[LM24 Race] 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans Entry List Thread

[Beetle]

Originally Posted by 911targa

Sadly nope, during Shanghai WEC event I asked Hartmut Kristen if there's any possibilty to see an European team racing GTE PRO next year and he answered "I don't think so, due to cost issues and limited resources". Maybe techical support is another big problem besides the cost.

Proton plans to run a pair of 991 RSR next year, both in AM class. They could have 2 automatically entries, one for finishing 2nd in ELMS this year and a 2014 full season WEC entry. If Dempsey continues the deal then hopefully there's a 3rd Proton-prepared 991.

Interesting, thanks 911targa.

So we can reasonably expect two full season entries from Proton? Maybe #77 Felbermayr/Felbermayr/Bachler and #88 Ried/Roda/Ruberti?

[911targa]

Originally Posted by Beetle

Interesting, thanks 911targa.

So we can reasonably expect two full season entries from Proton? Maybe #77 Felbermayr/Felbermayr/Bachler and #88 Ried/Roda/Ruberti?

I'd expect that as well. It's mostly depends on the scale of funding from Felbermayr Holding.

I've learnt that in the last event of 2011 ILMC(Zhuhai) the sole Proton entry was no longer sponsored by Felbermayr, so the #77 was in black-white rather than their traditional Felbermayr blue. I'd guess their 2013 ELMS car is in the similar situation, only at Round3 when Felbermayr Jr & Sr got a car, both entry bears Felbermayr logo.

Now Felbermayr Sr is 69 years old, could be listed as a Bronze driver, exactly what AM class line up requires next year. On the other hand Felbermayr Jr is as fast as G.Roda and should be listed as a Silver rated driver.

[Beetle]

Originally Posted by 911targa

I'd expect that as well. It's mostly depends on the scale of funding from Felbermayr Holding.

I've learnt that in the last event of 2011 ILMC(Zhuhai) the sole Proton entry was no longer sponsored by Felbermayr, so the #77 was in black-white rather than their traditional Felbermayr blue. I'd guess their 2013 ELMS car is in the similar situation, only at Round3 when Felbermayr Jr & Sr got a car, both entry bears Felbermayr logo.

Now Felbermayr Sr is 69 years old, could be listed as a Bronze driver, exactly what AM class line up requires next year. On the other hand Felbermayr Jr is as fast as G.Roda and should be listed as a Silver rated driver.

They'll probably have to do a bit of driver swapping before they come to a solid conclusion about what the plans are for next year.

If Horst Sr had raced in the Le Mans 24 this year would he have been the oldest competitor?

[Simmi]

Not sure how up for racing at LM he would be after the big shunt with the Corvette in 2011.

Neither Felbermayr has been back since.

[911targa]

Originally Posted by Beetle

They'll probably have to do a bit of driver swapping before they come to a solid conclusion about what the plans are for next year.

If Horst Sr had raced in the Le Mans 24 this year would he have been the oldest competitor?

The oldest driver this year AFAIK was T.Krohn in his 58(#57 Ferrari). If Horst Sr had raced he should be the oldest.

Originally Posted by Simmi

Not sure how up for racing at LM he would be after the big shunt with the Corvette in 2011.

Neither Felbermayr has been back since.

Last year #63 with Felbermayr Jr confirmed was 4th on the reserve list, but even Imsa's PRO car couldn't get in at last.

http://www.planetlemans.com/2012/02/...-2012-entries/

[Beetle]

On a slightly different tangent, the 3 Hours of Sepang (which will take the green flag in just under 24 hours!) will decide one automatic entry for LMP2 and two automatic entries from GTC to GTE in the 24 next year. KCMG and OAK will be battling it out tomorrow for the LMP2 invitation. AF Corse has already clinched the GTC title so they get an automatic invitation so the real war comes down to the 2nd place car. It can either be Craft Racing, AAI-Rstrada, or BBT Racing. Here are the scenarios...

- The 2nd GTE invitation will go to Craft Racing if they finish ahead of AAI-Rstrada.
- The 2nd GTE invitation will go to AAI-Rstrada if they finish ahead of Craft Racing.
- The 2nd GTE invitation will go to BBT Racing if they finish 1st in class and both Craft Racing cars retire (i.e. >75% race distance) as well as the AAI-Rstrada BMW Z4 GT3.

[911targa]

Personally I wanna a AAI Rstrada GTC win! Craft#007 looks so strong at the moment while BBT only owns a mathematical chance, but who knows

Anyway AAI's GTE car raced this weeked is a 2012 wide-body 997 GT3 RSR, owned originally by a "former factory team" and purchased by AAI earlier this year, I'm trying to work out whether it's a ex-Lizard car. Also AAI's a RUF dealer here so they may enter this car next June if they get an entry without a 991 RSR. Should Craft win they'll ends up a GTE Vantage.

