Race Preview – LMP2 Class

26  Signatech-Nissan ORECA 03-Nissan - Ayari-Mailleux-Ordonez
33  Level 5 Motorsports Lola Coupe-HPD - Tucker-Bouchut-Barbosa
35  OAK Racing OAK-Pescarolo-Judd - Barlesi-Lafargue-Da Rocha
36  RML HPD ARX-01d - Erdos-Newton-Collins
39  Pecom Racing Lola B11/40-Judd Perez - Companc-Kaffer-Russo
40  Race Performance ORECA 03-Judd - Frey-Meichtry-Rostan
41  Greaves Motorsport Zytek-Nissan - Ojjeh-Kimber Smith-Lombard
42  Strakka Racing HPD ARX-01d - Watts-Kane-Leventis
44  Extreme Limite AM Paris Norma M200P-Judd - Rosier-Haezebrouck-de Fournoux
48  Team ORECA-Matmut ORECA 03-Nissan - Premat-Hallyday-Kraihamer
49  OAK Racing OAK-Pescarolo - Nakano-De Crem-Charouz

11 cars look set to take to the track in the new look LMP2 class this year.

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, 2010-spec and grandfathered.  This really is almost pointlessly complicated.

The big news in LMP2 is the return of a Nissan factory-backed effort, 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 (in terms of pace) the season so far, with two out of three relevant race results falling to Nissan engined P2s thus far in this season.

There are three Nissan engined cars due to race at Le Mans:

Signatech, aka Signature Plus, field the #26 car (and were due to race a second car too – now withdrawn); their Oreca 03 chassis specifically designed to accommodate the big V8.

Despite being a new 2011 chassis, the Oreca doesn’t sport the ‘mandatory’ dorsal fin. That’s because; (a) - the 03 LMP2 car is derived from the 2008/9 vintage 01 LMP1 chassis; and (b) - because the ACO have ruled that this means that they don’t need to!

The #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 did his racing on his living room couch, and instead of triple layered Nomex, a HANS device and carbon fibre helmet, he was more likely to do battle dressed in a stained T-Shirt and his pants (or is that just me?)

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 #26 Oreca for a full season’s ILMC campaign.

Joining the affable (and rather quick) Ordoñez is Soheil Ayari, the highly experienced endurance racer that may (or may not) still be on Henri Pescarolo’s Christmas card list, 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 combo, this car could challenge on pace throughout.

As could the very similar #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 then, so no reason on the driver front why the #48 car shouldn’t be right up there with the best of ‘em.

To win, though, it will need to better the efforts of the third Nissan engined entry, the #41 Greaves Motorsport Zytek Nissan.

Lets not get into (again!) the saga of how the #41 car races as a cost capped car, lets just reflect that it 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 #41 team; a run for class pole looks possible and a podium or better is certainly well within the team’s grasp.  

The one 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 are powered by Judd, with both LMP2 cars powered by the four litre BMW based V8.

We have already seen the #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.  Andrea Barlesi in particular has been disappointing; we expected more from this (very) young man at this level.

The #49 car hasn’t been seen at all this season so far and the team have rolled out an intriguing lineup.

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 (which itself followed an unhappy end to a stint at Creation in 2008) – has he still got pace, and has he learnt to draw back from the ragged edge just a little?

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 #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 means that the chances for the #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 in Huntingdon 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.

Perez Companc himself is no slouch, though his relative level of competitiveness in an LMP car has still to reach the levels he achieved both in the WRC and in GT2.

Russo will probably wince on his first full bore run through the Porsche Curves, after his accident there last year in practice that meant the team missed the 24 Hours.  He has, though, begun to really find his feet in the Lola and at Spa was pulling out some very competitive times.

Kaffer was always going to be the man with the real pace, the ex Audi factory man clearly relishing being back racing in an LMP car.  He’ll relish too getting in amongst the other leading cars in the class, and this could be a fascinating cat and mouse effort. But if the car stays on the grey stuff and out of the garage, there’s few that would bet against a great result for this squad.

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 (near the) front.

The #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 niggly 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 #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 domino tumble-like 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 from VdeV and took on the Norma project.  Their pace so far in 2010 with the #44 car has been less than stunning, but Fabien Rosier is showing flashes of inspiration.

The LMS 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.  But will it be enough at Le Mans, where raw power is a major ‘must have’?

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 (albeit the open topped cost capped car in a weakened field).

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 or thereabouts – Bouchut and Barbosa are both well capable of exploiting any advantage.

Both 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 won last year, of course, and arrive with the same package (aside from the engine) and the same approach to preparation and canny 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 #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 was delighted with their ex de Ferran chassis, but that’s now history courtesy of a huge Spa practice accident for the #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 – they have never missed a European LMS 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 that 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 – any 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, there could be a potential win for either the #42 or the #36.