Peugeot Grabs Petit Le Mans Pole Over Audi

Photo Credit: Peugeot UK

American Le Mans Series-style sports car debuted on the 2.54-mile Road Atlanta circuit for the first time in 1999 for the Petit Le Mans event. One of the most recent endurance races, victory at the Petit Le Mans has gained the prestige as a coveted victory in sports car racing. Pleasing the American Le Mans Series head and Road Atlanta owner Don Panoz, teams competing in the event stretching 1,000-mile or 10-hour (whichever mark is approached first) can also secure an automatic entrance in next year's 24-Hour of Le Mans. For 2011, 58 cars among 5 racing categories have shown up for the 12th annual autumn race.

With Audi confirming the presence of Team Joest at the event last week, the 2011 Petit Le Mans is set to become another modern rivalry between the Peugoet 908 and the Audi R18. In what amounted to be a close qualifying result, the overall lead to the green flag, the French squad of Peugeot claimed first blood against Audi. Featuring the driver pairing of Sebastien Bourdais, Simon Pagenaud and Anthony Davidson for this weekend, the #7 Peugoet 908 flew around the Road Atlanta track in 1 minute, 7.428 seconds.

The pole-winning Peugeot claimed only a 0.128 second advantage for the top spot. The #1 Audi R18 demonstrated the ability to keep pace with the winning team of the past two Petit Le Mans events. Competing the past two times with variations of the R15 prototype, Audi Sport Team Joest have been foiled for what would be their 10th Petit Le Mans victory by the Peugeot 908. Audi Sport Team Joest is determined to claim back its dominating ways which transpired as their storied R8 and R10 prototype sports cars went mostly contested. In the second row for the 2011 Petit Le Mans start, Peugeot and Audi cars share the grid position for the LMP category and overall for the event.

The second-most watched class in the Petit Le Mans on Saturday will be the GT category where Ferrari, BMW, Porsche and Chevrolet all have a likelihood for claiming a season-ending honour of victory. With each of these automaker recording at least one win in the American Le Mans Series season entering Road Atlanta, the GT class is a battle royal among the production-based vehicles. Leading in the overall team point standings is the BMW M3 GT cars fielded by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing convincingly over the fierce competitors for 2011. For Petit Le Mans qualifying, the #51 Ferrari F458 Italia took the class pole over the BMW M3 pair. The #51 Ferrari who be starting 24th overall in the starting line-up for the Petit Le Mans with the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing BMWs securing 25th and 26th. The top-3 cars in the GT running order were separated by only 0.52 seconds on the qualifying time sheet.

Making its American Le Mans GT class debut at Road Atlanta will be the Lotus Evora GTE race car. Campaigned by Lotus Jetalliance, the Evora GTE will be participating as a prep for the car's full season of competition in 2012.    

In the Prototype Challange category, Intersport Racing's #89 car was rebuilt from a Friday morning practice crash to lead class. Concluding the practice session at Road Atlanta, the Intersport Racing crew were able to effect repairs to the exact racing machine that was involved in a massive crash with the Robertson Racing #40 Ford GT. Unfortunately, the Robertson Racing car was unable time into the Petit Le Mans event Friday but could race Saturday.

Starting at 11:30 an Eastern time, the 2011 Petit Le Mans under what is expected to be a largely sunny day at Road Atlanta.

 

Audi R18 Takes 24 Hour of Le Mans Prototype Class Pole

Photo Credit: Audi AG

The 79th running of the oldest running 24-hour endurance race, the classic Le Mans event on the Circuit de la Sarthe brings some new look prototypes and a the recipe for a fierce LME category (better known last year as GT) fight. A prelude to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, qualifying for the race gives a sample to the sounds and speed expected for the race's 2011 edition.

For the first time since 2006, Audi Team Joest will lead the field of 56 sports cars to the start of the full day race. Taking the glory of the pole position, the #2 Audi R18 TDI prototype car piloted by Andre Lotterer flew around the Circuit de la Sarthe's 13.629 kilometer distance in 3 minutes and 29.939 seconds. Just one-hundredth of a second behind, the #1 Audi R18 TDI prototype sealed a strong front row for the German automaker. The third Team Joest Audi R18 TDI qualified 5th for the start of the 24 Hour of Le Mans.

