Le Mans 24 Hours, Race Preview - Part Three

The GTE Pros

Whilst the numbers in the premier GT category may not be large there can be no quibbling with the quality – 9 cars, all of them with high quality driver line ups will make for a very exciting race, coupled with that the near certain involvement of the best of the Am cars when their Pro drivers are at the wheel and the GT classes will surely dole out their usual brand of fireworks.

There’s no BMW effort in 2012 at Le Mans thanks to the end of the factory programme and an American customer team who didn’t tick “Trip to France” on the budget proposal.

#51 M AF Corse - Giancarlo Fisichella/ Gianmaria Bruni/ Toni Vilander - Ferrari 458 Italia
#59 M Luxury Racing - Frédéric Makowiecki/ Jaime Melo/ Dominik Farnbacher - Ferrari 458 Italia
#66 D JMW Motorsport - Jonny Cocker/ James Walker/ Roger Wills - Ferrari 458 Italia
#71 M AF Corse - Andrea Bertolini/ Olivier Beretta/ Marco Cioci - Ferrari 458 Italia
#73 M Corvette Racing - Antonio Garcia/ Jan Magnussen/ Jordan Taylor - Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1
#74 M Corvette Racing - Oliver Gavin/ Tommy Milner/ Richard Westbrook - Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1
#77 M Team Felbermayr Proton - Richard Lietz/ Marc Lieb/ Wolf Henzler - Porsche 997 GT3 RSR
#80 M Flying Lizard Motorsports - Jörg Bergmeister/ Patrick Long/ Marco Holzer - Porsche 997 GT3 RSR
#97 M Aston Martin Racing - Stefan Mücke/ Darren Turner/ Adrian Fernandez - Aston Martin Vantage V8

Aston Martin Racing though is on the entry and has a V8 Vantage on each of the GTE sub classes.  The two cars though are very different animals, the #97 car driven once again by Darren Turner, Stefan Mucke and Adrian Fernandez has benefited from a much-needed thorough rework with both performance and reliability/ serviceability being comprehensively addressed.

New Aero, uprights and suspension are just a part of it – The reworking is already showing signs of success, the factory car has led both WEC races so far but finger trouble (a lost wheel) and gear linkage woes (Spa) have thus far prevented the results which the performance suggest lies within.  It’s early days for this campaign yet but the good news is that AMR are back on track, literally and figuratively!

That will be very good news indeed for Corvette Racing, their storied Le Mans past has been intrinsically linked with the Prodrive team’s efforts in recent years – They relish the head to head and a healthy Aston presence adds further ammunition to their marketing as well as racing efforts.

The factory Corvette team fields a pair of 2012, ‘wide rear’ cars with a new look squad – The #3 car with Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia and new boy Jordan Taylor, #4 with Oliver Gavin, Richard Westbrook and Tommy Milner.

That’s two cars full of top talent and with a pit crew of equal stature the whole effort looks stronger than ever.  The past couple of years have seen the package looking better and better at a track that is ideally suited to the Vette – It won last time out in the 24 Hours and looks a strong package once again. 

The remainder off the field are split between the Porsche and Ferrari customer teams but with plenty of factory talent on display for each.

Indeed both 2012 spec Porsches feature full factory driver line-ups, the #77 Felbermayr Proton car with the super reliable (and super quick!) Lieb/ Lietz/ Henzler trio – That’s a combination that’s pretty difficult to fault – The car won at Spa and all of a sudden Porsche seem to have found their smiles once again – A healthy Porsche attack is a good thing all round for this contest though it should be noted that the new car still seems to lack something on pace to the latest Ferraris and Corvettes.

Flying Lizard Motorsports field the #80 car and they’ll be looking to get rid of the French monkey from their back – There’s something about Le Mans that attracts misfortune like a magnet to the top American team – That has to change sooner or later and it will be Jorg Bergmeister, Patrick Long and Marco Holzer that give it a shot in 2012.  A good performance from the world’s most fan friendly Porsche outfit would be very popular, and it would provide fresh impetus to the whole Porsche GT race programme too.

The remaining runners all field Ferrari 458 Italias.

JMW Motorsport are back once again, Jim McWhirter though has rung the changes in the driver department for 2012 – Rob Bell has gone, recruited as a McLaren GT factory driver.  Jersey boy James Walker though stays, and 2012 sees him drive at Le Mans for the first time, joined by a very welcome returnee, Jonny Cocker.

Third man is the only non-Pro driver in the Pro category, top historic racer and latterly GTE AM and LMPC runner Roger Wills.  Roger has got the bug for contemporary racing and JMW is a sensible home for his talents – The car is quick, its Dunlop rubber might well be an advantage if conditions are of the changeable variety and Cocker in particular is well versed in helping to guide a Gentleman driver through the challenges ahead.

The Dunlop ‘Art Car’ contest returns too for 2012 and you won’t miss this one!   Striking is probably an apt description of the Hazard Tape- like scheme! 

The pros will both be quick but the Pro-AM mix may hurt the overall attack here – With the ELMS though struggling the financial support provided by a paying driver was doubtless an essential part of the mix.

JMW though are keen to shine, evidenced that the car will be spending this week at Michelotto for the installation of the latest spec of paddleshift .

Luxury Racing are one of several teams with a car in each GTE sub class, and they arrive at le mans after some trying days.  The proposed alliance with Pescarolo Team foundered with legal fall out still rumbling on, the team’s cars were seized by bailiffs after the Spa race and though the cars are now back with the team that’s unlikely to have helped their focus.

That aside though it should be noted that the #59 car has been super quick this season, never more so than when pedalled by Fred Makowiecki, a man fast developing a reputation as one of the, if not THE fastest GTE driver of all at present.

He’s joined once again by Jaime Melo, the surprise addition to the team for 2012 after falling out with Ferrari at the end of 2011.  His form has been erratic though, fast at times but prone to mistakes that simply weren’t part of the mix for him until recently – He’ll need to bring his best game if the Luxury crew are to take the fight to the leading pack here.

Dominik Farnbacher had a Sebring to forget after shunting the team’s AM car on the formation lap, but the underlying talent of the young German is there for all to see. He’ll be a great addition to this crew over a full race distance, capable of intelligence behind the wheel as well as blinding speed. The #59 car will be in the mix from the start, whether it can stay there will be very much down to the pit crew, and to whether the drivers can stay out of trouble.

The final two cars are as close to a factory Ferrari team as you could hope to find in GT racing.

AF Corse has been a very potent force in recent years and has led the charge to make the 458 the yardstick that the rest must match or better.

Their 2012 WEC season though has been flawed thus far, the #51 car stumbling at Sebring with Gimmi Bruni thoroughly blotting his copybook with a series of clashes with the GT race leading BMW whilst around 100 laps down.  Spa saw a return to form, though not a return to the winners step on the podium.  A fighting win at Le Mans would go a long way to restoring reputations – Bruni, Fisichella, Vilander is, on paper, a great match for the Porsche factory trios – Add in the Corvette and Aston boys and …..wow!!

And that’s before you look at the second AF Corse Pro car – a fired up Olivier Beretta coupled with AF regular Marco Cioci and Andrea Bertolini, the long serving Maserati/ Ferrari man astonishingly an LM virgin!

There’s nothing wrong in terms of pace in that little lot either – Anyone care to bet against at least 4 GTE Pro cars running nose to tail for substantial parts of the early hours of the race?