Le Mans Series, 8 Hours of Le Castellet - Race Preview
Part 1 LMP1 It’s an intriguing entry in the premier LMP category with no factory Peugeots, no Pescarolos (for the first time since the LMS’s inception), no Kolles R10s (they promise to start their season from Spa) and just singleton entries from the Audi and Aston Martin factory teams. Before we get to those though there’s another car which will be looking to take the overall win, with Team Oreca Matmut looking to start their full season effort with a 2010 spec Peugeot 908 HDI FAP with an overall win. They’ll have the not inconsiderable advantage of the presence of Stephane Sarrazin alongside Messrs Panis and Lapierre to assist them in that regard, with Peugeot surely looking to learn as much as they can not only about their own machine but also the heavily revised Audi too. Oreca indeed have a two car entry at Le Castellet with their so-called junior team campaigning the AIM V10 engined, Dunlop shod, Oreca 01 car, with the ‘not very junior at all’ Soheil Ayari and Loic Duval; the latter stepping down from the Oreca Peugeot (in which he will contest the Le Mans 24 Hours). This car was the quickest in all but a single session in the pre-season tests at Paul Ricard as the team conducted some intensive Dunlop tyre testing. Whether the Dunlop rubber has the endurance to match its evident pace has yet to be seen; dsc sources suggesting that it has a little way to go just yet. Michelin though will be very well aware indeed of the strides that the men in yellow have made in GT2 racing in recent years – Game On! On then to Audi and the single, heavily revised, R15+ TDI. There is no team better at this endurance racing game than Audi Sport Team Joest and their selected driver trio of Capello, Kristensen and McNish must send chills down the spines of the LMP1 opposition. If Audi have got it right (second time around) with the revised car then this should be the car to beat. Certainly their preparation at Sebring didn’t go to plan with a damaging ‘off’ for the first car completed. But this is a team that never quits and they were running two cars at Monza (with chicanes removed for high speed testing) last week, one of which featured the revised livery that will be seen in public for the first time next weekend. After their team heroics in 2009 it’s a very much reduced effort from the Aston Martin Racing squad in 2010, as the factory concentrate efforts on a new set of regulations and, it’s hoped, a new car for 2011. That said, it’s good to see the team fielding a car for Harold Primat and Adrian Fernandez. The slippery Lola Aston should be quick, but will it be quick enough to duke it out with the diesels? Probably not on pace, but, if the screaming V12 coupe stays out of the garage, an eight-hour race potentially presents all sorts of opportunities. And there’s a second Lola Aston Martin on the grid too – the first of the current generation Lola Astons to find its way into the hands of a privateer team. Signature Plus then plan to move up the pecking order from their 2009 Oreca Courage Judd to an ex-factory Lola Aston Martin with their 2009 driver pairing of Pierre Ragues and Franck Mailleux looking set to be joined at Le Castellet by Vanina Ickx. All three are capable of a rapid, if not class leading, pace and if the team can keep the car reliable they could challenge for reasonable points. This first race though is very early days for the team’s new package. Beechdean Mansell is a new name on the door for what is, effectively, the closest thing that we have to a Ginetta Zytek LMP1 factory effort. The car is a 2010 spec machine and, by Le Castellet, should be fully equipped with the new aero kit developed to bring the GZ09S further up the order. The big news here though is of course the names on the roll hoop. Yes, it’s the fastest family outing in the world as ex F1 World Champ Nigel Mansell joins forces with sons Greg and Leo to challenge the established order, both in the Le Mans Series and at Le Mans itself. Much is expected of Mansell Senior and anything less that 100% commitment and commensurate speed will be readily noted. Of the Mansells-Minor Greg is the pacier, with Leo, courtesy of 2009 aboard a Team Modena GT2 Ferrari, the more experienced endurance racer. And last but so definitely not least there’s the second of only two two-car entries (the other being Oreca of course). Rebellion Racing has evolved from Speedy Sebah and brings a pair of