Expected to want vengance for the defeat in the 2010 Le Mans race and now 2011 qualifying, Peugeot has the resources to reclaim their home endurance racing event. Three factory Peugeot 908 Le Mans prototype sports cars and an Oreca-fielded effort are planning to better endure the 24 hour distance for a second Le Mans victory in three years. In qualifying, the highest flying member of the Peugeot camp was the #9 car wheeled by Simon Pagenaud. Pagenaud is taking a departure from his regular ride competing in the American Le Mans Series for Highcroft Racing in a Honda Racing Development prototype. For Saturday, Simon Pagenaud is paired with Pedro Lamy and Sebastien Bourdais.

Factory Aston Martin vehicles in the LMP1 class were far from a figure in qualifying at Le Mans with their AMR-ONE cars failing to find speed. In fact, most of the LMP2 cars were faster than the Aston Martin racing team vehicles. The british-based race is still seeking a return to the podium since rejoining the sports car racing arena in the Le Mans prototype class. Aston Martin has two victories in the GT1 production car class in 2007 and 2008.

Prevailing in the production-based vehicle LME category in 2011, the BMW M3 GT took first and third in class qualifying sandwiching a Ferrari 458 Italia. Lapping the track at 3 minutes and 57.592 seconds, the BMW Motorsports cars is in a class where the top-9 vehicles are separated by 3.5 seconds in qualifying.   

A very pivotal part to setting up the 24 Hours of Le Mans, qualifying will quickly become less meaningful when the green flag to the 2011 endurance race drops.


Classes

LMP1            
LMP2            
LME Pro       
LME Am        



2011 Le Mans 24 Hour Starting Grid

1)(1) 2 AUDI SPORT TEAM JOEST AUDI R18 TDI
Marcel Fassler/ Switzerland
André Lotterer Germany
Benoit Treluyer France

2)(2) 1 AUDI SPORT TEAM JOEST AUDI R18 TDI
Timo Berhard/ Germany
Romain Dumas/ France
Mike Rockenfeller/ Germany

3)(3) 9 TEAM PEUGEOT TOTAL PEUGEOT 908
Sébastien Bourdais/ France
Simon Pagenaud/ France
Pedro Lamy/ Portugal

4) (4) 8 PEUGEOT SPORT TOTAL PEUGEOT 908
Stéphane Sarrazin/ France
Franck Montagny/ Switzerland
Nicolas Minassian/ Great Britain

5) (5) 3 AUDI SPORT NORTH AMERICA AUDI R18 TDI
Tom Kristenesn/ Denmark
Rinaldo Capello/ Italy
Allan McNish/ Monaco

6) (6) 7 PEUGEOT SPORT TOTAL PEUGEOT 908
Anthony Davidson/ Great Britain
Marc Gene/ Spain
Alex Wurz/ Austria

7) (7) 10 TEAM ORECA MATMUT PEUGEOT 908 HDI-FAP
Nicolas Lapierre/ France
Loic Duval/ France
Olivier Panis/ France

8) (8) 12 REBELLION RACING LOLA B 10/60 COUPE-TOYOTA
Nicolas Prost/ France
Neel Jani/ Switzerland
Jeroen Bleekemolen/ Netherlands

9) (9) 16 PESCAROLO TEAM PESCAROLO JUDD
Emmanuel Collard/ France
Christophe Tinseau/ France
Julien Jousse/ France

10) (10) 13 REBELLION RACING LOLA B 10/60 COUPE-TOYOTA
Andrea Belicchi/ Italy
J.Christophe Boullion/ France
Guy Smith/ Great Britain

11) (11) 15 OAK RACING OAK PESCAROLO - JUDD
Guillaume Moreau/ France
Pierre Ragues/ France
Tiago Monteiro/ Portugal

12) (12) 22 KRONOS RACING LOLA ASTON MARTIN
Vanina Ickx/ Belgium
Maxime MARTIN/ Belgium
Bas LEINDERS/ Belgium

13) (13) 20 QUIFEL - ASM TEAM ZYTEK 09 SC
Miguel Amaral/ Portugal
Olivier Pla/ France
Warren Hughes/ Great Britain

14) (1) 26 SIGNATECH NISSAN ORECA 03-NISSAN
Soheil Ayari/ France
Franck Mailleux/ France
Lucas Ordonez/ Spain

