Le Mans 24 Hours - Scrutineering 11

Judds And JMB

The Extreme Limite Norma Judd was the final car through scrutineering on Sunday evening, and it’s a car that many felt might not make it here after a huge shunt at Radillon during the 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps last month.  The Norma tub though held up very well indeed and the Norma factory also holds a spare tub too.

Fabien Rosier: ”Yes the car proved to be very strong and the team worked very hard to rebuild it in time for the Test Day.

“For the race we will be running a conservative pace, we cannot chase the Nissan powered cars but the Judd is very strong, and very reliable.

“Consistency will be the key for us, and no mistakes of course either.

Race Performance

Another Judd-powered LMP2 squad that hit trouble, in this case at the Test Day when Jonathan Hirschi (right) lost the car over the kerbs at the Dunlop Esses and suffered a mighty rear-end shunt. The car was out on the spot for the rest of the day

”The car is fine now,” said Hirschi, “but of course it was not what we wanted at the test so there is a lot to do from Wednesday when we get on track here.

“This is perhaps a more traditional LMP2 set-up  and whilst we won’t be the fastest we will have a plan that could keep us in touch over the race distance.

Why the Judd?  "Well, the engine is strong, and so is the Nissan, but for me, with so many teams running a Nissan engine their resources might be stretched, and there might be a difference in quality between their engines as they work to fulfil demand. I’m confident that we won’t have that from Judd."

JMB Racing 
   
At JMB Racing Alain Ferté  (left) is back for his 14th start at the Le Mans 24 Hours, and he’s a man that has seen a lot of changes since his first appearance here back in 1983, in a Rondeau.

“Of course the track has changed a lot, and not for the better I think!  I preferred the old Mulsanne Straight and loved the challenge of the older circuit.”

Ferté is here courtesy of regular driving partner Philippe Illiano, with whom he has been racing in VdeV and Fun Cup amongst others, and he’ll be looking for an improvement on his career best finish here, 4 years ago, again with JMB which was a 4th in class!