Analysis

The Planetlemans Silverstone 1000 km preview

© Planetlemans – Marcel ten Caat

The final race of the 2008 Le Mans Series season takes place this weekend at the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit. Despite the Peugeot team taking the wins in the previous four rounds the championship is yet to be decided. Going into the final round it is the #7 Peugeot 908 of Marc Gene and Nicolas Minassian that leads the championship with 32 points, ahead of the #2 Audi R10 of Alexandre Prémat and Mike Rockenfeller who have 30 points.

Both squads will go into the race with their mind set on the 2008 title and with 1.000 kilometers to go everything could happen. Last year Gene and Minassian won at Silverstone, but back then their team mates were not classified after a bodywork problem forced them into the pit in the final minutes. Let’s just hope that the battle will go all the way to the end. It will be interesting to see what the Charouz Racing System Lola can do in the UK.

A total of 15 LMP1s are entered for the final round of the season. Notable changes include Romain Dumas at Pescarolo, replacing Emmanuel Collard who is racing at Brno in the FIA GT championship. British drivers McNish, Campbell-Walter and Hall will be joined by Ryan Lewis (#14 Creation) and Charlie Hollings (#18 Rollcentre Pescarolo).

© Planetlemans – Marcel ten Caat

The championship in the LMP2 category was decided at the Nürburgring. Van Merksteijn Motorsport won and clinched the title in Germany, but team owner Peter van Merksteijn and Jos Verstappen will do their best to end the season in style, by winning the Autosport 1000km of Silverstone.

Despite the Porsche domination so far and the championship already decided there is still enough to see. The battle for third place is still open, with Saulnier Racing having the best papers at the moment. RML has replaced its familiar open top MG Lola with a new coupe version, the MG Lola EX265C. The other coupe car in LMP2, the Speedy Racing Team Sebah Lola B08/80 will once again go after the Porsches, but still lacks reliability. Embassy Racing did really well in Germany and the squad hopes to impress in their home race.

The LMP2 class will have 14 entries this weekend. Experienced French driver Tristan Gommendy will join the WR, while the Quifel-ASM Team Lola B05/40 will race for the last time before being retired.

© Planetlemans – Marcel ten Caat

In the GT1 category the #72 Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette C6.R only needs to finish to secure the 2008 Le Mans Series GT1 title. Heading into the British round the French squad has a 10-points lead over the Team Modena Aston Martin. Both teams have scored two wins, but the Modena team suffered a DNF in the opening round of the season, while the Alphand Aventures car was in the top 2 in every race. The only chance for Team Modena to win the title is a win on home soil and a DNF for the Corvette.

Only 4 GT1 cars are entered this weekend. The second Alphand Corvette will not make the trip. IPB Spartak Racing has decided to race at Silverstone rather than going to the Brno round of the FIA GT Championship and after a DNF in Germany Peter Kox and Roman Rusinov are hoping for a strong finish this time. Strakka Racing rejoins the series in its home race, Strakka regulars Hardman and Leventis are joined for the occasion by Aston Martin Racing driver Darren Turner.

© Planetlemans – Marcel ten Caat

Virgo Motorsport and Team Felbermayr-Proton will be fighting for the GT2 title at Silverstone. Current championship leader Rob Bell will be without joint-leader Gianmaria Bruni this time. The Italian will be racing in the FIA GT Championship instead and will be replaced at Virgo by highly experienced Brazilian Jaime Melo. This automatically means that in the event Virgo Motorsport claims the LM GT2 title, only Rob Bell will be crowned the GT2 Drivers champion. If Alex Davison and Marc Lieb want to take the title they need at least four points more than Bell, something that did not happen yet this season.

At Silverstone 13 GT2 cars will take to the track. At SNORAS Spyker Squadron Peter Dumbreck is unavailable, his place will be taken by Tom Coronel. The best news in the class is the arrival (finally!) of the James Watt Automotive Aston Martin Vantage GT2. Alan van der Merwe, Tim Sugden and Michael Outzen are set to drive the car. With Markus Palttala racing in the FIA GT as well the #95 JWA Porsche will have a new crew. Car owner Paul Daniels will be joined by Peter Bamford and Matt Griffin. The final newcomer in GT2 is Julien Gilbert, competing in the #98 JMB Ferrari.

All in all there is a lot to be decided at Silverstone. Three championships are undecided and by Sunday 5.30pm local time we will know who the 2008 champions are.

During the weekend there will also be news about the new ACO regulations while announcements from teams regarding the 2009 season are also expected. Follow the weekend here on Planetlemans, including live minute-by-minute coverage on Sunday.