'10 LMS Round 1 • Castellet • April 9-11

[Gingers4Justice]

Looks like quality rather than quantity in LMP1. It's not beyond any of those entrants to get a podium finish, IMO. I also think that AMR are dark horses for this race. The R15+ could hit some teething issues (G4J says while clutching hard at some straws) and the Oreca Pug didn't look as quick as one would expect in testing.

The Pescarolo name will be sadly missed .

[Purist]

Sorry, the BMW was slow on the overall lap, but was fast down the Mistral straight.

DJ, the Peugeots were definitely holding back at Sebring. As for ORECA at testing, they aren't the factory team, but I wouldn't be surprised if they held back as well. The Aston at Sebring ran its own pace to hopefully ensure that it finished, which it did, and right behind the Peugeots in the overall order.

[dxk1]

Was looking at the GT2 entry list and expect quite a donnybrook. There are many more excellent GT2 driver pairings than I've ever seem in the LMS and if their cars are up to it, I would guess there are at least 8 cars and possibly even more with a reasonable chance to win. For Porsche you have almost every car being a contender, also most of the Ferraris and Bell and Turner are excellent and if the Aston has any oomph in it it should be competitive. If Spyker continue from where they were at the end of last year, they certainly have an outside shot. Then there's the BMW and, if the pace in the US is a guide, it should give everyone else a run for the money. I must say the season will really get going next week and I'm looking forward to a very interesting year of competition. Now if we could only get LAA to run a couple of GT2 Vettes!!

DK

[NightStalk3r]

The Aston has no chance at Paul Ricard to quote one very experienced GT2 driver "The Aston was like a rocket out of the corners but a brick at the end" that was in response to my question about how the GT2 cars handle the Mistral.

[chernaudi]

With Audi testing at Monza sans the pre-Curva Grande chicane, and with no reason to hold back(unlike the first couple days of the Sebring test) as it was a private test with no one around(except for the guys recording the videos) and no offical timing, and with as good as the cars looked in the videos(taking Curva Grande almost flat out, if not flat and only breathing the throttle and dabbing the brakes for the Parabolica), they should be in good shape if the car is reliable, which mechanically it should be, as it seems that Audi has the cooling issue from last year(the intercoolers getting clogged with dirt due to the agressively louvered sidepods on last year's car), and has survived two 24 or 30 hours test at Sebring without issues.

Anyone think that Peugeot might test at Monza now like Audi did with the R15+ if the Oreca 908 has trouble at Paul Ricard? Or is the 908 about maxed out if the latter proves to be the case?

[LeMans.pt]

First pictures from que Quifel ASM Team GZ09S with the 2010 aero package on lemansportugal.com

[HORNDAWG]

Looks good.






L.P.

[cg7aa]

Gents,

Could someone please educate me about TV coverage of the LMS in 2010 in Europe and the UK in particular. Are the races being aired anywhere or are the rounds taking place in a vacuum? I prefer finding things out for for myself rather than being spoon fed information but I can't seem to find anything about TV deals, not even on the offical website where the TV coverage tab for Le Castellet appears blank.

[Marcel ten Caat]

CET times...

11:15 Le Mans Series in Le Castellet, France (45min) LIVE on Eurosport
12:00 Le Mans Series in Le Castellet, France (60min) LIVE on Eurosport 2
14:00 Le Mans Series in Le Castellet, France (25min) LIVE on Eurosport
19:00 Le Mans Series in Le Castellet, France (30min) on Eurosport

[Marcel ten Caat]

And British Eurosport (so UK time)

10:15 Live Le Mans Series - 8 Hours of Castellet (105min)
13:00 Live Le Mans Series - 8 Hours of Castellet (25min)
18:00 Le Mans Series - 8 Hours of Castellet (30min)

[LeMans.pt]

Once again, the Eurosport broadcast is a complete misery....

It is totally understandable that they wont show the complete race. 8 hours, or the usual 6, are not TV friendly mainly for a broadcaster like the pan-European channel, but, there are plenty of other ways that aren't being properly exploited.

Some of the races in 2009 where shown fully on the Eurosport webplayer. We, fans, paid a fee (4.90€/month ou 49€/year) and we could enjoy the full race. This year, at least for Paul Ricard, the option is not available.

FIA-GT, transmitted the races freely in their website... some other took the same option, and it was a sucess considering the size of the championship and their fan base.

