24 Hours of Le Mans

Martinez joins Fernández Racing for Sebring

© Fernandez Racing

Once more one of the best kept secrets in motor sports is revealed and the list containing the (from now on) 55 entries for the Le Mans 24 hours has been unveiled. Surprises? Quite a few. Disappointments? About 21, the A.C.O. received this year 76 applications, 3 less than last year but it seems the quality was higher this time around.
Let’s start at the beginning where the bias towards prototype entries is very clear. A total of 28 prototypes has been accepted with 27 GTs as counterpart. No swarm of Porsches was needed to fill the grid in 2007 but it has to be noticed that all cars on the reserve list are GTs which leads me to believe that every single competitive prototype that applied for an entry got one.

We have sixteen (yes, sixteen!) LMP1s in the list and a tremendously high level across the board. Next to three R10 Audis we will have in fact the whole LMS field (including the two 908 Peugeots) but for the Lavaggi which only managed a few laps at Jarama last year. It is however remarkable that quite a few confirmed cars have just been built or have not even turned a single lap: the Rollcentre Pescarolo and the Swiss Spirit Lola-Audi are just two examples in this area but even the Arena Zytek which seems to be running a race against the clock to be finished is also confirmed. The "proven performance" policy of the last few years seems to be gone with the wind but the entry appears to be definitely healthier and more competitive than the last few years.
In LMP2 we have a similar scenario: twelve selections, all of them from LMS in this case. As expected no Porsche Spyders or Acura powered cars but a couple of European absences cannot go unnoticed: the Horag Lola and the brand new Embassy Pilbeam which did not apply. Given the fact that Noel del Bello got an entry with a not-yet-run Courage any of the above could have potentially had an entry…if they indeed had asked for one. Also the Rollcentre Radical is confirmed, it will be interesting to see who will be the drivers. Last but by no means least maybe the biggest surprise of the whole list is a second Barazi Epsilon entry with an LMP2 Zytek, that one we never saw coming.
The GT1 class is probably showing the stronger field in a long, long time. When the category seems to be in crisis on both LMS and ALMS, fourteen entries seem an extremely strong number to start at Le Mans. Both Prodrive and Larbre will field 2-car Aston Martin squads, a fifth Aston will be entered by BMS Scuderia Italia and a sixth by Team Modena. Both Oreca Saleens got an entry and the JLOC Lamborghini Murciélago will return this year as well to La Sarthe. Winners for the last three years and the solitary ALMS GT1 team, Corvette will try to make it four wins in a row, although their winning cars from 2004 and 2006 will in fact fly the Luc Alphand Aventures colors, making it 4 Vettes at the start. Whether Convers Menx will still run a Ferrari 550 Maranello is probably the biggest question at GT1 level.
The smallest class has probably the most varied entry in many many years: Just 4 Porsche 997s will take on 2 Panoz Esperantes , 2 Spyker C8s and 5 Ferrari 430s. Three ALMS teams against five LMS and one FIA-GT team ensure a fierce battle where no quarter will be asked or given. Risi, AF Corse, Scuderia Ecosse and White Lightning will form a very strong Maranello-powered front. On the Porsche side Flying Lizard, Autorlando, IMSA Matmut and Seikel guarantee as well a serious challenge for the top of the podium. 2006 winners LNT and the very much improved Spykers confirm that the list has actually (almost) all potential winners on the grid.

The reserve list has just one GT1 (the PSI Corvette) and then seven GT2s, all of them pretty strong. GPC is the second reserve and is probably the strongest GT2 of the "could be theres". The team of James Watt Automotive (they also were out of the LMS list) is probably the most noticeable absence.

Summarizing, all classes seem to have very competitive entries and many potential winners Both "big" classes show good numbers but also high quality while the field will be extremely close in the two "small" ones, predicting any winners will be a tough task. It is the final segment of the road towards June, I can hardly think of a more promising one.

gabriel@planetlemans.com