15) (14) 24 OAK RACING OAK PESCAROLO - JUDD
Richard Hein/ Monoco
Jacques Nicolet/ France
Jean-François Yvon/ France

16) (2) 42 STRAKKA RACING HONDA PERFORMANCE DEVELOPMENT ARX 01 D
Nick Leventis/ Great Britain
Danny Watts/ Great Britain
Jonny Kane/ Great Britain

17) (3) 48 TEAM ORECA MATMUT ORECA 03-NISSAN
Alexandre Premat/ France
David Hallyday/ France
Dominick Kraihamer/ Austria

18) (4) 39 PECOM Racing LOLA B11/40-JUDD BMW
Luis Perez-Companc/ Argentina
Matias Russo/ Argentina
Pierre Kaffer/ Germany

19) (5) 49 OAK RACING OAK PESCAROLO - BMW
Shinji Nakano/ Japan
Nicolas De Crem/ Belgium
Jan Charouz/ Czech Republic

20) (6) 41 GREAVES MOTORSPORT ZYTEK NISSAN
Karim Ojjeh/ Saudi Arabia
Thomas Kimber-Smith/ Great Britain
Olivier Lombard/ France

21) (7) 40 RACE PERFORMANCE ORECA 03-JUDD BMW
Michel Frey/ Switzerland
Ralph Meichtry/ Switzerland
Marc Rostan/ France

22) (15) 007 ASTON MARTIN RACING ASTON MARTIN AMR-ONE
Stefan Mucke/ Germany
Darren Turner/ Great Britain
Christian Klien/ Austria

23) (8) 36 RML HONDA PERFORMANCE DEVELOPMENT ARX 01 D
Mike Newton/ Great Britain
Tommy Erdos/ Great Britain
Ben Collins/ Great Britain

24) (16) 5 HOPE RACING ORECA SWISS HY TECH-HYBRID
Steve Zacchia/ Switzerland
Jan Lammers/ Netherlands
Casper Elgaard/ Denmark

25) (17) 009 ASTON MARTIN RACING ASTON MARTIN AMR-ONE
Harold Primat/ Switzerland
Adrian Fernandez/ Mexico
Andy Meyrick/ Great Britian

26) (9) 44 EXTREME LIMITE AM PARIS NORMA M200P - JUDD BMW
Fabien Rosier/ France
Philippe Haezbrouck/ France
Jean-René de Fournoux/ France

27) (10) 35 OAK RACING OAK PESCAROLO - JUDD BMW
Andrea Barlesi/ Belgium
Frédéric Da Rocha/ France
Patrice Lafargue/ France

28) (11) 33 LEVEL 5 MOTORSPORTS LOLA COUPE-HONDA PERFORMANCE DEVELOPMENT
Scott Tucker/ USA
Christophe Bouchut/ France
Joao Barbosa/ Portugal


29) (1) 55 BMW MOTORSPORT BMW M3 GT
Augusto Farfus/ Brazil
Jörg Muller/ Germany
Dirk Werner/ Germany

30) (2) 51 AF CORSE FERRARI 458 ITALIA
Giancarlo Fisichella/ Italy
Gianmaria Bruni/ Italy
Toni Vilander/ Finland

31) (3) 56 BMW MOTORSPORT BMW M3 GT
Andy Priaulx/ Great Britain
Dirk Muller/ Germany
Joey Hand/ USA

32) (4) 73 CORVETTE RACING CHEVROLET CORVETTE C6 ZR1
Olivier Beretta/ Monoco
Tommy Milner/ USA
Antonio Garcia/ Spain

33) (5) 89 HANKOOK - TEAM FARNBACHER FERRARI 458 ITALIA
Dominik Farnbacher/ Germany
Allan Simonsen/ Denmark
Leh Keen/ USA

34) (6) 74 CORVETTE RACING CHEVROLET CORVETTE C6 ZR1
Oliver Gavin/ Great Britain
Jan Magnussen/ Denmark
Richard Westbrook/ Great Britain

35) (7) 77 TEAM FELBERMAYR-PROTON PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Marc Lieb/ Germany
Richard Lietz/ Austria
Wolf Henzler/ Germany

36) (8) 59 LUXURY RACING FERRARI 458 ITALIA
Stéphane Ortelli/ Monoco
Frédéric Makowiecki/ France
Jaime Melo/ Brazil

