Audi-less LMES

LC2guy · 21 Feb 2005, 14:33 (Ref:1231452)

If , as looks possible, there are no Audi's in LMES next year, who in your opinion will come out on top. It certainly appears quite open, with Creation, Rollcentre, Pescarolo, Etc all in with a great chance of overall honours. Even teams such as Jota, Nasamax and Lister will be in with a shout at the top spot IMHO, with reliability in the 1000km races being key. If i have to stick my neck out, i'll go for the Rollcentre Dallara Judd, if the drivers are up to it , as i don't think Pescarolo will be at every round, and Creation's package is still new. What do you guys think ?

Tim Northcutt · 21 Feb 2005, 14:52 (Ref:1231467)

I thought RollCentre had announced that they would have the Nissan twin turbo in the primary car, with the Judd being a second entry with paying drivers...

Is that incorrect???

I think the LMES will be wide open and very, very competitive....

pink69 · 21 Feb 2005, 15:23 (Ref:1231491)

Seeing as they ran so well against the Audi's last year, to begin with at least, I'd say Creation.

jhansen · 21 Feb 2005, 15:32 (Ref:1231502)

Considering that most are smallish teams I believe whoever enjoys the best realiability will take the title. If Pescarolo was competing in all five rounds I would put my money on them. But, since they are probably not I would probably go with Creation or Rollcentre.

The Badger · 21 Feb 2005, 15:56 (Ref:1231523)

In my opinion this is good news for the championship . The Audi is just too good to beat for the privateer teams if it doesnt break . Hopefully the championship will be a battle all the way . Pescarolo and Creation will be the ones to watch with the Dallara-Judd in there as well . Im happy

Fab · 21 Feb 2005, 16:07 (Ref:1231532)

Creation
RollCentre
Pescarolo
Jota

... no surprise...

**Bentley03** · 21 Feb 2005, 16:49 (Ref:1231553)

Creation, Creation, Creation

They already have the pace and development this winter focuses on reliability. Favourite for every round IMHO.

gwyllion · 21 Feb 2005, 17:01 (Ref:1231562)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bentley03

Creation, Creation, Creation

They already have the pace and development this winter focuses on reliability. Favourite for every round IMHO.

Every round? How about Spa? There will be 1 Audi in Spa

tblincoe · 21 Feb 2005, 17:02 (Ref:1231563)

from what i've heard it won't be an Audi-less season... where did you hear otherwise? even with Oreca i think its going to be a fantastic season with only one restricted-R8

Foster · 21 Feb 2005, 17:17 (Ref:1231581)

I'd say, it's gonna be Creation coming out on top majority of the time.
If they slip up, watch out for Rollcentre, they are something to look out for.

gwyllion · 21 Feb 2005, 17:18 (Ref:1231583)

Quote:

Originally Posted by tblincoe

from what i've heard it won't be an Audi-less season... where did you hear otherwise? even with Oreca i think its going to be a fantastic season with only one restricted-R8

The restricted R8 will definately suffer on the LMES races. I assume it will have trouble matching the pace of the LMP1 and hybrid spec cars. Of course they can rely on perfect reliablity and top drivers.

**Bentley03** · 21 Feb 2005, 17:26 (Ref:1231589)

Quote:

Originally Posted by gwyllion

Every round? How about Spa? There will be 1 Audi in Spa

Yes, quite sure....

Ok, a more considered opinion.

Spa, in reality, will surely be another test run in preparation for Le Mans as far as Oreca are concerned (although you could argue the same about Creation). I don't see them pushing too hard. And I don't think Creation could resist the opportunity to beat them.

If, as I suspect,Team Jota have Zytek factory backing this season, the car could be as quick as the Black Rocket was last year. If that's the case they will show similar pace to Creation, but I expect Creation to have better reliability this year. There is also the possibility of Arena doing a season of LMES and I assume the car in question is the Black Rocket.

The car which intrigues me most however is the Factory Dome Hybrid. This could just be the quickest car of all (certainly in a straight line). It could also be a big disappointment. But I can't wait to find out

Fab · 21 Feb 2005, 19:50 (Ref:1231719)

What about Nasamax and Jim Gainer's Dome ?

tblincoe · 21 Feb 2005, 19:51 (Ref:1231722)

i definitely agree that the Factory Dome has been largely looked over... look for that car to really shake things up both in the LMES and at Le Mans.

apparently when Champion tested the 2003-spec R8 against the 2005-spec R8 in January they said that the difference in lap performance between the two machines was not that great... what exactly "not that great" amounts to in terms of lap times remains to be seen.

as for Jota, they do not have factory backing from Zytek as far as I am aware. they have also switched back to Dunlops from Michelins which could detract from them being a race-winner due to the inability to double-stint the Dunlops on the Creation DBA-Zytek last year...

one thing is for sure, there are a lot more unknowns this year than last and i think that 2005 could be a classic year in its own right with the absence of the manufacturers.

**Bentley03** · 21 Feb 2005, 20:14 (Ref:1231749)

Quote:

Originally Posted by tblincoe

.....as for Jota, they do not have factory backing from Zytek as far as I am aware. they have also switched back to Dunlops from Michelins which could detract from them being a race-winner due to the inability to double-stint the Dunlops on the Creation DBA-Zytek last year...

