Le Mans 24 Hours 2011; LMP2 Preview

In the build up to this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours we are taking a detailed look at the cars and their drivers with Graham Goodwin from Dailysportscar.com.

LMP2: Nissan return to Le Mans

Eleven cars look set to take to the Le Mans Circuit in 2011 in the new look LMP2 class. Three engine suppliers, six chassis manufacturers and ten teams provide plenty of variety, whilst trying to unpick the rule book gives us several effective sub classes – cost-capped and 2010-specification cars. This really is almost pointlessly complicated.

The big news in LMP2 is the return of a Nissan factory supported entrant, albeit very firmly a customer engine programme, with Zytek assisting NISMO with the assembly and support of their ex Super GT 4.5 litre V8. The engine has dominated the season so far, with two out of three relevant race results falling to Nissan engined P2 cars so far this season.

There are three Nissan engined cars due to race at Le Mans:
Signatech field the No. 26 car. Their Oreca 03 chassis is specifically designed to accommodate the big V8. Despite being a new 2011 chassis, the Oreca doesn’t sport the ‘mandatory’ dorsal fin because the 03 LMP2 car is derived from the 2008/9 vintage 01 LMP1 chassis. The No. 26 car runs with backing from Playstation, and there’s a great story behind that deal, with young Lucas Ordoñez listed on the driver roster. Just three years ago, Lucas was the first winner of the Playstation Challenge and after cutting his teeth on the prize drive in FIA GT4, aboard an RJN Nissan 350Z, is now aboard the No.26 Oreca for a full season’s ILMC campaign. Joining the affable (and rather quick) Ordoñez is Soheil Ayari, the highly experienced endurance racer and Franck Mailleux, staying with the team for a third consecutive year of endurance racing in a third different car. If the new car niggles are finally behind the Oreca 03/Nissan combination then this car could challenge on pace throughout.

Another challenger may be the very similar No.48 Oreca Nissan of Team Oreca Matmut – an oddity, as this is a factory entry in a supposedly solidly privateer class! The chassis used at the test is the car entered for the season by Boutsen Energy, and their full season driver, Dominik Kraihamer, stays aboard his usual mount. He’s joined by ex-Audi factory man and 2009 Le Mans Series Champion Alex Premat – the ‘Am’ factor comes with the evergreen David Hallyday. Plenty of experience in endurance racing so no reason on the driver front why the No.48 car shouldn’t be right up there at the end.

To win, both cars will need to better the efforts of the third Nissan engine entry; the No.41 Greaves Motorsport Zytek Nissan. This car already has a class win to its name in the 2011 Le Mans Series at Paul Ricard; and with team stalwart Karim Ojjeh joined by recent signing Olivier Lombard, the ‘Am’ side of this crew has plenty of potential. Both men have more pace than most and neither has a record of assisting the Armco industry. The Pro on the roster is Greaves’ not so secret weapon. Tom Kimber-Smith returned to the sportscar racing scene after a couple of years away with a view to seeing whether he could pick up a successful career where his budget had left off. He is another man with class-winning form at Le Mans, in his case aboard the GT2 winning Team LNT Panoz back in 2006. After a stellar display at Paul Ricard saw the team claim victory, Kimber-Smith was confirmed not only for the remainder of the season but also for Le Mans, a race not originally on his 2011 schedule. His pace could make the difference for the No.41 team and a run for class pole looks possible and a podium or better is certainly well within the team’s reach.

The two car effort here is OAK Racing; Jacques Nicolet’s squad also field a pair of LMP1s and all four feature the iconic Gulf colours. DAMS provide some additional resource here for Le Mans and that could be telling at the great race. All four cars are powered by Judd, with both LMP2 cars powered by the four litre BMW based V8. We have already seen the No.35 car this season and, to be blunt, its pace has been underwhelming after the excellent performances in recent seasons from the team in the junior class. The No.49 car hasn’t been seen at all this season so far and the team have rolled out an intriguing driver line up. Shinji Nakano hasn’t been seen in an LMP car since a one-off outing in the Asian Le Mans Series race at Okayama in 2009. Nicolas de Crem has shown his pace in both FLM and LMP2 with Boutsen Energy. He should prove to be a real asset here, so long as he doesn’t try to prove anything beyond the point at which he is a capable and quick endurance racer. Finally, Jan Charouz returns to OAK for a second consecutive year. He could prove an asset, with his undeniable speed and consistency, but needs to remember all he learnt during his time in top flight sportscar racing, rather than what he has learnt in the upper echelons of single seater formulae. The no.49 car could feature, but will suffer, compared to the cost-capped cars, from the latest performance adjustments which reinforced the power disadvantage and also gave the newer car a fuel flow edge too.

That also means that the chances for the No.39 Pecom Racing Lola Judd just got a whole lot better – a power boost won’t hurt the team’s prospects one little bit, with the package already looking strong even before the latest ACO changes. There’s little hiding the twitchiness from Lola around the various routes by which canny teams and manufacturers have found routes through the 2011 regulations. That situation is underlined heavily when you see that the Lola B11/40, entered under the Argentinian flag but manned principally in technical terms by AF Corse, is the only car which meets the full range of 2011 cost-capped regulations (including the dorsal fin!). The Pecom Racing car might just, though, put some smiles back on Lola faces. Luis Perez Companc is the man behind this effort, with the family firm’s ice cream money providing the resources and Mathias Russo and Pierre Kaffer providing a huge boost in competitive terms.

