Le Mans Test Day – Preview  
LMP2

Another very varied grid of cars here in the (allegedly) junior LMP class.

The LMP2 field has traditionally provided some competitive racing in the early stages of the race, before reliability issues have struck; all too often resulting in a race of survival in the class (though there have been some standout exceptions).

The ALMS in the past two years has seen a step change in the quality of the cars and the competition on display and that influence is beginning to make itself felt in Europe too. Whether the new machinery is yet ready to make an impression over 24 Hours is a question we are about to find out the answer to.

Porsche
At last, the RS Spyder makes it to Le Mans. After two full seasons of handing out punishment to the Audi R10 in the ALMS, it finally comes out to play in the theatre for which the R10 was designed.

Sensible rumour has it that the pair of Porsches will emerge with a radically different look, to help close the straightline speed gap on the bigger cars; a particular issue, of course, at Le Mans.

If we do see a different shape of Spyder, that would seem to mark the race card with intent to shoot for the outright win, rather than the LMP2 class victory.  That’s unlikely to happen on pace, but the more intriguing question is to ask where the Porsches might lie in the chasing train of petrol-fuelled LMP1s.

But that potential run for overall glory could also spell problems for the Porsches in the race for the class win. This has proven to be a very quick car on track, but a rather slower one in the pits; not the easiest package to deal with problems on and thus not the ideal car for a 24 hour race.

The van Merksteijn squad are odds-on for pole position, courtesy of Jos Verstappen; while the ever rapid Jeroen Bleekemolen and the improving Peter van Merksteijn will provide the back-up.

Essex racing have also shown dazzling pace in the LMS and with Sascha Maassen looking set to join Nielsen and Elgaard in the Danish run car, the battle of the Spyders could be a close one. Add into the mix the tyre factor (Dutch car Michelin, Danish car Dunlop) and the possibility of a rather mixed bag on the weather front and it could be a real eye opener.

Lola
Four LMP2 Lolas will look to defend the title that has been taken by the Huntingdon cars for the last four years. The contenders to grab that five in a row are another varied bunch; with AER, Mazda, MG and Judd engines aboard the runners.

Double class winners RML return, with Thomas Erdos and Mike Newton joined once again by Andy Wallace. The always competitive, always quick, always polished squad have, though, had wretched luck this season and will be hoping they’ve got their bad days done and dusted before the serious action in France begins.  Make no mistake; this is a team that knows how to win. Expect a race plan that takes little or no account of the heroics elsewhere and, fortune permitting, a result that puts smiles back on faces at RML.

If RML are the old favourites, then surely the Speedy Garages/Sebah Racing Lola Coupe is the look of the future. The new Lola Coupe is certainly one of the best looking cars on the grid and, in LMP2 form with the new Judd V8 installed, this is a package that has rattled the Porsche RS Spyder’s cage. With a quick driver squad and wily old fox Hugh Hayden in charge, this is certainly likely to be amongst the fastest of the LMP2s. Whether the reliability niggles will emerge over the longer distance we will soon see. If it does take the win, the phone lines in Huntingdon will surely be red hot.

The Quifel ASM team have much the same equipment as in previous years; but Olivier Pla and Guy Smith replace the two quick Spaniards that are now aboard the Epsilon Euskadi. Pla and Smith should prove to be a combination quick enough to duke it out with the quicker non-Porsches; but this is yet another team that will need to balance speed with endurance. A win for this squad would not be a surprise; but an entirely trouble-free run would be!

The Kruse-Schiller Lola Mazda is an ex- Lowes Fernandez chassis with the AER built Mazda MZ-R engine installed. The 2008 race will therefore be the new engine’s 24 hour racing debut and the signs thus far are that it is a reliable little package. Could that be enough to provide a real shock result this year?  The odds say no; but then again LMP2 at Le Mans has seldom run with the form book.  

Zytek
Two cars from the ambitious British manufacturer; with, of course, the engines built in-house too. Zytek returns to Le Mans after taking victory last year (with their engine at least) in the rear of Bill Binnie’s Lola.

There are three Zytek engined cars on the grid this year. More on the Embassy Racing WF01 shortly, but first there are a couple of Zytek Zyteks to consider.

The Barazi Epsilon team is a well drilled and patently quick outfit that has somehow almost always conspired to under perform.  Whether that was because of involvement in someone else’s accident, or because they’d had one of their own, a pattern was emerging.

2008 though seems to have seen the team take a deep breath and ask themselves some tough questions. The car gets quicker by the race; the addition of Fernando Rees to the LMS squad (still unconfirmed for Le mans at the time of publishing) has added more depth of pace to the line-up; and the whole atmosphere at Barazi Epsilon seems to be more focussed on a team success than ever before.  This team will feature both in qualifying and in the race, and they could, just could, be the package that emerges from a combination of speed and reliability to take a very good result.

The similar car campaigned by Kariim Ojjeh’s Trading Performance squad will have to rely on reliability to take a meaningful result. These are no sluggards; but neither has the team’s pace turned heads in a car proven (in Team LNT’s hands) to be capable of great things.  Setting a realistic race pace and keeping to it and out of trouble, is this squad’s best bet for success.  

Embassy Racing
Jonathan France gets the solo entry he asked for in year-one of the WF01 programme and brings with him a strong driver line-up to try to bring the impressively engineered car home.  Warren Hughes, Jonny Kane and Joey Foster are as strong a line-up as exists anywhere on the grid; but the first 24 Hour race for the new Zytek-engine package will be a tough challenge to a programme that has been making great strides from a standing start.

The team would immediately recognise that a late start to the programme (completely outside their control) has cost them dear in the early LMS races this season; but this is one to watch for the future. But what about the present?

The car is getting quicker and getting more reliable race by race. It will need plenty of the latter, and not a little of the former, to bring home a result to Yorkshire.

Pescarolo
Faster than its LMP1 team-mate, the fine new spec Judd powers the new shape Pescarolo campaigned by Saulnier Racing.  Encouraging form thus far in LMS racing marks this package out as one to watch.  This won’t be the quickest LMP2, but it will be far from the slowest either; and with a Pescarolo chassis honed from years of Le Mans experience, and not a little success, this is far from a dark horse for overall class success.

If the Judd proves reliable over the full distance and the car stays out of trouble; and if the growing form of the LMS runs of late can be repeated; this could be a real contender.

Radical

The past few seasons have proved the pace of the little SR9, but this is a programme that is in danger of being left behind.  Reliability in the Le Mans Series for the Team Bruichladdich car has not been good and the driver line-up has been reliable rather than sparkling. At time of writing, the final Le Mans squad had not been announced; but looks unlikely to be competing on pace.  Let’s hope we’re wrong and that a reliable run can bring the SR9 to the finish.  If it does, then literally anything is possible; but it has to be said that the omens aren’t good at present.

Lucchini
The affable bunch of Italians in their old spec Judd V8 engined Racing Box Lucchini have had little to celebrate in the Le Mans Series thus far; finally declaring that the car’s suspension woes were beyond an immediate ‘fix’ - and it was something of a surprise to hear that they would, after all, compete in France.

This package has nothing like the speed required to be ultimately competitive and thus far the reliability of the oldest LMP package in the paddock has been more ‘bogey’ than ‘eagle’ too.  Any result for this car will be a major surprise.