The Sportscar and Endurance Thread

[Rabbi Gordon]

Le Mans entry list is fully released with all drivers submitted and I can't comprehend why teams like this:
45 - Ibañez Racing - Oreca 03R-Nissan D - José Ibañez - Pierre Perret - Ivan Bellarosa
are given a place over established GT teams like Formula Racing or Gulf UK.

[mario]

Le Mans entry list is fully released with all drivers submitted and I can't comprehend why teams like this:
45 - Ibañez Racing - Oreca 03R-Nissan D - José Ibañez - Pierre Perret - Ivan Bellarosa
are given a place over established GT teams like Formula Racing or Gulf UK.

Cynically, I would suggest it is because the ACO is biased towards prototype racing (because that fits their PR message more neatly) and wants to pack the grid of Le Mans with a large number of prototype cars, even if it is a case of quantity over quality.

[pi314159]

Le Mans entry list is fully released with all drivers submitted and I can't comprehend why teams like this:
45 - Ibañez Racing - Oreca 03R-Nissan D - José Ibañez - Pierre Perret - Ivan Bellarosa
are given a place over established GT teams like Formula Racing or Gulf UK.

Ibanez Racing are running two cars in ELMS. That's probably why they got at least one car in. Also, Formula Racing or Gulf UK would run in GTE Am, which means they'd have to run at least one bronze and one silver or bronze driver. So I don't think that their driver lineups would be much, if any, better than Ibanez.

[Rabbi Gordon]

Le Mans entry list is fully released with all drivers submitted and I can't comprehend why teams like this:
45 - Ibañez Racing - Oreca 03R-Nissan D - José Ibañez - Pierre Perret - Ivan Bellarosa
are given a place over established GT teams like Formula Racing or Gulf UK.

Ibanez Racing are running two cars in ELMS. That's probably why they got at least one car in. Also, Formula Racing or Gulf UK would run in GTE Am, which means they'd have to run at least one bronze and one silver or bronze driver. So I don't think that their driver lineups would be much, if any, better than Ibanez.

I see, but the problem is they already do run this combination!
At the Gulf UK #86, winner of the 1st round this season, top runner for quite a while, they have a platinum driver (Carroll) paired with a bronze (Wainwright) and a silver (Keen). They also have 2 full-time ELMS entries, just like Ibanez.
Formula Racing is a competitive midfield team with one gold, silver and bronze each.

Ibanez on the other side, has two bronzes (Ibanez and Perret), who both are businessmen and Bellarosa who could not even finish a race in the top 10 in the Italian F3000. His WSbR 3.5 results speak for themselves too.

I don't mean to pick on Ibanez racing though, I am sure that they are hard-working enthusiastic guys who are delighted to start such a huge event. I could have said Pegasus Racing or the AAI Porsches as an example as well. (Although part of the point is too many LMP2s over GTs.)

[Nessafox]

Bellarossa has some experience racing factory Wolfs in Belgium. And crashing them.
But a while ago, it was difficult for the organisation to get half of the field filled with LMPS, so now they probably aren't too sure on running lot of GT's,now theres plenty of LMP2s. In the end, the LMPS is what gives Le Mans its identity, while GT's are more commonly spread in different types of races (notice the letters LM in LMP)

[mario]

Bellarossa has some experience racing factory Wolfs in Belgium. And crashing them.
But a while ago, it was difficult for the organisation to get half of the field filled with LMPS, so now they probably aren't too sure on running lot of GT's,now theres plenty of LMP2s. In the end, the LMPS is what gives Le Mans its identity, while GT's are more commonly spread in different types of races (notice the letters LM in LMP)

The growth of the LMP2 class is a little misleading - most of the growth of that class has been due to privateers moving downwards from the LMP1 class to the LMP2 class (in part due to pressure from the ACO to convert the LMP1 class into a "manufacturers only" class).

Proportionally, the prototype field is actually not that much larger than it was a decade ago (in 2005, as one example, the field had 26 LMP entrants in a 49 car field, or 53%, against currently 58% with 33 of 56 entrants being LMP entrants this year). It is up slightly, but it isn't disproportionally higher compared to previous years.

Furthermore, part of the growth of the LMP field is due to the ACO bribing the manufacturers by offering points for third cars - without third cars being eligible for points (or victories) in the past, there was no incentive to run extra cars for the works teams (remember when Audi used to run just two cars at Le Mans?). You have a greater number of cars, but not greater diversity in manufacturers given that several of those cars are simply third car entries for the works teams.

[Izzyeviel]

The upcoming Le Mans 24 - which reject drivers and teams should I be cheering for?

[DemocalypseNow]

The upcoming Le Mans 24 - which reject drivers and teams should I be cheering for?

Take your pick. There are about 10 legit rejects, a handful of lucky bastards and tons upon tons of drivers that almost but not quite made it to F1 (test/reserve drivers).

[Bobby Doorknobs]

The upcoming Le Mans 24 - which reject drivers and teams should I be cheering for?

