Firth/ Brendon Hartley/ Warren Hughes - Oreca 03 Nissan
#49 D Pecom Racing Luis - Perez-Companc/ Pierre Kaffer/ Soheil Ayari - Oreca 03 Nissan LMP2 has been a smash hit for the ACO and no fewer than 20 cars feature on this grid with a blend of six different chassis and three different engines – Oreca are the numerically dominant chassis supplier (8) and Nissan do the same in the engine stakes (13!) but the competition will be fierce with well over half of the field capable of setting a class leading pace. It’s Dunlop rubber all round in LMP2 as Michelin withdraws gracefully from this part of the market. LMP2 though is likely to be a case of survival of the fittest and there’s good news here too with the latest cars concentrating on reliability upgrades rather than pure performance. If that reliability is delivered over the full race distance expect to see an example ort two fo the junior class in amongst the big guns by Sunday afternoon! We’ll start with the HPD runners first, both teams hail from the USA and both have race winning form and high quality driver line-ups. Level 5 might be embroiled in federal legal proceedings in the US courtesy of an ongoing spat over a series of businesses that may or may not be under the control of Scott Tucker and/ or various Indian tribes – Al of that though hasn’t stopped the team’s racing activities and they arrive at Le Mans with the man who always features in the first two words of every press release joined by the also ever present Christophe Bouchut and regular team player Luis Diaz – Plans to have Franck Montagny aboard the #33 car were changed after the ex Peugeot man’s Laguna Seca shunt, the team reportedly less than impressed with Montagny’s unwillingness to accept any responsibility for a shunt that was clearly his fault. The HPD ARX 03b should be fast at Le Mans, Wirth Research produce fast and reliable packages and the 2012 spec Honda twin turbo V6 looks up to the job too. Starworks may have little LMP racing experience but that didn’t show at Sebring where the tram put the #44 car on the overall podium, winning LMP2 in the process. Peter Baron’s squad profits from having a rapid gentleman driver in Enzo Pottolichio together with yet another fast Scottish racer, Ryan Dalziel. The big news at Starworks though is that season signing Stephane Sarrazin has moved on, for Le Mans at least, to Toyota and has been replaced by none other than Tom Kimber Smith whose Nissan backers deserve huge credit for allowing the young Englishman to make the move. Kimber Smith therefore gets an opportunity to have a crack at a third class win in 4 attempts at Le Mans – He’s hungry, the team are certainly up to the job and will want to put a troubled Spa behind them. Here’s another HPD team though that should be in the mix throughout. They’ll hope though to put a less than satisfactory test behind them which ended with Enzo Pottolicchio bringing the Test Day to a slight premature close after a shunt at the Dunlop Chicane. There are five Judd BMW 4 litre V8 powered runners:
Oak Racing are splitting their motive power allegiances as they move in search of a sustainable customer base – The Pescarolo chassis, produced by Oak partner company Onroak Automotive, are badged as Morgans for 2012 to mark the 50th anniversary since the factory entered Plus Four won the 2 litre class. The WEC season entered factory car sticks with the BMW derived, Judd prepared engine and has been a quick and wieldy package thus far. Olivier Pla took class pole at Sebring in the #24 car and the mercurial strawberry blonde will again be joined by Oak boss Jacques Nicolet and Matthieu Lahaye for Le Mans. The team have been gradually weeding out reliability niggles – This car could be a ‘sleeper’ – It will be right in the mix whenever Pla is at the wheel. Status Grand Prix impressed mightily on their debut at the Paul Ricard opening round of the 2012 ELMS, the Judd powered Lola Coupe was always in contention and battled hard to retain a podium finish after a mid race delay. Spa saw near disaster after Alexander Sims suffered a huge accident at Radillon but happily for the team the tub was repairable and, with the storm clouds gathering over Huntingdon the team opted to look after their precious spares cache and hang on for June On the driver front Yelmer Buumann has been a revelation, first in GT cars and now in LMPs, Sims returns and will no doubt be chastened by his error in Belgium. They are joined by Romain Ianetta at Le Mans and this is another trio that should, over the race distance, be capable of pulling off a good result – To do so they’ll need to make no mistakes and to find speed when and if required. The Team Lotus Lola Judd Coupes were both out at Spa but only one at present is on the Le Mans entry with the second also running (albeit very briefly) at the Test Day hoping in vain for misfortune for any team at the Test Day. The #31 car though is already in the race with ex F3 man Thomas Holzer joined by Luica Moro and Mirco Schultis. The emphasis here is going to be consistency rather than outright pace, the car is capable of mixing it in the pack, but the Lotus trio lack the punch of some of the leading crews. The Extreme Limite ARIC team return with their #43 Norma M200, the team as relieved as Status were when the damage caused in their own Spa shunt proved to be repairable. The team will see any finish at Le Mans as a victory, they’re unlikely to feature anywhere near the top of any timing screens but their loyalty to the endurance racing cause deserves the entry nonetheless. The last of the Judd powered runners is the sole Oreca 03 with anything other than Nissan power.
