Race Preview – GTE Pro Class

51  AF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia -Fisichella-Bruni-Vilander
55  BMW Motorsport BMW M3 GT - Farfus-J.Müller-Werner
56  BMW Motorsport BMW M3 GT - Priaulx-D.Müller-Hand
58  Luxury Racing Ferrari F458 Italia - Ortelli-Makowiecki-Melo
59  Luxury Racing Ferrari F458 Italia - Deletraz-Jakubowski-Beltoise
64  Lotus Jetalliance Lotus Evora - Slingerland-Rich-Hartshorne
65  Lotus Jetalliance Lotus Evora  - Hirschi-Rossiter-Mowlem
66  JMW Motorsport Ferrari F458 Italia - Bell-Sugden-Maassen
71  AF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia - Kaufman-Waltrip-Aguas
73  Corvette Racing  Corvette C6.R - Beretta-Milner-Garcia
74  Corvette Racing Corvette C6.R - Gavin-Magnussen-Westbrook
75  ProSpeed Competition Porsche 911 GT3-RSR - Goossens-Holzer-Van Lagen
76  IMSA Performance-Matmut Porsche 911 GT3-RSR - Narac-Pilet-Armindo
77  Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 911 GT3-RSR - Lieb-Lietz-Henzler
79  Jota AMR Aston Martin Vantage GT2 - Hancock-Dolan-Buncombe
80  Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3-RSR - Bergmeister-Long-Luhr
88  Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 911 GT3-RSR - Tandy-Al Faisal-Miller
89  Hankook Team Farnbacher Ferrari F458 Italia - Farnbacher-Simonsen-Keen

The LMP1 battle for the overall crown may be the glamour race but ignore the GTE classes at your peril.

The new for 2011 GTE Pro and Am classes replace the now dead (in ACO rules) GT1 and old GT2.

GTE Pro accommodates the factory backed teams with new cars and any privateer efforts that dare to challenge them!

And whilst those that talk of GT3 as the future face of international GT racing cite variety as a major plus, there’s plenty enough amongst the 18 cars in GTE Pro to give a forceful and convincing answer. The Pro class alone numbers six marques with Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin, Corvette, BMW, Lotus (and potentially Ford too) all represented.

Let’s deal with Lotus first: The new Evora GTE won’t win at Le Mans this year, but it’s fair to say that the Toyota/ Cosworth V6 engined machine has surprised many observers.

This is a proper GTE machine - no half measures here - with Nicola Scimeca and co having designed a real racer.  One of the pair of JetAlliance-run cars finished first time out at Spa and the other failed only when the team made what they now acknowledge was a silly mistake on the cooling front.  With a reduction in weight doled out since then, the car will be faster but not fast enough.

Lovers of difference in racing will be watching for the pair to mount a reliability run; Johnny Mowlem, James Rossiter and Jonathan Hirschi in the #65 car would like to be dicing with Bruni and Lieb but will likely be unable to do so.  The #64 car meanwhile sees a more gentlemanly line-up (in racing background terms rather than manners) with Martin Rich, Oskar Slingerland and John Hartshorne.  If they finish we’ll rejoice with them, because that will mean that Lotus is really back!

Aston Martin is represented in GTE Pro by Team Jota AMR; the 2011-spec Vantage has proved troublesome at times but the car has been fast when reliable, fast enough to see Sam Hancock troubling the leading pack on pace.

Rumours abound that the Vantage will revert to a 2010-spec V8 in search of reliability. If true, that could transform Jota’s prospects.

Hancock is hungry for a good run after his late race disappointment in the factory Lola Aston last year, whilst Simon Dolan is beginning to impress as he finds more and more pace on his climb up the sportscar racing ladder.

Chris Buncombe joins the full season LMS pairing.  He’s back at Le Mans for the first time since anchoring Binnie Motorsport to an LMP2 class win in 2007.  If it comes down to an all-out sprint, the team is likely to be lapping just a little off the ultimate pace, but close enough to get in amongst the action if they can run a clean race and others don’t.

BMW Motorsport’s pair of M3 GT2s are run with the cunning fox that is Charlie Lamm at the helm.  That made it all the more surprising that the team effectively blew their own strategy out of the water last year by running too fast at the Spa 1000kms. The ACO’s congratulatory telegram contained enough performance penalty measures to ensure their near also-ran status.

In addition the spectacular looking Jeff Koons ‘Art Car’ suffered from too much time in preparing it for the gallery and not enough for the race, it seems.

Those lessons have been learnt for 2011 with both M3s running well (but not spectacularly so) at Spa and no 2011 Art Car.  Dunlop rubber is a key part of the BMW equation too and with both cars featuring full factory pro line ups and pace (proved in their 1-2 finish at Sebring) that belies the car’s more ‘Touring Car’ looks.  The Beemers will be looking to win, and it would be a foolish punter that bet too heavily against them.