As always, there are quite a few rejects on the Le Mans entry list:

Max "Talent Talent Talent" Chilton is of course going to be driving Nissan's exciting LMP1, so he will obviously be supported. Other rejects potentially fighting for the overall win are WEC champions Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi, as well as Kazuki Nakajima (if he can make it) in the #1 Toyota. Stéphane Sarrazin is one of the drivers in the #2 car as well. Audi have Formula E championship leader Lucas di Grassi in the #8 car, but in the #7 car they have the Lotterer Legend himself, already a three-time winner of this event with his two teammates Marcel Fassler and Benoit Tréluyer. Also, Colin Kolles has a team in the LMP1 category, so obviously you should support him, especially because Tiago Monteiro is driving the car. In LMP2 you have former Renault test driver and Chinese F1 Idol winner Ho-Pin Tung, as well as the one and only Karun Chandhok.

Moving to the GTE categories you will find even more reject names, such as HWNSNBM's former teammate Gianmaria Bruni in the #51 AF Corse car, which he is sharing with Giancarlo Fisichella, and former Larrousse driver Olivier Beretta in the #71 car. Jan Magnussen is driving the #63 Corvette. And that's just the Pro category. In the Am category you'll find Jeroen Bleekemolen, son of '70s reject Michael Bleekemolen. Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda (GP2 reject) are sharing an Aston Martin.

Of course, there are many more I've probably left out

[mario]

Simtek, it looks pretty much a given that Nakajima will not compete at Le Mans - Toyota have already called Kobayashi up to replace Nakajima, suggesting they do not expect him to recover in time.

[mario]

Well, we have now seen how the cars perform during the Le Mans test session, and Porsche has headed up the test with the top two fastest times (with Toyota a little way back and seemingly still struggling a bit).

As for Nissan, well, their car has finally hit the track, but the test session may have proven to be a particularly harsh awakening for them. Whilst they narrowly topped the speed trap, their best car was 30s off the best times recorded in that test and, in high speed corners such as the Porsche curves, was one of the slowest prototype cars to boot.

To be honest, I haven't seen a manufacturer entry make such a bad start in years - even the much maligned Aston Martin AMR-One was closer to the pace than Nissan are at the moment...

[AxelP800]

Well, we have now seen how the cars perform during the Le Mans test session, and Porsche has headed up the test with the top two fastest times (with Toyota a little way back and seemingly still struggling a bit).

As for Nissan, well, their car has finally hit the track, but the test session may have proven to be a particularly harsh awakening for them. Whilst they narrowly topped the speed trap, their best car was 30s off the best times recorded in that test and, in high speed corners such as the Porsche curves, was one of the slowest prototype cars to boot.

To be honest, I haven't seen a manufacturer entry make such a bad start in years - even the much maligned Aston Martin AMR-One was closer to the pace than Nissan are at the moment...

During the second session yesterday on wet I saw Ticknell timed a lap 15s slower by the fastest which was Porsche IIRC. I still have hopes for Nissan. Remember how Audi won in 2005 in a very restricted car?

[RealRacingRoots]

During the second session yesterday on wet I saw Ticknell timed a lap 15s slower by the fastest which was Porsche IIRC. I still have hopes for Nissan. Remember how Audi won in 2005 in a very restricted car?

The Audi R8 by the time 2005 came around was basicly untouchable. It had been developed so much and so well even after the factory team went and ran the rebadged R8Cs for a few years. It had the perfect balance of speed and reliability that was required. Nissan doesn't have any of these. This first year for Nissan is going to be akin to how Mazda did in TUSC last year.

And the less said about the AMR-One, the better.

[go_Rubens]

Credit to Nissan for trying something completely radical but they don't look anywhere near good enough. 2 of their cars were outpaced by GTs. Lackluster is an understatement. Hopefully they improve. Toyota doesn't look like they have a winning car either. I fell the race will be between Ingolstadt and Stuttgart. Stuttgart looks like the better opponent atm.

[mario]

Credit to Nissan for trying something completely radical but they don't look anywhere near good enough. 2 of their cars were outpaced by GTs. Lackluster is an understatement. Hopefully they improve. Toyota doesn't look like they have a winning car either. I fell the race will be between Ingolstadt and Stuttgart. Stuttgart looks like the better opponent atm.

The only thing that I could see that might vaguely keep Toyota in contention would be if they could run slightly longer on their tyre stints, and therefore spend less time in the pits than their rivals - and even that is a bit of a long shot.

[DanielPT]

Credit to Nissan for trying something completely radical but they don't look anywhere near good enough. 2 of their cars were outpaced by GTs. Lackluster is an understatement. Hopefully they improve. Toyota doesn't look like they have a winning car either. I fell the race will be between Ingolstadt and Stuttgart. Stuttgart looks like the better opponent atm.

The only thing that I could see that might vaguely keep Toyota in contention would be if they could run slightly longer on their tyre stints, and therefore spend less time in the pits than their rivals - and even that is a bit of a long shot.

I don't really follow all the rule changing and tweaking of ACO, so I will ask if anyone knows what is the reason for Toyota to be lapping some 4 seconds slower than their own lap time last year?

[mario]

Credit to Nissan for trying something completely radical but they don't look anywhere near good enough. 2 of their cars were outpaced by GTs. Lackluster is an understatement. Hopefully they improve. Toyota doesn't look like they have a winning car either. I fell the race will be between Ingolstadt and Stuttgart. Stuttgart looks like the better opponent atm.

The only thing that I could see that might vaguely keep Toyota in contention would be if they could run slightly longer on their tyre stints, and therefore spend less time in the pits than their rivals - and even that is a bit of a long shot.

I don't really follow all the rule changing and tweaking of ACO, so I will ask if anyone knows what is the reason for Toyota to be lapping some 4 seconds slower than their own lap time last year?

