LMES Dates Confirmed

[RickP:Clio51]

1st official issue from the LMES this morning.

Stick 'em in your diary, pretty much as expected although there is a line for a 5th round TBA.

16-17 April Spa
9-10 July Monza
13-14 Aug Silverstone
3-4 Sep Nurburgring
???? Oct ?????????

For what it's worth, my moneys on something out east...

Cheers RickP

[TerryC]

Rick, thanks for the heads up!

[RickP:Clio51]

I guess they've done well to avoid all the WTCC/FIA GT and (I assume) F1 dates?
But Spa in April = V.Cold, Monza in July = V.Hot and Sep in the Nurburgring might not be particularly warm.
Plus there's a couple of clashes with ALMS which will stop teams trying to do both (assuming anyone had such a budget..)
THere has to be an argument for keeping the races on a certain weekend each year at each circuit if you are to build a loyal fan base? Thoughts?

[marcush.]

your thoughts about the dates are spoton,especially the early spa date..
but on the other hand ,did it make a difference at the nurburgring in 04 to have a summer date ,not really...
so chances are at least the monza date will bring really good weather for once to the LMES.

[eddsc]

Really hot anyway. First rule - pick a weekend and stick to it, year by year, not keep changing it year by year, so locals get confused. Oh well, the ACO will pick it up one day (year). Thermals and wet weather gear for Spa.

[PaulSands]

But isn't inclement weather all part of the excitement? Think 1970...think grotty weather of the highest order....think Pedro Rodriguez...and don't think for a minute that Ayrton Senna was the only one who could do incredible stuff in the wet

[SALEEN S7R]

I agree Paul, the prospect of a potentially wet race at Spa is mouth watering, will certainly spice things up. That and sunshine over a 6hr race should make for a very intresting propostion.

[RickP:Clio51]

Yeah, nice to have races when the crowd aren't going to die of hypothermia if they come along though...
Snetterton never really challenges Castle Combe for crowd size does it? (Appreciate that might be because nothing lives near Snett bar cabbages though)...

[MikeHoyer]

I always make the effort to go to Snetterton, it's a nice drive up there

Nice calender though, I shall be at Silverstone for definite, and possibly Spa or Monza, as those circuits look to have a fair bit more atmosphere than Silverstone.

[luke]

At least we have the top 4 circuits in Europe, I hope that a decent track gets the 5th date if possible but I can't really think of a track that would be good enough.

[RickP:Clio51]

Think East

[SALEEN S7R]

Sepang would be a obvious choice IMO.

[paul-collins]

...so I guess Creation won't be going to PLM and Laguna, if they're going east?

*sigh*

First they schedule Spa against Road Atlanta's spring race; then Mosport is moved into conflict with Nurburgring. Finally we're faced with an October race that might conflict with one of the last two in the ALMS.

The first two conflicts really only affect drivers, as I doubt Sebring-bound teams would have stuck around for a month for Road Atlanta, or PLM-bound teams would have come a month early for Mosport. But an October Occidental date will stop teams (such as Creation) from coming to PLM and/or Laguna for sure.

[luke]

Originally posted by SALEEN S7R
Sepang would be a obvious choice IMO.

Wouldn't that be great.

[RickP:Clio51]

What dates are the last 2 ALMS races?

[Russfeld]

How about the Suzuka 1000km?

[RickP:Clio51]

I think China or the Middle East are most preferable marketing venues...
My money would be on Shanghai 1st choice and Bahrain/Dubai as the fall back. Aren't the FIA GT's out east in October as well as clearly they'll try and link to that?

[PaulSands]

Kyalami 9 Hours would be cool

[paul-collins]

PLM October 1
Laguna Seca October 15

[Wout]

No races on saturday evening anymore, if I'm correct. Too bad.

[Asa]

From what I heard the LMES 5th round will be at Shanghai. But I think it would be fantastic to see them race at Suzuka. An Audi through the 130R would be awesome.

Problem maybe that an Oct date at either Shanghai or Suzuka might clash with F1.

Why must F1 or LMES or FIA GT or F3 or WTCC come to the East in October/November? We have nothing for the rest of the year and then bang, 4 or 5 events in 1 month. That will make all the promoters really happy, NOT.

[paul-collins]

Hmm, interesting - I had missed dsc's interview with Ratel.

And what is currently happening over a possible fifth LMES race in 2005?

I’m not against a fifth event but I do feel we need to consolidate the existing races. There are others involved who would like to see a fifth event, but we need to consider carefully where that might best be held. If we stay in Europe then Spain is an obvious market, but China is very appealing from the perspective of manufacturers like Audi.

Again though you need to look at the costs involved. With four races over 1000kms each, the costs are relatively reasonable. Five, six or even seven races start to get expensive, particularly for the smaller teams.

Couple this with the recent Audi step-down news and you have to conclude that there will be no Occidental LMES round.

edited to say in the same interview he confirms that PLM is the other race that they are to not conflict with, along with Sebring, per agreements with ACO and ALMS.

[Tim Northcutt]

I've been saying for many months that a race in the Iberian Peninsula will be the likely 5th race.....if they think adding a few more races will be expensive for the smaller teams, one trip to Asia would cost a hell of a lot more than two races in Europe....

Can you say Barcelona????

or Valencia????

sounds more feasible to me than making Audi happy when Audi france isn't even planning on running the full LMES season...

But thats just IMHO....

[jhansen]

Well if they opt for another European venue I suggest that they look outside the Iberian Penninsula. Their attendance at sportscar events has not been stellar.

[JAG]

There were some BPR GT events in Spain in the mid 1990s that were very well attended. I believe they were sponsored by Respol.

When FIA GT have had long fly away events, the costs have always been covered by the promoters/sponsors etc. I would assume the same would happen with the LMES.