Le Mans Series - 8 Hours Of Le Castellet - Race Preview GT1 Well with the Full Speed Saleen stepping back "Until Spa" we have a mighty single car entry. Here goes - dsc predicts that the Larbre Competition S7-R will win GT1 (and come last) - There you have it. The point really should be made that it is profoundly unfair that the majority of GT1 entrants should use the Le Mans 24 Hours as a cash cow without supporting the Le Mans Series. It is to be hoped that the way in which the teams concerned have approached this has been noted by the ACO. #50 - Larbre Competition - Saleen S7-R - Gabriele Gardel/ Patrice Goueslard/ Julien Canal GT2 The Le Mans Series has always doled out quality entries in GT2 but that quality has not been in the depth that we have got used to elsewhere with usually a handful of top crews contesting the class honours. Not any more! With the death throes of FIA GT2 we'd already seen the addition of 5 Ferrari 430s from AF Corse (3) and CRS Racing (2), all with driver squads ranging from the credible up to the incredible. They've now been joined in what at time looks like the world's most expensive refugee camp by Prospeed's pacey Porsche too. GT2 in Le Mans Series is getting tougher by the minute! There are 14 cars on the entry, though dsc believes that the Modena Group Racing Ferrari may miss the Ricard opener. 13 then might prove to be unlucky for some - But for Whom? The simple fact is that there is not a single car on the list without the potential for a podium finish. The single biggest change to this field from earlier years is the almost complete absence of the traditional pro-am driver squad, even those that do field such a line-up have bolstered their effort with two rather than one pros for Le Castellet! Why? Well take a look at the times from the pre-season test - Mechanical woes aside there was one car that remained welded to the bottom of the timing screens (and by some distance) throughout the two day test, the #87 IMSA Performance Porsche, this the only 'all-gentleman driver' GT2 car present. It's perhaps no surprise to see that one missing from the entry this weekend. Let's deal with the three cars that come under the not very neat encapsulation of not being either a Porsche or a Ferrari! Alphabetically the first is Aston Martin. The Vantage GT2 has under whelmed thus far in competition with just a couple of notably memorable exceptions. At the pre season test though the JMW Motorsport team though have transferred their allegiances from their super-successful, 2006 vintage but constantly updated Ferrari 430 to a brand spanking new Vantage. The Dunlop Yellow livery is carried over, and judging from the car's pace in the pre-season test so has the speed of the JMW squad, the Aston topping the times in one session and remaining in the lead group throughout. With Gimmi Bruni moving to AF Corse JMW were looking for a second driver to join the ever present Rob Bell. We've reported already on sad saga of Richard Westbrook gettinmg caught between two contracts after the cancellation of the FIA GT2 Championship so won't dwell on it further. dsc's eagle eyed lensmen spotted Darren Turner getting a session aboard the #92 car ahead of an announcement later that day that the Aston Martin factory man will join JMW for the Le Mans Series (but not Le Mans) The crazy Dutchmen are back once again, Spyker Squadron fielding a single car for the familiar trio of Peter Dumbreck and Dutch duo Tom Coronel and Jeroen Bleekemolen. We've seen very little of the team in the off season but they've emerged with a new look to the car and with ambitions as always to shoot for podium finishes. Can the car find the slice of pace that it all too often lacks together with the reliability that will be needed to keep it in contention. The big new name in GT2 in Le Mans Series is BMW, the crack Schnitzer team will rock up in Southern France with a brand spanking new, fully ACO legal M3 GT2 and a driver line-up, in Jorg Muller and Dirk Werner, the equal of any here. It's a single car entry though, with a pair (including the latest in the storied Art Car lineage) due for Le Mans and this race surely comes just too early for the revised car to battle for the top slot - doesn't it? Four Porsches face up to no fewer than seven Ferraris in the remainder of the GT2 entry. The Champs are back, the lead #77 Team Felbermayr Proton RSR again accommodating the Lieb/ Lietz combo. with Norbert Singer continuing his retirement as the team strategist this one will be very, very (very) tough to beat. And the second team car has taken a step up in 2010 too. Christian Ried stays aboard but he's joined at Le castellet by Porsche factory men Martin Ragginger and Patrick Long. Not bad for a 'second' car eh! LMS ever presents IMSA Performance Matmut are back with Patrick