24 Hours of Le Mans

Zytek’s Le Mans test day preview

© Planetlemans - Marcel ten Caat

Zytek Engineering, which manufactured engines for the cars that came first and second in the LMP2 class at last year’s Le Mans 24-hours, returns to the scene of its 2007 victory with two chassis and one engine customers. Two Zytek 07S cars have been entered by the Barazi-Epsilon and Trading Performance teams. These, and the new Embassy WF01 will use Zytek’s successful 3.4-litre ZG348 V8 power plant. All three are participating in this Sunday’s Test Day.

First introduced in 2003, the 3.4-litre ZG348 V8 quickly proved to be an outright winner scoring wins at Oschersleben, the Nürburgring, Laguna Seca and here at Spa. Competing in the LMP2 category, it took three class victories last season including a first and second at the prestigious Le Mans 24-hours. For this year significant changes have been made to the cylinder heads of the ZG348, which include different port design. Radical changes have also been made to the valve train while work has been carried out internally on bearings, pistons and piston rings. The result has been a further increase in torque and power, and reductions in both friction and overall weight. As part of the continual engine development programme, additional improvements are planned for introduction during the season.

The Barazi-Epsilon entry is the 07S with which the team won the LMP2 class at both Silverstone and Interlagos last season. Trading Performance’s car is the former factory 07S that proved the class of the LMP2 field last year at Le Mans, eventually finishing second, and then went on to be one of the eye-openers of the Silverstone Le Mans Series (LMS) and Road Atlanta American Le Mans Series (ALMS) races.

As in this season’s LMS, Juan Barazi, Michael Vergers and Fernando Rees will drive the Barazi-Epsilon car. Trading Performance’s regulars Karim Ojjeh and Claude-Yves Gosselin are to be joined just for this race by the young British driver, Adam Sharpe. Warren Hughes, Jonny Kane and Joey Foster are to share the Embassy, all of them having driven one of the team’s two cars in the LMS.