Aston Martin Autonews: 24 Hours of Le Mans 2009

Post a comment

The LMP1 battle at the 77th edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours could well become one of the best fights we have seen for years. Even though the fight at the front will likely be that between Peugeot and Audi again there are some quick petrol engined cars as well. In that battle for the best petrol engined car Pescarolo and Oreca will do their best to beat Aston Martin on their home race.

Nine diesel engined cars will fight against eleven petrol engined cars. Cars with lots of Le Mans experience will take on brand new cars. Time to analyze the LMP1 class team by team:

007-AMR Eastern Europe: Aston Martin Racing’s first ever LMP1 attempt will be with three cars. The #007 will be the ‘third’ car, driven by its regular Le Mans Series crew of Jan Charouz, Tomas Enge and Stefan Mücke. Last year this trio of drivers raced the Charouz Lola Aston Martin and had some problems on their way to the finish, where they eventually finished in ninth place. Should they stay out of trouble this time this car could fight for best non-diesel of the race.

008-Aston Martin Racing: The first of the ‘official’ Aston Martin Racing entries will be the #008 Lola Aston Martin driven by Darren Turner, Anthony Davidson and Jos Verstappen. Despite a serious accident in testing at Monza Verstappen is ready although it is highly unlikely that he will again take the class win this year. Probably the best possible line-up of the three works Lola Aston Martins.

009-Aston Martin Racing: This Lola Aston Martin will see LMS regular Harold Primat being joined by Stuart Hall and Peter Kox. Miguel Ramos was set to drive this car but opted to step out and hand over his seat to sportscar ace Peter Kox. Stuart Hall returns to Le Mans after his crash in the Creation in 2008, though he’s done well so far in 2009. All in all this line-up might not be the best of the Aston team, it is certainly one with potential.

1-Audi Sport Team Joest: The absolute top favourite to win the Le Mans 24 Hours. Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Dindo Capello need no introduction anymore. The Audi R15 TDI will make its debut at Le Mans and the drivers of the #1 Audi hope to repeat the debut of the car at the Sebring 12 Hours where it won the race. The R15 is capable of winning, the drivers are and so is the team!

2-Audi Sport North America: An all-German line-up in the only Audi that is entered under the US banner. Lucas Luhr, Mike Rockenfeller and Marco Werner have been put together to race the #2 car this year. Even though these guys might not (yet) have the pace of their colleagues in the #1 Audi they should be capable of fighting for a podium finish.

3-Audi Sport Team Joest: After racing with Rockenfeller and Luhr back in 2008 Alexandre Prémat will be joined by two names that surprised some fans: Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard. The two factory Porsche drivers have been loaned to Audi to improve their line-up in the battle against Peugeot. Bernhard and Dumas know what racing over 24 hours is, having won their third consecutive Nürburgring 24 Hours together only 2 weeks ago.

4-Creation Autosportif: It almost looked like Creation had folded after the 2008 season had ended but the team, which is now based in the US, is back once again, thanks to team owner Mike Jankowski. The team will bring its Creation CA07, adjusted to 2009 rules and Judd powered. Jamie Campbell-Walter will be the lead driver, with Vanina Ickx and Romain Ianetta joining him. All three drivers have raced at Le Mans before, but it is unlikely to help them getting a top result.

6-Team LNT: Team LNT returns to Le Mans and uses it to promote its Ginetta brand. LNT Group chairman and driver Lawrence Tomlinson will be one of the three drivers, with LNT Automotive Managing Director and race driver Richard Dean joining him. Both were part of the Panoz Esperante team that won the GT2 class in 2006. Joining both experienced guys will be Nigel Moore. Moore will be the youngest British driver ever at Le Mans and youngest ever driver to race there in LMP1.

7-Team Peugeot Sport: After being teamed up with Gené and Villeneuve in 2008 Nicolas Minassian will have Pedro Lamy and Christian Klien as team mates in the #7 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP this year. Minassian and Klien won the LMS race at Spa-Francorchamps a month ago so they know their car should be capable of running for victory against their team mates and the Audi’s.

8-Team Peugeot Sport: A complete French line-up for the #8 as Franck Montagny, Stéphane Sarrazin and Sebastien Bourdais will share the wheel of the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP. Likely to be the most favourite Peugeot among the French fans around the Le Mans circuit. The trio finished second at the 12 Hours of Sebring, just 22 seconds behind the winning Audi R15 TDI so they know they have every chance to beat the Germans this time.