Well, one contributing factor would be the fact that Toyota was running a brazenly illegal rear wing at Le Mans last year, which was able to rotate around its axis and therefore shed drag down the straights. Although the ACO allowed them to get away with it last year, they then issued a "technical clarification" later that year which effectively banned Toyota's solution, but only after more than a third of the season was already over.

[pi314159]

Credit to Nissan for trying something completely radical but they don't look anywhere near good enough. 2 of their cars were outpaced by GTs. Lackluster is an understatement. Hopefully they improve. Toyota doesn't look like they have a winning car either. I fell the race will be between Ingolstadt and Stuttgart. Stuttgart looks like the better opponent atm.

The only thing that I could see that might vaguely keep Toyota in contention would be if they could run slightly longer on their tyre stints, and therefore spend less time in the pits than their rivals - and even that is a bit of a long shot.

I don't really follow all the rule changing and tweaking of ACO, so I will ask if anyone knows what is the reason for Toyota to be lapping some 4 seconds slower than their own lap time last year?

The track was reported to be very dirty and there were also only 2 hours of dry track during the test day. Audi's and Porsche's gains were big enough to still set fater times than last year, but Toyota, as seen at Silverstone and Spa, has made only smaller gains in performance.

[Wallio]

And the less said about the AMR-One, the better.

Was I the only one who actually liked that car, and thought that someone with bank (i.e. NOT Prodrive) could have developed it?

Well, one contributing factor would be the fact that Toyota was running a brazenly illegal rear wing at Le Mans last year, which was able to rotate around its axis and therefore shed drag down the straights. Although the ACO allowed them to get away with it last year, they then issued a "technical clarification" later that year which effectively banned Toyota's solution, but only after more than a third of the season was already over.

That's a bit harsh mate. It was a brilliant ploy by Toyota (just like their "gas tank trunk" in the GT-One) and was perfectly legal per the rules as written at the time, no matter how much the "experts" on Mulsanne Corner want to cry. Hence why it was allowed, and as you say, allowed for a while.

[mario]

And the less said about the AMR-One, the better.

Was I the only one who actually liked that car, and thought that someone with bank (i.e. NOT Prodrive) could have developed it?

Well, one contributing factor would be the fact that Toyota was running a brazenly illegal rear wing at Le Mans last year, which was able to rotate around its axis and therefore shed drag down the straights. Although the ACO allowed them to get away with it last year, they then issued a "technical clarification" later that year which effectively banned Toyota's solution, but only after more than a third of the season was already over.

That's a bit harsh mate. It was a brilliant ploy by Toyota (just like their "gas tank trunk" in the GT-One) and was perfectly legal per the rules as written at the time, no matter how much the "experts" on Mulsanne Corner want to cry. Hence why it was allowed, and as you say, allowed for a while.

Perhaps I am being a bit harsh, but it seems that part of the reason why Toyota got away with running the wing for a while was the fact that the ACO couldn't test the cars - they had to ask the teams to provide the equipment to test the cars in their low downforce configuration at Le Mans. http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news ... odynamics/

Personally, I feel that it was in breach of the regulations that ban moveable bodywork.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

Ford are about to announce their return to Le Mans in the GTE class: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/119404

[roblo97]

Le Mans 24 hours preview 2015

So, another year has rolled by and we arrive at the second weekend of June as quickly as it came around last year. So, without further ado, here are the teams and drivers competing in this years race and boy, it has all of the ingredients to be a classic.

LMP1

Toyota
It has been a disappointing start of the season for the defending champions because whilst they have made improvements to the car, Audi and Porsche have made bigger gains during the off season. The TSO40 is the most powerful car with it's 4 litre, NA V8 backed by a supercapacitor to produce 1000hp so passing traffic should be a piece of cake. The #1 car is driven by reigning WEC champions Anthony Davidson and Sebastian Buemi and they are joined for this season by the thankfully healed Kazuki Nakajima. Let's not forget, just a few weeks ago there were doubts over the participation of the Japanese driver after he fractured a couple of vertebra in his back in a practice crash at Spa. The other car, the #2, is piloted by Alex Wurz, Stephan Sarrazin and Mike Conway and there is no real weak link between these three.

Audi
IT has been a supreme start to the season for Audi with 2 wins out of 2 in a substantially redesigned car. Audi have kept the V6 turbo diesel engine for this season but they have also added more hybrid power to it taking it from the 2MJ class to the 4MJ class and they have done this by keeping the kinetic energy recovery system and all of this combined means that the car is putting out a total of 817hp. The #7 is probably the pre race favourite and the defending champions in Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Bentoit Treluyer who could make history if they win because that will be their 4th win together. They are currently tied on 3 with Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien, Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell and the combination of Tom Kristensen, Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro. The other full season entry in the WEC, the #8 car is driven by Oliver Jarvis, Lucas Di Grassi and Loic Duval who had a massive accident in practice last year. The third car Audi run is driven by Filipe Albuquerque, who also races in the ELMS for Jota, Marco Bonanomi, who is one of the teams testdrivers if I remember correctly and finally Rene Rast who has been cherry picked from Audi's GT program. The R18 E-tron Quattro's have been very reliable so far this season and to me, they are looking like the favourites.

