American Le Mans Series

Endurance News Briefs - January - 2

© Tim Yorath

Preparations for the 2010 season are well underway with announcements coming from all over the world. In the last two weeks the potential FIA GT1 World Championship entries were revealed, JaguarRSR and Risi Competizione confirmed their American Le Mans Series crews, Porsche its works drivers and the ACO confirmed plans to start Le Mans scrutineering on Sunday. But there was more!

In Birmingham the Autosport International show took place between January 14-17. Several teams confirmed plans or showed their cars at the show. JMW Motorsport, which recently announced its move from Ferrari to Aston Martin brought the Aston Martin Racing test car with yellow Dunlop sponsoring to Birmingham. Beechdean Mansell Motorsport also showed its livery for the first time. Our colleagues at Dailysportscar spoke with Lotus’ Motorsports Director Claudio Berro who confirmed that Lotus is thinking about an LMP1 entry for 2011. Modena Group Racing, the rebirth of Team Modena, confirmed its plans to run a Ferrari F430 GT2 in the Le Mans Series.

Yesterday our French colleagues at Endurance-Info were able to announce that Pierre Bruneau Compétition will run the works Radical SR9 AER, with several updates, in the 2010 Le Mans Series championship. Pierre Bruneau will be sharing the car with a familiar face, Marc Rostan. A third driver is not signed yet.

From the other side of the Atlantic there are rumours about a Lola Aston Martin. While it seems pretty much a done deal, with Autosport magazine already reporting Fernandez Racing to race the car in the full American Le Mans Series, the article that pretty much confirmed the entry was removed from the Sebring International Raceway. Where there is smoke though… One would expect a British driver, with Aston Martin LMP1 experience, to be part of the crew at Sebring though.

Another potential entry for the American Le Mans Series is the former Black Swan Racing Doran Ford GT. ACS Express Racing, which competed in the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT Championship Presented by Toyo Tires, has reportedly bought the GT2 Ford GT and is planning to run it in this years American Le Mans Series.

With the season less than two months away expect a continuous stream of announcements in the coming weeks…and for those of you that are unable to go to the Sebring 12 Hours, MotorsTV will bring 13 hours of non-stop LIVE coverage of the event on Saturday 20 March.

Updated entry lists for the Le Mans Series, American Le Mans Series and FIA GT1 World Championship can be found via our entrylist page.