Le Mans Series: Official Discussion Thread

[Mothers Worry]

ORECA to run customer Peugeot 

From autosport.com:

ORECA to run customer Peugeot 

Thursday, December 17th 2009, 14:36 GMT

ORECA will run a 2010-spec customer Peugeot 908 in the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Le Mans Series next season.

The French manufacturer has selected Hugues de Chaunac's team, which already runs a pair of Courage-ORECAs in the LMS and at Le Mans, for its second customer outing - following the Pescarolo team's entry of a single 908 at Le Mans this year.

"ORECA and Hugues have a proven winning record in several motorsport disciplines over the years," said Peugeot Sport director Olivier Quesnel. "We have consequently chosen this team which we believe is the best qualified to defend Peugeot's colours.

"Team ORECA Matmut will run a 908 HDi FAP in the 2010 Le Mans Series, as well as the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours, where its support will be invaluable.

"I am convinced that our collaboration will be a fruitful one, and that there is every chance it can be extended in the future with the supply of Peugeot engines in 2011."

[Mothers Worry]

Fisichella signs up for Le Mans Series 

From autosport.com:

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Fisichella signs up for Le Mans Series 

Monday, February 1st 2010, 16:49 GMT

Giancarlo Fisichella will contest the full Le Mans Series season in 2010.

The 37-year-old Italian, who is a test and reserve driver at Ferrari, had been hoping to secure a race deal elsewhere in Formula 1, but will instead race in sportscars for the first time.

The Le Mans Series today announced that Fisichella will race the full season, but no details have been released about what class, car or team he will drive in.

Both Ferrari and Maserati, which is also part of the FIAT brand, have sportscar programmes running GT2 and GT1 cars respectively.

Sort of looks like quits of F1 for the old Fisi............

[Mothers Worry]

Entry list unveiled for Le Mans 

From autosport.com:

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Entry list unveiled for Le Mans 

Thursday, February 4th 2010, 12:33 GMT

The entry list for this year's Le Mans 24 Hours has been revealed, with LMP1 cars filling 21 of the 55 places.

Last year's winner Peugeot returns with three cars as expected, as does Audi, which has confirmed its line-ups for each car. Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Dindo Capello will remain together, with Mike Rockenfeller, Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas in a second car and Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer in the third.

Each team has only had to register one driver per car at this stage, so the only confirmed Peugeot drivers are Alexander Wurz, Nicolas Minassian and Sebastien Bourdais.

The factory Aston Martin team will return with two cars, with Darren Turner and Harold Primat listed to drive. The Dome team will also return to Le Mans after its absence last year. Sebastien Philippe is the only driver listed so far.

The rest of the LMP1 class is as expected, with ORECA running one of its own cars as well as a customer Peugeot 908. Signaure-Plus will enter a customer Aston Martin, Kolles will again field two Audi R10s, Pescarolo will run one car, with Sora Racing bringing a second. Lola will be represented by Drayson Racing, Rebellion Racing with two cars and American team Autocon. Nigel Mansell's entry has also been confirmed, alongside his sons Leo and Greg, in a Ginetta-Zytek.

Highcroft Racing will enter its Acura in the LMP2 class, with last year's winner David Brabham registered to drive. Strakka Racing will bring a second Acura, while Pescarolo will be represented by Oak Racing with two cars. Lolas will come from RML and Racing Box, and Ginetta-Zyteks from Quifel-ASM and Bruichladdich. Gerard Welter/Salini completes the class entry with its WR-Zytek.

Eight cars are entered for the GT1 class, but only three from the new-for-2010 GT1 World Championship and there are no Maseratis, despite the MC12 being declared eligible for Le Mans.

There will be three Corvettes, two from Alphand and one from Peka Racing, two Ford GTs from Match Competition and Marc VDS, plus the Larbre Competition Saleen, Young Driver AMR Aston Martin and JLOC Lamborghini.