Porsche
Porsche have the speed, there is no denying this but the question will more reliability based. In the damp conditions of test day, Brendon Hartley set a lap time which was faster than the pole time set in the dry last year. Also it should be noted that Porsche are the only manufacture running in the 8MJ hybrid sub class. The 919 Hybrid has a 2 litre V4 turbo engine combined with a kinetic energy recovery system and also another energy recovery system which harvests thermal energy taken from exhaust gasses. Like Audi and Nissan, they are running a third car specifically for Spa and Le Mans. The first of the 2 full season WEC entry's is the #17 car driven by Timo Bernhard, Mark Webber and the fast Kiwi, Brendon Hartley. The other full season car is being driven by Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Leib and it was this combination who won at Interlagos in the WEC season finale last season. The #19 car which is entered only for Le Mans and Spa has by far the most interesting line up. The first driver is Nick Tandy who is from Porsche's GT program and is fast in anything, the second driver is Kiwi Earl Bamber in his first year as a factory Porsche GT driver and he had to beat the likes of Frederic Makowiecki and Mako is one of the fastest GT racers in the world. The final driver in this trio is Force India F1 driver, Nico Hulkenberg who becomes the first driver to do Le Mans as well as an F1 campaign since Sebastian Bourdais in 2009. they could well be ones to watch. The Porsche will be most likely to take pole position if form is anything to go by but the leading Porsche has always ended up with some kind of mechanical gremlins so far this season and as a result of this, not been able to convert that into a solid result.

Nissan
Nissan are new to Le Mans this year and they are arriving with an innovative car for a number of reasons. Firstly because it is front engined and to the best of by knowledge, only Panoz have tried that since the turn of the century. Secondly, it is also going to be front wheel drive whereas the Panoz was rear wheel drive. To be fair to the GT-R LM Nismo, it is one of the most talked about race cars I can recall and it also has some very interesting aerodynamics going on in that air is channelled from the front splitter through a pair of tunnels, one on ether side of the car. These exit at the back of the car above the rear diffuser and this means that Nissan can use a smaller rear wing to reduce drag. This has worked because they topped the speed trap despite the 3 litre twin turbocharged V6 petrol engine and 2MJ of hybrid power from a flywheel based system mean that the car is only producing 700hp this season, all through the front wheels, however, the hybrid power will be channelled through the rear wheels from next year onwards. As for the driver line ups, the Le Mans only car, #21, is running a tribute livery paying homage to the 1990 pole sitting R90CK and executed very well by Andy Blackmore. The line up also features 2 GT Academy winners in Lucas Ordonez and the damn quick young Russian, Mark Shulzhitsky who really impressed on his début last year. The other driver is the reigning Super GT champion Tsugio Matsuda. The full season cars are the #22 driven by Harry Tincknell, who is also doing ELMS for Jota this season, Michael Krumm and Alex Buncombe who are both really versatile drivers. The #23 car is being driven my Olivier Pla, Jann Mardenborough and Max, Talent, Chilton who is fresh from a stint in F1 driving for Marussia. I think the main goal for Nissan at Le Mans this year will be to have quiet race and to get more mileage onto the cars so don't expect them to be fighting for the overall win.

Rebellion
The plucky Swiss team whose mixture of consistency and reliability has seen them finish as high as 4th over the years is coming into the season after a difficult start. This is due to the fact that they are getting rid of their old Toyota V8's and are replacing them with some brand new turbocharged AER units instead. This has meant that they have had to re-design the car a bit in order to fit it all in their and this also involved removing the old engine air intake, not an easy task when you consider that is was bonded on to the top of the cars Oreca built tub. Not to mention the new cooling and aero required as a side effect of the engine change. They have also had very little running but they can still have a good race in the top 10 somewhere, possibly with the new Nissan. The #12 car has the cracking line up of Nicolas Post, son of 4 time F1 world champion Alan, Nick Heidfeld and also Mathias Beche with Alexandre Imperatori, Dominik Kraihamer and Daniel Abt making his Le Mans début in the #13.

ByKollies
Ah yes, the team running the CLMP1/01 with the turbocharged AER engine has its basis in a chassis we have seen before as a Lotus last year. They have had some issues this year with reliability issues and the fact that looked evil in the fast corners of Silverstone in the sense the back end kept on wanting to step out in the fast corners such as Abbey. Not to mention some of their issues in the past such as the pit lane fire in the pit lane at Fuji last year and also the incident involving the local bailiffs when the car was known as the Lotus T128 and built by a German company called Adess. They have made a number of improvements to the car such as new bodywork and a better gearbox but for me, I think some of the people on the reserve list could do a better job than what Colin Kollies has done I’m afraid to say. The fact that it was buried among the LMP2 cars at Silverstone and that at Spa, it out qualified the LMP2 pole sitter for only the second time in the cars history says a lot. The driving lineup is is very good with highly experienced and damn quick Pierre Kaffer leading the team alongside Honda WTCC racer Thiago Monteiro making his 5th Le Mans appearance and former GP2 racer Simon Trummer competing for the first time at Le Mans even though he is the teams only driver who drove at both Silverstone and Spa.

LMP2

G-Drive Racing (Oak)
Romain Rusinov's Gazprom backers are back for this year with 2 very nice looking Ligier-Nissan's, a wonderful paint job and some damn fine drivers to boot. The #26 cars is being led this season by Sam Bird who is quick in anything and alongside him is Rusinov and the silver rated Frenchman, Julian Canal. In the sister car, the #28, is Pipo Derani who has a massive future ahead of him in sportscar racing, Ricardo Gonzalez and Gustavo Yacaman. The #26 is probably going to be the favourite among the 2 cars due to it's stronger driver line-up but the #28 is still going to be a contender for a podium.