immaculately presented LMP1 Lola Rebellion Coupes; the Rebellion moniker on the rocker covers of the V10 powerplants representing the latest evolution of the 5.5 litre Judd – with upgrades still not being openly discussed by the team, by Judd, or even by their closest personal friends! The #12 car features A1 GP refugees Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost, both very handy wheelmen indeed; and if new car niggles can be dispensed with, this car will be in contention for the fastest of the petrol-fuelled runners. The #13 car though might edge them for that honour, courtesy of Andrea (The Don) Belicchi, Jean-Christophe (Jules) Bouillon and Guy (The Humberside Hatchet*) Smith. Belicchi’s pace is simply searing, JCB’s even more so, and Guy of course is a man with nothing whatsoever to prove at this level. (*Okay, so we made that one up!) Will it be a diesel 1-2? Or is Audi’s pre-race language around this really being an eight-hour test to be taken more seriously than usual? And how will the petrol-fuelled cards be dealt – Lola, Lola Aston, Oreca or a red letter day for Red 5? 008 Signature Plus - Lola Aston Martin - Pierre Ragues/ Franck Mailleux/ Vanina Ickx
009 Aston Martin Racing - Lola Aston Martin - Adrian Fernandez/ Harold Primat
4 Team Oreca Matmut - Peugeot 908 HDi FAP - Oliver Panis/ Nicolas Lapierre/ Stephane Sarrazin
5 Beechdean Mansell - Ginetta-Zytek 09SB - Nigel Mansell/ Leo Mansell/ Greg Mansell
6 Team Oreca Matmut - Oreca 01-AIM - Soheil Ayari/ Loic Duval
7 Audi Sport Team Joest - Audi R15+ TDI - Rinaldo Capello/ Tom Kristensen/ Allan McNish
12 Rebellion Racing - Lola B10/60 Coupé - Rebellion - Nicolas Prost/ Neel Jani
13 Rebellion Racing - Lola B10/60 Coupé - Rebellion - Andrea Belicchi/ Jean-Christophe Boullion/ Guy Smith LMP2 Whilst the Formula Le Mans Orecas are listed as LMP2 we’ll deal with the newcomers elsewhere. That leaves 12 LMP2s on the grid with plenty of the traditional class variety. That means four different engines and no fewer than eight different chassis. The only true newcomers to the Le Mans Series in this class are Race Performance; the Swiss team stepping up from the Renault Megane Europa Series with the ex-Rollcentre, ex-Embassy Radical SR9, the chassis now equipped with the latest version of Judd’s jewel-like 3.4 litre V8 (in common with 50% of the LMP2 field). This team will take time to settle into endurance racing, despite having some experienced drivers aboard. They aren’t expecting to battle for class podiums, but, as we’ve seen before in LMP2, if the cars have their all-too-regular races of attrition a surprise or two can be thrown up – too early yet though for the plucky Swiss. A new engine to the Series, but with massive pedigree in North America, the HPD (nee Acura) V8 powers two entries this weekend. RML are in search of their past glories after an awful 2009. Their pretty Lola Coupe is now HPD powered (and Dunlop-shod) with the always rapid and reliable Thomas Erdos and the ultra-committed Mike Newton – perhaps the longest surviving driver partnership in LMS history – joined by Andy Wallace; the national treasure getting some race practice with the team before the same trio contest the Le Mans 24 Hours. The second HPD powered car is the Strakka Racing ARX 01, the team stepping back from LMP1 and bringing the ex-Fernandez Racing car to the Le Mans Series. Now complete with a full 2010 aero upgrade plus the impressive driver line-up of Jonny Kane, Danny Watts and Nick Leventis, this team were impressive at the pre-season test weekend – duking it out with the Quifel ASM squad for fastest times – and they will be a very credible and welcome season-long class contender. It will be no surprise to see either of the HPD powered cars well into the LMP1 order at times too, both in qualifying and the race itself. It’s a pity European race fans won’t get to see the HPD up against its old sparring partner the Porsche RS Spyder, but that should take nothing away at all from the quality and depth of the competition here. Of the six cars racing in LMP2 with the Judd V8 only two did so in 2009, these being the pair of Racing Box Lola Coupes. Both return, as does the Pirelli rubber unique to the team in LMP. Of the 2009 driver line ups, though, Biagi and Bobbi are gone, with the Piccini brothers Andrea and Giacomo now teamed up together with Ferdinando Geri in the #30 car; with Cioci, Perazzini and Pirri in #29. This was a team that showed flashes of