[LM24] Le Mans Entry List 2006

[SALEEN S7R]

A big shame that there isnt a 2nd works Zytek on the list, or even on the reserves list. IMO. Still, its good to see that Creation are top of the reserve list, would be good to see both cars on the grid at LM seeing as how the car along with the Pescarolo's will probably be Audi's biggest threat. IMO.

[skycafe]

Originally Posted by Splendid Cat

Plenty of reserves have made it on to the grid previously.

It seems like a much more solid list then in the past, does anyone expect much if any fallout?

[Foster]

Originally Posted by Dani Filth

and let's not forget that the Courage is a LMP1 car .. if I would be the ACO i would prefer an LMP1 car over a Hybrid which wont race next year .. this way in some sort of way i'm "training" a 2007 entry

I couldn't agree more, what better way to keep fans involved. I'am sure they don't someone new to the sport and ask in 2007, "Hey, what happened to my favourite car the xxxxxxx."

Continuity will payoff here I think. It's nice to have the variety, and now with the rules looking like they will finaly be set in stone for a couple years to come. It's time to build LeMans back up, back to the good ol' days of endurance racing.

It's just a stepping stone in the process. IMO

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by canam

C
The only P1 entry that I feel hard to justify is the Swiss Spirit entry. They have no history as a team nor in endurace racing. Who/what are they?

Don't you know? They own a Courage. Each Courage comes with an unlimited/repeatable auto-entry Coupon to get into Le Mans.

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by JAG

Lister have won far more and have a pedigree Creation can only dream of, 'at this time'.

They have won British and FIA GT championships, Creation haven't even won an international race yet, although I have little doubt they will.

It's harsh to judge a team on the basis of one outing (Silverstone) with a new car. Now the FIA GT program is out of the way they have a relatively well funded, full program for 2006.

Creation haven't even run two LMP's yet, so giving them two Le Mans entries would be a little generous.

I thought somebody would pick me up on Listers GT achievments , which were brilliant . The car is a 2002 design , modified over the years . Its now 2006 and what has that car accomplished in 3 years ? Did it win a race , did it win the Valelunga 6 hours last year against a bunch of outdated GT2 cars ? What pedigree doed the LMP1 Lister have ? You speak of pedigree , but pedigree at Le Mans is a differant kettle of fish . WR has a better pedigree at Le Mans than Lister and look at the flak they get every year . I would love to see Lister be competitive again but i cant see it with this car and the currant engine . Maybe if they put a Judd GV5 in it , it may work better .

Creation have built their own car and it was fastest at last weekends HTTT test . That is a brilliant effort on their part .

Im not judgeing the Storm on a basis of 1 outing , im basing it on the cars record since 2003 . I first saw it in 2003 at Sebring , and the same year at Le Mans . Both times nothing !!! And since ?

[Bentley03]

I'm amazed by the lack of reaction to the list. It's so eagerly anticipated each year. The embargo is always broken by someone, everyone moans about the two entries for WR, there are teams who without doubt deserved an entry left disappointed, and there's always at least one of the fans favourites ignored.

If the best we can come up with is "what have Lister ever done?" (which is a comment which could have been made back in February), I reckon that's a ringing endorsement for the ACO's list of 2006.

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by skycafe

It seems like a much more solid list then in the past, does anyone expect much if any fallout?

There is always somebody who drops out , but I cant see who it might be .

I hope its not Acemco though !!! or possibily a Spyker ...

[rdjones]

I saw it late last night so I only had a quick look at it. I have had better look at it now and there no real superises. I just wonder who picked up the 2 place there vacted by the withdrawal ORECA.

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

Don't you know? They own a Courage. Each Courage comes with an unlimited/repeatable auto-entry Coupon to get into Le Mans.

And thats why Kruse are 8th reserve !!!

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by Bentley03

I'm amazed by the lack of reaction to the list. It's so eagerly anticipated each year. The embargo is always broken by someone, everyone moans about the two entries for WR, there are teams who without doubt deserved an entry left disappointed, and there's always at least one of the fans favourites ignored.

If the best we can come up with is "what have Lister ever done?" (which is a comment which could have been made back in February), I reckon that's a ringing endorsement for the ACO's list of 2006.

I did wonder about the Noble 911 , story was they had put together a fast Hong Kong based driver and comitted to the LMS , but with their tie up with Gruppe M , not sure what happened there . And Seikel is missing for the first time in years !!!

Buy Bentley 03 ..... your right , pretty good list overall . Just cant wait to get there now !!!

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by canam

The only P1 entry that I feel hard to justify is the Swiss Spirit entry. They have no history as a team nor in endurace racing. Who/what are they?

This is the team who are running Swiss Spirit http://www.saulnierracing.com/

New Courage LC70 Judd GV5S2 , Primat-Fassler-TBA and running on Michelin ..... certainly got all the important bits in my mind

[Bentley03]

Originally Posted by The Badger

And Seikel is missing for the first time in years !!!

I must admit I'd forgotten about Seikel, probably because GT2 holds less interest for me at Le Mans, and there are just so many teams racing 911's. But yes, in retrospect, that's a real surprise.

My 2p on the Lister. I sit on the same side of the fence as JAG and isynge (in as much as I believe their entry is justified/deserved). For me, Le Mans is all about the LMP1's with the other classes racing on the undercard, so I'm very bias in this respect. But I've been watching Lister's race for many, many years in one form or another with varying success, so the marque is important to me on a personal level. And I love the Team's stubborn determination to go racing their way. Just the sound of that Chevy derived engine as it thunders by is reason enough to grant them a place in my opinion. But the car does add variety to the pack, and I'd certainly sacrifice one of the Creation cars for the chance to see the Storm at Le Mans. You could compare them to WR, but I don't think the Storm will be quite so adrift of the frontrunners in LMP1. Having said that, I'm a little concerned that Creation may not field their strongest driver combination should the second car not get in, and I'd be gutted to see that happen.