SMP Racing
The Russian team have arrived with a pair of brand new and very pretty new BRE-Nissan BR01's which have completed 7000km in testing but they were a bit on the unspectacular side at Imola in the previous round of the ELMS. The #27 is headlined by the experienced Frenchman Nicolas Minassian and he is alongside Maurizio Medani and David Markozov with the #37 containing the Ladygin brothers, Krill and Anton and former Indycar racer and 2010 World Series by Renault champion Mikhil Aleshin. Unfortunately, it seams like Le Mans may have come round a bit to quickly for the teams liking.

Pegasus Racing
Well, the highlight here is that Chinese F1 Idol, Ho Pin Tung is the lead driver of their Morgan-Nissan and he did a good job of Oak Racing last year and alongside him in the #29 is Leo Rousel and David Cheng but the teams form in ELMS so far this season suggest that they won't be troubling the front runners in the class.

Extreme Speed Motorsport
ESM have had a difficult start to their first ever season in the WEC which started with the HPD ARX-04B coupé’s which have only raced at Daytona before being canned and replaced with it's predecessor, the open top 03B's. Now they have had their new Ligier's since Spa and they look awesome in the tequila patron livery which has to be shelved for Le Mans due to restrictions on alcohol advertising. In the first of the Ligier-Honda's is the #30 of Scott Sharp who last raced at Le Mans some 19 years ago, Ryan Dalziel, who is in the form of his life right now and the man behind the ruby on rails software, David Heinemeier-Hansson who for my money is one of the fastest silver drivers availible and also the reigning GTE Am class champion at both Le Mans and in the WEC in the Dane Train, more on that later. The second car, #31, is being piloted by Ed Brown, Jon Fogarty and Johannes Van Overbeek. The #30 is the teams best shot for a podium but the difficult start they have had at the start of the season will be a disadvantage for them.

Oak Racing
Oak racing are bringing 2 Ligiers down to Le Mans. One is for the full season entry in the #35 and the other is the guest entry in the #34. In the #35 is the all bronze line up of Erik Maris, Jean-Marc Merlin and Jacques Nicolet, the man behind Oak racing and he can do no wrong as far as I am concerned because during the asset sale of Pescarolo sport, Nicolet and Joel Riviere of Prestige Racing teamed up to buy the lots and then presented them back to Henri so he could revive his team. The #34 has some very special talent in it. The ameture drive Chris Cumming is no slouch but the real attraction in the Honda powered car is Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor, 2 of the fastest and finest GT racers in the world. Vanthoor won the Nurburgring 24 hours earlier this year and Estre is just plain fast as his former lap record at Bathurst and his Nurburgring 24 hours qualifying record prove. The #4 is definitely a podium contender.

Signatech Alpine
The 2 time ELMS champions are still campaigning the old open top Oreca 03.R with it's Alpine badging that came third last year and a podium is definitely possible again this year. In the #36 car is Nelson Panciatici who is a supremely quick driver and alongside him is Paul-Loup Chatin who was with Panciatici last year when they got the podium and Vincent Capilliare who is also very quick.

Jota Sport
The ELMS frontrunners and last years winners are back with an updated Gibson-Nissan and 2 of the drivers from last year. Simon Dolan is a brilliantly quick silver driver and Oliver Turvey was mesmerising last year as Jota took that comeback win last year. The new face in the #38 is Mitch Evans who was in the car at Spa when they won and was absolutely excellent and the team will be definitely looking to defend their crown this year.

Krohn Racing
Tracy Khron and Nic Jonsson are on the verge of making a little bit of history this weekend because this will be their 10th Le Mans 24 hours together and they are taking the record from Allan McNish and Dindo Capello. The team have also added the experienced Joao Barbosa to the lineup of the #40 in the Judd engined Ligier. However the teams chances will all depend on whether Krohn is having a good day.

Greaves Motorsport
Greaves motorsport were the favourites for my money until a few days ago but more on that later. The Gibson-Nissan package is as good as ever and they have a strong line up in former Jaguar F1 tester, Bjorn Wirdheim, Jon Lancaster and Gary Hirsch who is one of, if not the fastest Silver driver on the grid and has been outpacing some of the pros in ELMS so far. However, the recently dropped the platinum rated Wirdheim and replaced him with the bronze rated Gaetan Paletou in the #41. Don't get me wrong, Gaetan is a damn good driver considering 10 months ago, he was taking part in GT Academy and this happened because Nissan paid Greaves a fair bit of cash. They were the favourites until that moment and they can still get a podium easily if Lancaster turns the aggression down a notch or 2.

Strakka Racing
Strakka should have been here this time last year but back then, the Dome S103 was a bit on the uncompetitive side so they waited to make sure that the car would be quick, and it is. It is a very aesthetically pleasing car to look at and they have a damn fine line up in the #42 of Jonny Kane, Danny Watts and Nick Leventis. They should be in the mix for a podium easily and a switch to Dunlop tyres could unlock more performance from the car.

