Nürburgring Preview - LMP1

Another Peugeot Ad On Monday?

Its been a quarter of a year since the last round of the 2008 Le Mans Series but, this weekend, the Nürburgring gives us the opportunity to refresh our memories of what has been a fascinating, and dramatic, season so far.

In LMP1 it’s been a story of Peugeot domination and Audi consistency. On speed, as at Le Mans, the Peugeots have an edge; but that legendary Audi consistency means that in the points race it’s too close to call.

For Peugeot the #8 car stumbled at Spa when Alex Wurz tangled with Capello and Kelleners; no points there, so they trail in the Championship running. A Spa win, though, for the #7 car puts them at the top of the table – but they aren’t alone!

For Audi it’s been McNish that’s been ‘The Man’, but while the #1 car has been the faster R10 it’s also been the one that has hit trouble. That means the #2 squad of Alex Premat and Mike Rockenfeller leads them in the points standings and, indeed, are tied with the #7 Peugeot squad on points. Michel Barge’s squad will still be smarting from their Le Mans upset at the hands of Audi and they will surely come out fighting. Nothing less than a championship win will do now, and they’ll be looking to do it in decisive style. Will we have another Peugeot ad in the papers on Monday? Or will weather, luck and driver talent prevail for Audi?

Who next? Well the Charouz Lola Aston Martin is surely due a change of luck – after a fine display first time out, the team have had niggle after niggle with the big coupe. Le Mans saw the car run fast and reliably, with just a damaging off for Jan Charouz interrupting their run. While we don’t expect the #10 car to challenge the diesels directly, we would expect the reliability from LM to continue. There’s certainly reason to believe that the team are happy with progress thus far; very happy indeed, in fact!

The others battling for the best of the petrol-fuelled runners include four teams running a pair of P1s each.

Courage Oreca first and the race sees the welcome return of Stephane Ortelli to the cockpit after his enormous Monza accident. Ortelli is joined aboard the #6 car by regular driving partner Soheil Ayari and also by Loic Duval; the Oreca Le Mans and 2008 Super GT man (also managed by #6 Oreca man Olivier Panis) presumably providing extra mettle in a squad which features a pair of drivers who have had major accidents recently (Ayari’s aboard the SRT Corvette at Spa).

The Courages will, as usual, be battling hard against the factory Pescarolo pair; the #16 car usually the one with the pace, the #17 with reliability too. There’s plenty of racing in this group if you look beyond the diesels.

Then there’s a twin car effort again from the Creation AIM squad and whilst the #14 car is unlikely to feature at the head of the race when the chequered flag falls, it will be interesting to see how the team’s new signing, ex A1GP Team South Africa man Stephen Simpson, will match up to the #15 pair.

The #15 will see another happy return to the cockpit; Jamie Campbell Walter, another man crocked at Monza, being back alongside protégé Stuart Hall. If the car is reliable and as quick as it has been, its unlikely that there will be a happier team in the paddock.

Finally in the double team stakes comes the Epsilon Euskadi team. After its late, late entry for the #21 car for Le Mans, the team is due to complete the year with a pair of the very handsome ee1 coupes. Reliability has been coming along nicely, but perhaps the ‘Ring isn’t the circuit best suited to the slippery Spanish missile. #20 features the season long ex-ASM pairing of de Castro and Burgueno, while #21 has Shinji Nakano joined by Adrian Valles.

Rollcentre Racing is back for more, of course, in the #18 Pescarolo – Judd. Martin Short’s squad will again, no doubt, employ its now almost patented brand of steady progress up through the field. It seems wrong to describe a team employing the talents of Barbosa and Ickx as looking for a reliability run, but, aside from the undoubted pace and potential of the drivers, that is the usual script for the plucky Brit privateers.

Next up, the fourth Pescarolo - that of Saulnier Racing. Le Mans saw an upturn in form and a welcome awareness of the racing world around them; let’s hope this weekend sees more of the same and not a return to the Spa antics.

And then there’s the Lavaggi. Giovanni L and Wolfgang Kaufmann will be looking for a reliability run of an altogether different sort, the team desperately needing a finish. Have they managed a test since Spa? We hope so; we like the underdog and, as Spa showed, when the car runs well it is far from disgraced.