24 Hours of Le Mans

The Planetlemans 24 Hours of Le Mans preview - GT1

© Planetlemans - Marcel ten Caat

As usual Corvette and Aston Martin will be fighting for the GT1 win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. After several Corvette years it was Aston Martin taking the class victory last year, but the American squad will do its best to take the title back to the United States. Four Corvettes will compete against four Aston Martins, joined by a Lamborghini and a Saleen.

Last year it was the #009 Aston Martin Racing DBR9 that took the win, one lap ahead of the first Corvette, taking the British manufacturers first win in almost fifty years time. This year the #009 car was quickest on the test day, showing its intentions to make it two in a row for Aston Martin. Let’s run down the ten GT1 entries for this years race.

007-Aston Martin Racing: The first of the two factory run Aston Martin DBR9s. This car has a complete new driver line-up compared to 2007, with one of the drivers never having raced a DBR9 in competition. Karl Wendlinger and Andrea Piccini raced the DBR9 in FIA GT, with the Austrian driver winning several races in the car. The all-pro line-up is completed by former F1 and DTM driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Despite the fact that Frentzen never raced a DBR9 he has competed at Le Mans before in a Sauber, nearly 20 years ago. During the test day the German was fifth fastest in the class. This car is a potential race winner, but we expect this will only happen if the sister car and the Corvettes hit trouble.

009-Aston Martin Racing: In 2007 the 009 car was the first Aston Martin DBR9 to win the Le Mans 24 Hours. This year the team will try to make it two-in-a-row. Aston Martin regular drivers Darren Turner and David Brabham have been joined by quick Spaniard Antonio Garcia who impressed in the Team Modena DBR9 in recent years. During the test day the 009 was by far the quickest GT1 car on the track, so expect a great battle between this car and the Corvettes. If it stays out of trouble this car will definitely be fighting for the class win from start to finish.

© Planetlemans - Marcel ten Caat

50-Larbre Competition: Despite having Christophe Bouchut onboard the Larbre Competition Saleen S7R will not be going for the win. The Saleen was unbeatable in the hands of Oreca in the LMS in 2007, but being run by Larbre it is more than likely not going to end up on the podium. Patrick Bornhauser and David Smet (aka Hallyday) will join Bouchut. While Bouchut can go fast with any car, his two team mates will not be able to match the Corvette Racing and Aston Martin Racing drivers. Despite having won in FIA GT and the Le Mans Series the Larbre car will not be racing for victory at Le Mans.

53-Vitaphone Racing Team: What can we say about this entry. Vitaphone had an automatic entry, but could not use their Maserati MC12s as they do not comply with ACO regulations. The team therefore opted to use an Aston Martin DBR9. For a long time it was unknown which chassis they would use, but it turned out to be the Strakka Racing DBR9. And there is the weak spot of this team. Strakka’s Peter Hardman and Nick Leventis only raced in historics and national series and entered their DBR9 at the Paul Ricard LMS test days and at the Spa 1000km, on both occasions it did not impress. For Le Mans the two Brits are joined by Vitaphone’s Brazilian rookie Alexandre Negrao. Despite bearing the Vitaphone Racing Team name, do not expect this car to get results like its ’sister’ MC12s. Getting the car over the finish could probably be seen as a victory.

© Planetlemans - Marcel ten Caat

55-IPB Spartak Racing: After JLOC’s attempts for a decent run at Le Mans in a Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT it is tme for the Reiter Engineering run car this time. Even though the car is improved compared to previous Le Mans attempts and the driver line-up has two of the best Dutch drivers, Peter Kox and Mike Hezemans, it remains to be seen if this car will last the full 24 hours. Roman Rusinov is the third driver to race this car. Unless things have changed this week this car will not be a candidate for the win and the team should be happy if it finishes. If this happens it is likely to be outside the top 5.

59-Team Modena: The fourth and final DBR9 at Le Mans. This British squad will make its third appearance at Le Mans. Regular drivers Tomas Enge and Antonio Garcia have been placed elsewhere and it is up to Christian Fittipaldi, Jos Menten and Terry Borcheller to make it a great race for Team Modena. Fittipaldi and Menten raced together in this car at Le Mans in 2007, but they ended down the GT1 order and even behind a GT2 car. In the Le Mans Series the team has had mixed results this year. A potential win at Barcelona went up in smoke as the car retired, but since then they have been on the podium at every race, with a win at Monza topping it off. However, Le Mans with other GT1 opponents is something completely different. A position ahead of the non-works cars would probably the best possible result.

© Planetlemans - Marcel ten Caat

63-Corvette Racing: More recently this was the best of the two Corvette C6.Rs racing in the American Le Mans Series. Jan Magnussen and Johnny O’Connell will be joined by Canadian Ron Fellows once more. At the test day last week the two Corvette cars were close to each other. This crew and the Corvette Racing team have more experience over long distance racing than the opposition, which the team hope will help them as the race goes on. Will have a tough time beating the Aston Martins, but Pratt&Miller will certainly do their best to take the top spot on Sunday afternoon. Fourth fastest in testing.

64-Corvette Racing: Like its #63 sister car, this car is also a potential race winner. Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Max Papis have raced together on many occasions and should be considered as candidates for victory. The last thing they want is a repeat of 2007 when they were eliminated after only 22 laps when the driveshaft broke. Last weekend they were the quickest Corvette out on the track as they finished third in the test day, let’s hope for the team that this is a sign of what to come next week.

© Planetlemans - Marcel ten Caat

72-Luc Alphand Aventures: The first of the two French privateer Corvettes, which is also leading the Le Mans Series GT1 class. In Europe it has already scored two wins and a second place on its way to the LMS GT1 title. At Le Mans team owner Luc Alphand will rejoin the team, after missing the last two LMS races due to other commitments, and will race together with youngster Guillaume Moreau and veteran Jerome Policand. Nevertheless this car will, under normal circumstances, not be able to beat the factory supported teams and will be fighting for ‘best of the rest’. Last week it was sixth fastest at the Le Mans test.

73-Luc Alphand Aventures: The second entry of Luc Alphand Aventures will probably be not as strong as the lead car. LMS GT1 leader, along with Moreau, Patrice Goueslard has moved from the #72 to the #73 car and will be joined by Jean-Luc Blanchemain and Laurent Pasquali. While Blanchemain is an Alphand Corvette C6.R regular, having finished third at Monza this year, Laurent Pasquali is new to the team. The French driver raced in the Porsche Carrera Cup France in 2006 and a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup in the Total 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. The car was the slowest GT1 car at the test day and will more than likely be the last GT1 car during the race.