Team Sard Morand
The team are lucky to be where they are right now having had a very close call with financial disaster and having to scale back to a single car, #43. However, there is plenty of talent in the line-up. Firstly, there is Oliver Webb who got a podium last year in the Signatech Alpine, the fast Frenchman, Pierre Ragues and the silver rated Swiss driver Zoel Amberg. The Judd engine is strong and so is the driver line-up which looks like it matches the ambition of the team.

Ibanez Racing
Well, the team won't be fighting for a podium by the looks of things, the line up for the #45 is Jose Ibanez, Pierre Perret and factory Wolf driver, Ivan Bellarosa who is a quick driver and Ibanez is also capable of some good displays but I don't expect much for the team other than a mid table finish.

Thiriet by TDS Racing
The Thiriet by TDS racing team were robbed of a win at Silverstone in the opening round of the ELMS but they did claim the maiden win for the new Rebellion R-One based Oreca 05 at the following round at Imola. The team got a podium here last year and with the line-up of Tristan Gormendy, Ludovic Badey and Pierre Thiriet behind the wheel of the #46, they are real contenders for a podium and the car appears to be rather quick indeed in both ELMS and WEC.

KCMG
The Hong Kong based team are back again but this time with a new Oreca 05. they had some of the new car issues and niggles which are to be expected from a brand new car but they hit back hard at Spa where they claimed a 4th place finish. The driving line-up in the electric blue foiled #47 has regular drivers Matt Howson and Richard Bradley and replacing Porsche LMP1 driver Nick Tandy is Nicolas Lapierre, the Toyota development driver. It is a very strong line-up and will certainly be contenders for a podium.

Murphy Prototypes
The team whose #48 Oreca 03.R topped the times on test day looks like they are going to be there or there abouts again this year and they also have a very good line-up in the car of Karun Chandhok, Mark Patterson and Nathaniel Berthon in the car. Berthon is a damn quick driver and will be one to watch in years to come and Chandhok, who set the fastest lap time on test day is a great team player. If they have enough luck this year, they stand a very good chance of ending up on the podium.

GTE Pro

AF Corse
Amato Ferrari's team are back with factory blessing this year to try and defend there GTE Pro class win with the drivers of the #51 Toni Villander, former Minardi F1 driver, Gianmaria Bruni and Giancarlo Fisichella who really needs no introduction. The other car is the #71 of James Calado, who was forced to miss last years race after a very bad accident in the build up to the race, Davide Rigon and Olivier Beretta. Both cars will be ones to watch as they make their cases for a class podium.

Corvette Racing
Corvette are back again with a pair of C7.R's and possibly with a little bit of history in the making if all goes to plan because to the best of my knowledge, nobody has won the triple crown of the Daytona 24 hours, Sebring 12 hours and Le Mans in the same year beit outright or in class. The #63 car of Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia and Ryan Briscoe appear to be on the verge of making a little bit of history as they try to get corvette a first class win for a few years now although they had the pace to win last year. The #64 car also has a very strong driving line-up of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Jordan Taylor and neither of them are considered to be slow.

Porsche Team Manthey
The form going into Le Mans suggests that Porsche have the pace to be a real factor for the win with there updated 911 RSR. The driving line-up is typically classy with the #41 containing a blend of youth in the impressive Dane, Michael Christensen and experience in the form of veterans Jorg Bergmeister and Richard Leitz. The #92 car seems to have the slightly better line-up on paper in Patrick Pilet, Wolf Henzler and Fred Makowiecki who is one of the fastest GT racers in the world and the LMP1 reserve driver. They stand a very real chance at the great race this year.

Aston Martin Racing
The Vantage GTE's are back with the inclusion of the Dane Train in the pro line-up this year as the fan favorite #95 still has Nicki Thiim in the car but this time with GP2 racer Marco Sorensen and Christoffer Nygaard joining him this year. Then we get to the “Art Car” which is the #97 which is wearing an interesting livery to say the least. The driving line-up is very strong with 2 of the finest GT racers in Darren Turner and Stefan Mucke being joined by McLaren factory driver Rob Bell. Then we get to the #99 car which has Fernando Rees who had a huge accident last year, Alex MacDowall who also didn't race last year as a result of how badly damaged the car was and Richie Stanaway and the young Kiwi is fresh from winning a GP2 at Monaco and is one to watch for the future. The team are looking very strong and I think could be ones to watch.

GTE Am

Larbre Competition
Larbre are back with a thundering corvette for this year and they have some rather handy drivers this year in the #50 with Kristian Poulson who won in the Dane Train last year, the highly experienced Gianluca Roda and the wonderfully fast Paolo Ruberti who is definitely capable of putting the Corvette in among the GTE Pro class cars. They are genuine contenders for a class win and they have a quality operation to boot.

Riley Motorsports
Bill Riley's eponymous team which ran the factory SRT campaign at Le Mans a couple of years ago and oversaw the TUSCC GTLM class title last year and they certainly know how to run a very efficient team. They are running an ex-factory Viper with one of the good guys in motorsport, Marc Miller making his Le Mans début, Ben Keating, who is a very knowledgeable person when it comes to Vipers and finally the hugely versatile Dutchman, Jeroen Bleekmolen who is hugely experienced and possibly the only driver this year who has raced in all 4 classes, LMP1, LMP2, GTE Pro and now GTE Am. All of these factors make #53 Viper one to really keep an eye on.

