Our Team By Team Guide The Guide Team. Car. Oreca Peugeot 908 HDi FAP @oreca 90% Progress bar shows our opinion on the performance relative to the class, plus a helpful percentage score. The Guide If the team has a Twiiter, we have included their address so you can keep up to date. Oreca The tyre manufactures are Peugeot 908 HDi FAP @oreca shown here. 10 Loïc Duval (FRA) Classes are easily distinguished Olivier Panis (FRA) by the colour of their door card. 90% Nicolas Lapierre (FRA) Driving team listed here with nationality in brackets. LMP1 is the top class in Le Mans racing. Purpose built prototypes LMP 1 with engines up to 3.4 litres aspirated petrol, 2.0 litres turbo 1 petrol and 3.7 litre turbo diesel. Red door card, numbers 1-25. LMP2 is the second class, featuring purpose built cars with a cost LMP 2 cap: cars must cost less than 400,000 Euro. Each car must fea- 26 ture at least one gentleman (non professional) driver. GTE Pro is the top production based category at the 24. The cars GTe pro must share a basic resemblance and some components with their 51 road car cousins. The Pro class features all professional drivers. GTE Am share the same technical regulations as GTE Pro, but the GTe AM car must be at least one year old. Driving teams must feature at 81 least two amateur drivers. LMp Entries All artwork by Andy Blackmore Design andyblackmoredesign.com Photo: Dan Bathie Audi Sport Team Joest & North America Audi R18 @audisport 1 Timo Bernhard (DEU) Roman Dumas (FRA) 95% Mike Rockenfeller (DEU) 2 Marcel Fässler (CHE) André Lotterer (DEU) 90% Benoît Tréluyer (FRA) 3 Allan McNish (GBR) 95% Tom Kristensen (DNK) Rinaldo Capello (ITA) Audi goes into this race as fa- of preparedness with them and Nish, Dindo Capello and eight vourites, of that there is no for good reason so if anything time winner Tom Kristensen doubt, but the distance by should go wrong, they are in are hardly likely to give much which they are favourite nar- the best position possible. away. In car two, the drivers rowed considerably after The drivers leave little to be are probably the least stellar Peugeot’s sensational Spa suc- desired across the three cars. by reputation but carry a great cess. The strongest line up, arguably, amount of talent between The car has proved fast as is the number one car of Mike them. Marcel Fässler never well as consistent, with strong Rockenfeller, Timo Bernhard fails to impress with both his pace all through the practice and Romain Dumas, who won speed and consistency, while sessions in Belgium, though the race in 2010. They prob- Frenchmen André Lotterer and race pace was shaky. 24 hour ably carry a slight (extremely Benoît Tréluyer should impress. consistency could be lacking, slight) advantage in pace over Nothing less than outright but if anybody can fix it, Audi their more illustrious friends in victory is acceptable for a team can. The team carries an aura the three car, though Allan Mc- with nine successes already. The official travel partner of l’endurance magazine. speedchills.com Peugeot Sport Total & Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 @peugeotsport 7 Anthony Davidson (GBR) Alex Wurz (AUT) 90% Marc Gené (ESP) 8 Franck Montagny (FRA) Stéphane Sarrazin (FRA) 95% Nicolas Minassian (FRA) 9 Sébastien Bourdais (FRA) Simon Pagenaud (FRA) 90% Pedro Lamy (PRT) Peugeot Sport arrive at Le Mans to their German opposition. Simon Pagenaud and the vast- with the weight of a nation on The pick of the cars is number ly experienced Pedro Lamy in their shoulders. Up until Spa, eight, with charger Stephane nine. they’d been cast as outsiders Sarrazin joined by fellow fast The team are a different en- thanks to rumours of Audi test Frenchmen Franck Montagny tity in attitude and experience pace and a pair of significant and Nicolas Minassian. Expect from the squad that produced accidents that had seriously a pole shot from Sarrazin. so many errors before, and the hampered their pre season ef- Neither of the other two cars mistake strewn performances forts. are badly crewed, with rapid are a thing of the past. Their Their confidence will have Anthony Davidson joined by su- Petit Le Mans display last year taken a significant boost af- per solid Alex Wurz and Span- (with Joest like tactical nouse ter success in the Ardennes, iard Marc Gene in seven and ensuring the victory) cemented though. ex Champ Car ace (and darling their place alongside, rather Drivers wise, they are giv- of France) Sebastien Bourdais than beneath, Audi in the Le ing away little (if anything) joining Highcroft’s Sebring star Mans racing heirachy. Oreca Peugeot 908 HDi FAP @oreca 10 Loïc Duval (FRA) Olivier Panis (FRA) 85% Nicolas Lapierre (FRA) For Oreca, 2011 started on the