Lots of updated guides available as we get very close to the race week.
The superb Club Arnage guide for 2012 is now available and can be downloaded here.
If you haven’t got the previous year’s guides they are all still available:
Club Arnage Guide 2011
Club Arnage Guide 2010
Club Arnage Guide 2009
Club Arnage Guide 2008
Club Arnage Guide 2007
Club Arnage Guide 2006
Happy Reading !
The excellent Spotter’s Guide for this year’s Le Mans has been released and is now available here.
Andy Blackmore is the man, as always, that has produced the excellent guides along with Simraceway.
So far only the HiRes version is available (which obviously I have already printed out and laminated !!) with the iPad and mobile versions available very soon.
You can tell I’m getting my usual pre-LM hysteria as my posts have increased to a silly amount again !
So, here’s the first Le Mans 2012 guide I will be posting – the Racecar Engineering Guide (not as tedious as it sounds).
Download it here
…..and just because I am excited about seeing the Delta Wing this year here is a photo of next year’s car zero – The hydrogen fuel cell Green GT Le Mans Prototype that will run as the 56th entry to the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours.
A recent email from the ACO made me chuckle…..unless it’s actually an omen for the weather during the race week :o(
They have informed us that they have found an unplanned "feature" of the parking and camping passes.
The passes are printed on new style/type of thermal paper for 2012. The "feature" is that details of the pass, including bar code react against the sun and are likely to disappear if the pass is exposed to more than 30 minutes of sunlight!!
As a result they’ve requested that the pass is not placed on the windscreen but kept in the glove box and shown when requested to avoid it going completely black and unusable.
On a more serious note (and probably based on last year’s inability to police it) the ACO have also said that “due to problems with alcohol last year, bottles within campsites are fine, but please do not take glass bottles into the General Admission area.”
Less than ten days to go before we commence the annual pilgrimage to Le Sarthe for the 80th Le Mans race and as a taster today is the test day.
As I write this we’ve just started the second four-hour session and hopefully it will be as exciting as the first with Audi just about having the lead from the Toyota hybrids – so close is it that there is just one second between the top six cars.
Audi had a 1-2 with the Sebastian Buemi Toyota in 3rd.
The full entry list for the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours:
1. Lotterer/Fassler/Treluyer Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 e-Tron Quattro LMP1 *
2. McNish/Capello/Kristensen Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 e-Tron Quattro LMP1 *
3. Bernhard/Dumas/Duval Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 Ultra LMP1
4. Jarvis/Bonanomi/Rockenfeller Audi Sport North America Audi R18 Ultra LMP1
7. Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima Toyota Racing Toyota TS030 HYBRID LMP1 *
8. Davidson/Buemi/TBA Toyota Racing Toyota TS030 HYBRID LMP1
12. Prost/Jani/Heidfeld Rebellion Racing Lola B12/60-Toyota LMP1 *
13. Belicchi/Primat/Bleekemolen Rebellion Racing Lola B12/60-Toyota LMP1 *
15. Moreau/Baguette/Kraihamer OAK Racing OAK Pescarolo-Judd LMP1 *
16. Collard/Boullion/Jousse Pescarolo Team Pescarolo 03-Judd LMP1 *
17. Minassian/Ara/Bourdais Pescarolo Team Dome-Judd LMP1
21. Leventis/Watts/Kane Strakka Racing HPD ARX03a-Honda LMP1 *
22. Brabham/Chandhok/Dumbreck JRM HPD ARX03a-Honda LMP1 *
23. Tresson/Maillieux/Lombard Signatech Nissan Oreca 03-Nissan LMP2 *
24. Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla OAK Racing Morgan-Judd LMP2 *
25. Martin/Kerr/Graves ADR-Delta Oreca 03-Nissan LMP2 *