AF Corse
Amato Ferrari's team are campaigning 3 privateer cars this year as well as helping SMP Racing run theirs. The first car here is the #55 featuring the Irishman Matt Griffin who is as fast as any of the pros in this class, Alex Mortimer and Duncan Cameron are no slouches as well. The #61 is driven by the massively experienced Matteo Cressoni, Peter Mann and Raffaele Giammaria who realistically will be looking for a good finish. The final car is the full time WEC entry, the #83 which is driven my Emmanuel Collard who is still as pumped up as ever, Francois Perrodo and the blazingly fast Rui Aguas and if Perrodo is on form, the #83 will definitely be contenders for a class podium.

Scuderia Corse
The team from the West Coast of America arrives thanks to a discretionary entry thanks to TUSCC. The #62 car is owned by Bill Sweedler and he will be joined by Jeff Segal and NBCSN Indy Car commentator Townsend Bell. They are capable of the kind of run which will bring the car home in one piece and they could still get a podium but they would be realistically be needing a high attrition rate for that to become a reality.

JMW Motorsport
JMW Motorsport are arriving as the only team in the class to be running the Dunlop tyres and they are also running a completely different driver line-up compared to what they normally run in the ELMS. In the #66, there is Kuba Giermaziak who will be making his début and will also be the first Pole to compete at Le Mans since WW2. Alongside him is the Saudi Prince, Abdulaziz Al Faisal who is a great driver and Michael Avenatti who himself is no slouch. However the Dunlop tyres might hinder the team rather than help them.

Team AAI
The team from Taiwan are hear courtesy of a 1-2 in the Asian Le Mans Series but the GT class in that series uses GT3 cars so they got some help from the ProSpeed team from Belgium so they are running one 991 911 RSR and an older 997 GT3-RSR. The #67 car will be using the older of the 2 cars and that is being driven by the rapid Xavier Massen, the popular Brit Alex Kapadier and Jun San Chen whilst the #68 is being driven by Mike Parisy, Gilles Vannelet and Han Chen Chen. They are an inexperienced team so a good, solid run will be the aim.

SMP Racing
The Russian team whose Ferrari is being run by AF Corse has one of the strongest driver line-ups in the class with Andrea Bertolini who is now firmly a Ferrari driver after his Maserati GT1 exploits alongside Victor Shaitar and Aleksey Basov and if all goes to plan, these guys will be in with a shout of a podium come Sunday afternoon thanks to the fast and experienced driver line-up in the #72 car.

Proton Racing Dempsey/Abu Dhabi
The 2010 class winners are back with a brace of 911 RSR's with the #77 car run under the name of former Gray's Anatomy star, Patrick Dempsey who was very popular during scrutineering. He is quick and knows this circuit better than any of the others on the WEC calendar and he is partnered with Patrick Long who is damn quick and very experienced. The other driver in the #77 car is Marco Seefried who also knows how to get one of these Porsche's around a track rather quickly indeed. The other car is run under the banner of Proton Racing Abu Dhabi and they could be a dark horse for the podium with the driving talents of Klaus Bachler, Christian Reid and Kahled Al Quabisi doing the driving in the #88.

Aston Martin Racing
Aston Martin are back to defend their crown which was won by the Dane Train last year but with that having moved to an all pro driver line-up. The #96 car is piloted by Stuart Hall, Francesco Castellacci and Roald Gothe who is a big fan and likes to campaign the cars that one day will end up in his collection of Gulf liveried cars. Then there is the #99 and that is considered to be the favourite for me thanks to the talents of Pedro Lamy who is still one of the fastest Pros in GT racing and would still be great in an all pro line-up, Mathias Lauda, who is rated as a silver driver and has been getting used to the car very well over the course of the season so far and finally there is the Canadian Paul Dalla Lana who has made great improvements in terms of his consistency over the last year. These guys in the #99 will be ones to keep an eye on.

All things considered, this years race looks set to go down as one of the classics.

[Miguel98]

Great preview Rob, had fun reading it.

[dinizintheoven]

Nissan are new to Le Mans this year and they are arriving with an innovative car for a number of reasons. Firstly because it is front engined and to the best of by knowledge, only Panoz have tried that since the turn of the century. Secondly, it is also going to be front wheel drive whereas the Panoz was rear wheel drive. To be fair to the GT-R LM Nismo, it is one of the most talked about race cars I can recall and it also has some very interesting aerodynamics going on in that air is channelled from the front splitter through a pair of tunnels, one on ether side of the car. These exit at the back of the car above the rear diffuser and this means that Nissan can use a smaller rear wing to reduce drag. This has worked because they topped the speed trap despite the 3 litre twin turbocharged V6 petrol engine and 2MJ of hybrid power from a flywheel based system mean that the car is only producing 700hp this season, all through the front wheels, however, the hybrid power will be channelled through the rear wheels from next year onwards. ...

This bit of information passed me by so far this year. 700 horses through the front wheels? Are they mad? Does it go round corners, ever?

[go_Rubens]

Provisional pole so far has been set by Neel Jani with a lap time of 3:16.887. Only his Porsche teammates came close. The best of the Audis and Toyotas could only muster 3 seconds behind that at best and the best Nissan was 19 seconds off, with the other 2 even slower. Jani even said it wasn't a perfect lap. So, as long as Porsche are reliable, they have it in the bag.