There are two more Judd-engined entries; and though neither are expected to be amongst the pace setters, either could pull off a traditionally stoic LMP2 run to be up with the leaders in LMP2. The No.40 Race Performance ORECA 03-Judd is a unique blend between the 03 chassis and the Judd BMW. This has had some disadvantages for the Swiss team, back for a second consecutive appearance at Le Mans this year, with more new car niggles than they probably bargained for. Michel Frey and Ralph Meichtry remain from the 2010 full season squad, whilst Marc Rostan again joins in for the big race. That driver line-up might not fan the flames, but what it does do is to present the possibility of a steady but competitive run through the race. There will be no room though for the kind of problems that have cost the team too much time in their race campaign thus far this season.

The final Judd-BMW-engined car is another Le Mans returnee, but with a different team, different drivers and a different engine too. The No.44 Extreme Limite AM Paris Norma M200P raced here last season with the 2010 spec Judd V8 and in the hands of Pegasus Racing. The team though fell out badly with the chassis constructor after late delivery left them with precious little prep time. The final hammer blow was dealt by a race ending shunt early in the 2010 24 Hours which saw the car hit by the Spyker, which in turn had been punted by a wayward Audi. The Extreme Limite squad were looking to step up and took on the Norma project. Their pace so far in 2011 with the No.44 car has been less than stunning, but Fabien Rosier is showing flashes of inspiration. The Le Mans Series regular drivers are replaced in June by Philippe Haezebrouck and Jean Rene de Fournoux. A reliability run will be on the agenda, but beyond that it’s tough to see how the Norma will shine.

Finally, there’s a trio of 2.8 litre twin turbo V6 Honda-engined cars. The performance package handed out to the teams was the source of considerable angst for all the HPD powered teams, but a post Paul Ricard performance break appears to have made a sizeable difference. First up, the Level 5 squad; who have invested heavily this season, courtesy of team owner Scott Tucker. A trio of new Lola chassis have been acquired by the team and one of their pair of 2010 spec Coupes (albeit with the dorsal fin) will be on the grid as a full season ILMC entry, although it will probably not be the car crashed heavily at Spa by Christophe Bouchut. The team won first time out at Sebring with the new Lolas. Previous overall race winner Bouchut anchors the driving squad, aided and abetted by the ever so talented Joao Barbosa; while Scott Tucker starts Le mans for the second time (after a run in a Kolles Audi R10 TDI). If the HPD is in any way competitive over full stints, then this car should be there and thereabouts – Bouchut and Barbosa are both well capable of exploiting any advantage.

Both the British teams of Strakka Racing and RML field HPD ARX 01d chassis, the Wirth Engineering masterpiece offering much in the way of wieldiness; in part offsetting the power issues, but less of a help here than at any circuit on the calendar. Strakka Racing won last year, of course, and arrive with the same package (aside from the engine) and the same approach to preparation and strategy that won them the silverware with one of the most impressive privateer performances at Le Mans in the modern era. Expect them to again display remarkable economy and for both Jonny Kane and Danny Watts to squeeze every last drop of potential from the No. 42 package. Nick Leventis played a full part in the race victory last year and will only have got better since. The main questions are: Is the 2011-spec HPD a winning package? And can Strakka begin to hope for a run as clean as in 2010?

Strakka took the Le Mans crown last year, but their friends and rivals at RML took the Le Mans Series title, again with an HPD V8 but at that time with a Lola Coupe chassis. They were delighted to take Championship honours, but it’s the Le Mans title they want back. The team were delighted with their ex de Ferran chassis, but that’s now history courtesy of a huge Spa practice accident for the No. 36 car – the team now rumoured to be awaiting delivery of a brand new tub, ironically built by Oreca! This means that it’s all hands to the pumps and that the hugely professional RML backroom team, ably managed by Phil Barker, will be tested as never before in the run up to race week. On the driver front, there are a trio of very familiar faces. The Mike Newton/ Thomas Erdos double act has been an ever-present in the Le Mans Series since its inception and they have never missed a European Le Mans Series race weekend, and only failed to start at Spa after the practice shunt. Newton’s rapid and reliable pace has, in part, been the key to much of RML’s success; keeping in touch with the faster drivers for long enough to allow his pro co-drivers to go to work later in the races. Here’s hoping that the Spa acrobatics courtesy of a wayward Peugeot haven’t dulled his edge. Erdos has relished the task and is still hungry for another Le Mans class win. Tommy is amongst the most popular men in the paddock, and with good reason; generous with his time to team mates, competitors and fans, he’s also one of the fastest men on the grid. The final link in the RML chain is Ben Collins, back where he belongs at Le Mans; scene of his heroics a decade ago, in the rain in the Ascari. Collins will be quick and metronomic, and he’s motivated and excited by the task ahead. Always a good thing!

Either or neither of the two British HPD squads might challenge overall. If the V6 is reliable and the pace not too far off the Nissans and Judds, we will predict a potential win for either the No.42 or the No36 in the LMP2 class at Le Mans 2011.

Graham Goodwin
Graham is the editor of www.dailysportscar.com
Graham has also participated in the Radiolemans Audio previews with John Hindhaugh.