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The Formula Le Mans unveiled !
© Groupe ORECA
On Friday, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest and ORECA gave the green light to the Formula Le Mans Cup. Teams, drivers and the media discovered the new Endurance monotype formula, the Le Mans Cup, which will have 220 000 euros in prizes, at the official presentation !
After presenting the championship Jean-Claude Plassart (the ACO President) and Hugues de Chaunac (the ORECA Group CEO) unveiled the FLM09 in its new colours. Then the many guests
present went to see Stéphaane Ortelli doing several laps of the Bugatti circuit in the car to
show future participants in the Formula Le Mans Cup the qualities of the Courage-Oreca chassis
and hear the roar of the 430 bhp American V8.
This first official run was a taste of what is to come, as next June the big Le Mans circuit will host 20 Formula Le Mans cars for a round of the championship as a curtain-raiser to the Le Mans 24 Hours! Between now and then all the cars will have been assembled and the launch of the Formula Le Mans Cup will be given in Barcelona at the first round of the Le Mans Series.
QUOTES :
Jean-Claude Plassart (Automobile Club de l’Ouest President) : « It’s great news , a great beginning. The Formula Le Mans is a superb car, a real little LM P2. ORECA must be congratulated on the remarkable job it’s done to design a real prototype that combines speed, reliability and
safety at a reasonable price both in terms of acquisition and running costs. This outing at Le Mans is a foretaste of the race next June. Teams and drivers will have the pleasure of racing on the big circuit, a great challenge that should interest many people. With twenty cars like this one, it’s going to be a real spectacel ! »
Hugues de Chaunac (ORECA Group CEO) : « Since September teams have shown a lot of interest in the Formula Le Mans Cup. That was when we received our first orders. For what is the first and only endurance feeder series we wanted a championship with a high-quality car at a controlled cost. We called on the big names in automotive technology and very experienced
partners.
« Today’s presentation is the concrete result of the work that’s been done over the past few months. The teams couldn’t wait to discover the Formula Le Mans and they were able to evaluate it on the track. This first official rollout could only take place at Le Mans, the theatre of the mythic 24 Hours. Seeing the car on the circuit gives us a glimpse of what the exceptional round next June will be like. We can’t wait to see it ! »
Benoît Morand (Hope PoleVision), the first buyer of a Formula Le Mans : « We bought two cars in September. We liked the championship because of the performance, the reasonable cost and the guarantee of safety due to the presence of the ACO and ORECA. We’re a team whose aim is to help young drivers climb the rungs of the ladder to prototype racing, and the Formula Le Mans Cup is the perfect link that our feeder series lacked. After seeing the car on the track I’m
amazed! It’s a beautiful machine that ‘s totally in keeping with ORECA’s reputation and heritage. In addition, its engine’s got a great sound. We can’t wait for the two FLM09s to arrive in our workshops ! »
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Thats a really good looking colour scheme!.
and the new Rear Wing ain’t that bad!
Nice looking. And the rear wing is so much better than those horrid new specs for F1.
Cheers
Can’t wait to see this series be a success, I also heard that Lemans might make the 2nd test a Lemans optional.
F1 wings are just narrow. Don’t expect a huge drop in performance from the ‘08 spec car, the wind tunnels are running around the clock as it is…
The “baby” LMP car looks great and I expect nothing less from ORECA, of course Hugh should feel good after winning the WTCC Driver’s, Team Championship and Manufactures Championship for SEAT.
The IMSA based lower formula to date haven’t faired well in developing talent. As its first real talented driver Matos bolted for an IRL Indy Lights ride, a stepping stone to IRL if the correct changes are made to the new car expected in 2011.
Not so much for IMSA Lites and IMSA Porsche Cup…
We’ve gotten more drivers out of Star Mazda than any of those series.
Something needs to be done with these feeder series….
The Atlantics championship was recently purchased and will be sanctioned by IMSA and will run with ALMS in 2009. Nathan Swartzbaugh won the 2006 IMSA Porsche Cup and had three races each in 2007 and 2008 in ALMS. Adam Pecorari won the 2006 IMSA Lites title and raced in van der Steur Racing’s Radical SR9 AER, but a crash in early 2007 didn’t help. Tom Drewer won the 2008 IMSA Lites 2 championship and will likely race in Lites 1 in 2009. Courage-Oreca has done a great job so far.