LMS Test Days at HTTT Paul Ricard 26/27 March

[Bentley03]

With Sebring done and dusted for another year, thoughts turn to Europe and the first chance to see a lot of the new machinery which will contest the Le Mans Series and make up a large chunk of the grid at Le Mans this year.

The Entry List is here.

The timetable is here.

As with last year, the public are not allowed to attend but live timing will be made available on the LMS website.

DSC expect the GroupBio Lola to join the LMP1 ranks at the test. The (sold) Chamberlain B05/40 and RML Lola both plan to do a 24 hour test.

The variety in LMP1 is fascinating. If we discount Lister's brief appearances last year, only the Pescarolo and Dome are really familiar. So that's seven new LMP1's and none of the nine which will be present will have the same chassis/engine combination.

I guess the real interest in LMP2 will surround the arrival of the Rollcentre Radical SR9. And it's great to see so much variety in the GT ranks this year.

It may only be testing, but I (for one) can't wait to see all this new machinery on show for the first time!

[JAG]

The variety is superb.

Third year of the series and the quality and competition has really improved.

Exciting season in prospect.

[Nick49]

Hello,

Have to agree that the approaching LMS testing is exciting although I can't help being disappointed with no works Zytek, Audi R10 or Porsche LMP2 in the prototype classes or Aston Martin and Corvette in the GT1 class. Somehow the LMS seems a bit lacking without the BIG teams in there. Yes I know Creation Autosportif and Pescarolo are big teams but I'm sure they would relish a bigger field to battle. I'm not knocking Rollcentre either as I'm a big fan of Martin Short's team.

I am hoping that LMS will go the way of the old Group C with plenty of Works teams running in LMP1 and GT1 and supplying customer cars. I see LMS as THE premier series for sportcars but although they have the numbers ALMS seems to have the quality (and I'm not knocking ALMS).

BUT I'M STILL LOOKING FORWARD TO THE START OF THE SERIES.

Nick

[JAG]

Zytek are still building their car, they could eventually have two cars if they recieve the Le Mans entries.

Joest seem set to compete in the LMS after Le Mans with at least one car.

There'll be two C6.R's and one C5-R for the season from PSI and Luc Alphand, plus two Aston's from Larbre and Russian Age Racing.

Season entries so far:-

LMP1
5 SWISS SPIRIT CH Courage LC70 - Judd Harold Primat (CH) TBA
6 LISTER STORM RACING GB Lister Storm Hybrid Andrea Belicchi (I) Stefano Zonca (I) Jens Moller (DK)
9 CREATION AUTOSPORTIF GB Creation - Judd Nicolas Minassian (F) Jamie Campbell-Walter (GB) TBA
10 CREATION AUTOSPORTIF GB Creation - Judd Felipe Ortiz (S) Beppe Gabbiani (I) TBA
12 COURAGE COMPETITION F Courage LC70 - Mugen TBA TBA TBA
13 COURAGE COMPETITION F Courage LC70 - Mugen TBA TBA TBA
17 PESCAROLO SPORT F Pescarolo C60 - Judd TBA TBA -
19 CHAMBERLAIN SYNERGY MOTORPORT GB Lola - AER Bob Berridge (GB) Gareth Evans (GB) Peter Owen (GB)

LMP2
20 PIERRE BRUNEAU F Pilbeam - Judd Marc Rostan (F) Pierre Bruneau (F)
21 BRUICHLADDICH RADICAL GB Radical SR9 C6-T Tim Greaves (GB) Stuart Mosley (GB) -
22 ROLLCENTRE RACING GB Radical SR9 - Judd Martin Short (GB) TBA TBA
23 ROLLCENTRE RACING GB Radical SR9 - Judd TBA TBA TBA
24 BINNIE MOTORSPORTS USAA Lola 05/42- Zytek Bill Binnie (USA) Allen Timpany (GB) TBA
25 RML GB MG Lola EX 264 Mike Newton (GB) Tommy Erdos (BR)
28 RANDACCIO RANIERI I Lucchini "LM"P2 Ranieri Randaccio (I) Fabio Mancini (I)
32 BARAZI - EPSILON F Courage C65 - AER Michael Vergers (NL) Juan Barazi (DK)
35 G-FORCE B Courage C65 - Judd Ed Morris (GB) Jean-François Leroch (F) Frank Hahn (B)
36 PAUL BELMONDO RACING F Courage C65 - AER Claude-Yves Gosselin (F) Karim Ojjeh (SA) Pierre Ragues (F)
37 PAUL BELMONDO RACING F Courage C65 - AER Paul Belmondo (F) Didier André (F) Yann Clairay (F)
39 CHAMBERLAIN SYNERGY MOTORPORT GB Lola - AER Miguel Amaral (P) Pedro Chaves (P)