37) (9) 75 PROSPEED COMPETITION PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Marc Goossens/ Belgium
Marco Holzer/ Germany
Jaap Van Lagen/ Netherlands

38) (10) 79 JOTA ASTON MARTIN VANTAGE
Sam Hancock/ Great Britain
Simon Dolan/ Great Britain
Chris Buncombe/ Great Britain

39) (11) 66 JMW MOTORSPORT FERRARI 458 ITALIA
Rob Bell/ Great Britain
Tim Sugden/ Great Britain
Xavier Maasen/ Belgium

40) (12) 80 FLYING LIZARD MOTORSPORTS PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Jörg Bergmeister/ Germany
Patrick Long USA
Lucas Luhr/ Germany

41) (13) 58 LUXURY RACING FERRARI 458 ITALIA
Anthony Beltoise/ France
Pierre Thiriet/ Belgium
François Jakubowski/ France

42) (1) 61 AF CORSE FERRARI F430
Pierguiseppe Perazzini/ Italy
Marco Cioci/ Italy
Sean Paul Breslin/ Germany

43) (14) 88 TEAM FELBERMAYR-PROTON PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Nick Tandy/ Great Britain
Abdulaziz Al Faisal/ Saudi Arabia
Bryce Miller/ USA

44) (15) 71 AF CORSE FERRARI 458 ITALIA
Robert Kauffman/ Italy
Michael Waltrip/ USA
Rui Aguas/ Portugal

45) (16) 76 IMSA PERFORMANCE MATMUT PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Raymond Narac/ France
Patrick Pilet/ France
Nicolas Armindo/ France

46) (2) 63 PROTON COMPETITION PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Horst Felbermayr Jr/ Austria
Horst Felbermayr Sr/ Austria
Christian Ried/ Germany

47) (3) 81 FLYING LIZARD MOTORSPORTS PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Seth Neiman USA Darren LAW/ USA
Spencer Pumpelly/ USA

48) (4) 70 LARBRE COMPETITION PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Christophe Bourret/ France
Pascal Gibon/ France
Jean-Philippe Belloc/ France

49) (5) 83 JMB RACING FERRARI F430
Manuel Rodrigues/ France
Jean-Marc Menahem/ France
Nicolas Marroc/ France

50) (6) 60 GULF AMR MIDDLE EAST ASTON MARTIN VANTAGE
Fabien Giroix/ Argentina
Michael Wainwright/ France
Roald Goethe/ France

51) (7) 57 KROHN RACING FERRARI F430
Tracy Krohn/ USA
Niclas Jonsson/ Sweden
Michele Rugolo/ Italy

52) (8) 50 LARBRE COMPETITION CHEVROLET CORVETTE C6 ZR1
Patrick Bornhauser/ France
Julien Canal/ France
Gabriele Gardel/ Switzerland

53) (9) 62 CRS RACING FERRARI F430
Pierre Ehret/ Germany
Roger Wills/ Great Britain
Shaun Lynn/ Great Britain

54) (17) 65 LOTUS JETALLIANCE LOTUS EVORA
Jonathan Hirschi/ Switzerland
James Rossiter/ Great Britain
Johnny Mowlen/ Great Britain

55) (10) 68 ROBERTSON RACING FORD GT-DORAN
David Robertson/ USA
Andrea Robertson/ USA
David Murry/ USA

56) (18) 64 LOTUS JETALLIANCE LOTUS EVORA
Oskar Slingerland/ Germany
Martin Rich/ Great Britain
John Hartshorne/ Great Britain

2011 24 Hours of Le Mans Race Entry List

Photo Credit: Peugeot

LMP1

2011 regulations in the prototype category have caused major contenders Audi and Peugeot to reshape their vehicles to adhere to new safety as well as performance standards. For Team Joest Audi, the winning R15 Plus has been decommissioned in favour of the R18. A closed-cockpit vehicle, the Audi R18 is the first such prototype car campaigned by the team at Le Mans since the R8C in 1999. Aston Martin Racing also returns for a run at the 2011 24 Hour of Le Mans LMP1 podium.


