LMS 2011 Discussion

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by Lola T70

I agree with 2 cars being enough for manufacturers.

Me too. But only when we have more manufacturers.

[JAG]

Expanded multi-car manufacturer entries is what Le Mans is all about and a good indicator of the races health.

Given an ILMC entry, success in a qualifying event or a proven history in the race will give you an entry it tends to only be new teams and one off entrants that go into the lottery.

[MarkLMS]

3 audi's, peugeot's and aston's are just great to see, i more like them instead of a few more lmp2's or gt's

[jc_nl]

Well here we go, to full season entry:

http://www.planetlemans.com/2011/01/...s-announced-2/

Seems like a good entry to me, especially since there will be the added ILMC entries at most races.

[jc_nl]

A few things that stand out for me,

What BMW engine is PeCom using, not the Judd I guess?
I seem to have missed Boutsen Energy moving up to LMP2.
Lawrence Tomlinson in a Radical.....that probably clears up the way the dispute within Ginetta/Zytek has ended.

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by jc_nl

What BMW engine is PeCom using, not the Judd I guess?

It is the Judd/BMW HK engine.


As for the entrylist... not bad, 36 cars for non-ILMC rounds is still pretty solid. Excellent to see Pescarolo back in action, and 4 Porsches vs. 4 Ferraris in GTE-Pro is going to be a good one with the Aston thrown in for good measure. Also, I have a feeling the entry list isn't 100% finished, we should get a few more entries; for example, there's no Spyker on the list, but they generally announce their racing programme in early March.

P.S. Genoa Racing moving from LMPC in the ALMS to the LMS? That's a surprise.


EDIT: Weren't RML going for Sacked Stig a.k.a. Ben Collins in the third seat? Don't get me wrong, it's great that they have A.WOL in the team, but I'm just a bit surprised after the comments made earlier this year from several parties.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

P.S. Genoa Racing moving from LMPC in the ALMS to the LMS? That's a surprise.

Genoa still has 2 cars listed on the Sebring test days entrylist, so I suspect that the LMS program will be in conjunction to an ALMS program. Heck if they do the ALMS and the LMS, that covers all the ILMC rounds (minus china), but there is no FLM/LMPC championship in ILMC right?

[The Badger]

Here is the list as it was revealed today. Compliments of Planet Le Mans .

LMP1 (6 entries)
12 – REBELLION Racing – Lola B10/60 Toyota – Neel Jani (SUI) – Nicolas Prost (FRA)
13 – REBELLION Racing – Lola B10/60 Toyota – Andrea Belicchi (SUI) – Jean-Christophe Boullion (FRA)
16 – Pescarolo Team – Pescarolo 01 Judd – Emmanuel Collard (FRA) – Christophe Tinseau (FRA)
18 – Guess Racing Europ – Lola B07/46 Mazda – Wolfgang Kaufmann (GER) – Philippe Haezebrouck (FRA)
20 – Quifel-ASM Team – Ginetta-Zytek 09S Zytek – Miguel Amaral (POR) – Olivier Pla (FRA)
21 – Rangoni Motorsport – Ginetta-Zytek 09 HS Zytek – Luca Rangoni (ITA) – Ferdinando Geri (ITA)

LMP2 (11 entries)

36 – RML – HPD ARX-01D HPD – Tommy Erdos (BRA) – Mike Newton (BRA) – Ben Collins (GBR)
38 – Pegasus Racing – Courage-Oreca LC75 HPD – Julien Schell (FRA) – TBA
39 – Pecom Racing – Lola B11/40 BMW – Luis Perez Companc (ARG) – Matias Russo (ARG) – Pierre Kaffer (GER)
40 – Race Performance – Oreca 03 Judd HK – Michel Frey (SUI) – Ralph Meichtry (SUI)
41 – Greaves Motorsport – Zytek Z11SN Nissan – Karim Ojjeh (SAU) – Gary Chalandon (FRA) – Thor-Christian Ebbesvik (NOR)
42 – Strakka Racing – HPD ARX-01D – Nick Leventis (GBR) – Danny Watts (GBR) – Jonny Kane (GBR)
43 – RLR msport – MG Lola EX265 AER – Barry Gates (GBR) – Rob Garofall (GBR)
44 – Extrême Limite AM Paris – Norma M200P – Fabien Rosier (FRA) – TBA
45 – Boutsen Energy Racing – Oreca 03 Nissan – Dominik Kraihamer (AUT) – Nicolas De Crem (BEL) – TBA
46 – Top Drive Services – Oreca 03 Nissan – Pierre Thiriet (FRA) – Matthias Beche (SUI)
47 – Team LNT – Radical SR9 IES – Lawrence Tomlinson (GBR) – James Cole (GBR) – Andrew Prendeville (USA)

LM GTE Pro (9 entries)