ACO dictates) but will be joined by two Frenchmen who a euphoric high at Sebring, consistent and, should there are far from rank amateurs. but came down to earth with be trouble ahead, they are in Nicolas Lappiere is a rising a bump with a disappoint- line to take advantage. star in this corner of the rac- ing display at Spa. The team, The line up is strong, as was ing world, while Olivier Panis is running the old spec 908 HDi proved by the solid run to Se- vastly experienced. Definitely FAP Peugeot, will no doubt be bring victory. Loic Duval in par- one to creep up the order as slower than the works cars (as ticular has impressed but he’s the race progresses. Aston Martin Racing (Prodrive) Aston Martin AMR1 @amr_official 007 Darren Turner (GBR) Stefan Mücke (DEU) 30% Christian Klien (AUT) 009 Harold Primat (CHE) Andy Meyrick (GBR) 25% Adrian Fernandez (MEX) Aston Martin Racing will not be lapse at Silverstone. The second car is weaker, with enjoying reading any of the pre There’s no shortage of tal- Adrian Fernandez teamed with Le Mans paraphanalia in 2011. ent behind the wheel, espe- Harold Primat and Briton Andy It is fair to say that AMR-One cially in the 007 car. Prodrive Meyrick, but is still far from a has so far been a disaster, nei- stalwarts Darren Turner and poor line up. ther fast, reliable nor pretty. Stefan Mucke (if he is allowed Even a finish, though, would The team are facing an uphill to start) are joined by Chris- be a bonus for a car that is battle, which was not helped tian Klien to make one of the clearly in severe trouble be- by Stefan Mucke’s unfortunate strongest line ups on the grid. fore the race. Hope Racing Oreca 01 SwissHyTech 5 Steve Zacchia (CHE) Jan Lammers (NLD) 85% 20% Casper Elgaard (DNK) Hope Racing arrive at Le Mans of the sixties, but it’s unlikely completed the battery test. with a valiant effort, entering that the car will challenge the The line-up is solid, with Ste- the first ever hybrid car at the leaderboard. The car has lit- ve Zacchia joined by ’88 win- 24 hours. It is arguably the tle development under its belt, ner (and favourite son of many most interesting technological having arrived at the test day a British fan) Jan Lammers and advance since the gas turbines unfinished: they only recently ’09 P2 winner Elgaard. Rebellion Racing Lola B10/60 Toyota @rebellionracing 12 Nicolas Prost (FRA) Neel Jani (CHE) 70% Jeroen Bleekemolen NLD) 13 Andrea Belicchi (ITA) Jean-Christophe Boullion (FRA) 70% Guy Smith (GBR) Rebellion Racing come into race wins in the Le Mans Se- 13 is full to the brim with ex- 2011 on the back of a boost ries. perience, featuring regulars in the shape of Toyota engines Car 12 features super rapid Jean Christophe Boullion (co- and feature strong line ups in Swiss Neel Jani and French- incidentally starting his thir- both cars. The Japanese pow- man Nicolas Prost alongside teenth Le Mans) and Andrea erplant has been fairly solid, experienced and pacy Jeroen Belicchi joined by 2003 winner though the rest of the package Bleekemolen. Jani has been Guy Smith. has suffered a number of mala- stellar since his move to Re- Reliability, though, is a huge dies and the team are yet to bellion and has put Prost in question mark and it’s difficult turn promising performances the shade on a few occasions, to see either car reaching the and blistering (at least against though he will struggle to do chequered flag without major petrol opposition) pace into the same to Bleekemolen. Car delay, if at all. Oak Racing OAK Pescarolo 01 Judd @oakracinglive 15 Guillaume Moreau (FRA) Pierre Ragues (FRA) 60% Tiago Monteiro (PRT) 24 Richard Hein (FRA) Jacques Nicolet (FRA) 55% Jean-François Yvon (FRA) OAK Racing, confusingly now sive French youngster Matthieu Pierre Ragues joined by rapid the ‘works’ Pescarolo effort, Lahaye, but they should have Guillaume Moreau and ex tour- are putting a lot of effort into the presence to find consist- ing racer Tiago Monteiro. The this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours, ency. second car is certainly slower, running four cars across the In LMP1, the two Gulf col- with team owner Jacques Nico- two prototype classes. Two oured cars feature a mixed bag let joined by Richard Hein and heavy shunts have hampered of professionals, journeymen Jean-Francois Yvon to make a their preparations, and the and gentleman drivers. Car 15 reasonable, if not particularly team are still missing impres- is probably the stronger, with pacy, line-up. Quifel ASM Team Zytek 09SC Zytek 20 Miguel Amaral (FRA) Olivier Pla (FRA) 85% Warren Hughes (GBR) Quifel ASM return to Le Mans regular calls for him to step traditionally the Zytek engine and the Portuguese team have into a works team.