[somebodysb2]

Originally Posted by 911targa

Personally I wanna a AAI Rstrada GTC win! Craft#007 looks so strong at the moment while BBT only owns a mathematical chance, but who knows

Anyway AAI's GTE car raced this weeked is a 2012 wide-body 997 GT3 RSR, owned originally by a "former factory team" and purchased by AAI earlier this year, I'm trying to work out whether it's a ex-Lizard car. Also AAI's a RUF dealer here so they may enter this car next June if they get an entry without a 991 RSR. Should Craft win they'll ends up a GTE Vantage.

Absolutely do not want AAI to be associated with Le Mans. They do not inspire confidence.

All they do is throw money around and smash things up in the process.

Their 2x 12C GT3's? smashed one of them in a BES last year, repaired it, bought another one, severed ties with JAS because AAI bosses are were being *******s, etc..now trying to get rid of them on RCD

Their stable of JAS and Team Dynamics Honda's? smashed a couple, you get where I'm going..also trying to get rid of them on RCD

Then they bought 2x Z4 GT3's and a RSR. I just don't see value in them. They are all over the place, all over the place on track, all over the place with business transactions, all over the place with championships, all over the place with manufacturer ties, all over the place with race car selection..

Now look at Craft. I'm not a fan of them by any means, but they are very focused.

They;
have bought 2 Vantage's (and have run 2 Ford and Ginetta GT3 cars before)
hired a factory driver for a whole season which is NOT cheap (Mucke)
have good relations with factory (they got John Gaw to fly his car all the way to Macau to compete!)
have good relations with other AMR teams (Arnage in SGT lent them a Vantage when their Ford's engine gave way and also let them run their in AsLMS)
have a good roster of pro drivers to pick from (Fujii, O'Young, Sawa, Lyons)
have run in endurance races with current car to prep for LM attack (full AsLMS, Dubai, Sepang)
have run at LM before (full track, this AMR "festival" support race or something like that)

Really, they are just prepared and have spent a considerable amount of coin to get where they are today

[911targa]

I'm with you at some point, but racing is not cheap, especially these days.

Having two more manufacturer ties is pretty acceptable IMO, take Alex Job Racing for example, they run a Lotus GTE in 2012 alongside a 997 Cup(the latter took ALMS GTC title), then a Ferrari GTE alongside a Porsche GTC this season, plus an Audi early this year at Daytona'24(and took the GT honor) That makes 4 different brands in 2 years; Larbre also had their Corvette and Porsche finishing 1-2 in 2011 at lemans; Talking about all over the place, we have AF Corse..

Besides the Oreca P2 this time and the Ford in Zhuhai, Craft also attend PCCA full season in conjunction with Nexus Racing, so they've come across no les than 4 manufacturers this year. I assume AMR's effort to them means one or two factory driver(s) at a time with some technical support, money comes mostly from gentle drivers and sponsors.

Once you got an LM24 entry and enough budget, line-up is not a problem, especially in GTE AM class where regulation allows only 1 professional driver per car. AAI on the other hand had BMW's Jorg Muller for Macau GT weeks before.

[911targa]

AAI's Marco Seefried is also a Porsche specialist, I' d bet if AAI earns an GTE AM Porsche entry he's going to be the leading driver.

http://www.speedsport-magazine.com/r...ried~2083.html

Anyway relax, I admit Craft #007 is faster than AAI #91 and has a greater chance of taking the entry within 16.5 hours.

[somebodysb2]

Originally Posted by 911targa

I'm with you at some point, but racing is not cheap, especially these days.

Having two more manufacturer ties is pretty acceptable IMO, take Alex Job Racing for example, they run a Lotus GTE in 2012 alongside a 997 Cup(the latter took ALMS GTC title), then a Ferrari GTE alongside a Porsche GTC this season, plus an Audi early this year at Daytona'24(and took the GT honor) That makes 4 different brands in 2 years; Larbre also had their Corvette and Porsche finishing 1-2 in 2011 at lemans; Talking about all over the place, we have AF Corse..

Besides the Oreca P2 this time and the Ford in Zhuhai, Craft also attend PCCA full season in conjunction with Nexus Racing, so they've come across no les than 4 manufacturers this year. I assume AMR's effort to them means one or two factory driver(s) at a time with some technical support, money comes mostly from gentle drivers and sponsors.

Once you got an LM24 entry and enough budget, line-up is not a problem, especially in GTE AM class where regulation allows only 1 professional driver per car. AAI on the other hand had BMW's Jorg Muller for Macau GT weeks before.