Pilet and Raymond Narac. This pair had a somewhat under whelming 2009 and will be keen to again display their credentials as the very best pro-'am' pairing in the class with Narac capable of professional-class perfomances on his day. Finally there's the Prospeed Competition Porsche, a late addition as they transferred from the dead in the water FIA GT2 European Championship. Marco Holzer and Richard Westbrook are aboard this one and this is a team that wants to make a splash. Westbrook as eager as ever to remind Porsche that he has as much pace as anyone out there - and more than most. Four Porsches, nine drivers, of whom 6 are current Porsche factory men (and Westbrook should be once again!). It seems this is a race, and a Championship that Porsche are taking seriously. So seven Ferraris to finish this review - six if the Modena Group Racing car doesn't show. First up we'll take a look at the Hankook Team Farnbacher car, the Korean tyre manufacturers going about their development steadily and diligently. There's no shortage of speed in the car, or in the Simonsen/ Farnbacher driver combo, but the tyres have yet to prove they are the match of the Michelins or the Dunlops thus far - Will 2010 show significant progress in that area? The remaining quintet come from multi car teams and both have decamped from FIA GT racing in 2009. CRS Racing need no introduction to dsc readers, Chris Niarchos and Andrew Kirkaldy's squad have always turned out immaculate race cars but have perhaps struggled in a Series where the factories' favoured team have featured. The bad news is that AF Corse are here too but the plucky Brits won't let that cow them, they bring a pair of Ferrari 430s to the fray, the first featuring Gentleman driver Pierre Ehret ably supported by regular wing man Pierre Kaffer and rapid young Brit Phil Quaife. This will be a new experience for Quaife and if he settles well (and he should!) a new era in his career beckons. The pair of Pierres meanwhile are no strangers to podium finishes in endurance racing. This one will be a tough one to pull that off for though. The team's lead car features the CRS 'A' Team of Andrew Kirkaldy and Tim Mullen, Nicola Larini apparently not required this weekend in their new look Ferrari. CRS leaving the ex Ferrari F1 talent for others. If the team were looking for a new challenge they've certainly found it - Win against this little lot and you've truly earned your endurance racing spurs. Last but very, very much not least is AF Core, Amato Ferrari's team bring a trio of 430 GT2s to the contest and all three will be tough to beat. Matias Russo and Luis Perez Companc are a far from ordinary pairing. In years gone by they'd have been a Le Mans Series top tip but in this company it's difficult to regard them as anything other than an outside bet. That's because the team's other two cars have driver squads from the very top drawer. The media attention pre-race is bound to focus on the #95 car - and why wouldn't it? Toni Vilander is the experienced endurance racing hand here, he's the man calling the shots with a glamour pair of team-mates, ex Ferrari F1 men both, Messrs Alesi and Fisichella will surely be quick, but have they yet learnt the black art of sportscar teamwork? With a Vilander/ ALesi/ Fisichella combo around it takes something pretty special to knock that off the pedastal as potential race winners. Their team-mates in the #96 AF Corse Ferrari though do just that. How so? Jaime Melo and Gianmaria Bruni are world class sportscar men, together they are an awesome proposition for the rest to face. If the question were to be asked "Why have Porsche fielded so many of the factory drivers?" The answer could well be this pair!
#75 Prospeed Competition - Porsche 997 GT3 RSR - Marco Holzer/ Richard Westbrook
#76 IMSA Performance Matmut - Porsche 997 GT3 RSR - Raymond Narac/ Patrick Pilet
#77 Team Felbermayr Proton - Porsche 997 GT3 RSR - Marc Lieb/ Richard Lietz
#78 BMW Team Schnitzer - BMW M3 - Jörg Müller/ Dirk Werner
#84 Modena Group Racing - Ferrari F430 GT - Roman Rusinov/ Stéphane Daoudi
#85 Spyker Squadron - Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2-R - Peter Dumbreck/ Tom Coronel/ Jeroen Bleekemolen
#88 Team Felbermayr Proton - Porsche 997 GT3 RSR - Martin Ragginger/ Christian Ried/ Patrick Long
#89 Hankook Team Farnbacher - Ferrari F430 GT - Dominik Farnbacher/ Allan Simonsen
#90 CRS Racing Ferrari F430 GT - Pierre Ehret/ Phil Quaife/ Pierre Kaffer
#91 CRS Racing Ferrari F430 GT - Andrew Kirkaldy/ Tim Mullen
#92 JMW Motorsport - Aston Martin V8 Vantage - Robert Bell/ Darren Turner
#94 AF Corse - Ferrari F430 GT - Luis Perez Companc/ Matias Russo
#95 AF Corse - Ferrari F430 GT - Giancarlo Fisichella/ Toni Vilander/ Jean Alesi
#96 AF Corse - Ferrari F430 GT - Gianmaria Bruni/ Jaime Melo | 