The fact is that ACO sold the TV rights for Le Mans to the Eurosport (and they put on a great show) and 'gave' the LMS as a bonus... and that was a very wrong deal to the LMS as we can see.

The communication from LMS is very very poor... this is not the way to go. Eurosport has more people following that Motors TV, but that's not enough... is true that sponsors have more exposition but on a very limited time. The two options, even if we had to paid for, was much more intelligent as a way to sell the show. The series need to be transmited — air, cable or web — to grow up their fan base.

Without proper exposition, the main manufacturers will not be seduced by the series, and if in one way the deal with Eurosport was made to please Audi and Peugeot in 2008, the truth is that in the ending of the championship they told that there wasn't enough changes on that matter...

What i found hilarious, is that the TV crews are deployed to the circuits, images are taken and recorded of the full race, money is spent to do so, but they seem to not be able (or wanted) to monetized it...

Do this guys understand anything about marketing??

[courageous]

Don't forget that Radio Le Mans will cover the whole race - just have to close your eyes and pretend.

[LeMans.pt]

Originally Posted by courageous

Don't forget that Radio Le Mans will cover the whole race

I Know... thank god for them! Even with the europort webplayer, my ears where always on Radio Le Mans.

Originally Posted by courageous

just have to close your eyes and pretend.

What else can we do...

[Tom908V12]

Can't wait for next friday's test at the Paul Ricard

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by LeMans.pt

Do this guys understand anything about marketing??

no

[tux1234]

but for Eurosport to show the entire 8 hours would be a huge task due to all the other sports they show. Should be on Eurosport player online though.

[Lipp]

I do not understand either... Eurosport... just give us the feed we need!

[carsten66]

Originally Posted by LeMans.pt

What i found hilarious, is that the TV crews are deployed to the circuits, images are taken and recorded of the full race, money is spent to do so, but they seem to not be able (or wanted) to monetized it...

On top of this, especially considering that they already have all the big car brands, tire brands, oil companies and component suppliers in the series as well and are not able to collect some extra funding at least for a live stream... also we are talking just about five races.

Marketing, PR...??? What's that supposed to mean?

[ubrben]

Originally Posted by tux1234

but for Eurosport to show the entire 8 hours would be a huge task due to all the other sports they show. Should be on Eurosport player online though.

That's why anyone with a brain would show the entire race on Motors and let Eurosport show the start and finish, or a highlights package.

It also beats me why the series can't do a live stream on its website like Indycar does.

Ben

[GutZ]

Hello residents, this is my first post here cuz i just register myself, im a big fan of sportscar racing, formula 1 is noting compared to this, u have the most beutyfull and exiting machines of the motorsport enginering! the 8h of castellet will be an awesome race but i have to agreed with a portuguese fan that said eurosport doesnt do a proper coveregeand is rigt, all of the sportscar races should be delivered to motors tv that is a good channel

[LeMans.pt]

Originally Posted by LeMans.pt

First pictures from que Quifel ASM Team GZ09S with the 2010 aero package on lemansportugal.com

Some more details...

- New rear wing support (acura stylish)
- New rear with less drag
- Revised aero more suitable for low drag circuits

[The Real DMN]

Good to see Zytek still working on the car. Its been around a while now, but if it ain't broke.

[Justin Moran]

Originally Posted by The Real DMN

Good to see Zytek still working on the car. Its been around a while now, but if it ain't broke.

Is it not Ginetta working on the old Zytek designs? Or does the old DBA original tub still exist in this new form?

[cmk]

Originally Posted by C9/89

Is it not Ginetta working on the old Zytek designs? Or does the old DBA original tub still exist in this new form?

As far as I know Ginetta bought Zytek so I suppose they both are working on the car technically speaking. The tub design is still the same as far as I know.

I believe the oldest active chassis is the newly re-teamed Bruichladdich car, which was built as a Zytek rather than a DBA but was originally an 07S which debuted at Le Mans as the 2nd 'Barazi-Epsilon' factory-run car and has since run for the factory and Karim Ojjeh. The actual Barazi-Epsilon chassis is older but it seems to have become inactive.

[HORNDAWG]

The way I recall it, Lawrence Tomlinson bought into Zytek engineering in an equal 50/50 partnership with Bill Gibson (Zytek), hence Ginetta Zytek.








L.P.