Le Mans Series

LMS Spa 1000KM - LMP1: Battle of the Ardennes

© Planetlemans - Marcel ten Caat

For most teams the Spa-Francorchamps round of the Le Mans Series is the ultimate preparation for the Le Mans 24 Hours, as there is no other European race before the 24 Hours in June and the official Le Mans test day has been cancelled. Let’s take a look at the squads entered in this weekend’s race.

Spa-Francorchamps will be the final battleground in Europe before the Le Mans Series teams move to the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans. The second round will also be the first race after the Automobile Club de l’Ouest announced changes in fuel flow and minimum weight for the diesel engined cars.

At Spa Aston Martin Racing will be looking for a repeat of their successful debut at the Circuit de Catalunya, where they took victory in their first LMP1 race. An unchanged line-up, that only completed a 24 Hours simulation this week, will face some tough opposition though. Not in the last place from the 2008-spec Lola Aston Martin of Speedy Racing Team Sebah, a car that could still battle for a top finishing position.

The biggest rival will probably be Team Peugeot Total though. The 2008 Le Mans Series runners-up will return to the series for at least this round as it prepares for Le Mans. The French squad will bring two cars for Klien-Minassian-Pagenaud and Brabham-Gené-Wurz. Strong line-ups that should be capable of winning the Le Mans Series, the question remains what the Peugeot 908 can do against new opponents and with the new regulations.

More French opposition for Aston Martin Racing will come from Pescarolo Sport and Team ORECA Matmut AIM. The Pescarolo Sport team already secured a second place in Spain with their new car and for Spa the team will be running the new bodywork on both cars. In the recent Le Mans Series test at the Le Mans Bugatti track the Pescarolo’s showed their pace was not a one off. Dutch fans hoped to see Jos Verstappen in one of the two Pescarolo cars, but the Dutchman and Henri Pescarolo were unable to find an agreement.
Team ORECA Matmut AIM was third in Barcelona and will come to Belgium with two brand new cars, the ORECA 01. This new car was recently tested at Paul Ricard HTTT and its new livery was revealed on Wednesday. Considering the pace at Barcelona an improved car should be able to fight for podium finishes, even with Peugeot competing.

The second diesel team at Spa had a difficult weekend in Barcelona…Kolles. A month ago the two Audi R10 TDIs were nowhere near the front runners in LMP1 and with driver changes in both cars it remains to be seen if things have changed. Between Barcelona and Spa the team tested at Paul Ricard in order to give the drivers more time in the car and the mechanis more time to form a strong team, something that is needed in order to properly run the Audi.
Zytek will have two Ginetta-Zytek 09S cars in Belgium. Strakka Racing will be aiming for a better result than at Barcelona, where the team took pole position but only finished in fifth place. The second Zytek will be entered by Team LNT, with Guy Smith, Robbie Kerr and Lawrence Tomlinson set to drive. In recent times a Team LNT entry did reasonably well, time will tell what happens at Spa.

Signature Plus will also be there with its Courage-Oreca LC70 Judd. It will be needing some luck to improve from the fourth place the French squad managed to take in Spain.
And finally, another team returning to the Le Mans Series…Scuderia Lavaggi. The Lavaggi LS1, driven by Giovanni Lavaggi and Wolfgang Kaufmann, is back with its AER engine. Hopefully the Italian LMP1 has had some development over the winter otherwise only a good day will see it score points.

The 1000KM of Spa-Francorchamps is the second round of the 2009 championship and will start on Sunday May 10th 12:50 p.m. CET and will be 143 laps or six hours long.