Then their lineup would 100% be a Gold/Platinum driver, Jun San Chen, and Morris Chen. The latter two simply don't have enough experience racing sportscars of GT3 let alone GTE caliber. This sort of entry is absolutely dangerous.

They'd have Muller if they bought a 2012 M3 or 2013 Z4, which is highly unlikely (I believe a 2012 M3 is currently liveried like a DTM car and used for taxi rides and the 2013 Z3's were probably upgraded to 2014 spec? Anyways, BMW don't really have a history of selling their top flight GT stuff)

Apart from their mostly random selection of Japanese drivers, only Akira Iida is a standout. So either Akira or Marco?

RE: Craft
Their PCCA involvement was just a livery sponsorship of the Nexus Racing Bamber car. The car was run 100% by Nexus personnel. I believed it also appeared without Craft livery in the last 2 rounds of PCCA or so.
Oreca P2 was owned by Murphy and basically run with assistance from some Murphy personnel. From their press release, they call it an "evaluation" race, investigating a future LMP2/LMPC programme with their existing GT one.

You must understand that Craft all over the place =/= AAI all over the place. Lest we forget, it is the same AAI that runs in series like these:

997.1 Cup, 996 Cup, Tuner S2K, Tuner M6 versus a flipping ex-works 2012 RSR?


Saker, Tuner S2K, Tuner DC5 versus ex-works Team Dynamics (BTCC spec) and ex-works JAS (N24 spec) Civics?

I have no problem with a team like AAI dipping their toes and swimming in the water. I do have a problem with a team like AAI diving straight to the ocean bed. They just need to have a lot more experience (not running in Penbay club events would be a nice start).

[911targa]

I don't think AAI is going to run a BMW GTE, since BMW is focusing on DTM and TUSC, they've no plan of selling customer GTE cars so BMW Team Brazil's WEC plan was denied, no to mention new comer AAI.

If they run a Porsche or a Ferrari, then the only professional driver allowed in their line-up should be Akira or Marco. Craft on the other hand couldn't get Mucke or Turner at LeMans since they'll undoubtedly ends up in a PRO car.

Everyone starts from zero, isn't it? 8Star have no GTE AM experience before, but winning WEC title this year with a AF-prepared car. Another example is Imsa Matmut, found in 2001, they attended only some clubsport events like the picture u post, then move up to Carrera Cup & FFSA in 2004, winning LM24 three years later. But after winning LM24 again this year, they're planning to scale back to nation-wide races next season due to cost issue, so you get what I mean, money is the key. I hate this but it's absolutely true in motorsport.

Craft, AAI, whomever got the entry will probably ends up a one-off European crew at LeMans, just have a look at Toyota Team Europe(their current WEC campaign) you'll find out how many Asian faces are there. Or Endurance Asia Team back to 2009, the Asia-named crew was exactly the crew of Perspective Racing (100percent French team, local to LeMans) with quite a few Asian.

In short, if they want to make it serious, only paying drivers, sponsors and money from them could be taken to France next June.

[911targa]

Here's an interview with Craft by EI, they've no plan of full season WEC(selected races could be possible, I think he means Asian rounds like Shanghai), but 24h Dubai is for sure and 24h Spa is possible

http://www.endurance-info.com/fr/cra...eures-du-mans/

[JorritVD]

Craft Racing AMR wins automatic entry with their 3rd place finish in the 3 hours of Sepang. http://t.co/SieCGzaOHI

[911targa]

Trying to collect those automatically entries

P1
Joest Audi (1st in LM24)

P2
OAK Morgan (1st in LM24)
Signatech Alpine (1st in ELMS)
TDS Oreca (2nd in ELMS)
EnduranceChanllenge Oreca (1st in ELMS)
OAK Morgan (1st in AsLMS)

G56
*Nissan ZEOD RC (in suspension caused by the lawsuit)

PRO
Manthey 991 (1st in LM24)

AM
Imsa 997or991(1st in LM24)
Ram 458 (1st in ELMS)
Proton 991 (2nd in ELMS)
AF 458 (1st in ELMS, could be SMP without full season requirement)
AF 458 (1st in AsLMS)
Craft Vantage (2nd in AsLMS)

I've no idea about how they reward entries to previous ALMS teams and WEC GreenX(still exist?) winner. Maybe there's an entry for each runner-up (Toyota--OAK--Manthey--AF)at LM24 this year

[Beetle]

Originally Posted by JorritVD

Craft Racing AMR wins automatic entry with their 3rd place finish in the 3 hours of Sepang. http://t.co/SieCGzaOHI

Congratulations Craft AMR!