1 AUDI SPORT TEAM JOEST AUDI R18 TDI
Timo Berhard/ Germany
Romain Dumas/ France
Mike Rockenfeller/ Germany

2 AUDI SPORT TEAM JOESTAUDI R18 TDI
Marcel Fassler/ Switzerland
André Lotterer Germany
Benoit Treluyer France

3 AUDI SPORT NORTH AMERICA AUDI R18 TDI
Tom Kristenesn/ Denmark
Rinaldo Capello/ Italy
Allan McNish/ Monaco

5 HOPE RACING ORECA SWISS HY TECH-HYBRID
Steve Zacchia/ Switzerland
Jan Lammers/ Netherlands
Casper Elgaard/ Denmark

7 PEUGEOT SPORT TOTAL PEUGEOT 908
Anthony Davidson/ Great Britain
Marc Gene/ Spain
Alex Wurz/ Austria

8 PEUGEOT SPORT TOTAL PEUGEOT 908
Stéphane Sarrazin/ France
Franck Montagny/ Switzerland
Nicolas Minassian/ Great Britain

9 TEAM PEUGEOT TOTAL PEUGEOT 908
Sébastien Bourdais/ France
Simon Pagenaud/ France
Pedro Lamy/ Portugal

10 TEAM ORECA MATMUT PEUGEOT 908 HDI-FAP
Nicolas Lapierre/ France
Loic Duval/ France
Olivier Panis/ France

12 REBELLION RACING LOLA B 10/60 COUPE-TOYOTA
Nicolas Prost/ France
Neel Jani/ Switzerland
Jeroen Bleekemolen/ Netherlands

13 REBELLION RACING LOLA B 10/60 COUPE-TOYOTA
Andrea Belicchi/ Italy
J.Christophe Boullion/ France
Guy Smith/ Great Britain

15 OAK RACING OAK PESCAROLO - JUDD
Guillaume Moreau/ France
Pierre Ragues/ France
Tiago Monteiro/ Portugal

16 PESCAROLO TEAM PESCAROLO JUDD
Emmanuel Collard/ France
Christophe Tinseau/ France
Julien Jousse/ France

20 QUIFEL - ASM TEAM ZYTEK 09 SC
Miguel Amaral/ Portugal
Olivier Pla/ France
Warren Hughes/ Great Britain

22 KRONOS RACING LOLA ASTON MARTIN
Vanina Ickx/ Belgium
Maxime MARTIN/ Belgium
Bas LEINDERS/ Belgium

24 OAK RACING OAK PESCAROLO - JUDD
Richard Hein/ Monoco
Jacques Nicolet/ France
Jean-François Yvon/ France

007 ASTON MARTIN RACING ASTON MARTIN AMR-ONE
Stefan Mucke/ Germany
Darren Turner/ Great Britain
Christian Klien/ Austria

009 ASTON MARTIN RACING ASTON MARTIN AMR-ONE
Harold Primat/ Switzerland
Adrian Fernandez/ Mexico
Andy Meyrick/ Great Britian



LMP2

A lighter but generally slower class compared to the LMP1 category, the LMP2 can be either closed or open cockpit racing machines. Limited in power to supercharged 3.2 liter engines in the category, BMW, Nissan and Honda are powerplant suppliers.


26 SIGNATECH NISSAN ORECA 03-NISSAN
Soheil Ayari/ France
Franck Mailleux/ France
Lucas Ordonez/ Spain

33 LEVEL 5 MOTORSPORTS LOLA COUPE-HONDA PERFORMANCE DEVELOPMENT
Scott Tucker/ USA
Christophe Bouchut/ France
Joao Barbosa/ Portugal

35 OAK RACING OAK PESCAROLO - JUDD BMW
Andrea Barlesi/ Belgium
Frédéric Da Rocha/ France
Patrice Lafargue/ France

36 RML HONDA PERFORMANCE DEVELOPMENT ARX 01 D
Mike Newton/ Great Britain
Tommy Erdos/ Great Britain
Ben Collins/ Great Britain

39 PECOM Racing LOLA B11/40-JUDD BMW
Luis Perez-Companc/ Argentina
Matias Russo/ Argentina
Pierre Kaffer/ Germany

40 RACE PERFORMANCE ORECA 03-JUDD BMW
Michel Frey/ Switzerland
Ralph Meichtry/ Switzerland
Marc Rostan/ France

41 GREAVES MOTORSPORT ZYTEK NISSAN
Karim Ojjeh/ Saudi Arabia
Thomas Kimber-Smith/ Great Britain
Olivier Lombard/ France

42 STRAKKA RACING HONDA PERFORMANCE DEVELOPMENT ARX 01 D
Nick Leventis/ Great Britain
Danny Watts/ Great Britain
Jonny Kane/ Great Britain

