ILMC 2011 Discussion

[JAG]

Audi have cars ready to run in the ALMS but it's Audi NA's decision to run them or not.

Likewise you'd think someone would run customer Corvette's in the ALMS yet Larbre are the ones announcing an ILMC program.

A strong WSC and IMSA GTP ran in parallel for over a decade, the ILMC can follow in the WSC's footsteps but the ALMS needs greater homegrown support.

[cmk]

Concur, I do not believe this is good news for the ALMS or for PLM. It may not be disastrous either, but if it ends up discouraging Peugeot and Audi (for example) from running at PLM then I think it is a net loss for sportscar fans. I can't possibly see an ILMC race at Fuji providing an equivalent spectacle. Is this all to make nice with Toyota?

[yamato]

Originally Posted by cmk

Is this all to make nice with Toyota?

you might be on to something there,......

Everything about this move is puzzling,.... if you had seen the amazing crowd and enthusiasm at PLM this year with ACO pricipals in attendance,... you would be wondering right along with me as to what the heck is going on here?

[chernaudi]

This gives credance to the fact on why Audi said that if they did the ALMS next year that most of the races would be with updated R15s. The R18's can be used in the ILMC events, while the R15s and equipment can be stationed in America.

This doesn't preclude Audi from doing PLM next year, ILMC round or not, but we may not see the R18 in competition on American soil until 2012, as it's rumored that the ALMS-spec wide tired R15 may run Sebring.

[Acid09]

The PLM doesn't need the ILMC and the associated manufacturer interest, the ALMS will be having strong enough grids on their own..just like this year..

/sarcasm off

[JAG]

What are the candidates for a July date, Germany, northern/eastern Europe?

Can't see them running in southern Europe unless it's an evening race.

[Acid09]

Nürburgring (although their calendar might be packed already), Monza, Brno..

[pederb]

In 2011, the team Larbre Compétition will open a new chapter of his long story. After having clinched a large number of victories in Le Mans 24 Hours, in Le Mans Series, Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and in French GT Championship, the most wrapped French endurance team puts the course on a new project, probably one of the most ambitious of its career. A the time when BMW, Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Spyker, Panoz and Lamborghini joined the endurance GT, Team Larbre Compétition joins Corvette Racing to become its official team in Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.

www.planetlemans.comilmc/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+planetlemans+%28Planetlemans+Newsfeed%29 &utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

[chernaudi]

Anyone think that it's possible that the wide-tired Audi R15 may run ILMC events outside of Sebring? In his article about the 90X, Pruett said that the Audi R15 was being upgraded after Zhuhai to run rear tires on the front, and would be mainly used for testing the idea parallel to the R18. However, he went on to say that the car may run Sebring, and would likely attend ALMS and LMS/ILMC tests and Sebring and Paul Ricard respectivly.

I know that Audi wants the R18 for LM and the ILMC, while the R15 was intended for the ALMS. But with those rumors, could the R15 have a life after China as a racing car, ALMS or not?

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

I know that Audi wants the R18 for LM and the ILMC, while the R15 was intended for the ALMS. But with those rumors, could the R15 have a life after China as a racing car, ALMS or not?

Surely it is more a question of does anyone have the budget to run the car rather than does the car have a life. Where there is a will there is a way. Signs up to this point would imply there isn't but hopefully someone can pull together a late deal. Especially as though it seems Audi might be willing to meet half way in doing some of the initial ground work on the old car themselves...

[rich07]

That Larbre Corvette looks fantastic! Will that driver lineup be good enough though?

[mattcat]

It is ridiculous not to include PLM in the ILMC...only one event in North America, come on...

[Dyson Mazda]

you might be on to something there,......

Everything about this move is puzzling,.... if you had seen the amazing crowd and enthusiasm at PLM this year with ACO pricipals in attendance,... you would be wondering right along with me as to what the heck is going on here?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is not really that puzzling. It is quite hard to negotiate a new TV contract writing off the TV rights to your two top races to the ACO.

[NaBUru38]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

Perhaps, but given the schedule, it is also impossible for any teams to do ILMC AND the ALMS, which really is VERY poor planning, if it wasn't intentional. That alone could be predatory.

Yes indeed. May was cleared to allow teams to test at Le Mans, so Spa in May is fine. But Euro TBA in July and Silverstone in September make American teams impossible to do both.

The ILMC should be about LMP1 teams running everywhere, American GT2 teams doing Sebring, Le Mans and Atlanta, European GT2 teams doing Spa, Le Mans and Silverstone, and either or both doing Asian races. There shouldn't be a GT2 teams championship either, because it forces American teams to drop the ALMS if they want to do the ILMC.

[JAG]

http://www.planetlemans.com/2010/11/...acing-in-2011/

Is the Lehmann engine based on a road car motor?

LMP1

Joest Audi R18 x2

Peugeot Sport 90X x2

ORECA Peugeot 90X x1

Prodrive Aston Martin x2

Drayson Racing Lola-? x1 (2)

Oak Racing Pescarolo-Judd x2

Rebellion Lola-Toyota x2

Pescarolo-Judd x2

Hope PoleVision Racing ORECA x1

GTE

Larbre Corvette ZO6 x1

Schnitzer BMW M3 x1 (2)

Porsche?