real speed in 2009, but suffered avoidable problems on-track and off. They’ll need to do better this time around. The other three Judd engined runners all deserted from the Mazda MZ-R fiasco of 2009. Oak Racing, though, bizarrely retains Mazda branding on the engine covers, courtesy of a very understanding Mazda France sponsor! Both the team’s Pescarolos will feature full 2010 aero upgrades for Le Castellet and the #35 car in particular is capable of challenging for a very good finish, particularly when in the hands of the rapid Guillaume Moreau. KSM are back and punching hard once again, shaking off the disappointment of not receiving an invitation to race at Le Mans and keeping their fingers crossed that others will follow the Dome in withdrawing from June’s race. For now though the team seem very happy indeed with their Judd V8, while their now-venerable Lola is still capable of real pace; but they’ll be a team happy to go quickly enough to take advantage of the almost inevitable issues for others. So no Mazda engined cars at all. There is a singleton AER engined car though, this being the Pegasus Racing Courage LC75; the team’s brand new Norma Judd LMP2 still needing development time (particularly as it is now on the entry list for Le Mans). The Avon rubber has gone for 2010 (for Dunlops) and this entry truly should be viewed as a stopgap to keep the team’s hand in before the new car is available. Three more to come; all featuring Zytek V8 power. First up it’s the quirky WR Salini. In Tristan Gommendy’s hands the little #37 car was capable of proper pace in the latter part of 2009, but reliability was the car’s Achilles Heel. Have the plucky little squad done enough to improve things in that department? We’ll see! Next, there’s a pair of fully updated 2010 spec Ginetta Zyteks. Team Bruichladdich is no longer affiliated to the Radical factory, Tim Greaves having now sold his share in the company. The team are now though looking after the Oijeh family car with the affable Karim heading up the driver line-up, together with Tim Greaves and Thor Christian Ebbesvik, the young Norwegian. The car looks fantastic in its new predominantly white Valvoline livery and the package is capable of blinding speed. Across eight hours of racing, though, this team will be looking to hang onto the class lead lap rather than attack the ultimate pace setters. If it can do that and keep reliable, there’s a good finish in prospect. Finally, we have the returning Champions; the Quifel ASM package being much the same (aside from a much younger chassis) as the Team Bruichladdich outfit. The critical difference though is in the driving talent – Miguel Amaral being one of those much improved ‘gentleman drivers’ who exceeds that oft-maligned billing. Radio Le Mans has dubbed these talented amateurs ‘Sportsman Drivers’ and we agree with that moniker wholeheartedly. Alongside Amaral though are two men to whom the ‘professional’ tag applies in spades. Olivier Pla is one of the fastest men out there in any class and he will get the best from the #40 car both in qualifying and the race. Warren Hughes is back with the team again for whom he has been a Le Mans irregular. His experience and racecraft has added immeasurably to the competitiveness of a string of LMP teams and Quifel ASM have now got him back aboard to weave his magic for them once more. Incidents aside – assuming that the Zytek Engineering boys have got their sums right over the new aero package – this car is a real contender. 24 Oak Racing - Pescarolo - Judd - Mathieu Lahaye/ Jacques Nicolet
25 RML - Lola HPD Coupé - Tommy Erdos/ Mike Newton/ Andy Wallace
27 Race Performance - Radical SR9 - Judd - Michel Frey/ Ralph Meichtry/ Tyler Dueck
29 Racing Box - Lola B09 Coupé - Judd - Marco Cioci/ Pierguiseppe Perazzini/ Luca Pirri
30 Racing Box - Lola B09 Coupé - Judd - Ferdinando Geri/ Andrea Piccini/ Giacomo Piccini
35 Oak Racing - Pescarolo - Judd - Richard Hein/ Guillaume Moreau
36 Pegasus Racing - Courage-Oreca LC75 - AER - Julien Schell/ Jean-Christophe Metz/ Frederic Da Rocha
37 WR / Salini - WR - Zytek - Philippe Salini/ Stéphane Salini/ Tristan Gommendy
39 KSM - Lola B08/47 - Judd - Jean De Pourtales/ Hideki Noda
40 Quifel - ASM Team - Ginetta-Zytek 09SB - Miguel Amaral/ Olivier Pla/ Warren Hughes
41 Team Bruichladdich - Ginetta-Zytek 09SB - Karim Oijeh/ Tim Greaves/ Thor-Christian Ebbesvik
42 Strakka Racing - HPD ARX - 01 - Nick Leventis/ Danny Watts/ Jonny Kane GG | 
