A look at the WEC's LMP2 teams for 2016
The ten LMP2 cars entered for the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship represent the great diversity of opportunity and international feel of the WEC. Five different chassis, six different nationalities of entrant, and a multitude of drivers from all over the world, some new and some familiar to sportscar paddocks. All entries will be powered by Nissan engines.
2015 LMP2 World Champion Roman Rusinov returns to defend his title, but the team bearing the G-Drive Racing name has a different look this year. An ORECA 05 replaces the Ligier JS P2, and the No.26 will be run by the British JOTA Sport team. Frenchman Nathanaël Berthon has been announced alongside Russian Rusinov, and a third driver will be revealed in the coming weeks.
Continuing the Russian theme, SMP Racing returns for a full season attack on the LMP2 title with two of its own BR01 chassis. Long-time SMP driver Nicolas Minassian will lead the No.27 crew, and former F1 driver Vitaly Petrov has been named for the No.37 entry, with all other drivers yet to be announced. Petrov has previous experience in endurance racing from selected races in the 2007 Le Mans Series and at the 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans, but this will be his first full season in the world’s leading endurance series.
For its second season in the WEC, Tequila Patrón Extreme Speed Motorsports (ESM) will move its European headquarters to France and operate out of the OAK Racing facilities in Le Mans. Sticking with the successful Ligier JS P2 and a largely unchanged driver line up, the team started 2016 with a win at the Rolex 24 at Daytona so confidence is high. Scott Sharp and Ed Brown team up once again with Johannes van Overbeek for the all-American line up in the No.30, while team stalwart Ryan Dalziel from Britain will race alongside young Brazilian standout Pipo Derani and American Christopher Cumming.
Signatech Alpine’s 2015 season really took off in the final third, with a well-deserved first WEC win for the Philippe Sinault-run team at the 6 Hours of Shanghai. The No.36 Alpine A460 will this year be in the hands of French LMP2 Le Mans winner Nicolas Lapierre and newcomer Gustavo Menezes from California plus a third, to be finalised, driver. A second Alpine A460 will be entered in 2016 - the No.35 Baxi DC Racing Alpine team. Founded by international movie star Jackie Chan and David Cheng, DC Racing won several titles in the Asian Le Mans Series before choosing to race an Alpine in the WEC, and the line-up will be led by long-time driving partners David Cheng (USA) and Ho-Pin Tung (NLD).
Remaining loyal to the WEC, all-British squad Strakka Racing will campaign its No.42 Gibson 015S and a non-changed driver line up is expected. The Nick Leventis founded team will be looking for a solid 2016 season in what is likely to be a very competitive field.
The final two teams in LMP2 are new to the WEC but both have a great deal of motorsport experience behind them. Mexican-entered RGR Sport by Morand is the new outfit put together by Ricardo Gonzalez, who will also be the co-Promoter of the 6 Hours of Mexico. Behind the wheel of the No.43 Ligier JS P2, alongside Gonzalez, will be two extremely experienced and successful drivers – Audi factory driver Filipe Albuquerque of Portugal and Brazil’s Bruno Senna who makes a welcome return to the WEC.
A name which is new to sportscar racing’s paddocks and the WEC, but not new to motorsport, is Manor. John Booth and Graeme Lowdon’s team has entered the No.44 ORECA 05 for Thai racer Tor Graves and yet-to-be-announced team mates. It will be a steep learning curve for the Manor team, but the British bosses are confident that their many, many years of experience in other formulae will help them get up to speed quickly.
Photos: 1) Manor ORECA 05 Nissan; 2) BR01 at 6 Hours of Bahrain, 21 November 2015; 3) Alpine A460 steering wheel; 4) RGR Sport by Morand Ligier JS P2