Now the real speculation begins - what will the driver lineup look like? I'll throw my 2014 entry speculation hat in the ring and guess that we'll be seeing a GTE-Am car, consisting of Darryl O'Young, Tomonobu Fujii, and Frank Yu. I think that classifies as a GTE-Am lineup, although Fujii may be a Gold driver but the ACO hasn't updated their driver categorisation for him yet so I'm not really sure.

Of course they could try and pull off a GTE-Pro effort with O'Young/Mucke/Lyons. I'm not sure they'd have much of a chance against the likes of the factory Aston Martins, AF Corse, and Porsche AG Manthey though.

[isynge]

Originally Posted by 911targa

Trying to collect those automatically entries

P1
Joest Audi (1st in LM24)

P2
OAK Morgan (1st in LM24)
Signatech Alpine (1st in ELMS)
TDS Oreca (2nd in ELMS)
EnduranceChanllenge Oreca (1st in ELMS)
OAK Morgan (1st in AsLMS)

G56
*Nissan ZEOD RC (in suspension caused by the lawsuit)

PRO
Manthey 991 (1st in LM24)

AM
Imsa 997or991(1st in LM24)
Ram 458 (1st in ELMS)
Proton 991 (2nd in ELMS)
AF 458 (1st in ELMS, could be SMP without full season requirement)
AF 458 (1st in AsLMS)
Craft Vantage (2nd in AsLMS)

I've no idea about how they reward entries to previous ALMS teams and WEC GreenX(still exist?) winner. Maybe there's an entry for each runner-up (Toyota--OAK--Manthey--AF)at LM24 this year

Do WEC class winners get auto-invites? Thus is Oak sitting on 3 for LMP2, and can a team have collectively more than 2 auto-invites? I didn't think this was the case in the past, but less certain about how things have evolved.

Do we also seriously think that Nissan's G56 entry is imperilled by what looks like a questionable IP suit in a Georgia court?

[FstrthnU]

The Oak LMP2 entries are probably dependent on whether any customers want OAK to run their cars. The factory team will be concentrating on the LMP1 entry.

[Mechanic Z]

NEW GARAGE 56 ENTRY ANNOUNCED:
Due to legal uncertainty surrounding the Nissan ZEOD RC, the Automobile Club l'Ouest has accepted an entry from the British team, Good Racing. The team, known for their self-sufficiency and efficiency, is proud to be taking part in this ambitious project, known as the 'Mark 1'.
Team Principal Tom Good expounded on the new vehicle's high fuel efficiency:
"Now what would you get out of a rotary cultivator? 100 miles to the gallon? Well, perhaps less with a load."

The Mark 1 has been secretly tested somewhere in Surbiton, due to the unusual design.
"We don't want those spies from Ferrari pinching our design." Good explained "This could be the hit of this year's motor show."

Good concluded: "I might tell you that NASA are very interested in this. It could double as a moon buggy."

Good Racing has released this photo of the Mark 1:


The Mark 1 is expected to be ready to take part in the Le Mans test day.

[vincegail]

I suppose it will cover more miles than last year's Garage 56 entry

[Beetle]

It hasn't been mentioned in a while, to my knowledge - how is the Lotus LMP1 program moving along? Is it still a possibility or did the finances fall through?

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by Beetle

It hasn't been mentioned in a while, to my knowledge - how is the Lotus LMP1 program moving along? Is it still a possibility or did the finances fall through?

People often say no news is good news. That does not apply in motorsport.

[Pontlieue]

Tracy Krohn and Nic Jönsson tested one of the Lotus LMP2 cars in Bahrain last Monday and it looks like Krohn could buy one of the cars.

What does this mean for the Lotus team?

[Simmi]

I find the Oak situation interesting in P2.

If they have up to three auto entries in their back pocket but don't necessarily want to run against KCMG in the WEC - what will they do? It would be madness to pass up the opportunity given they are a company on the rise. At the same time they need to be careful not to over-stretch themselves with the P1 coming online.

[isynge]

Originally Posted by Simmi

I find the Oak situation interesting in P2.

If they have up to three auto entries in their back pocket but don't necessarily want to run against KCMG in the WEC - what will they do? It would be madness to pass up the opportunity given they are a company on the rise. At the same time they need to be careful not to over-stretch themselves with the P1 coming online.

I suspect their auto entries are being actively marketed at the moment, and I can see them logically going to whoever runs the Oaks in AsLMS and TUSC and the third being a Nicolet/Ihara/ANO WEC entry, which isn't going to realistically be competition for the sort of entry on the cards from KCMG.

Agree about the overstretch concern, but presumably with the right partnering approach they've got the scalability to do it. Jacques Nicolet has never come across as anything other than very shrewd, and looking at how he's deepening his managerial bench I think they'll be fine.