GT1
50 LARBRE COMPETITION F Aston Martin DBR 9 TBA TBA TBA
51 B-RACING RS LINE TEAM D Lamborghini Murcielago Norbert Walchhofer (A) Philipp Peter (A)
55 TEAM ORECA F Saleen S7 - R TBA TBA TBA
61 RUSSIAN AGE RACING GB Aston Martin DBR 9 TBA TBA TBA
62 RUSSIAN AGE RACING GB Ferrari 550 Maranello Nikolay Fomenko (RU) TBA TBA
67 CONVERS MENX TEAM RUS Ferrari 550 Maranello Peter Kox (NL) Robert Pergl (CZ) Alexei Vasiliev (RUS)
70 PSI EXPERIENCE B Corvette C6.R Pertti Kuismanen (FIN) Jos Menten ( NL) Markus Palttala (FIN)
71 PSI EXPERIENCE B Corvette C5-R TBA TBA TBA
72 LUC ALPHAND AVENTURES F Corvette C5-R Jérôme Policand (F) Patrice Goueslard (F) David Hallyday (F)

GT2
73 ICE POL RACING TEAM B Porsche 996 GT3 RSR Yves Lambert (B) Christian Lefort (B) TBA
74 ESTORIL RACING TEAM* P Porsche 996 GT3 RSR Manuel Monteiro (P) Michel Monteiro (P) Claude Monteiro (P)
75 THIERRY PERRIER F Porsche 996 GT3 RSR Nigel Smith (GB) Philippe Hesnault (F)
76 AUTORLANDO SPORT I Porsche 996 GT3 RSR Marc Lieb (D) Joel Camathias (CH)
77 SEIKEL MOTORSPORT* D Porsche 996 GT3 RSR Tony Burgess (CDN) Philip Collin (USA)
78 AUTORLANDO SPORT* I Porsche 996 GT3 RSR Gunnar Kristensen (DK) Carsten Leveau (DK) TBA
80 FARNBACHER RACING D Porsche 996 GT3 RSR Lars Erik Nielsen (DK)
81 TEAM LNT GB Panoz Esperante Warren Hughes (GB) Richard Dean (GB)
82 TEAM LNT GB Panoz Esperante Lawrence Tomlinson (GB) Robert Bell (GB)
84 TEAM ICER BRAKES E Ferrari 430 GT Jesus Diez Villarroel (E) Tomas Saldana (E) Javier Macias (E)
85 SPYKER SQUADRON NL Spyker C8 Spyder GT2R Jeroen Bleekemolen (NL) Mike Hezemans (NL) -
86 SPYKER SQUADRON NL Spyker C8 Spyder GT2R TBA Donny Crevels (NL)
90 FARNBACHER RACING* D Porsche 996 GT3 RSR Pierre Ehret (D) Dominik Farnbacher (D)
91 T2M MOTORSPORT* J Porsche 996 GT3 RS TBA TBA TBA
92 IMSA PERFORMANCE MATMUT F Porsche 996 RSR Sébastien Dumez (F) Raymond Narac (F) TBA
95 RACESPORT PENINSULA TVR GB TVR Tuscan T 400 R Richard Stanton (GB) John Hartshorne (GB) Iain Dockerill (GB)
97 GPC SPORT I Ferrari 430 GT Luca Drudi (I) Gabrio Rosa (I) TBA
98 DEL BELLO NOEL* F Porsche 996 GT3 RSR Christophe Tinseau (F) Romain Iannetta (F) Jean-Luc Maury-Laribière (F)
99 VIRGO MOTORSPORT GB Ferrari 430 GT Dan Eagling(GB) TBA TBA

[Bramzel]

Originally Posted by JAG

There'll be 2 C6.R's and a C5-R for the season from PSI and Luc Alphand, plus two Aston's from Labre and Riussian Age Racing.

He means factory entries from Prodrive or P&M, and neither of those is that.

[JAG]

To be homest I wouldn't want factory teams in GT1.

PSI, Larbre etc. can compete on a level playing field with the latest and greatest equipment.

P&M, as they showed at Sebring, can overcome massive penalities and still come out on top, even against Prodrive.

Not much incentive to compete.

[GT-Eins]

At the current situation of the series factory-teams would result long-term in less cars in the class they compete.
The LMS ist based on privateer-teams - and that works obvoiusly very well.

[Nick49]

Hello

I agree that the LMS format has obviously taken off and last year provided some really great racing, even if at times it was rather wet!!

Harking back to the Group C period, once Porsche started providing customer 956's and then 962's then Joest, Brun and Richard Lloyd Racing to name some all achieved success with them against "Works" opposition. In recent history I was rather surprised that Audi didn't provide more R8's for customers or perhaps there wasn't a demand for them. I am still of the opinion that the Bernie/Max factor destroyed Group C rather than "Works" teams but perhaps I'm wrong.

