24 Hours of Le Mans

Vitaphone withdraws; 2nd IMSA Porsche invited

© Planetlemans – Marcel ten Caat

The Vitaphone Racing Team has officialised its withdrawal, as it was unable to find an agreement with Porsche to run an RS Spyder in LM P2 in the 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours. Thus, the German team will not be present at the compulsory free practice session on 10th June.

In compliance with the ACO regulations, the place left vacant by the withdrawal of the Porsche RS Spyder goes to the first reserve on the list of competitors invited, no matter what the category, in this case the no. 70 LM GT2 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of the French Imsa Performance Matmut team, which has already entered the no. 76 Porsche 911 in this category.

Another withdrawal concerns the Racing Box SRL team. It has decided to scratch its Lola-Judd coupe (LM P2), which was in seventh and last place on the reserve list. The Italian team will be concentrating all its efforts on its other Lola-Judd coupe (LM P2, no. 30), which is entered for practice.

There are still 5 cars on the reserve list. From 22nd May onwards, it will no longer be possible to bring in reserve cars to replace withdrawals.

NB: The Endurance China Team is now called the Asia Endurance Team (no. 75 LM GT2 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR).