FIA WEC Teams Prepare for the Ultimate Test in Endurance Racing
The entry list for the 2012 24 Heures du Mans has been unveiled by the ACO which gives the names of the three drivers who will be at the wheel of each of the 56 cars that will be taking part in the 80th edition of the most prestigious endurance race in the world.
The 2012 event is also Round 3 of the FIA World Endurance Championship and double points will be awarded for all eligible participants, making the race of capital importance.
After the usual checks, the ACO has published the list of drivers per car which includes 168 names for 56 cars, with 30 of these cars eligible to score points in the FIA World Endurance Championship. In addition there are 8 further cars that have been entered as additional cars by teams running full season entries, the drivers of these cars are eligible to score world driver championship points. The nr3 Audi and the nr8 Toyota are also eligible for manufacturer’s points at Le Mans, while the other 6 cars remain invisible for the overall team and manufacturer titles, these entries are –
- Nr17 Pescarolo
- Nr26 Signatech
- Nr35 Oak Racing
- Nr42 Greaves Motorsport
- Nr81 AF Corse
- Nr99 Aston Martin Racing
The entry list includes nine outright 24 Heures du Mans winners at the start, the oldest being Martin Brundle (winner in 1990, Jaguar), who is back with his son Alex and Lucas Ordenez from Spain in the nr42 LMP2 Greaves Motorsport Zytek Nissan, and the most recent Tréluyer-Fässler-Lotterer who will drive the new Audi R18 e-tron quattro bearing the prestigious number one.
Marc Gené will rejoin Championship leaders Romain Dumas and Loic Duval in the nr3 Audi R18 ultra, replacing the injured Timo Bernhard. Dumas and Duval scored the first win for the new R18 Ultra in Belgium last month with Audi reserve driver Gené, and hold a slender two point lead over Dindo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish, who won the opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship in Sebring.
The 80th Edition of the 24 Heures du Mans marks the entry of Toyota Racing into the FIA World Endurance Championship and the Japanese manufacturer will be hoping that the pre season test programme pays off and they can take the fight to Audi for the World title at Le Mans and for the rest of the 2012 season.
In Belgium Rebellion Racing scored a 1-2 in the LMP1 Private Teams battle and hold a 4 point advantage over British rivals Strakka and 10 points over JRM. The ADR-Delta Oreca Nissan took maximum points in Spa to head the FIA Endurance Trophy for LM P2 teams, holding a 5 point advantage over their French rivals Oak Racing.
In the GTE classes it was a dominate weekend for Porsche at Spa with Team Felbermayr-Proton taking 25 points in both the LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am categories. In the Pro class the team are tied on 43 points with AF Corse at the top of the table, while in the Am class they hold a comfortable 14 point lead over Larbre Competition. Victory for Porsche enabled the manufacturer to hold a 1 point advantage over Ferrai in the LMGTE Manufacturers World Cup.
A number of 2011 winners are back to defend their Le Mans crown: Tréluyer-Fässler-Lotterer outright and LMP1 winners, Olivier Lombard victorious in LMP2 entered in the nr 23 Signatech-Nissan, Antonio Garcia, Tommy Milner and Olivier Beretta, winning trio in LMGTE Pro, who are split up this year with only Beretta entered in the WEC in the nr 71 AF Corse Ferrari. Patrick Bornhauser and Julian Canal, who came out on top in LMGTE, and who are still sharing the nr 50 Larbre Competition Corvette with Pedro Lamy.
Lamy, who was with Peugeot in 2011, is one of the former Lion drivers who has found a seat. Bourdais and Minassian will team up in the nr17 Pescarolo Dome, and Alexander Wurz is the lead driver in the Toyota squad where he has been joined by Anthony Davidson. Stéphane Sarrazin will replace Hiroaki Ishiura in the nr8 Toyota, moving from the LMP2 Starworks Motorsports team with whom he scored a class win and overall podium at Sebring in March. A whole host of ex-Formula 1 drivers are driving at Le Mans including Gené, Lamy, Sarrazin, Bourdais, Wurz as well as Nick Heidfeld (Rebellion Racing), Sébastien Buemi (Toyota Racing) and Karun Chandhok (JRM).
Another driver competing in one of the most prestigious championships in the world is NASCAR star Brian Vickers who will be making his Le Mans debut in the nr61 AF Corse/Waltrip Ferrari.
This year there is only one women driver on the entry list, Keiko Ihara from Japan in the LM P2 Lola entered by the Gulf Racing Middle East Team.
Le Mans is also the theatre in which a number of amateur drivers like Tracy Krohn and and Jacques Nicolet, who do battle throughout the year in the FIA World Endurance Championship, will show off their talent.
The vast majority of entrants will take part in the test day on 3rd June, which is a general rehearsal for the race itself. It is obligatory for new cars, for teams and drivers that have never raced in the Le Mans 24 Hours before, or drivers who are not on the list of those automatically allowed to compete in official practice since the 2007 Le Mans 24 Hours.
They will then take part in scrutineering and admin checks on 10th-11th June, in official and qualifying practice on 13th-14th June before the culmination of the Le Mans week, the start of the Le Mans 24 hours on Saturday 16th June at 15h00.
Practical information
The 2012 24 Heures du Mans
80th event
3rd round of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship
Dates: 16-17 June 2012
General enclosure ticket: 69 euros
Free for young people born after 17th June 1996 accompanied by an adult.
Scrutineering and admin. checks: Sunday 10th (14h30 – 19h00) and Monday 11th June (10h00 – 18h00).
Wednesday 13th June: Free practice from 16h00 till 20h00, qualifying from 22h00 till midnight.
Thursday 14th June: qualifying from 19h00 till 21h00 and from 22h00 till midnight.
Start of the 80th Le Mans 24 Hours: Saturday 16th June 2012 at 15h00.