Le Mans News

thats pretty cool

ckBrenneke wrote:http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78447

Andy Priaulx and Jorg Muller join Rahal Letterman for Petit Le Mans.

now my money's on them to win GT2

it's amazing how far they've come since the beginning of the season- it's a brand new car for them as well, hopefully they do Le Mans this July

good news indeed.

also.

Scott Dixon has been added to the de Ferran car.

AND

RSR TO DEBUT JAGUAR XKR GT2 AT PETIT LE MANS

EAST LANSING, Michigan (September 8, 2009) - RSR is scheduled to debut the Jaguar XKR GT2, the newest entry in the American Le Mans Series, at the famed Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, September 24 - 26.

In preparation for a full championship season effort in 2010, the team plans to enter the last two events on the 2009 ALMS schedule using the track time for testing and development. The car is undergoing extensive system tests at RSR's East Lansing, Michigan facility and is being prepared for a performance evaluation and shakedown prior to Road Atlanta.

The team will be hosting a press conference on Thursday, September 24 at Road Atlanta to officially unveil the car, drivers for 2009, and tire partners. Complete details on the event to follow.

After a tense race with 6 different leaders, Aston win the championship for teams and drivers following the Oreca and Speedy Racing Team Sebah cars home in third place.
Helluva race!

That Pesca was rather quick in the first stint, I remember Hindy saying it was the best the stints he has ever seen.

Well last to first ain't bad!

Shame they buggered up their pitstops really then isn't it AJ

48 Corsa Motorsports Ginetta-Zytek

are off the entry list :/

They say they're ready! We'll see tomorrow, I guess...

RSR SET TO TAKE THE GREEN FLAG AT LAGUNA SECA

First race for the Jaguar XKR GT2

EAST LANSING, Michigan (October 7, 2009) - After a successful debut of the Jaguar XKR GT2 race car at the Petit Le Mans and some private testing, RSR is set to take the green flag for competition in the 2009 American Le Mans Series' finale at Laguna Seca, October 10.

The team's test last week at GingerMan Raceway (South Haven, MI) was completed without incidents. "The first track test for the Jaguar XKR GT2 was very successful," commented RSR Technical Director John Gentilozzi. "We were able to make some changes to the balance and setup characteristics of the car. Our experience on track generated good information. We feel that it was a very constructive venture and one that will make us more confident going into our first race at Laguna."

RSR is ready to begin the next phase of their new program by going into competition after spending recent months constructing the Jaguar XKR GT2. The team looks forward to demonstrating that its hard work will be rewarded as the car is ready to face off against the likes of Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, Corvette, Panoz, Dodge and Ford. This weekend marks the start of the team's 2010 season. Extensive testing is planned in the upcoming months leading up to one of the biggest ALMS events on the schedule, the 12 Hours of Sebring in March.

"At this point, we have decided to race the car," said RSR team owner Paul Gentilozzi and co-driver of the #33 Jaguar XKR GT2. "We could have done months and months of testing, but the first race is still the first race. You go into it with a lot of expectations and some normal apprehension. We are racing in competition this weekend; we are going to Laguna and running our sessions in order to develop a competitive comparison with our competitors. They have been racing all season and are on their game; in addition we know that the competition will be making advances during the off-season. We had to go through one real race to know where we stood right now, regardless of where it is...we just have to know where we are at and what we need to do to improve to stay consistent with our rivals and to surpass them in 2010."

Perhaps more important than track time in the Jaguar XKR GT2, will be the feedback from the drivers behind the wheel. Ranking first in virtually every Trans-Am performance category, Paul Gentilozzi makes his return to endurance racing since winning the 2002 24 Hours of Daytona (GTS Class). No stranger to the Laguna Seca course, he will be paired with veteran endurance sports car racer Marc Goossens, from Belgium.

Just last year when competing in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series' Daytona Prototype Class, Goossens fell 1.504 seconds shy of taking the overall victory at Laguna Seca. "Racing at Laguna Seca is always special," commented Goossens. "Not only because of the world famous Corkscrew corner, but the track has a little bit of everything in it. There are fast corners, slow corners and the elevation changes are always a challenge. Combined with some off-camber corners where you can't always see the exit, Laguna Seca creates great racing for the fans as much as for the drivers."

Goossens added, "I am really looking forward to the race. First of all it's an honor to be asked by RSR to race the Jaguar XKR GT2 on its debut and it goes without saying that I'm very proud to be representing Jaguar Cars at Laguna Seca. Of course I can't say much about the car since I haven't driven it yet, but having seen the car and the way it has been built, I'm pretty sure that we can show some of its potential from day one."

The Monterey Sports Car Championships at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Salinas, California will kick off with event testing on Thursday. Two practice sessions will lead to qualifying on Saturday. The four-hour race is scheduled to start at 2:45 p.m. PDT on Saturday, October 10. Live coverage will be available on American Le Mans Radio via americanlemans.com, which also will feature Living Timing & Scoring on Racehub. Live coverage also can be heard on Sirius 126 and XM 242. SPEED will televise the race on Sunday, October 11 at 2:30 p.m. EDT. For more information, go to www.americanlemans.com.