44 EXTREME LIMITE AM PARIS NORMA M200P - JUDD BMW
Fabien Rosier/ France
Philippe Haezbrouck/ France
Jean-René de Fournoux/ France

48 TEAM ORECA MATMUT ORECA 03-NISSAN
Alexandre Premat/ France
David Hallyday/ France
Dominick Kraihamer/ Austria

49 OAK RACING OAK PESCAROLO - BMW
Shinji Nakano/ Japan
Nicolas De Crem/ Belgium
Jan Charouz/ Czech Republic


LME Pro

The LME (divided into Pro and Am categories) sets out the sole specifications for production-based vehicles at the 2011 edition of the Le Mans 24-hour race. With open and closed cockpit bodywork permitted, Ferrari, Chevrolet, BMW and Porsche are going to be involved in what has become a battle royale in the major sports car through the past decade.



51 AF CORSE FERRARI 458 ITALIA
Giancarlo Fisichella/ Italy
Gianmaria Bruni/ Italy
Toni Vilander/ Finland

55 BMW MOTORSPORT BMW M3 GT
Augusto Farfus/ Brazil
Jörg Muller/ Germany
Dirk Werner/ Germany

56 BMW MOTORSPORT BMW M3 GT
Andy Priaulx/ Great Britain
Dirk Muller/ Germany
Joey Hand/ USA

58 LUXURY RACING FERRARI 458 ITALIA
Anthony Beltoise/ France
Pierre Thiriet/ Belgium
François Jakubowski/ France

59 LUXURY RACING FERRARI 458 ITALIA
Stéphane Ortelli/ Monoco
Frédéric Makowiecki/ France
Jaime Melo/ Brazil

64 LOTUS JETALLIANCE LOTUS EVORA
Oskar Slingerland/ Germany
Martin Rich/ Great Britain
John Hartshorne/ Great Britain

65 LOTUS JETALLIANCE LOTUS EVORA
Jonathan Hirschi/ Switzerland
James Rossiter/ Great Britain
Johnny Mowlen/ Great Britain

66 JMW MOTORSPORT FERRARI 458 ITALIA
Rob Bell/ Great Britain
Tim Sugden/ Great Britain
Xavier Maasen/ Belgium

71 AF CORSE FERRARI 458 ITALIA
Robert Kauffman/ Italy
Michael Waltrip/ USA
Rui Aguas/ Portugal

73 CORVETTE RACING CHEVROLET CORVETTE C6 ZR1
Olivier Beretta/ Monoco
Tommy Milner/ USA
Antonio Garcia/ Spain

74 CORVETTE RACING CHEVROLET CORVETTE C6 ZR1
Oliver Gavin/ Great Britain
Jan Magnussen/ Denmark
Richard Westbrook/ Great Britain
NAT
75 PROSPEED COMPETITION PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Marc Goossens/ Belgium
Marco Holzer/ Germany
Jaap Van Lagen/ Netherlands

76 IMSA PERFORMANCE MATMUT PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Raymond Narac/ France
Patrick Pilet/ France
Nicolas Armindo/ France

77 TEAM FELBERMAYR-PROTON PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Marc Lieb/ Germany
Richard Lietz/ Austria
Wolf Henzler/ Germany

79 JOTA ASTON MARTIN VANTAGE
Sam Hancock/ Great Britain
Simon Dolan/ Great Britain
Chris Buncombe/ Great Britain

80 FLYING LIZARD MOTORSPORTS PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Jörg Bergmeister/ Germany
Patrick Long USA
Lucas Luhr/ Germany

88 TEAM FELBERMAYR-PROTON PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Nick Tandy/ Great Britain
Abdulaziz Al Faisal/ Saudi Arabia
Bryce Miller/ USA

89 HANKOOK - TEAM FARNBACHER FERRARI 458 ITALIA
Dominik Farnbacher/ Germany
Allan Simonsen/ Denmark
Leh Keen/ USA


LME Am (Amateur)

The LME Am category is separated from the Pro division mainly by the drivers. Allowed only a single driver deemed profession, the competition in LME Am is set-up to give lower cost operations a chance for glory at Le Mans. Similar in rules to the LME Pro category, the cars campaigned in LME Am class are required to be at least one year old.


