2 Esperantes Purchased....

[therealdeal]

2 panoz gt-lm esperantes where purchased by an lmes team LMSR.NET reported.... i think it might be Labrehrug:

[BSchneiderFan]

Did Larbre buy their Ferraris? And are they really getting rid of them after 4 races?

[SALEEN S7R]

Perhaps Labre will run in 2 classess. They have done before, in the FIA GT championship. Perhaps 2 Ferrari 550s and 2 Panoz's. I hope so but I think theyd be hard pushed to find the funding.

[paul-collins]

Just a note: full press release here.

http://www.motorsport.com/news/artic...FS=ALMS-LEMANS

[SALEEN S7R]

Ah nice one paul. Hopefully we will have more news soon as to who could be running the cars in the LMES.

[tblincoe]

from what i gather Larbre was doing the lease program through Care and they have decided to end that program and go with the Panoz Esperante GT-LM. it seems as though Larbre has a good releationship with Panoz as they ran the GTR this season at selected races and this relationship leads me to believe that this was a good move for Larbre. they will get support from the Panoz factory and the Esperante will be will be cheaper to run than the Ferrari 550.

i also think that the new Esperante could be an even better option in europe than in north america. the european tracks that the LMES runs on are smoother and more power-intensive which should suit the Esperante perfectly. i woud expect to see the Esperante to be highly competitive at tracks like Monza and Spa.

[SALEEN S7R]

Lets hope we get a Esprante at Le Mans too, as we all know its a extremely fast car in a straight line, and could be the car to take the fight to the Porsches. Would be good to see Porsche beaten for once, I know the 360 GTC has beaten them on ocassion, but not often enough for my liking, and defintly not at Le Mans.

[paul-collins]

Well, if straight line grunt is something the Esperante can frighten the jellybean brigade with, then great. After all, that's what scared them about the Callaway, which was not invited in '02 after taking the '01 GT pole.

And there's no way that ACO can turn down Jacques Lecomte or Don Panoz, right?

[SALEEN S7R]

Originally posted by paul-collins
Well, if straight line grunt is something the Esperante can frighten the jellybean brigade with, then great. After all, that's what scared them about the Callaway,

Thats also what made them scared of the BMW M3 GTR - sure the BMW wasnt homlogated and therefore may not be the right example but the fact remains BMW turned up, decimated the Porsche squads, Porsche threatened to leave so IMSA slapped on penalties on the M3 in the name of homlogation problems - but if I remember rightly a manufacturer has 1 years grace to build sufficent road numbers before penalties are applied - a good example of this is the Saleen S7R in 2001 where it ran at LM restrictor free and set the GTS pole.

Still thats for another thread, just thought it is a little bit relevent...

[Hauptmann6]

Originally posted by SALEEN S7R
Thats also what made them scared of the BMW M3 GTR - sure the BMW wasnt homlogated and therefore may not be the right example but the fact remains BMW turned up, decimated the Porsche squads, Porsche threatened to leave so IMSA slapped on penalties on the M3 in the name of homlogation problems - but if I remember rightly a manufacturer has 1 years grace to build sufficent road numbers before penalties are applied - a good example of this is the Saleen S7R in 2001 where it ran at LM restrictor free and set the GTS pole.

Still thats for another thread, just thought it is a little bit relevent...

Nope not IMSA, it was the ACO. And BMW never intended on building more otherwise they would have. Remember they HAD a year to build more but they didn't produce any more...

[paul-collins]

Actually, it wasn't IMSA, it was the ACO that penalized the BMW, and that was after they had had a special dispensation to run the cars in the first place.

The Callaway story actually ties into that, because it was Tom Milner who was telling the Porsche teams he was going to try to get the invite for Callaway, since they had pulled the rug out from under his BMWs. Much whispering behind hands, and then the Callaway was quietly not invited...

[SALEEN S7R]

Originally posted by Hauptmann6
Nope not IMSA, it was the ACO. And BMW never intended on building more otherwise they would have. Remember they HAD a year to build more but they didn't produce any more...

Im not debating the fact that BMW didnt produce enough road cars for sufficent homlogation, what Im complaining about is the fact that they are supposed to have had 1 years grace to build sufficent road versions, the same as every other manufacturer and didnt if I remember rightly. But because Porsche moaned penalties got slapped on the car sooner than what would have been. Porsche IMO seem to have some sort of influence over the ACO, as Paul has pointed out the Calloway appears in 2001 and sets class pole in LM GT and then dosent get invited back for 2002, coincidence? I think not.

[tblincoe]

there is no question Porsche has influence on the ACO... but the fact that the BMW M3-GTR was slapped with restrictions is BMW's own fault. they were given a year (remember the M3-GTR ran for an entire ALMS season and by the winter BMW had yet to produce sufficient V8 M3's...) and you can't honestly tell me that BMW was planning on making the required number of road examples by Sebring of 2003. the restrictions on the BMW, however unpopular (i loved the M3-GTR by the way) the imposition of restrictions was absolutely correct and necessary under the rules outlined by the ACO rule-book.

[SALEEN S7R]

Yeah I agree, but what I dont agree with was the restrictors being slapped onto the cars before the years grace having run out. One rule for one, one rule for all, at least thats how it should be.

[tblincoe]

well what's a year? the M3-GTR ran at Sebring in 2002 and it was announced that the restrictions would be in effect starting at Sebring in 2003... that seems like a year to me.

[SALEEN S7R]

Wasnt the restrictons put on in PLM and before though? I seem to remember that they were. Dosent matter now though anyway.

[simon c]

Larbre in GT class - hope Bouchot gets a seat elsewhere. Not knocking this class, but I do kinda feel that Bouchot (along with a few others, e.g. Ortelli) belong at the sharp end - Porsche LMP1... But as the saying goes "you takes the money..."