BMW and Jaguar will join the GT2 class this year, with two works cars from the German manufacturer - with Andy Priaulx and Jorg Muller signed up to drive - and an RSR-run Jaguar XKR. The factory Corvette team will enter GT2 for the first time, with two cars. There are six Ferraris; two from Risi Competizione and one each from Modena, Farnbacher, AF Corse and BMS Scuderia. One Porsche each for Prospeed, IMSA and Flying Lizards, plus the Dutch Spyker.

Scrutineering will take place on Sunday and Monday June 6-7, with first practice on Wednesday June 9 from 1600-1800.

2010 Le Mans 24 Hours entries
#   Team               Car                      Drivers
LMP1

 #1 Peugeot            Peugeot 908 HDi          Wurz, TBA, TBA
 #2 Peugeot            Peugeot 908 HDi          Minassian, TBA, TBA
 #3 Peugeot            Peugeot 908 HDi          Bourdais, TBA, TBA
 #4 ORECA              Peugeot 908 HDi          Panis, Lapierre, TBA
 #5 Beechdean-Mansell  Ginetta-Zytek Z09R       Mansell, Mansell, Mansell
 #6 ORECA              ORECA 01-AIM             Ayari, TBA, TBA
 #7 Audi               Audi R15 TDi             Kristensen, McNish, Capello
 #8 Audi               Audi R15 TDi             Lotterer, Fassler, Treluyer
 #9 Audi               Audi R15 TDi             Rockenfeller, Bernhard, Dumas
#10 Dome               Dome S102-Judd           Philippe, TBA, TBA
#11 Drayson            Lola B09/60-Judd         Drayson, Cocker, TBA
#12 Rebellion          Lola B10/60-Rebellion    Belicchi, Boullion, TBA
#13 Rebellion          Lola B10/60–Rebellion    Prost, Jani, TBA
#14 Kolles             Audi R10 TDi             Albers, TBA, TBA
#15 Kolles             Audi R10 TDi             Bakkerud, TBA, TBA
#17 Pescarolo          Pescarolo 01-Judd        Tung, TBA, TBA
#18 Sora               Pescarolo 01-Judd        Tinseau, TBA, TBA
#19 Autocon            Lola B06/10-AER          Lewis, TBA, TBA
#007 Aston Martin      Lola-Aston Martin        Primat, TBA, TBA
#008 Signature-Plus    Lola-Aston Martin        Ragues, Mailleux, TBA
#009 Aston Martin      Lola-Aston Martin        Turner, TBA, TBA

LMP2

#24 Oak                Pescarolo 01-Judd        Nicolet, TBA, TBA
#25 RML                Lola B08/80-HPD          Newton, Erdos, TBA
#26 Highcroft          Acura ARX-01c-HPD        Brabham, Franchitti, TBA
#29 Racing Box         Lola B08/80-Judd         Pirri, TBA, TBA
#35 Oak                Pescarolo 01-Judd        Hein, TBA, TBA
#37 Welter/Salini      WR-Zytek                 Salini, TBA, TBA
#40 Quifel-ASM         Ginetta-Zytek 09S        Amaral, Pla, TBA
#41 Bruichladdich      Ginetta-Zytek 07S        Ojjeh, Greaves, TBA
#42 Strakka            Acura ARX-01c            Watts, Leventis, TBA

GT1

#50 Larbre             Saleen S7R               Berville, Bornhauser, TBA
#52 Young Driver AMR   Aston Martin DBR9        Nygaard, Enge, TBA
#53 Peka               Chevrolet Corvette C6.R  Kumpen, TBA, TBA
#61 Matech             Ford GT                  Gachnang, Allemann, TBA
#69 JLOC               Lamborghini Murcielago   Yogo, TBA, TBA
#70 Marc VDS           Ford GT                  de Doncker, TBA, TBA
#72 Alphand            Chevrolet Corvette C6.R  Alphand, TBA, TBA
#73 Alphand            Chevrolet Corvette C6.R  Gregoire, TBA, TBA