Joey Hand was one of the stars of Sebring and is truly now breaking out onto the world scene. He shares the #56 car with BMW old hands Andy Priaulx and Dirk Muller, this trio ranged against an equally high quality trio in the #55 car; Jorg Muller anchoring a squad composed also of Dirk Werner and Augusto Farfus. 

Corvette Racing will be looking to put the disaster of their GT2 debut for the C6.R behind them and will want to see more of the spice shown in Ollie Gavin’s epic duel with Jaime Melo last year repeated over the full race distance.

There are changes in the team for 2011 – Manu Collard and Johnny O’ Connell are gone and Richard Westbrook and Tommy Milner step forward; Milner teaming up with Beretta and Garcia in car #73, and Westbrook in #74 with Gavin and Magnussen.

Westbrook is just plain fast, and happier at Corvette than during his stint as a Porsche factory man, it seems.  His team-mates Oliver Gavin and Jan Magnussen complete a truly world class line-up, a potential real crowd pleasing one at that.

Milner too is rather pacey and was a revelation at Sebring, where he battled head to head with the BMWs in a duel that was perhaps designed to show new employers and old that he’s worth the pay cheque.  Antonio Garcia and the always affable Olivier Beretta will complete another impressive Corvette line-up.

The Vette is well suited to the wide open spaces at Le Mans, but GTE is a tougher hunting ground than Corvette experienced in the final days of GT1; they’ll need all the legendary teamwork they can muster to give the drivers the best shot they can out on track. If they do, and if the cars stay out of trouble, we’re sure to see the V8 rumble right in the mix.

Porsche has had a torrid start to 2011 – with no GTE Pro cars in ILMC and a pair of disasters in the opening rounds of the LMS for their leading teams too.

Le Mans sees the cream of their attack fielded, with no fewer than five 997 GT3 RSRs on the entry; all by teams with race and championship winning form.

IMSA Performance Matmut is a hardy annual at Le Sarthe and indeed has won the GT2 class as recently as 2007.

Patrick Pilet is the Porsche factory man here once again and he’s joined by the team’s LMS GTE AM duo, team Principal Raymond Narac and quick co-driver Nicolas Armindo.  The #76 car has real potential but somehow this team seems to attract bad luck.

There’ll be no shortage of pace but there will be no mercy either from the remainder of the stellar GTE field if the #76 car has time in a gravel trap or the garage.

Flying Lizards Motorsports are one of the crowd favourites wherever they race, their Porsches always immaculately prepped and raced hard.  They’ve been an ever present at Le Mans since 2005, but the race has not been kind to them of late; a single podium-finish (third in 2005) the only silverware they’ve taken back across the Atlantic.

2011 sees the team fielding a pair of Porsches, one in each of the GTE classes, and you should expect something very special on the visual front!

The Pro class car is anchored as always by Jorg Bergmeister, one of the very, very best, and seemingly never better than when paired with fellow factory man, the rapid and enthusiastic Pat Long.

Lucas Luhr’s early career was managed by the Porsche factory machine and he’s back in a 911 for Le Mans, the Porsche Audi summer exchange programme seemingly in full swing and Lucas back at Le Mans for the first time since 2009.  If their luck holds the #80 car will be in the mix.

Prospeed Competition is (almost) the odd one out amongst the Porsche team in GTE Pro, the #75 car featuring just one factory-blessed driver in the young and rapid Marc Holzer.  He already has endurance racing honours to his name and will be joined once again by his 2011 full season LMS driving partner, the evergreen Marc Goossens.  Goossens has been relishing the challenges of 2011, but so far this is another Porsche team that has had plenty of luck – all of it bad!

They’re joined by Le Mans rookie Jaap van Lagen, and the ex Porsche Supercup and Lada WTCC man will need to curb his excesses if he’s to make the contribution that’s going to be required.

Felbermayer Proton field a trio of cars, one under the Proton Racing Moniker in ‘Am’ and the other two in ‘Pro’.

The #88 car has an unexpected line-up, the team having taken the commercial route to filling the seats in a car we’ve been used to seeing occupied by factory talent.

That’s not to say that Nick Tandy, anchoring the squad, will be tardy – far from it; he’s impressed mightily in Supercup, but will need to show both speed and tactical awareness in this altogether different discipline.

Bryce Miller moves from his family-owned team in ALMS to Le Mans with plenty of endurance experience.  His early exit aboard the JMW Aston last year will still sting in the memory, he’ll want to bring the #88 car home this year and this is a team that has every chance of doing just that.

Abdulaziz bin Faisal has had success in one make Porsche racing in the Middle East, but this is a very different discipline – a win here would be extraordinary, a podium unlikely but far from impossible.

Finally for Porsche, the Champions return, but it’s a very different picture in 2011 from their year of almost unparalleled triumph in 2010.

The #77 Felbermayer Proton car is, to all intents and purposes, a factory car.  The driving line up of Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz and Wolf Henzler bows to nobody on this grid in terms of speed and endurance achievement.