9-Peugeot Sport Total: Peugeot regulars Marc Gené and Alexander Wurz will be joined by sportscar ace and current Acura LMP1 driver David Brabham. Despite an unlucky race at Spa last month the #9 was as fast as the #7 that eventually won the race in Belgium. Sixteen years after his brother Geoff won Le Mans for Peugeot (in the 905) David Brabham hopes it’s his time to win Le Mans next weekend.

10-Team Oreca Matmut Aim: Hugues de Chaunac’s team has made a lot of progress since the take over of Courage. A new engine, new bodywork and the signing of several new drivers have moved the team further forward. Driving the #10 at Le Mans are Bruno Senna, Stephane Ortelli and FIA WTCC driver Tiago Monteiro. While Ortelli is fast and has tons of Le Mans experience his two team mates are new at Le Mans, which could be this car’s biggest handicap.

11-Team Oreca Matmut Aim: Driven by Olivier Panis, Nicolas Lapierre and Soheil Ayari this could well be the best of the two Oreca 01 AIMs. All three drivers have raced at Le Mans at least once and they all know the team and the car very well. Driver-wise there should not be a problem for this car, reliability seems to be the key word.

12-Signature Plus: Running a Courage-Oreca LC70 Judd in what the team described as a learning year. Regular drivers Franck Mailleux and Pierre Ragues are joined by Didier André for the Le Mans 24 Hours. Even though the team has lots of experience in racing and did quite well in the Mans Series so far, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is something completely different. If they stay out of trouble, keep mechanical gremlins away a finish around P10 would probably be the best possible.

13-Speedy Racing Team Sebah: This is one of the former Charouz Racing Lola Aston Martins. So far the car has been running at the front in the first two rounds of the LMS, but on both races the team suffered mechanical problems. If those problems are not solved before Le Mans Andrea Belicchi, Nicolas Prost and Neel Jani will be in serious trouble. Regular driver Marcel Fässler will race for Corvette at Le Mans, another loss for this team. If it is reliable it should be right up there with the top petrol cars.

14-Kolles: The Audi R10 TDI was unbeatable at Le Mans even last year, but now that they run as privateer entries in the hands of Kolles the magic has gone. At the time of writing only Narain Karthikeyan and Charles Zwolsman were confirmed by the ACO for this Audi. Both drivers lack experience in the R10 though, which is said to be very challenging to drive, and both have not raced at Le Mans before.

15-Kolles: Like the other Kolles Audi the #15 has so far not really been able to challenge the front runners in the Le Mans Series. The nr. 1 driver in this car will be Christijan Albers who has so far been the best Kolles driver of the season, but also the only one with previous R10 experience. Christian Bakkerud and Giorgio Mondini have struggled in the car so far this season, but will do their best at Le Mans. Don’t expect this ageing car to beat its petrol engined rivals though…

16-Pescarolo Sport: Only one Pescarolo Judd this year, one that performed well in the Le Mans Series so far. New bodywork on the car meant the team made a big step forward. Unfortunately the two drivers that did so well in the LMS have been split up for Le Mans and the Pescarolo will now be driven by Christophe Tinseau, Bruce Jouanny and João Barbosa. It is still a strong line-up though, but not as good as in several other cars. The car has shown it is reliable, which is a big plus at Le Mans

17-Pescarolo Sport: The second Pescarolo entry, although a roofed one. Peugeot has done everything in its attempt to beat Audi and placed a Peugeot 908 HDi FAP with Henri Pescarolo’s team. With Jean-Christophe Boullion, Simon Pagenaud and Benoit Treluyer the line up is very strong and the only thing that will probably prevent this car from beating the other diesels is the fact that it is an older chassis with updates and an older engine. It will help Peugeot in its battle against Audi though.

23-Strakka Racing: The second Ginetta-Zytek 09S in the LMP1 field. Danny Watts showed that the car can go fast over a single lap at the LMS season opener in Barcelona, but the lack of experience (or pure pace) of his team mates will not help him. Fortunately Peter Hardman and Nick Leventis know what it feels like to race at Le Mans after competing in the ‘Vitaphone’ DBR9 in 2008 but doing Le Mans in an LMP1 car is somewhat different.

Click

Aston Martin Autonews

Saturday, June 6, 2009

24 Hours of Le Mans 2009 - LMP1 Preview

No comments:

Post a Comment

Followers

Blog Archive