24 Hours of Le Mans

Planetlemans analyzes the 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours list – LMP2

© Planetlemans – Marcel ten Caat

Last year Porsche was in a league of its own in the LMP2 class at the Le Mans. This year things could well be very different. Even though there are three Porsche RS Spyders again, the opposition looks much stronger this year and could give the Porsche squads a run for their money.

One of the favourites to win the LMP2 category in 2009 will be the Le Mans 24 Hours overall winner of 2004, NAVI Team Goh. The Japanese squad has already taken one step towards the win after buying the 2008 winning Van Merksteijn car and securing Porsche works support for the race. Team Essex is also back at Le Mans, hoping to go one step up from where they ended last year. Like NAVI Team Goh the Danish squad has secured Porsche backing for Le Mans. The third and final Porsche RS Spyder will be entered by Vitaphone Racing Team. Looking at their operation in FIA GT this should also be a professionally run entry that is capable of winning, but it will all depend on whether they get the right drivers and support.

The majority of the Porsche rivals have Lola Coupé cars or Mazda engines or a combination of both.
No less than four teams have Mazda engines powering their cars. Both RML and KSM will go after the Porsche teams with a Lola B08/80, while OAK Racing will at least try to repeat its performance from last year, when it finished in third place as Saulnier Racing, with the Pescarolo-Mazda’s.

The other two Lola B08/80s in the field are powered by Judd engines. Speedy Racing Team Sebah is the most experienced team with the Lola, after running it throughout the 2008 season. All this combination needs is reliability, something that was often missing in the Lola-Judd. Racing Box had a dismal 2008 with the Lucchini, but this year it should be completely different with the Lola coupé and some impressive driver line-ups.

Outsiders for the Le Mans LMP2 victory are the Zytek teams. Quifel-ASM Team will enter a brand new 2009 spec car with G.A.C Racing Team running the Zytek 07S.

Bruichladdich-Bruneau has been confirmed with the Radical SR9. Nowadays the Radical SR9, which had an impressive debut a couple of years ago, is unable to beat the Porsche, Lola, Zytek and Pescarolo cars.

Also interesting to notice is the Barazi-Epsilon Zytek only in fourth place on the reserve list. The 2006 Le Mans Series champion was a regular at Le Mans, but has now been dropped to a position from which it is almost impossible to join.

LM P2
5 – NAVI Team Goh – Porsche RS Spyder
24 – OAK Racing – Pescarolo Mazda
25 – RML – Lola B08/80 – Mazda
26 – Bruichladdich-Bruneau – Radical SR9 AER
30 – Racing Box – Lola B08/80 Judd
31 – Team Essex – Porsche RS Spyder
33 – Speedy Racing Team Sebah – Lola B08/80 Judd
35 – OAK Racing – Pescarolo Mazda
40 – Quifel-ASM Team – Ginetta-Zytek 09S
41 – G.A.C. Racing Team – Zytek 07S Zytek
44 – KSM – Lola B09/86 Mazda
49 – Vitaphone Racing Team – Porsche RS Spyder

Reserves:
R4 – Barazi-Epsilon – Zytek 07S
R5 – Gerard Welter – WR Zytek
R10 – Racing Box – Lola B08/80 Jud