Like GT-Eins has posted, the LMS works well and I am looking forward to this season very much. A Creation Autosportif fan in LMP1 and Rollcentre Racing fan in LMP2, both privateers. Mind you if Creation are making their own car.........

Nick

[JAG]

The sport was held back during th Audi R8 years by a lack of manufactuer backed customer cars, no Toyota GT-Ones, Mercedes CLK-LM's, Nissans etc.

Hopefully we'll now see customer R10's, Peugeots and Porsches, along with the much improved specialist chassis from Lola, Zytek and the like.

[Bentley03]

Stephane Ortelli and Soheil Ayari will be carrying out driver duties in the Oreca Saleen at Paul Ricard.

[Bentley03]

Originally Posted by Bentley03

.....The (sold) Chamberlain B05/40 and RML Lola both plan to do a 24 hour test.

Seems there weren't enough takers for the 24hr test so it's been cancelled.

[Alistair_Ryder]

Does anyone know if there is any lap times from a test there last year we can compare to, or has circuit layout changed?

[Bentley03]

Not sure how relevant these will be, but here are the quickest times for each car at the LMES Test Days at HTTT Paul Ricard 2005:

13 LMP1 Courage C60 Hybrid 1.39.469
17 LMP1 Pescarolo Hybrid 1.39.604
15 LMP1 Factory Zytek 04S 1.39.868
05 LMP1 Jim Gainer Dome Hybrid 1.39.919
09 LMP1 Jota Zytek 04s 1.40.738
07 LMP1 Creation DBA 03S 1.40.974
04 LMP1 Oreca Audi R8 1.41.589

25 LMP2 RML MG Lola 1.43.352
39 LMP2 Chamberlain Lola B05/40 1.43.949
35 LMP2 G-Force Courage C65 1.45.240
30 LMP2 Kruse Courage C65 1.45.789
21 LMP2 Noel del Bello Courage C65 1.47.248
45 LMP2 Lucchini 1.48.239
31 LMP2 Noel del Bello Courage C65 1.49.683

61 GT1 Convers Ferrari 550 1.48.576
67 GT1 MenX Ferrari 550 1.49.238
51 GT1 BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 1.51.059
68 GT1 JMB Ferrari 575 1.55.141

89 GT2 Sebah Porsche 911 1.58.777
--- GT2 Estoril Porsche 911 1.58.555
70 GT2 Auto Palace Ferrari 360 2.00.250
95 GT2 Racesport Peninsula TVR 2.00.316

[Alistair_Ryder]

brilliant, just what the doctor ordered

[Bentley03]

Sadly, live timing will not now be available as previously stated on the LMS site. Times will now be posted at the end of each session.

Here's an LMS Test Days preview from the LMS site.

[Bentley03]

I wasn't quite sure which thread to put this on, but the first outing for Jan Lammers new co-driver will be at Paul Ricard this Sunday. Malaysian A1 Grand Prix driver Alex Yoong has joined RFH for 2006 and will do the full LMS season aswell as Le Mans (news courtesy of DSC).

I didn't see this one coming...........

[jet]

That is a big suprise Alex Yoong at Le Mans with Jan Lammers

[jhansen]

Perhaps that is good news. He could be bringing a decent amount of sponsorship dollars. Not sure how I rate him, but his few stints in CART after F1 seemed good.

[Marcel ten Caat]

Originally Posted by Bentley03

IMalaysian A1 Grand Prix driver Alex Yoong has joined RFH for 2006 and will do the full LMS season aswell as Le Mans

That is IF they do race at Le Mans?

[Bentley03]

Originally Posted by Stranger

That is IF they do race at Le Mans?

I would be even more shocked than I was last year (Zytek!) if they're not invited!

[Dani Filth]

Originally Posted by jhansen

Perhaps that is good news. He could be bringing a decent amount of sponsorship dollars. Not sure how I rate him, but his few stints in CART after F1 seemed good.

A1GP too
Katayama wasn't that impressive in Formula 1 but he knew how to drive that Toyota hard

[Bramzel]

I wasn't convinced about him in F1, but in A1GP he really showed some nice things and some proper racing. So I think he'll do well actually.

[Bentley03]

The track is open and the Test Days are underway.

Courtesy of Daily Sportscar:

Neither ProTran nor GroupBio have turned up for the test.

Track configuration differs from last years test (so there's no point in comparing last years times). The first two corners are now tighter and the chicane at the end of the main straight is not in use this year.

The new Courage LC70 is running the new 4.5 litre V8. (Not sure what capacity Mugen V8 the RFH Dome is running.)

[jet]

Results at 11.00 am: LINK

[gwyllion]

Any idea what the 2nd car is? RfH Dome? Swiss Spirit and Creation did not any fast lap yet.

The RML LMP2 Lola is only 2.5 sec slower than the Pescarolo and almost 3 sec faster than the Chamberlain LMP1 Lola

Rollcentre did not take the Radical out yet.