Le Mans Series

The Planetlemans Valencia preview (Prototypes)

© Planetlemans – Gabriel Portos

The second round of the 2007 Le Mans Series championship takes us to (hopefully) sunny Valencia and its state-of-the-art Circuit Antonio Tormo. Twisty and with just 4 kilometers of extension, the track admits only 46 cars and it might develop into a similar scenario as Jarama last year with lots of overtaking needed in heavy traffic.

© Planetlemans – Gabriel Portos

After Monza Peugeot arrives as clear favorites to win the race and the LMP1 category. Their advantage however will be put to the test in a place that is possibly the complete opposite of the North Italian speed temple. The prancing lion team has just completed an endurance test in Paul Ricard where they suffered their first engine issues but that should not change much the picture of Monza although the traffic will be a factor for them as much as for everyone else.

Charouz and Pescarolo will be on the heels of the French coupés, probably looking for closer racing than what we saw three weeks ago. Stefan Mücke confirmed with his performance that the Czech Lola is a force to be reckoned with and the first Pescarolo is still very competitive, this time Emmanuel Collard will be replaced by their third Le Mans 2007 driver, Penske-Porsche regular Romain Dumas, given the former’s commitment to the FIA-GT race at Silverstone. Probably Rollcentre can also challenge for a podium place if fortune smiles at them a bit more than at the last race. Particularly the first stint from Barbosa was impressive leaving the feeling that there is more to be seen of the English team.

© Planetlemans – Gabriel Portos

On a level just below these three cars should be the second Pescarolo, the only works Courage and the Racing for Holland Dome. The last two were struggling with overheating issues that are hopefully solved while the former put up a good performance but not (yet) at the level of their team mates. The Chamberlain Lola was below what they had shown at the HTTT testing, we hope that Valencia sees them improving and mixed in the battle.

But of course we have two additions to the LMP1 grid, both of them very promising but in early stages of development. The Swiss Spirit Lola-Audi looks like a very competitive combination of one of the best chassis around with the all-conquering Audi R8 petrol engine. The fact that Audi themselves are supporting this initiative and the quality of their drivers should certainly make this a team to watch closely. The other entry is also very attractive as Arena International Motorsport brings out the new Zytek in LMP1 version with Hayanari Shimoda and Stefan Johansson as a top driver line-up. However the car was just shaken down this week so even if they show speed out of the box (think of Barazi and their Zytek) we need to take this with a grain of salt in terms of endurance. Lavaggi and Creation will be absent from this round as well as the second works Courage.

In LMP2 the battle is clearly wide open. Two of the quickest teams, Barazi and Quifel ASM, had to retire after showing their winning potential and they will be hungry for a revanche. Other top teams will also be going for the win like RML, Bruichladdich, Binnie and of course the Monza winners Horag. A bit behind these we should have Pierre Bruneau, Saulnier, Kruse and Embassy which did not seem to be at the point of going for the top just yet. However, given the attrition rate in the class, further car developments and the circuit characteristics almost anything is possible here.
Welcome additions to the grid in this class will be the brand new T2M Dome and the Noel del Bello Courage. While the LMP2 version of the Japanese prototype is a question mark in terms of performance given it has just been assembled, the Courage can be one to watch given that for this race works driver Jean-Marc Gounon will be joining Vitaly Petrov and Didier André in what seems to be a very strong line-up.

As expressed before, the main challenge for the prototypes will probably be traffic, the weather forecasts do not present us beforehand with extreme heat predictions so hopefully we will have an entertaining race starting Sunday May 6^th at 13.30 CET (12.30 UK time). Race will be shown live at MotorsTV, live timing at http://www.lemans-series.com

gabriel@planetlemans.com