© Automobile Club de l’Ouest
Just under two weeks from the start of the inaugural Asian Le Mans Series weekend at the Okayama International Circuit most of the available seats have been taken up and twenty-three cars and over fifty drivers are set to take part in the Japanese races.
For some race fans the Okayama circuit will not be a rather familiar name. The circuit is located some sixty kilometers north of Okayama on the Honshu Island and was part of the 1994 and 1995 Formula 1 calendar. Back then the 3.703 km long circuit was known as the TI Circuit Aida. During the Asian Le Mans Series weekend the participating teams will compete in two separate races, each 500 kilometers or 3 hours long.
At Okayama the LM P1 class will feature seven cars. Aston Martin Racing will enter the Le Mans Series winning Lola Aston Martin. In Japan the #007 will be driven by LMS champion Stefan Mücke as well as Harold Primat. Direct competition will come from the Oreca 01 AIM driven by Nicolas Lapierre and Loïc Duval and the Sora Racing Pescarolo Judd of Christophe Tinseau and Japanese driver Shinji Nakano.
Drayson Racing will enter its new Lola B09/69 Judd for the first time outside the US. Paul Drayson and Jonny Cocker hope to get a decent result in Japan, after two rather unfortunate races in the American Le Mans Series.
Despite not having an Audi R15 or a Peugeot 908 at the start of the race, there will be two diesel cars racing in Japan. Kolles has entered both Audi R10 TDI’s, one for Audi factory driver Oliver Jarvis and Kolles regular Christian Bakkerud, the other for Matteo Cressoni, who tested the R10 TDI at a German airfield last week, and a yet to be announced second driver (rumoured to be an ex-F1 driver from Japan).
After making its appearance in the 2008 Le Mans 24 Hours the Tokai University Courage-Oreca LC70 YGK will make its return to an ACO sanctioned series as well with Shogo Misuyama and Shigekazu Wakisaka.
In LMP2 French teams OAK Racing and Ibanez Racing Service will be fighting for the Le Mans invitation. Jacques Nicolet, Richard Hein and Mathieu Lahaye will be in the Pescarolo Mazda, while José Ibanez, William Cavailhes and Frederic Da Roca in the Courage LC75 AER.
Four GT1 cars will compete in the world’s latest international GT1 race, before the new GT1-spec cars will replace them. Larbre Competition will send one of its Saleen S7Rs to Japan, where it will be driven by a trio of drivers; Stéphane Lémeret, Roland Berville and Carlo van Dam. All three of them have raced a Saleen this year, with Van Dam also having experience at the track after racing and winning there in Japanese F3 in 2008.
Three Japanese cars will compete against Larbre. JLOC will enter two Lamborghini Murcielago’s for Koji Yamanishi, Yuya Sakamoto, Hideshi Matsuda, Atsushi Yogo and Hiroyuki Iiri. Hopefully the JLOC team will be able to wash away the bad taste of their two previous runs at Le Mans. The final car is the Hitotsuyama Team Nova Aston Martin DBR9 of Takeshi Tsuchiya and Akihiro Tsuzuki.
Perhaps the most interesting field of the race weekend will be the GT2 class. Ten cars will be in action and with a Ford, three Ferrari’s, four Porsches, an Aston Martin and a BMW it is hard to say what manufacturer will win this. With entries from the US, Europe as well as Asia it is almost impossible to say what the difference in level between the teams will be.
The two teams that will make the trip from the American Le Mans Series are Robertson Racing and BMW Rahal Letterman Racing. Robertson Racing will enter its Doran Ford GT-R for David and Andrea Robertson as well as David Murry, while BMW Rahal Letterman Racing will bring one of its BMW M3 GTRs for Tommy Milner and Dirk Müller. Both cars have been at the front of the American Le Mans Series recently, either in qualifying or at the end of a race, so they will be heading to Japan with their sights set on the podium.
From Europe Team Felbermayr Proton will bring two Porsche 997 GT3 RSRs. Porsche factory drivers Marc Lieb and Wolf Henzler will drive the #77 entry, while the sister car will see Christian Ried being joined by Porsche junior Marco Holzer. Two strong line-ups that should be capable of fighting for the class win at Okayama. But they will be joined by another European top entry, the Hankook-Team Farnbacher Ferrari F430 GT2, driven by another experience pair, Dominik Farnbacher and Allan Simonsen.
Four Japanese teams will join the European and American teams. Team Daishin and JimGainer Racing will both enter a Ferrari F430 GT2 for their Super GT drivers. Daishin will have Takayuki Aoki and Tomonobu Fuji behind the wheel of its Ferrari, while JimGainer will enter Katsuyuki Hiranaka and Tetsuya Tanaka.
Joining the two Ferrari’s are two Porsches. The first is a Porsche 997 GT3 RSR of Hankook-KTR. Mitsuhiro Kinoshita and Masami Kageyama, both racing for KTR in Super GT, will defend the Hankook colors. The second Porsche is the Scuderia Forme entry. Tadakazu Kojima, K.R. Hori and M. Kimura will drive the old-spec Porsche 996 GT3 RSR, which is unlikely to fight for a top position.
And finally the only Chinese team in the weekend. Team Hong Kong Racing will enter an Aston Martin Vantage GT2. None other than Le Mans Series champion and GT2 ace Tomas Enge will join Chinese drivers Philip Ma and Jeffrey Lee. It remains to be seen though what the Chinese Vantage can do against the armada of American, European and Japanese teams.
Find the latest entry list for the Asian Le Mans Series at Okayama here!
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