[mario]

Nissan are new to Le Mans this year and they are arriving with an innovative car for a number of reasons. Firstly because it is front engined and to the best of by knowledge, only Panoz have tried that since the turn of the century. Secondly, it is also going to be front wheel drive whereas the Panoz was rear wheel drive. To be fair to the GT-R LM Nismo, it is one of the most talked about race cars I can recall and it also has some very interesting aerodynamics going on in that air is channelled from the front splitter through a pair of tunnels, one on ether side of the car. These exit at the back of the car above the rear diffuser and this means that Nissan can use a smaller rear wing to reduce drag. This has worked because they topped the speed trap despite the 3 litre twin turbocharged V6 petrol engine and 2MJ of hybrid power from a flywheel based system mean that the car is only producing 700hp this season, all through the front wheels, however, the hybrid power will be channelled through the rear wheels from next year onwards. ...

This bit of information passed me by so far this year. 700 horses through the front wheels? Are they mad? Does it go round corners, ever?

Their best car was 22 seconds off the time of the pole sitter in qualifying, which sort of answers your question - it's also worth noting that Nissan are no longer the fastest LMP1 car in the speed traps either, as Porsche and Toyota were ahead of them in the qualifying session.

Provisional pole so far has been set by Neel Jani with a lap time of 3:16.887. Only his Porsche teammates came close. The best of the Audis and Toyotas could only muster 3 seconds behind that at best and the best Nissan was 19 seconds off, with the other 2 even slower. Jani even said it wasn't a perfect lap. So, as long as Porsche are reliable, they have it in the bag.

We saw in Spa that, although Porsche had the outright fastest car over a single lap, they couldn't match Audi for tyre management and ended up being slower than Audi when they tried to triple stint their tyres. We could see a similar situation here - Porsche may be faster at the start, but Audi will probably be aiming to use their better tyre management to match Porsche over an extended stint.

[Rabbi Gordon]

Happy to see KCMG be amonsgst the fastest of the LMP2 class, great that they could up their already decent performance this year.
It all seems neat for them, their drivers are fast, car is more than up to the task and looks stunning. I will certainly keep a good eye on them.

The Kolles machine found much needed speed and outran the slower Rebellion as well as each Nissan!
Ibanez didn't seem to be totally out of their league and kept up with most of their class in previous practices and qualis, even though they set no time this time round.
The #35 OAK however... but who can say anything bad about Nicolet.

[MorbidelliObese]

The #35 OAK however... but who can say anything bad about Nicolet.

At the risk of sounding metrosexual or something, I am glad to have the black and pink works OAK cars back, especially with French alcohol laws ruining what would have otherwise been the best looking cars IMO, the ESM Tequila Patron cars. And at least the Honda-powered one has a very good driver line up and should be a contender.

[FMecha]

Nissan's woes continues... and AF Corse is also sort of suffering.

[Miguel98]

Nissan's woes continues... and AF Corse is also sort of suffering.

The ByKolles also has the same penalty as Nissan, and starts 29th.

[roblo97]

Happy to see KCMG be amonsgst the fastest of the LMP2 class, great that they could up their already decent performance this year.
It all seems neat for them, their drivers are fast, car is more than up to the task and looks stunning. I will certainly keep a good eye on them.

Not to mention that their pole setting driver, Matt Howson, is actually the teams silver driver!

[FMecha]

Nissan automatic ROTR for this year, or who else will take that mantle?

[dr-baker]

I notice in the Autosport hourly updates of the race that there is "Mann" in the number 61 Ferrari alongside Gianmaria and Cressoni. Is this Pippa Mann by any chance?

[Bobby Doorknobs]

I notice in the Autosport hourly updates of the race that there is "Mann" in the number 61 Ferrari alongside Gianmaria and Cressoni. Is this Pippa Mann by any chance?

No, it's American driver Peter Ashley Mann.

[FMecha]

After 100+ laps of Porsche steamroller, Audi takes back the lead. Another Audi win confirmed?

(Even if Porsche won, it will still count as a sister company victory like 2003)

[DemocalypseNow]

700 horses through the front wheels? Are they mad? Does it go round corners, ever?

After 9 hours, the clear answer to this question is a resounding 'No'

[Dom_Wings]

I am unhappy Nissan did not pick Chanoch Nissany for a race seat.
He would be at least faster than the GTE Am's

E: Poor Nissan, yet again... now the #21 has lost a tyre.

[go_Rubens]

Have to say Hülkenberg was top class in his first driving stint. Perhaps his future is as a Porsche driver after all? At least it's a top team to drive for!

[DemocalypseNow]

E: Poor Nissan, yet again... now the #21 has lost a tyre.

And Matsuda lost his head along with the tyre. The marshal waving frantically at him not to move, he floors it, crawls 20 feet down the road. End result, the Komatsu needs another 5 minutes to pick it up and put it on the flatbed!

So that's one of the GT-R LMs retired. The other two have been in the garage for over two hours now. Looking very bleak for Nissan. Not only are they devoid of pace, they aren't even getting any crucial running time either.

[go_Rubens]

Never thought Porsche's third car would be dominating the race since Hour 8. The #7 Audi just got delayed by 2 laps thanks to bodywork shredding itself from the back of the car, so the #19 Porsche now has a lap lead ahead of the #9 Audi and the #17 Porsche. The #7 Audi did make up time, but nowhere near enough to contest Bamber and Hülkenberg when he began his first stint. Barring rain or technical problems, Hülkenberg looks like he could be winning something for once.