Ferrari?

Jaguar?

[joeb]

Originally Posted by JAG

GTE

Larbre Corvette ZO6 x1

Schnitzer BMW M3 x1 (2)

Porsche?

Ferrari?

Jaguar?

Paul G. mentioned that they would have to drop from 2 cars in ALMS to 1 car if they wanted to run the ILMC. So unless somebody else runs a Jag, I don't see them competing in the fly-away rounds (maybe LeMans though).

[HJJ]

Originally Posted by joeb

So unless somebody else runs a Jag, I don't see them competing in the fly-away rounds (maybe LeMans though).

IMHO, the team is not worthy of an invite to LeMans. They wasted it last year.

[Fogelhund]

This whole thing is a poorly conceived mess, unless someone got greased large.

[chernaudi]

Originally Posted by Simmi

Surely it is more a question of does anyone have the budget to run the car rather than does the car have a life. Where there is a will there is a way. Signs up to this point would imply there isn't but hopefully someone can pull together a late deal. Especially as though it seems Audi might be willing to meet half way in doing some of the initial ground work on the old car themselves...

Dygas at Speed reports that the Audi R18 probably won't run Sebring, and my debut at Spa instead, and per Audi's press the R18 will be publically launched next month.

At Sebring, Audi will likely run updated R15s, with the updates being namely wider front wheels and tires, per Pruett's article about the 90x.

[JAG]

Lots of other good stuff in that article, well worth a read.

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...rtscars-119/P1

[NaBUru38]

Originally Posted by Asa

12 Hours of Sebring (USA), March 19th
Le Mans test day (FRA), April 24th
Spa-Francorchamps (BEL), May 8th
24 Heures du Mans (FRA), June 11th - 12th
TBA, Europe, July
Silverstone (UK), Sept 11th
TBA, Overseas, October
China, November

Sebring clashes with WTCC. The July race will either clash WTCC and DTM (3rd and 17th) or F1 (Silverstone on 10th, Nürburgring on 24th). Petit Le Mans clashes with WTCC and DTM.

The ACO should pick the ILMC dates well in advance, just like they do with the 24 Hours. That way, DTM and WTCC bosses can avoid date clashes and allow drivers to do both.

[chernaudi]

Also, this sort of screws up driver lineups for Audi and Peugeot. Granted, there's no offical drivers' championship planned for next year, so that doesn't really matter, but the only full time drivers that Audi have for their sportscar program are Allan, Dindo, Tom and Rocky, and Mike also does the DTM races. Andre, Ben and Marcel do Super GT for the former two and various GT and prototype races for the latter, and Romain and Timo are still technically Porsche drivers first and foremost.

With Peugeot, things are slightly less complicated, though Sarazin still occasionally does rallying and GT racing, and Simon probably still has commitments to Highcroft in the ALMS.

I hoped that maybe that Audi and Peugeot would be able to have more consistant driver lineups, and I wouldn't be surprised to see either a McNish/Capello and Kristensen/Rockenfeller or an Allan/TK and Dindo/Rocky lineup if it was only two drivers per-car, but with the races being at least 6 hours (or maybe 1000k if the time expires, who knows with the ACO), maybe we'll see a revolving door 3 driver at the Audi and Peugeot camps

Either that, or Audi and Peugeot will enter a third, unclassified car in the pre-LM ILMC races at Sebring and Spa, and that they may run unclassifed cars in the LMS race at Paul Ricard. If Audi has repaired the R15 tubs that they damaged at PLM or have decided to build new ones to supplment their exhisting stock, Audi should have no issue fielding 3 cars at Sebring. If it were the R18 as well as Peugeot with the 90X, there may be an issue there. But we'll see what happens there.

[Deleted]

I'm a bit late to this party, but whatever - ACO is acting like a spoiled, retarded child with it's insane schedulings and expansions. I could expect a mess like this from SRO or whatever, but not from them. If there's a clash between some boring Asian event (with odd 20 entries) and PLM, it's not hard to choose what to watch.

Labre Corvette is fantastic news, albeit it's really not the best privateer team available.

[Simmi]

I'm just hoping it's all a bit of posturing and negotiation tactics (albeit not quite sure what they are negotiating) and it will all get sorted eventually. With so many TBA's the second half of that calendar can still change drastically IMO.

The thing is, the ACO does understand that the ILMC needs to be built on the spectacle of storied historic races and tracks because they have said so themselves. The combination of that plus breaking into new markets makes it very attractive. I just hope the entire schedule doesn't become subject to the whims of Audi and Pug.

[JAG]

The European TBA looks like it will be Nurburgring or Monza.

It's an excellent move to bring the Michelin guy in to run the series, he seems to have a handle on the small details. i.e 6hr races rather than 1000k to help TV schedulers, together with the bigger picture.

If there's a clash between some boring Asian event (with odd 20 entries) and PLM, it's not hard to choose what to watch.

This was not even year one for the ILMC, it was a trial run to prepare for 2011 and beyond. Fifteen to twenty full-time entrants are expected next year in addition to local competitors, by comparison five showed up at PLM.

I'd like to think the best years of sportscar racing are still to come and given technology has made the world a smaller place a global series seems a natural fit.