LMS - Team Oreca Matmut AIM - Jake Yorath/l’endurance

lendurance.co.uk - Jake Yorath

After their victory at Silverstone and 5th place inthe Petit Le Mans in front of Acura, the TeamORECA-Matmut-AIM will race in the last 2events of the season on 31st October and 1stNovember. The ORECA 01 will be at Okayamaand will be driven in the Asian Le Mans Seriesby Nicolas Lapierre and Loïc Duval.

Lapierre has been a regular member of the team for 2 years - usually with Olivier Panis -and has scored a couple of pole positions plus victory at Silverstone as well as finishing5th in the Petit Le Mans. Loïc Duval will back him up in the two 500-km events in Japan.Loïc has won the 2009 Formula Nippon Championship title this season scoring 4 victoriesand 3 pole positions in the 8 rounds! He has also shone in the Super GT Championship inwhich he is racing in addition to his single-seater commitments. Like Lapierre in the pasthe has also competed in A1GP, and he knows the Team ORECA-Matmut-AIM squad wellas he drove for it in the 2008 Le Mans 24 Hours in which he finished eighth. At Le Mans,he also received the Jean Rondeau Prize awarded to a rising French star.

“Loïc’s got all the right qualities to back up Nicolas,” explains Hugues de Chaunac. “He’sa talented driver as shown by his results, in particular his recent Formula Nippon title. Hisperformances in Japan are strong arguments inhis favour. On the one hand, he’s a well-knowndriver there, and on the other he knows all theJapanese circuits including Okayama. As it’s theteam’s first outing on the track his experience willbe a big help. Like Nicolas he’s shown his talentin both sprint and endurance events. He drivessingle-seaters on a regular basis and he’salready driven an LM P1 prototype.”

In Japan, the ORECA 01 will in the hands of a couple of drivers who’ve proved just howquick they are. Nicolas and Loïc combine both speed and steadiness so they have all thequalities necessary to tackle the Okayama races - long certainly, but shorter than theusual ones in endurance. The whole Team ORECA-Matmut-AIM squad is determined tofinish the season on a high note in the Land of the Rising Sun !

After meeting with the constructors racing or being interested to race at Le Mans and in the various Le Mans Series in Paris today, the ACO announced several decisions for the 2010 and 2011 seasons.

First of all the ACO announced the equalization of air restrictors for open and closed cars for 2011. As a result the advantage of the closed cars should have been reduced and both type of cars should be on the same level of competition. The announcement of the ACO is as follows:

“In the context of the new 2011 rules, entrants in LM P with an open or closed body will therefore set off on an equal footing. Results of studies carried out by the ACO technical consultants confirm that the aerodynamic advantages as from now offset the constraints linked to maintaining a maximum temperature in the cockpit of closed cars.”

“Furthermore, the problems linked to windscreen wipers, condensation, etc. are from now on appreciated by everyone. Lastly, the time in pit stops, extended as a result of the new rules concerning tyre changes, no longer gives an advantage to open cars, as used to be the case.”

“It was therefore essential to confirm this decision here and now, so as to allow the constructors to adopt a position with regard to their choice of new cars to be constructed for 2011.”

Furthermore the ACO also confirmed that the GT1 class continues to exist in the 24 Hours of Le Mans as well as the Le Mans Series. All cars that are eligible for the FIA GT1 World Championship will be accepted to race in 2010.

According to the ACO three constructors have confirmed their intention to race at Le Mans in 2010. The manufacturers will also have to run their cars in the European and Asian Le Mans Series, an absolute requirement to be invited to Le Mans. All teams that have won an automatic entry for Le Mans will be joining them, which means the ACO expects some 8-10 cars on the grid of the 24 Hours in June 2010.

looks like they still aren't doing anything to even out diesel vs. gasoline

AMAZING race at laguna.

http://www.planetlemans.com/2009/11/13/formula-le-mans-cars-to-join-le-mans-series/

Formula Le Mans cars join The Le Mans Series

good move!

lfcnicklfc wrote:http://www.planetlemans.com/2009/11/13/formula-le-mans-cars-to-join-le-mans-series/

Formula Le Mans cars join The Le Mans Series

oreca had one of these on display at petit.

in ALMS they will be called LMP-C

jenson09 wrote:

TITAN MOVIE NURBURGRING from Clashproduction on Vimeo.

thanks for this, great clip!

Found it on the MWM Collective. Looks amazing and the full version could be really interesting.

jenson09 wrote:Found it on the MWM Collective. Looks amazing and the full version could be really interesting.

oh fo sho.

so there is talk amongst the group of friends that i make the trip to petit with every year, to go to laguna seca for this years 6 hour race in the spring...hopefully we can put a trip package together over christmas and get everything booked. because that would be an amazing trip...

http://www.planetlemans.com/2009/12/05/bmw-confirms-gt-programme-for-2010/

BMW confirms GT2 programme and they have plans for Le Mans and the Le Mans Series

Ah yes, I knew that plain white M3 GT2 that is usualy lying around at the Schnitzer race shop would get used at some point.

jenson09 wrote:

TITAN MOVIE NURBURGRING from Clashproduction on Vimeo.

Im not all that sure that what i see and what i hear are at 2:40 are the same thing though

Utterly disgusted at the behaviour of Peugeot blocking Audi from racing at Sebring.
Complete lack of sportsmanship and denying the fans a show.

Puegeot's game is trying to just eliminate the competiton, completely disgusting