By the way, I was interested to see the date on the Official List on Lemans.org. I wonder if it actually has been changed since then..........

[Truckosaurus]

Originally Posted by The Badger

But Bentley 03 ..... your right , pretty good list overall . Just cant wait to get there now !!!

Agreed, It seems the main complaints are that teams didn't get a second entry, rather than being overlooked completely.

It's a shame that there is no TVR on the list, but the number of Aston entries will be good for us British fans.

[brielga]

Good list, I would indeed think that Creation would get their 2nd car in no problems. A pity of the 2nd Zytek (mostly because of the rumored drivers). Cannot wait for June (and also for 2007 when we will have a list of 60 and even less discussions ;-) )

[SebringMG]

I personally think that this is the strongest field in years. Dissapointed that Zytek do not get a second entry but it is very hard to grant an entry for a car that does not even exist yet.....The second entries from Creation and Rollcentre should get in as I would expect a couple of cars to drop out prior to LM.
Personally, like the fact that the Lister exists, however their poor form recently has got to be held against them and you would think that if they do not do well this year they have no hope of an entry next year...and the car would be far more competitive with a decent engine (heck it would probably be quicker using a customer GT1 spec engine).

[Dani Filth]

I wished Shimoda would drive the Zytek .. but that's life .. some other time

[The Badger]

Just a thought ..... Nakano-Kurosawa-Shimoda in a factory Courage LC70 !!!

All jap car , sponsored by Advan with a Mugen engine on Yokohama tyres .... Just a thought is all .....

[SALEEN S7R]

Nice dream, unfortunatly for now though thats all it is. Perhaps one day though if the JLMC delivers on its potential...

[JAG]

Originally Posted by The Badger

I thought somebody would pick me up on Listers GT achievments , which were brilliant . The car is a 2002 design , modified over the years . Its now 2006 and what has that car accomplished in 3 years ? Did it win a race , did it win the Valelunga 6 hours last year against a bunch of outdated GT2 cars ? What pedigree doed the LMP1 Lister have ? You speak of pedigree , but pedigree at Le Mans is a differant kettle of fish . WR has a better pedigree at Le Mans than Lister and look at the flak they get every year . I would love to see Lister be competitive again but i cant see it with this car and the currant engine . Maybe if they put a Judd GV5 in it , it may work better .

Creation have built their own car and it was fastest at last weekends HTTT test . That is a brilliant effort on their part .

Im not judgeing the Storm on a basis of 1 outing , im basing it on the cars record since 2003 . I first saw it in 2003 at Sebring , and the same year at Le Mans . Both times nothing !!! And since ?

I'd say 2006 is the first year you can really judge the LMP. In previous years Lister haven't run a full program due to funding issues, with the focus being the GT1 car.

In 2005 Lister made the decision to concentrate on the LMP and in that time they have designed a hybrid, tested extensively, and will run a full season in the LMS and Le Mans.

The Storm GT1 was a dog when it first raced, but over time it was developed into a championship winning car.

[jhansen]

That's just it though, each year we all keep waiting and hoping that Lister run a full season program, yet it does not happen for whatever reason. I know they have done great things in the past, but forgive me if I don't get too excited just yet.

[canam]

Had Lister not received an early entry, i doubt they would have made the cut after their Ricard performance. 10 seconds off the pace. Not quite GT2 pace but getting there. I know they say there were problems but there are always problems with that car. They did several days testing in Estoril which should have ironed out these problems. 10 seconds is not an engine that has slightly less power. It represents a car that has a lot of problems.

They should do the honourable thing....

[JAG]

Originally Posted by jhansen

That's just it though, each year we all keep waiting and hoping that Lister run a full season program, yet it does not happen for whatever reason. I know they have done great things in the past, but forgive me if I don't get too excited just yet.

But they have a full program this year, the first year they've concentrated soley on the LMP.

[JAG]

Originally Posted by canam

Had Lister not received an early entry, i doubt they would have made the cut after their Ricard performance. 10 seconds off the pace. Not quite GT2 pace but getting there. I know they say there were problems but there are always problems with that car. They did several days testing in Estoril which should have ironed out these problems. 10 seconds is not an engine that has slightly less power. It represents a car that has a lot of problems.

They should do the honourable thing....

You don't really believe it was 10 seconds off the pace do you?

They didn't put in a single representative lap.

I have no doubt this car will be right at the sharp end when the season starts.

[JAG]

From Lister website:-

http://www.listercars.co.uk/forum/

Engine had a misfire problem on Sunday, probably electrical as we had just had the wiring for traction control fitted and could find nothing mechanically wrong with the engine. It had already run for 30 hours and we were due to change it before Istanbul so we changed it for a new one. We went out on Monday morning, Jens driving first as he had to leave early, and were moving forward with aero and straight line speed. Then Belicchi got in the car and on his second flying lap had contract with the Pescarolo entering the corner at the end of the straight. This damaged the floor of the Lister and, possibly, a driveshaft, so the only option was to pack up and get ready to repair it in Turkey prior to that race. Very frustrating - Paul Ricard is definitely not kind to Lister!

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by SALEEN S7R

Nice dream, unfortunatly for now though thats all it is. Perhaps one day though if the JLMC delivers on its potential...

Last year Nakano drove for Courage , with Yokohama tyres and Advan sponsorship . Nakano is testing for them now with Yokohama tyres with Kurosawa and a Mugen engine , and ill bet that car will be Advan sponsored . All we need is Shimoda , who has no contract at present . Very close if you ask me .

All jap car ..... great !!! except for the car ...........