The Swiss Race Performance squad field a familiar trio with Michel Frey and Ralph Meichtry joined by Jonathan Hirschi. That might be enough to see the #40 car not too far away from the leading pack for a while at least – If the team can find reliability then they could be there at the finish, but a podium or anything like it looks unlikely. They had a very poor Test Day, which ended after Hirschi shunted heavily in the morning – Race Performance will be another team with a lot to do before race week! And so to the Nissan powered contingent, and there are plenty of them! Their number includes no fewer than three two car teams. First up is Signatech Nissan squad, boosted to a two car effort from Spa onwards - the lead #23 car is the Nissan supported car in the WEC with Nissan also supporting 2010 GT Academy graduate Jordan Tresson’s WEC campaign, he’s joined by the full pro in the line-up Franck Mailleux and 2011 class winner (for Greaves Motorsport) Olivier Lombard. That’s a package that should be right on the button but so far in 2012 the #23 squad have struggled to find their ultimate form. They now have a sister car to keep them honest, the #26 Signatech Oreca Nissan missed Sebring but will now contest the remainder of the FIA WEC with ex Siganture Plus and Oak racer Pierre Ragues joined by Nelson Panciatici and Roman Rusinov. That’s a squad that looks well balanced and the #26 went well at Spa with consistency rather than outright pace looking to be the key. Gulf Racing Middle East have had a terrible start to 2012 with most of the issues coming the way of their second, #29 Lola Coupe. The car was excluded from Sebring after mechanical issues and poor pace on track, Spa saw the team suffer the loss of Frederic Fatien after a bizarre bad fall during pitstop practice and then saw the remaining two drivers suffer a somewhat chaotic race in Belgium with several off-track excursions, several incidences of the usage of international sign language from other runners to indicate that their driving standards left something to be desired and, it has to be said, precious little by way of pace. The crew were rather on probation at the Test Day – and there was still precious little by way of pace to ponder – We await confirmation of whether any of their drivers, including new signing, 2011 Lotus Cup UK Champion, Steve Quick, have failed to make the qualification cut-off. The sister f#28 car has been a rather more convincing package scoring finishes in both WEC races so far, albeit not troubling the scorers of fastest lappery. Fabien Giroiz, and Stefan Johansson continue in the #28 car and will be hoping that the crew get a handle on what’s required to get the best of what should be a pacey package. Maxime (younger brother of Julien) Jousse was pulled from the car on the eve of the Test Day after “sponsor issues” Ludovic Badley replaced him at the test and, we believe, likely in the race too. The final two car Nissan engined squad are last year’s race winners Greaves Motorsport who field a pair of 2012 spec Zytek chassis, one a full season WEC entry and the other entered for a full season in the ELMS. The WEC car has been remarkably competitive, particularly in the hands of Elton Julian, whilst Ricardo Gonzalez has also proved to be very much up for the fight. Christian Zugel is the traditional gentleman driver here and the strategy will surely be to choose the best possible time to deploy the slowest of the trio, Keeping on the lead lap, or close to it, will be critical here. The ELMS car meanwhile features one of THE headlines for the 80th running of the race as 2009 GT Academy winner Lucas Ordonez is joined by father and son combo Alex and Martin Brundle. For 1990 overall race winner Brundle Senior the fire still burns, but he’s realistic enough to accept that there’s a slim chance that he could now cut it amongst the well practiced factory boys in LMP1. The opportunity to duke it out for a class win alongside his son is a very welcome alternative and this effort will be closely watched followed and supported. Young Alex meanwhile hoped to arrive at Le Mans with more Zytek race mileage under his belt, the cancellation of the Zolder ELMS race stymied that but he’ll do fine, a mistake which delayed the car at Paul Ricard may well have proved a defining moment – His maturity in accepting the blame, and fighting back to repair some of the damage shows that despite the cynics this young man has got what it takes. Ordonez meanwhile has become a poster boy for Nissan, the GT Academy and sportscar racing – He won the ILMC LMP2 title last year with Signatech and is itching for a Le mans trophy to join it on his mantelpiece. The combination of pace and control that the Spaniard has shown thus far means that it would be a brave person to bet against him! The third Zytek Nissan on the grid comes from Jota, and they arrive at Le Mans on the crest of a wave after an excellent and well-deserved class win at Spa. Sam Hancock was as good as ever in putting the car where it needed to be to take full advantage of the opportunities which arose but Sam will readily acknowledge that Simon Dolan was the star here – At a point where a gentleman driver might have been expected to consolidate with a theoretically faster car/ driver ahead and another attacking from behind Dolan unlocked the Pandora’s Box inside every race driver and turned the tables on the opposition – If that proved to be a breakthrough drive then we might see some fireworks at Le Mans.  |