Just read the tyres article on DSC. Looks to me like a step backwards. Let's hope development in other areas will compensate. I know this is an LMES thread but I suspect the Jota car will see 4pm, Sunday at Le Mans with a top ten finish.

marcush. · 21 Feb 2005, 23:02 (Ref:1231916)

hm my biased opinion says Creation will rule all year if ther´s an audi or not.
They are the only ones not having to put ballast into their car ,they have the correct tyre supply and new aero as well as a engine contract with judd and they hit the ground running with their new package.
Rollcentre has cars wich are more suited to LM than the Nurbutgring or SPA so they need to rely on reliability ,same goes for the french and dome.

tblincoe · 22 Feb 2005, 02:53 (Ref:1231992)

i would tend to agree with you marcush but there is that question of reliability that always finds a way to bite an Audi challenger in the butt...

**FIRE** · 22 Feb 2005, 11:45 (Ref:1232272)

Quote:

Originally Posted by tblincoe

i would tend to agree with you marcush but there is that question of reliability that always finds a way to bite an Audi challenger in the butt...

Agree

jhansen · 22 Feb 2005, 16:17 (Ref:1232541)

The Zyteks (& one DBA) still have a long way to go in the realiability department. I see a lot of wishfull thinking going on at the moment from folks that are tired of Audi wins. Creation has the pace no doubt about it. I wouldn't be surprised if they sweep all five poles this year. But their finishing record was miserable last year. And that is no easy nut to crack.

I still say any car designed to the old 675 regs will always have reliability trouble in comparison to the heavier 900 designed cars.

I would give a shout to Lister if they can sort their reliability problems.

Question: Who are the confirmed full schedule LMP1 cars for this season?

tblincoe: I tend to think that the '05 spec Audi will be fairly comparable over the length of a stint, but probably not in qualifying spec.

SALEEN S7R · 22 Feb 2005, 16:27 (Ref:1232552)

Personally I can see the RFH Domes being a potential race winner, Lammers will have new cars for this year and IMO RFH is more than capable of taking this years LMES title, providing of course they can get 2 professional top line drivers in at least 1 car.

tblincoe · 22 Feb 2005, 16:30 (Ref:1232554)

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhansen

The Zyteks (& one DBA) still have a long way to go in the realiability department. I see a lot of wishfull thinking going on at the moment from folks that are tired of Audi wins. Creation has the pace no doubt about it. I wouldn't be surprised if they sweep all five poles this year. But their finishing record was miserable last year. And that is no easy nut to crack.

I still say any car designed to the old 675 regs will always have reliability trouble in comparison to the heavier 900 designed cars.

I would give a shout to Lister if they can sort their reliability problems.

Question: Who are the confirmed full schedule LMP1 cars for this season?

tblincoe: I tend to think that the '05 spec Audi will be fairly comparable over the length of a stint, but probably not in qualifying spec.

i totally agree with you and your assessment of the Audi's pace was the same as Champion's... the cars will not be nearly as quick in qualifying, but over a stint they won't be to far behind the previous spec R8s

as for the entries confirmed, pretty much everyone on my list is confirmed for the full season in one way or another with the exception of Oreca (who will confirm after Le Mans IMO)

jhansen · 22 Feb 2005, 16:30 (Ref:1232555)

If RfH are racing outside of Le Mans that is.

tblincoe · 22 Feb 2005, 16:31 (Ref:1232556)

Quote:

Originally Posted by SALEEN S7R

Personally I can see the RFH Domes being a potential race winner, Lammers will have new cars for this year and IMO RFH is more than capable of taking this years LMES title, providing of course they can get 2 professional top line drivers in at least 1 car.

Lammers will not have new cars this year, they will be running the old S101 and furthermore, will only be racing at Le Mans and do not have any LMES races planned to date

lj79 · 22 Feb 2005, 16:33 (Ref:1232561)

Will the reg changes mean that the cars have to be driven harder to get similar performance, not that they weren't driven hard anyway?

jhansen · 22 Feb 2005, 16:38 (Ref:1232563)

From tblincoe's LMES list:

LMP1

1x Rollcentre Racing Dallara Nissan
1x Rollcentre Racing Dallara Judd GV4
1x Nasamax DM139 Judd GV5
1x Audi Sport France Team Oreca Audi R8
1x Creation Autosportif DBA Judd XV
1x Team Jota Zytek 04S Zytek
1x Jim Gainer Dome S101-H Judd GV4
1x Lister Racing Lister LMP1 Chevrolet
1x Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo Hybrid Judd GV5
1x Taurus Sports Lola B2K/10 Caterpillar
1x Courage Competition Courage C60H Judd GV4
1x Durango PM03 Judd GV4
1x GP Racing Promec PJ199 Judd GV5

Btw tb, thanks for all the work you do on these lists!

If most of these cars are confirmed for full seasons as you suggest, and assuming no Audi after Spa (as the thread suggests), then I would think that Pescarolo and Rollcentre are big threats. And the factory Courage should be right there to.

Creation will no doubt be fast, but again I question their reliability.

Lister or the Jim Gainer Dome could be dangerous if they have reliability and decent pilots.

Many of these teams are unproven front runners. This year's LMES should be quite thrilling.

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