With the Le Mans test day this Sunday and the Le Mans 24 Hours now just 2 weeks away, we take a quick look at the cars that will be fighting it out in the GTE classes.
GT racing at Le Mans might be a sideshow to some, but those in the know will tell you that the racing is as good, if not better, in the tin tops than at the front of the field. This year there are five works or semi-works programs front and centre – Ferrari, Aston Martin, SRT Viper, Corvette and Porsche. Are all here. But who will win?
GTE Pro: (Identified by green door cards)
With a class this open and competitive, it’s very hard to know where to start, so we’ll go alphabetically.
Aston Martin Racing, are in a good position. The GTE program has finally delivered on its potential and won at both Silverstone and Spa in the WEC. The Gulf liveried V8 Vantage is a fan favourite and there are five entered across the two classes, with three here in GTE Pro. No. 97 is for Peter Dumbreck, Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner, No. 98 for Bill Auberlen, Paul Dalla Lana and Pedro Lamy and No. 99 for Fred Makowiecki, Bruno Senna and Rob Bell. No. 97 is an astonishing line up, No. 98 is very good, and No. 99 is just as astonishing as No. 97.
The reliability is there & they’ve tasted success already this year, so is this their race? The only problem they may have is that, having been so strong already, they may have shown their hand too soon and the 10kg the car has gained may hamper them slightly. Only time will tell.
Corvette Racing are always strong. The GTE car won in ’11 but disappointed badly in ’12. That will only have fuelled their desire to win again this year. Part time racer, part time comedian Jordan Taylor (one of the best young GT drivers around, and funny to boot) joins Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen, while Olly Gavin, Richard Westbrook and Tommy Milner are the other trio. Either pairing could win this race.
Ferrari won last year and their 458 has been the dominant force in GTE in the past couple of years. AF Corse, are effectively the works team, bring two cars. Giancarlo Fisichella and Gimmi Bruni will head up No.51 (expect a rapid Ferrari connected pilot to join them). Ex Corvette and Viper man Oliver Beretta joins WEC pairing Toni Vilander and Kamui Kobayashi for the No. 71. Bruni is as fast as it gets in GT racing, and Vilander has been there and done it in most GT Ferraris and has a collection of T shirts to prove it. No. 51 is likely to be marginally stronger, if only because this is Kobyashi’s first Le Mans.
There’s also a Ferrari for JMW Motorsport in Pro, but despite the presence of Andrea Bertollini, it’s unlikely to be challenging for the win. Abdul Aziz Turki Alfaisal is a rapid prospect but Khaled al Qubaisi has a long way to come before he’s fast at this level.
Porsche AG are back in GT racing with a works team! The 991 GTE is being run by the factory and, as you’d expect from Porsche, it’s been pretty good. It’s a bit of a stretch to expect a brand new car to win on its first attempt at Le Mans, especially with this opposition, but it’s not beyond the realms of possibility – especially with the line ups on show. No. 91 sees Joerg Bergmeister, Patrick Pilet and Timo Bernhard take the reins and No. 92 Richard Lietz, Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas. It’s like a who’s who of sportscar racing at Porsche – but it’s probably a touch too soon for them to win the class.
Finally, we come to Viper. SRT Motorsports’ GTS-R is a mighty beast, and it has really started to fly in ALMS so it could be right there in France. Ryan Dalziel will pilot alongside Dominik Farnbacher and vastly experienced Marc Goossens, while Tommy Kendall, Kuno Wittmer and Jonathan Bomarito all have pace. The cars have had poles and have been fighting races in this season’s American racing so, with some luck, they can fight for the win at Le Mans. Will it be reliable? That, of course, is the biggest question.
As usual, it’s near impossible to pick a winner – but if forced this writer would put his money on Ferrari.
GTE Am: (Identified by orange door cards)
GTE Am is the home of year old GTE cars, and once again has a varied field. Like any category with amateur drivers, it’s the ‘am’ side of each partnership that really affects the result, and that is particularly true here, with two ‘ams’ in each car.
The favourites have to be Larbre Corvette. Their car has been bullet proof, their No. 50 line up of Patrick Bornhauser and Julien Canal bulletproof and their third driver a star. They’ve added Ricky Taylor (brother of Jordan, son of Wayne) to the line up and he’ll be fast. But it isn’t in speed that they gain, it’s in sheer metronomic consistency – they’ll be there or thereabouts. The No. 70 could be handy too, with Cooper MacNeil fast in America, and Manuel Rodrigues and Philippe Dumas experienced in Europe.
AF Corse have three Am Ferraris (and run one more under another name), and the pick of them will either be No. 55 or No. 61. No. 55 sees Pierguiseppe Perazzini, Darryl O’Young and Lorenzo Case take turns and No. 61 Jack Gerber, Matt Griffin and Marco Cioci. Gerber has largely curbed his wild edge this season and thus the No. 61 could be the stronger. Cioci has had pole in class here and Griffin is a Ferrari expert.
8Star (which is run by AF Corse) could challenge, with team owner Enzo Potolicchio winning LMP2 last year with Starworks and going solo this year. He’s joined by rapid Rui Aguas and Australian V8s legend Jason Bright, who has a little to learn but should be fast. It’s a solid team.
Krohn return again and their unmistakable green Ferrari 458 will be crewed Tracy Krohn, Nic Jöhnsson and Maurizio Mediani. Their strength, like Larbre’s, is consistency, but they will likely need others to falter to see themselves on the top step.
IMSA bring Wolf Henzler, Pascal Gibon and Patrick Milesi, as well as Jean Karl Vernay, Christophe Bourret and Raymond Narac but will be unlikely to have the ultimate pace – the Porsche 997 GTE struggled in ’12 and will struggle to match its rivals here. The same problem will afflict all the Porsche teams in Am.
Proton bring two cars, though one is under the Dempsey Del Piero banner. The footballer and Hollywood star combo will bring headlines but don’t expect the car to show the best pace – Patrick Dempsey is purely an amateur, while his team mates in No. 77 Joe Foster and Michael Avenati will not match the pace of the pros on show. Paolo Ruberti might, however, and teamed with experienced duo Christian Reid and Gianluca Roda the No. 88 car could be an outside bet for a good run.
Either Aston Martin could win. Allan Simonsen is one of the fastest drivers in the world and is joined by experienced Danes Christoffer Nygaard and Kristian Poulsen in No. 95. They were very fast last year and only an unlucky accident foiled them. No. 96 sees Jamie Campbell Walter and Stuart Hall, both rapid and consistent, joined by Roald Goethe. The German has come on leaps and bounds and is now ready to shape up at this level. The V8 Vantage scored a podium in this guise in Pro last year, and it would be a braver man than I who bet against them doing the same again.
The GT classes may be talked of as mobile chicanes by some of the prototype drivers, but for the real race fans the action in GT will be worth following intently.
Our preview of the Le Mans prototypes will follow here on lemansrace.com shortly.
Wrtten by Jake Yorath
Photos by l’endurance.