The regular duo are joined by Jota returnee Haruki Kurosawa, Kurosawa San has been off the scene for a while but we’re assured he’s lost nothing of the pace and talent that propelled Jota’s last Zytek to great heights (metaphorically speaking!) in a slightly earlier era. This team could well be one to watch. OAK Racing opted recently to change the Judd power plant in their #35 customer car to a Nissan motor and that might just prove to be a very significant decision. At Spa, still with Judd power, both Bas Leinders and, crucially, David Heinemeier Hansson were highly competitive, the addition of Maxime Martin to the crew for Le Mans adds even better ammunition to the #35 gun – If the installation of the Nissan has been successfully (and reliably) achieved this crew will be right there too, all three drivers are up for this one and the pink and black Morgan might just be the one to lead the Malvern marque’s anniversary celebrations.
The remaining quintet of LMP2s all campaign Nissan engined Oreca 03s and all of them field driver line-ups with real potential. The #25 ADR-Delta squad will arrive at Le Mans for the first time still smarting from an error in pit strategy that cost them a race win at Spa – That was the bad news, the good news is that Alan Docking’s Le Mans plan was seen to be coming together nicely, John Martin and Tor Graves have gelled well and the car flew in Belgium. The car arrived at the Test Day with a smart new livery and a new name on the roll hoop as Jan Charouz replaced a no doubt miffed Robbie Kerr. If the team have got their strategy straight this time out expect the blue and white car to run at the front. The #45 Boutsen Ginion effort really hasn’t got into its stride yet this year after major issues at Paul Ricard and a rather off colour run at Spa too. Le Mans sees a change in the driver line up with regular team drivers Bastien Briere and Jens Petersen joined by the seemingly evergreen Shinji Nakano. Boutsen Ginion are capable of running a solid and well engineered campaign – Now they need to produce results as the team steps up to the 24 Hours for the first time. Thiriet by TDS Racing is another first time Le Mans entrant that has a record of pace and intelligence to build upon. Their Le Mans effort has a twinkle of quality about it too with the team’s gentleman driver Pierre Thiriet capable of good pace and Mathias Beche capable of very, very good pace indeed! They’re joined for Le Mans by Christophe Tinseau – Few know the challenge of a 24 Hour race better than the ex Panoz, Cadillac and Pescarolo man but he’s not had too much mileage in LMP2 machinery and will need to ensure that he looks after the car, as well as the result! . Murphy Prototypes are the second Irish flagged LMP2 entry (together with Status GP) and all the ingredients are there that could see the green #48 machine play a real part in the upper orders. An Oreca Nissan is a competitive package and the Team RLR squad that are running the car for owner Greg Murphy have shown themselves capable of immaculate preparation and reliable running with the old MG Lola campaigned in recent years. Jody Firth has waited a long time for his Le Mans debut and his abilities in an LMP2 car are well documented already. The better news still for the team is that Jody is the bronze rated driver which gives the Murphy Prototypes team the opportunity to add the pace and experience of Warren Hughes and the speed of ex Red Bull Junior Brendon Hartley into the mix. The team came very close indeed to a win in Spa but showed their potential – Le Mans is an altogether bigger challenge but here’s a team worth thinking about if you fancy a fiver on LMP2. And finally! The #49 Oreca Nissan is fielded by Pecom Racing, the AF Corse run, Argentinian funded effort parking their 2011 Lola Judd in favour of the new car. Ice Cream magnate Luis Perez-Companc returns together with ex Audi factory man Pierre Kaffer, the pair joined in 2012 by ex Signatech man Soheil Ayari. Ayari brings in depth knowledge of the Oreca Nissan package and after a sluggish start to the campaign at Sebrinbg the potential of this package is beginning to show – Expect the #49 car to feature throughout! | 