Their luck thus far this year though has been utterly awful, caught up in the Paul Ricard start fiasco and then effectively out on Lap One in Spa following contact in traffic.  Le Mans remains as the one 2010 honour that they can now realistically defend – their response is likely to be well worth watching!

And so to Ferrari, and no fewer than six new 458s in the hands of four different teams.

No Risi Competizione this year, but Giuseppe’s crew will be on hand to assist the new Luxury Racing outfit who field a pair of Ferraris in their first year at Le Sarthe.

There’s no shortage of ability then in the garage and, in the #59 car in particular, that theme is continued on the driving front.  1998 overall race winner Stephane Ortelli anchors this effort and he’s still a talent to be reckoned with.  So too is Fred Makowiecki, winning races now and surely a GT racing star for years to come.  He’s been off the radar of many, but that won’t be the case for long! But perhaps the strongest ace in the pack is the presence of Jaime Melo. If anyone knows how to win in a Ferrari, it's the hugely rapid, hugely experienced Brazilian; and his guiding hand could well be the crucial factor here.

The #58 car, meanwhile, has a more Pro-Am feel.  Anthony Beltoise provides the fire in the belly here, with F1 and GT1 veteran Jean Denis Deletraz eager to prove that the fire still burns too in his Swiss furnace.  Francois Jakubowski is the third man and perhaps would be happier in the ‘AM’ class, but a new and professional team is a good thing to see as the sport struggles out of recession.

One phrase sure to be heard on Radio Le Mans in relation to the GTE contest is ‘Tyre Wars’, and with good reason; the Ferraris feature three major makes amongst their numbers.

Hankook is represented once again by the very able Hankook Farnbacher team, the #89 car took podium honours last season both here and at the Nurburgring with their ‘old’ 430 and have already gone one better than that with the new 458 in a VLN race.

Dominik Farnbacher and Allan Simonsen vie with Rob Bell for the honours as fastest non-factory men in the Ferrari camp and both simply relish the challenge ahead.  They’re joined once again this year by Grand-Am GT front runner Leh Keen. This team is one to watch, particularly if we get changing weather conditions where the Hankooks (metaphorically at least) shine.

Dunlop’s representative in the Ferrari ranks is JMW Motorsport, Jim McWhirter returning to the prancing Horse after a 2010 dalliance with Aston Martin.  We’ll have to wait until scrutineering again to see what the winning entry in the 2011 livery competition has come up with though.

Rob Bell will be in amongst the lead pack aboard the #66 car and Tim Sugden again provides experience in depth, too.  The selection of Xavier Maassen was something of a surprise here, though. It will be interesting to see how this very different looking line-up gels over the week of the race.

AF Corse fields a pair of 458s after a bewildering early season reshuffle between 458s, 430s, ‘Pro’ and ‘Am’. The #71 car will feature Rui Aguas, together with NASCAR luminaries Michael Waltrip and Robert Kauffman.  That’s a line-up that rather feels like a run to finish than to challenge on ultimate pace, but, as last season’s Spa 24 Hours showed, the result after 24 hours could be an impressive one.

By contrast, the team’s lead #51 car features a stellar line-up, all capable of duking it out with anyone else on the GTE entry.

Gianmaria Bruni, Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander are a well matched and very able team – the cachet of F1 glamour around this team will draw attention, but it’s the potential pace we should be looking for and there is no shortage whatsoever of that in prospect.

Bruni should be in anyone’s global top five in GT racing. Fast and strategically aware, his 2011 season started in an uncharacteristically unfocussed fashion, a result of the rapid development cycle for the 458? We’ll see – he and Fisichella won last time out and they’ll be very much in the mix again.

Fisichella is beginning to enjoy this sportscar racing lark; he’s found his smile and he’s finding pace too. He might just be a figurehead for whatever comes next for Ferrari, but for the present he’s right in the thick of their 2011 efforts.

Vilander is, in many ways, the forgotten man in the Ferrari family, but he’s amongst the most able of the lot – expect him to show blinding pace and almost unfeasible consistency.  The affable Finn could be the race-winning factor.

Reserves

Three days before scrutineering there are still have a pair of cars on the reserve list, and both are GTE Pros.

First up is the second Doran Ford GT-R of Robertson Racing and here’s a team that deserves a chance to shine on the big stage. They have an assured entry in GTE Am, but a Pro-crewed car would be a massive fan favourite; great looks, fabulous soundtrack and a very able crew in prospect too. We await final confirmation, but the latest entry list suggests that David Murry may have transferred to the Am car. Expect the #69 crew to be composed of three from the following quartet – Murry, Anthony Lazarro, Boris Said and Colin Braun.

The final reserve was a surprise on the original list; FIA GT1 regulars Young Driver AMR popping up with Tomas Enge and Alex Muller aboard a new Aston Martin Vantage.

Again this would be a worthy addition to the grid; the car ran very quickly indeed at Paul Ricard and looked set for a podium finish before mechanical trouble struck.