GT2

#63 Corvette           Chevrolet Corvette C6.R  Magnussen, O'Connell, Garcia
#64 Corvette           Chevrolet Corvette C6.R  Gavin, Beretta, TBA
#75 Prospeed           Porsche 997 GT3 RSR      van Splunteren, TBA, TBA
#76 IMSA               Porsche 997 GT3 RSR      Narac, TBA, TBA
#78 BMW                BMW E92 M3               Muller, TBA, TBA
#79 BMW                BMW E92 M3               Priaulx, TBA, TBA
#80 Flying Lizard      Porsche 997 GT3 RSR      Neiman, TBA, TBA
#81 Jaguar RSR         Jaguar XKR GT2           Pruett, Goossens, Gentilozzi
#82 Risi               Ferrari F430 GT2         Jonsson, Krohn, TBA
#83 Risi               Ferrari F430 GT2         Melo, TBA, TBA
#84 Modena             Ferrari F430 GT2         Rusinov, TBA, TBA
#85 Spyker             Spyker C8 Laviolette     Coronel, TBA, TBA
#89 Farnbacher         Ferrari F430 GT2         Farnbacher, Simonsen, TBA
#92 JMW                Aston Martin Vantage     Bell, TBA, TBA
#96 AF Corse           Ferrari F430 GT2         Perez-Companc, Russo, TBA
#97 BMS                Ferrari F430 GT2         Malucelli, TBA, TBA

[Mothers Worry]

Davidson joins Peugeot for Le Mans

From autosport.com:

Davidson joins Peugeot for Le Mans

Monday, February 22nd 2010, 15:06 GMT

Anthony Davidson will join the Le Mans-winning Peugeot team for this year's 24 Hours and the Sebring 12 Hours.

The former grand prix driver was part of Aston Martin's LMP1 line-up at Le Mans last season, finishing 13th overall in the #008 car with Darren Turner and Jos Verstappen.

He expressed his desire to continue racing sportscars at the time, and was today announced as part of the factory Peugeot team's line-up after failing to land a drive in Formula 1 this year.

World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb had been linked with the drive, but Peugeot called up Davidson after deciding Loeb's schedule would be too busy.

"We had a number of options for this car, including Sebastien Loeb," explained Peugeot Sport boss Olivier Quesnel. "He has reached a sufficiently high standard to be considered as a potential team member and we waited until the Swedish Rally before we took any decision.

"Every driver has to be 100 per cent committed to our programme and it eventually became clear than Sebastien's schedule would be too tight. Anthony Davidson was available, he is quick, enthusiastic and very happy to be part of Team Peugeot Total.

"We needed two teams of sprinters and one of routier-sprinters while at the same time maintaining a sense of balance. It is my belief that we have three crews capable of victory at Le Mans."

Davidson will also share the with Wurz and Gene in the American Le Mans Series season opener, the Sebring 12 Hours, on March 20. Peugeot will field two cars in the event, with Bourdais, Lamy and Minassian sharing the other.

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Andretti to make Le Mans debut 

From autosport.com:

Andretti to make Le Mans debut 

Monday, February 22nd 2010, 17:25 GMT

Marco Andretti will join Rebellion Racing for his Le Mans 24 Hours debut this year.

The 22-year-old IndyCar driver has raced in sportscar before, contesting three rounds of the American Le Mans Series in an LMP2 Acura in 2008.

He will partner Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost in one of Rebellion's LMP1 Lolas, with Andrea Belicchi, Jean-Christophe Boullion and Guy Smith in the team's other car.

Rebellion's team manager Bart Hayden said: "We believe that Marco will fit perfectly with his two co-drivers in the #12 Lola-Rebellion. He has shown that he has the ability to compete at the highest level of motorsport.

"All three drivers in the #12 Lola raced at the same time in the A1GP series, so they know each other from those days. When we get to Le Mans, Marco will be able to draw on the experience of the rest of the guys in the team and we are looking forward to seeing him in the car."

Andretti will drive the Lola for the first time in the Le Mans Series pre-season test at Paul Ricard on March 7-8.

Andretti will be the third generation of his family to race at Le Mans, with both Mario and Michael having finished on the podium. Mario finished second in a Courage in 1995, alongside Bob Wollek and Eric Helary, and third in 1983 in a Porsche 956 with son Michael and Philippe Alliot.