51 – AF Corse – Ferrari F458 Italia – Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA) – TBA
66 – JMW Motorsport – Ferrari F458 Italia – Rob Bell (GBR) – TBA
71 – AF Corse – Ferrari F458 Italia – TBA – TBA
75 – ProSpeed Competition – Porsche 997 GT3 RSR – Marc Goossens (BEL) – Marco Holzer (GER)
76 – IMSA Performance Matmut – Porsche 997 GT3 RSR – Patrick Pilet (FRA) – Wolf Henzler (GER)
77 – Team Felbermayr Proton – Porsche 997 GT3 RSR – Marc Lieb (GER) – Richard Lietz (AUT)
78 – Gruppe M Eterniti Racing – Porsche 997 GT3 RSR – Stephen Jelley (GBR) – TBA
79 – Jota Sport AMR – Aston Martin Vantage GT2 – Simon Dolan (GBR) – Sam Hancock (GBR)
89 – Hankook Team Farnbacher – Ferrari F458 Italia – Dominik Farnbacher (GER) – Allan Simonsen (DNK)

LM GTE Am (5 entries)
61 – AF Corse – Ferrari F430 GT2 – Piergiuseppe Perazzini (ITA) – Marco Cioci (ITA)
67 – IMSA Performance Matmut – Porsche 997 GT3 RSR – Raymond Narac (FRA) – Nicolas Armindo (FRA)
82 – CRS Racing – Ferrari F430 GT2 – Phil Quaife (GBR) – Michael Lyons (GBR)
83 – JMB Racing – Ferrari F430 GT2 – Manu Rodrigues (FRA) – Dino Lunardi (FRA)
88 – Team Felbermayr Proton – Porsche 997 GT3 RSR – Horst Felbermayr (AUT) – TBA

FLM (5 entries)

91 – Hope PoleVision Racing – Oreca FLM 09 – Michael Tinguely (SUI) – TBA
92 – Neil Garner Motorsport – Oreca FLM 09 – TBA – TBA
93 – Genoa Racing – Oreca FLM 09 – Eric Lux (USA) – Elton Julian (ECU) – Christian Zugel (GER)
95 – Pegasus Racing – Oreca FLM 09 – Mirco Schultis (GER) – Patrick Simon (GER)
99 – JMB Racing – Oreca FLM 09 – Maurice Basso (SUI) – TBA

Just noticed that LNT is entered with a Radical SR9 , and Tomlinson is in the seat . Whats going on there ? Is he not part and parcel with Zytek anymore then ?

[kurski]

Originally Posted by The Badger

Andrea Belicchi (SUI)

Belicchi is Italian, not Swiss.

[Dead-Eye]

Nope, Tomlinson doesn't own anything of Zytek anymore. The reason behind Zytek going into administration a while ago was a falling out between him and Bill Gibson, who now owns 100% of the company.

[dj choc ice]

Looks like LMS is going to be hot sh!t this year. Biggest news is of course the return of Pescarolo which will please the fans greatly and the return of Toyota as well. LMP2 is looking pretty promising as well, I'm quite excited to see and hear the new production engined LMP2 machinery. They have a lot of potential to provide good racing and sound veeery nice as well.

GTE Pro is looking to be the best category though. I'm somewhat surprised to see JMW back in a Ferrari, it's good news but I thought they would be sticking with the Aston and developing it for a bit longer than a year. Great to see Jota back in the championship, it's been a long time since they have raced in LMS under their own name. Although, the Jota team last raced in LMS in 2007 running the Charouz Lola did they not?

It's also great to still have the V8 Vantage in the championship still and the Ferrari F430 GT2's as well. Must say, I am rather excited for the season to start, looks to be a strong season in all classes.

[lmpracer]

Nope, Tomlinson doesn't own anything of Zytek anymore. The reason behind Zytek going into administration a while ago was a falling out between him and Bill Gibson, who now owns 100% of the company.

Not sure why the cars are still listed as Ginetta-Zytek's though??
Is there any news coming from Zytec regarding chassis or the new Nissan engine??

[vyselegend]

Just booked for the Paul Ricard race.

At first I'm a little disapointed by the lack of factory entries and mostly by the 6 hours format, but last year I have to admit the race was a a bit boring with the LMP1 duel a non-happening and Strakka laminating the rest of the P2 field (although for that one there was some suspense at least).

I'm quite excited by the Toyota backed Rebellion effort, that's something I was looking forward for years... And it finally happens! Let's hope they can put a whole car together for 2012 and bring the factory fight to another level.

Pescarolo come back is emotional too. Looking at their situation, I wouln't expect them to be competitive (one year off, car being a compromise based on a never raced version of the old car), but since it's Pesca we're talking about, anything can happen.

Who's going to partner Fisi in the 458?

Also, watching a sportcar race without any single Corvette will be a first for me... It feels wrong. No BMW either, and no Spyker... At least an Aston managed to get on the list but overall a sad lack of variety in GT.