26. Ragues/Panciatici/Rusinov Signatech Nissan Oreca 03-Nissan LMP2
28. Giriox/Jousse/Johansson Gulf Racing Middle East Lola B12/80-Nissan LMP2 *
29. Ihara/Deletraz/Quick Gulf Racing Middle East Lola B12/80-Nissan LMP2 *
30. Sims/Buurman/Iannetta Status Grand Prix Lola-Judd LMP2
31. Holzer/Schultis/Moro Lotus Lola B12/80-Lotus LMP2 *
33. Tucker/Bouchut/Diaz Level 5 Motorsports HPD ARX03b-Honda LMP2
35. Heinemeier Hansson/Leinders/Martin OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan LMP2
38. Hancock/Dolan/Kurosawa JOTA Zytek Z11SN-Nissan LMP2
40. Frey/Meichtry/Hirschi Race Performance Oreca 03-Judd LMP2
41. Zugel/Julian/Gonzalez Greaves Motorsport Zytek Z11SN-Nissan LMP2 *
42. Brundle/Brundle/Ordonez Greaves Motorsport Zytek Z11SN-Nissan LMP2
43. Rosier/Thirion/Haezebrouck Extreme Limite ARIC Norma MP200-Judd LMP2
44. Potolicchio/Dalziel/Sarrazin Starworks Motorsport HPD ARX03b-Honda LMP2 *
45. Briere/Petersen/Nakano Boutsen Ginion Racing Oreca 03-Nissan LMP2
46. Thiriet/Beche/Tinseau Thiriest by TDS Racing Oreca 03-Nissan LMP2
48. Firth/Hartley/Hughes Murphy Prototypes Oreca 03-Nissan LMP2
49. Perez-Companc/Kaffer/Ayari Pecom Racing Oreca 03-Nissan LMP2 *
51. Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GTE-Pro *
59. Makowiecki/Melo/Farnbacher Luxury Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GTE-Pro *
66. Cocker/Walker/Wills JMW Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia GTE-Pro
71. Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GTE-Pro *
73. Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C6 GTE-Pro
74. Gavin/Milner/Westbrook Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C6 GTE-Pro
77. Lietz/Lieb/Henzler Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 997 RSR GTE-Pro *
80. Bergmeister/Long/Holzer Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 997 RSR GTE-Pro
97. Mucke/Turner/Fernandez Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage V8 GTE-Pro *
50. Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy Larbre Competition Chevrolet Corvette C6 GTE-Am *
55. Daniels/Palttala/Camathias JWA Avila Porsche 997 RSR GTE-Am *
57. Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo Krohn Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GTE-Am *
58. Ehret/Montecalvo/Jeannette Luxury Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GTE-Am *
61. Kauffman/Aguas/Vickers AF Corse-Waltrip Ferrari 458 Italia GTE-Am *
67. Pons/Narac/Armindo IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche 997 RSR GTE-Am
70. Bourret/Gibon/Belloc Larbre Competition Chevrolet Corvette C6 GTE-Am *
75. Alfaisal/Curtis/Edwards Prospeed Competition Porsche 997 RSR GTE-Am
79. Neiman/Law/Pumpelly Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 997 RSR GTE-Am
81. Perazzini/Griffin/Cadei AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GTE-Am
83. Rodrigues/Illiano/Ferte JMB Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GTE-Am
88. Ried/Roda/Ruberti Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 997 RSR GTE-Am *
99. Nygaard/Poulsen/Simonsen Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage V8 GTE-Am
0. Franchitti/Krumm/Motoyama Highcroft Racing DeltaWing Nissan New Tech
* denotes World Endurance Championship entrant
So……the 25th Race of Champions will be in December (on a date yet to be decided) at Bangkok’s Rajamangala Stadium.
I suppose it had to happen that the race would drift away from Europe again – although to be honest I was banking on somewhere like Dubai…..
The big question is are any of you guys interested in going ? Maybe it will be too far for our mate Terry to go so we’ll have an irritant free weekend? Having said that – when it was at the ‘Bird’s Nest’ Olympic stadium it was actually mid week….
If there are any takers I would certainly consider the trip……over to you, boys !
