ILMC 2011 Discussion

[cmk]

If ESM finds the form with the 458 that they had at PLM with the 430, it would not be a surprise to see their lead car in the mix. I do wish Sharp and Brown would pair with one another, though, because a van Overbeek/Cosmo/Farnbacher lineup would be seriously competitive. All 3 of those guys were quite quick in the 430s at PLM.

[WMUCarGuy]

Originally Posted by cmk

If ESM finds the form with the 458 that they had at PLM with the 430, it would not be a surprise to see their lead car in the mix. I do wish Sharp and Brown would pair with one another, though, because a van Overbeek/Cosmo/Farnbacher lineup would be seriously competitive. All 3 of those guys were quite quick in the 430s at PLM.

Yea it is a shame as Cosmo is their fastest driver and he's paired with their slowest.

[TWK]

Originally Posted by WMUCarGuy

Yea it is a shame as Cosmo is their fastest driver and he's paired with their slowest.

Guy Cosmo is not ESM's fastest driver at Sebring.

[WMUCarGuy]

Originally Posted by TWK

Guy Cosmo is not ESM's fastest driver at Sebring.

Will they have Farnbacher and Barbosa with them again, or will they have someone else joining them for the enduros?

[dxk1]

Originally Posted by TWK

Guy Cosmo is not ESM's fastest driver at Sebring.

Cosmo had some good races last year, but Van Overbeek was their fastest racer even setting fastest GT2 lap at a few events last year.

DK

[Victor_RO]

http://twitter.com/#!/johndagys/stat...50097318551553

BREAKING: BMW commits to #ILMC. More to come...

[gwyllion]

BMW Motorsport director Mario Theissen explained BMW's ILMC commitment: "The Intercontinental Le Mans Cup enjoyed a successful debut in 2011 and we were able to experience victory in the LM GT2 class. We have decided to continue to support this relatively young series and to line up with two cars in the new LM GTE Pro category."

source: Full BMW ILMC campaign for Priaulx (autosport.com)

[joeb]

Originally Posted by gwyllion

source: Full BMW ILMC campaign for Priaulx (autosport.com)

So will this be in addition to the full alms program with rlr?

[Acid09]

Yes, two cars in the ILMC entered by Schnitzer, RLR will do the two US-rounds.

[Victor_RO]

Does that mean though 4 BMWs at Sebring and Petit, or just Rahal running the ALMS cars as the ILMC entries at those two?

[gwyllion]

Schnitzer is not going to US.

Five BMW works drivers will be behind the wheel in the ILMC. Andy Priaulx, Augusto Farfus and Jörg Müller have been confirmed as regular drivers for BMW Team Schnitzer. Priaulx and Farfus will head to the USA for the ILMC races that form part of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). In Sebring and in Road Atlanta they will support BMW Team RLL and BMW works drivers, Dirk Müller and Dirk Werner, as well as the two Americans, Bill Auberlen and Joey Hand, who will be battling for points and victories throughout the entire ALMS season.

source: http://www.bmw-motorsport.com/ms_en/...ns_cup_in_2011

[MarkLMS]

looks great so that mean 2 bmw's in the europian ilmc rounds?

[gwyllion]

That is what the press release says:

BMW Team RLL (Rahal Letterman Lanigan) will fly the BMW flag at the two races on American soil. At the four European races and the championship's Asian round in China, BMW Team Schnitzer will be responsible for fielding the two BMW M3 GT2 cars.

[Simmi]

Dagys says there is a waiver for ILMC registered teams to miss the first round if their cars are not ready.

[The Badger]

Just read that , it sucks if you ask me .

[Simmi]

I also asked John last night whether there was a cap on the number of ILMC entrants who got auto-invited to Le Mans.

He said having spoken to Vincent Beaumesnil the answer was no. I suppose it won't be a problem until 40 sets of gentlemen drivers all sign up in five-year-old machines and expect to go to Le Mans.

Dagys expects around 20 ILMC teams this year.

[JAG]

IMO, teams commiting to a full season should be rewarded, the Le Mans only campaigns so many manufactuers and privateers ran after Group C ended is the reason sportscar racing almost fell off the public and media map.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by Simmi

Dagys says there is a waiver for ILMC registered teams to miss the first round if their cars are not ready.

That is weak, IMO, mainly because it makes the 2nd biggest endurance event of the season less important.

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by Simmi

Dagys says there is a waiver for ILMC registered teams to miss the first round if their cars are not ready.

I hope it's not true.

There's absolutely no incentive for teams to get ready for Sebring if this is the case. Year after year, we get excited about team X returning with gorgeous new car Y, only to learn that they'll be skipping the first few rounds because their car isn't ready.

I appreciate that times are hard but in recent years if we only had half of the prototypes at Sebring that were rumoured to enter we would have had a very mouth-watering prospect.

I would love to see Aston there.

[Simmi]

From what he tweeted I got the impression it was to be a one-time-only thing due to the new regs.

So don't ask me how that excuses a team like Jetalliance from entering a GT2 car. You are all right in that it does give teams a means of doing the year slightly cheaper, but if they have any actual desire to be competitive in the ILMC then obviously they need to be at that first race.


My biggest concern at the moment is European TV coverage! For any of it.

[TheNewBob]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

I hope it's not true.

There's absolutely no incentive for teams to get ready for Sebring if this is the case. Year after year, we get excited about team X returning with gorgeous new car Y, only to learn that they'll be skipping the first few rounds because their car isn't ready.

I appreciate that times are hard but in recent years if we only had half of the prototypes at Sebring that were rumoured to enter we would have had a very mouth-watering prospect.

I would love to see Aston there.

Maybe it is for 2011 only, or at least I'd hope so. Afterall the ACO were extremely late with this year's regulations. Next season I'd say there are no excuses.

[Simmi]

A little something to pad out that Luxury Racing story/rumour that went silent.

Hexis AMR have announced their 2011 GT1 line-up and there is no mention of Frederick Makowiecki. For those that didn't see, Mako was rumoured to be sharing a 458 with Stephane Ortelli this year...

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by TheNewBob

Maybe it is for 2011 only, or at least I'd hope so. Afterall the ACO were extremely late with this year's regulations. Next season I'd say there are no excuses.

Its only for 2011 for teams with new or heavily modified chassis .

It still sucks imo .

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by The Badger

Its only for 2011 for teams with new or heavily modified chassis .

It still sucks imo .

Biggest recipient of this waiver will surely be Aston. I simply can't see them getting it ready in time.

[Sirius Motorspo]

Originally Posted by Simmi

Looks like the 2 Evoras will sit out Sebring.

I wonder if that will hurt them when it comes to getting both cars into Le Mans...

The somewhat funny thing is that Lotus at first wanted to field the Evora GT2 in 2012 AFTER extensive testing, but now they suddenly decided to to rush things with offering a fairly new and underdeveloped car who previously has only served in the GT4 ranks.

These days money speaks loud, but I think that they are about to put some seroius dents into the Lotus brand, not trying to take anything away from JetAlliance who has done it great in the past.