[Coach Ep]

There could be a couple of more entries for the PR opener as a number of non-ILMC teams that have been granted a LM24 entry might wanna use it as a preparation run. Imola's grid is maximized to 53, what's the limit for PR? Must be higher since the track is longer I suppose.

[KA]

Originally Posted by Dead-Eye

Nope, Tomlinson doesn't own anything of Zytek anymore. The reason behind Zytek going into administration a while ago was a falling out between him and Bill Gibson, who now owns 100% of the company.

Yep- but I certainly didn't see this LNT Radical deal coming.

According to it's the Ian Dawson Libra car, with the IES Nissan engine that Libra used in their couple of ALMS entries last year- and apparently Graham Dale-Jones of IES is now employed by the LNT Group.

So has Dawson called time on Libra (a couple of pages back in the thread, it was suggested that 3 Portuguese drivers had tested the car in the US, and were possibly close to an LMS deal) and has Tomlinson bought the project, and IES?

[isynge]

Originally Posted by KA

Yep- but I certainly didn't see this LNT Radical deal coming.

According to it's the Ian Dawson Libra car, with the IES Nissan engine that Libra used in their couple of ALMS entries last year- and apparently Graham Dale-Jones of IES is now employed by the LNT Group.

So has Dawson called time on Libra (a couple of pages back in the thread, it was suggested that 3 Portuguese drivers had tested the car in the US, and were possibly close to an LMS deal) and has Tomlinson bought the project, and IES?

Genuine surprise to see LNT go down the Radical route, this is, after all, a very long in the tooth car, which never really lived up to the initial promise it showed. Can't help thinking this is just an intermediate solution.

Current story on EI would seem to suggest that the Portuguese Libra deal is not off - am I correct in thinking that Ian Dawson's operation had more than one Radical chassis - in which case both LNT and Portugal could be realistic prospects?

[KA]

Originally Posted by isynge

Genuine surprise to see LNT go down the Radical route, this is, after all, a very long in the tooth car, which never really lived up to the initial promise it showed. Can't help thinking this is just an intermediate solution.

Current story on EI would seem to suggest that the Portuguese Libra deal is not off - am I correct in thinking that Ian Dawson's operation had more than one Radical chassis - in which case both LNT and Portugal could be realistic prospects?

That's pretty much what I was wondering- now that LNT have split with Zytek, maybe using the Radical as a stepping-stone while they work on a new LMP project?- I think DSC said there's more news to come on this one shortly, so it sounds as if there might be more to the story than just picking up a second-hand LMP2 cheaply....

Re the Duarte Racing/Libra deal, yes, I'm sure I've read that Ian Dawson had two Radical chassis.

[isynge]

Originally Posted by KA

That's pretty much what I was wondering- now that LNT have split with Zytek, maybe using the Radical as a stepping-stone while they work on a new LMP project?- I think DSC said there's more news to come on this one shortly, so it sounds as if there might be more to the story than just picking up a second-hand LMP2 cheaply....

Re the Duarte Racing/Libra deal, yes, I'm sure I've read that Ian Dawson had two Radical chassis.

Tweet from Graham Goodwin confirms Radical is just a first step towards a full Ginetta LMP2 project.

Enormously surprisingly, and very pleasingly, the Ginatta / Zytek divorce seems to have resulted in more diversity rather than the disappearance of both.

[cmk]

Originally Posted by KA

Re the Duarte Racing/Libra deal, yes, I'm sure I've read that Ian Dawson had two Radical chassis.

Correct, at least that was the case last year!

[Victor_RO]

What chassis are RML going to use? I think I overheard someone say on Radio Le Mans that it's going to be the ex-de Ferran car from '08, is that correct?

[Thumper]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

What chassis are RML going to use? I think I overheard someone say on Radio Le Mans that it's going to be the ex-de Ferran car from '08, is that correct?

Correct, but substantially updated. To all intents and purposes, only the tub remains as original.

Not sure I understand your previous post about Ben Collins and Andy Wallace? Andy did the first half of last season, up to and including Le Mans, but Ben has been the team's regular "third driver" since Algarve in July. He was confirmed again for 2011 at the Autosport Show on Jan 14th.

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by Thumper

Not sure I understand your previous post about Ben Collins and Andy Wallace? Andy did the first half of last season, up to and including Le Mans, but Ben has been the team's regular "third driver" since Algarve in July. He was confirmed again for 2011 at the Autosport Show on Jan 14th.

Initially the article with the entry list had A.WOL listed as the third driver, but since then they have changed it and Collins is listed in that seat now. That's what confused me.

[Tim the Grey]

They had wanted to announce S.TIG, not A.WOL...

[Victor_RO]

I think it also depends on the number of pit garages, you can't really invite teams if you know that there aren't enough garages to accomodate them all; with LMPs in there you can't really do it like they do in VLN races and cram several cars into a garage.

[Coach Ep]

Ok, last year the PR race saw 41 entries and starters so 5 more than the now announced 36 wouldn't be a problem. Anything above though...?