50 LARBRE COMPETITION CHEVROLET CORVETTE C6 ZR1
Patrick Bornhauser/ France
Julien Canal/ France
Gabriele Gardel/ Switzerland

57 KROHN RACING FERRARI F430
Tracy Krohn/ USA
Niclas Jonsson/ Sweden
Michele Rugolo/ Italy

60 GULF AMR MIDDLE EAST ASTON MARTIN VANTAGE
Fabien Giroix/ Argentina
Michael Wainwright/ France
Roald Goethe/ France

61 AF CORSE FERRARI F430
Pierguiseppe Perazzini/ Italy
Marco Cioci/ Italy
Sean Paul Breslin/ Germany

62 CRS RACING FERRARI F430
Pierre Ehret/ Germany
Roger Wills/ Great Britain
Shaun Lynn/ Great Britain

63 PROTON COMPETITION PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Horst Felbermayr Jr/ Austria
Horst Felbermayr Sr/ Austria
Christian Ried/ Germany

68 ROBERTSON RACING FORD GT-DORAN
David Robertson/ USA
Andrea Robertson/ USA
David Murry/ USA

70 LARBRE COMPETITION PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Christophe Bourret/ France
Pascal Gibon/ France
Jean-Philippe Belloc/ France

81 FLYING LIZARD MOTORSPORTS PORSCHE 911 RSR (997)
Seth Neiman USA Darren LAW/ USA
Spencer Pumpelly/ USA

83 JMB RACING FERRARI F430
Manuel Rodrigues/ France
Jean-Marc Menahem/ France
Nicolas Marroc/ France

2011 Le Mans Sports Car Preview: Peugeot 908 HDI LMP

Photo Credit: Peugeot Via Newspress UK

With the ACO (a French-based sports car sanctioning body) introducing new regulations for the upcoming 2011 24-Hour of Le Mans, auto companies competing in the now level LMP category has been sent to the drawing boards. Complying to new aerodynamic and technical specifications, Peugeot has unveiled their 2011 fighter in the ultimate goal to reclaim the highly-desirable French sports car endurance race.

Unlike the Audi Le Mans Prototype program that redefined itself with a new designation (ie. R8, R10, R15 and now R18), Peugeot has chosen to retain the 908 numbering for identifying the 2011 race car. Preparing for battle against the Audi R18, the 2011 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP comes with two major design changes over last season's 12 Hours of Sebring-winning vehicle. Continuing into this season as a closed cockpit race car, the most notable aesthetic difference between the old 908 and the new 908 is the ACO-mandated shark fin over the engine cover. Another special consideration for the 2011 Le Mans Prototype Peugeot 908 is that all four wheels are the same size.

Because of the before-mentioned ACO rule changes, the Peugeot 5.5 liter HDi V-12 engine which ran from 2007 through and 2010 is obsolete. Working to the maximum engine displacement allowable by ACO rules for a turbodiesel 8-cylinder, the new Peugeot 908 prototype features a 3.7 liter race powerplant. Using much of the same technology including turbocharging and a diesel emission particulate filter, the Peugeot 908's new 3.7 liter HDi V-8 features a 90 degree engine angle compared to the 100 degree V-angle of the outgoing V-12.

Announcing plans to compete the entire 7 rounds of the 2011 Intercontinental Cup, Peugeot Sport has also unveiled the driver lineup for the 3-car squad's attempt to take the Le Mans 24 Hours race. The following listing will be the 2011 pilots of the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP:

Car #7 – Alexander Wurz / Anthony Davidson / Marc Gené
Car #8 – Franck Montagny / Nicolas Minassian / Stéphane Sarrazin
Car #9 – Sébastien Bourdais / Pedro Lamy / Simon Pagenaud

Peugeot Sport's 2011 season starts with the first round of the Intercontinental Cup at the Mobil 12 Hours of Sebring on March 19th under the American Le Mans Series.



Photo Credit: Peugoet Via Newspress UK








Photo Credit: Peugoet Via Newspress UK





Photo Credit: Peugoet Via Newspress UK