Метка: 24 Hours of Le Mans

Jota facing «fastest ever» Porsche rebuild after Le Mans FP2 crash

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Team principal Sam Hignett has revealed that the quickest Jota has built up a 963 since starting racing the Porsche in the middle of last year is three weeks. 

He stated that the team is aiming for a Friday evening completion of the rebuild of its #12 entry, which sustained monocoque damage during the Wednesday night practice session for the blue riband round of the World Endurance Championship.

«These is definitely going to be the fastest we have ever put a 963 together since we started this project last year,» Hignett told Motorsport.com.

«These are complex racing cars, but we have to do it by Friday evening this time and we are confident we can do it.

«That’s our target because the guys are going to have a long night tonight and we want to give them a proper night’s sleep ahead of the start of the race on Saturday.»

Jota has also been given dispensation by the stewards to undertake a shakedown of the rebuilt car on Friday evening ahead of the pre-race warm-up at midday on Saturday.

It is understood that the car will be taken to a nearby airfield for the run.

Watch: 2024 Le Mans Preview With Allan McNish – Will Porsche Take Their 20th Win?

A spare monocoque supplied by Porsche was delivered to the team early on Thursday afternoon. 

Jota is required by regulation to build up #12 with the parts from the damaged car.

«It’s effectively just a chassis swap: all the running gear and bodywork has to come from our car — those are the rules,» explained Hignett.

The Jota Porsche sustained the chassis damage at the end of the two-hour FP2 session when the car went off at the Esses in the hands of Callum Ilott, who had earlier made it through to Thursday’s Hyperpole session in first qualifying.

Hignett revealed that a chassis insert stud had broken on the mounting of the bottom right front wishbone despite a relatively light impact with the barriers at the inside of the Esses.

He explained that Ilott’s shunt was the result of driver error, but that there were mitigating circumstances because a cockpit alarm went off during the fast sequence.

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Toyota back on top in FP2 after qualifying disaster

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Sebastien Buemi went quickest in the two-hour FP2 night session on Wednesday in the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar with a time half a second up on his nearest rival.

He emulated team-mate Brendon Hartley, who topped the times in FP1 in #8 before both cars ended up outside the top eight fastest cars in first qualifying for the double-points round of the World Endurance Championship.

Kamui Kobayashi had been fourth at the end of the one-hour timed session early in the evening, but lost all his times when he went off at Virage Corvette (formerly known as Virage Karting) and caused a session-stopping red flag.

Buemi posted a 3m27.474s on his fourth lap in FP2, which compared with the 3m27.998s set by Robert Kubica in the AF Corse-run customer Ferrari 499P LMH.

Laurens Vanthoor was less than a tenth in arrears in third place courtesy of a 3m28.065s in the #6 factory Porsche 963 LMDh.

Callum Ilott jumped to fourth in the best of Jota customer Porsches with just over half an hour of the session remaining.

The Briton, following up on a performance that won him the final place in Hyperpole for the fastest eight cars in each class, demoted Sebastien Bourdais in the #3 Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh with a 3m28.352s.

Ilott subsequently went off at exit in the Esses, hitting the barriers and precipitating a red flag with little more than a minute of the session left.

Alpine and Cadillac battled over the minor top six placings through the session.

Ferdinand Habsburg was initially fourth in the French manufacturer’s #35 A424 LMDh before Sebastien Bourdais improved on team-mate Scott Dixon’s time with a 3m28.485s to move ahead.

In the closing minutes of the session Nicolas Lapierre got down to a 3m28.458s in the sister car to move Alpine back ahead and seal fifth position. 

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-SeriesR: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Alex Palou

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-SeriesR: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Alex Palou

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Bourdais ended up as the meat in an Alpine sandwich between Lapierre and Habsburg.

Habsburg’s 3m28.644s stood as the seventh fastest time of the session just ahead of Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51 factory Ferrari on 3m28.853s

The second Toyota took ninth in the hands of Nyck de Vries while the second full-season WEC entry from the Porsche Penske Motorsport team rounded out the top 10 in Matt Campbell’s hands.

The WRT-run BMW M Hybrid V8 in which Dries Vanthoor went fastest in first qualifying ended up 13th in Marco Wittmann’s hands, while the top Peugeot 9X8 2024 LMH ended up 18th with Paul di Resta at the wheel.

Lamborghini took 20th with the best of its Iron Lynx-run SC63s LMDh in which Mirko Bortolotti set the time.

Malthe Jakobsen again led the way in LMP2 after taking top spot in the opening qualifying session in his Cool Racing ORECA-Gibson 07.

The Dane’s 3m35.386s pushed United Autosports driver Oliver Jarvis, who led the times initially with a 3m36.551s, down to second by a margin of over a second.

Scott Huffaker was third for the TDS-run Panis Racing.

#88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3: Giorgio Roda, Mikkel Pedersen, Dennis Olsen

#88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3: Giorgio Roda, Mikkel Pedersen, Dennis Olsen

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

The Proton Competition Ford squad again topped the times in the new-for-2024 LMGT3 class after Ben Barker had led the way in the hour of qualifying.

Dennis Olsen ended up fastest in the German team’s #88 Ford Mustang GT3 with a time of 3m58.689s, which was just three hundredths up on Marco Sorensen’s 3m58.716s in the D’station Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

Maxime Martin was bumped down to third after going fastest at the start of the session in the best of WRT’s BMW M4 GT3s.

FP3 starts at 15:00 local time on Thursday with the half-hour Hyperpole session beginning at 20:00.



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How BMW built its Art Car to race

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The BMW Art Car program is built on a minor contradiction. Since the program was launched in 1975 by French driver Hervé Poulain, the majority of the vehicles produced—each wearing one-of-one art from names like Andy Warhol, Jenny Holzer, Jeff Koons, and Cao Fei—have been race cars competing in high-stakes events like the 24 Hours of Le Mans and GT World Cup races. 

“The artist can do anything they want,” says Thomas Girst, an art historian who, since 2003, has been director of cultural engagement for BMW. “But they can’t mess with aerodynamics or with the weight of the car.” 

That’s the moment some tension enters the equation. If artwork exists to express an uncompromised vision, but a race car exists to go fast while tempting ruination, which one wins out when a BMW Art Car lines up for the contact sport of professional racing? 

Artist Julie Mehretu with her BMW M Hybrid V8 Art Car

Artist Julie Mehretu with her BMW M Hybrid V8 Art Car

As it turns out, the latest Art Car, made by acclaimed Ethiopian-American artist Julie Mehretu, holds the answers. The 20th car in BMW’s series is a dizzying, nearly hieroglyphic array of color and form. Mehretu wanted the car to appear as if it had passed through her large-scale painting “Everywhen.” The first challenge: translating her work from two dimensions to the chaotic 3D form of a Le Mans Hypercar entrant.

The brand’s purpose-built M Hybrid V8 race car is a riot of arched fenders, shark fins, gulping intakes, and a balance-beam wing. “There’s a whole process that we have when we do race car liveries—getting everything to read cohesively across such a diverse set of geometries,” says Michael Scully, head of design for BMW M. It involves making straight lines look the part despite curved panels, arranging visual elements to align from key perspectives, and using placement to accentuate certain features.

At first, Mehretu wanted to paint directly onto the car, like Andy Warhol famously did in 1979 to a BMW M1 racer, the fourth in the series. “She asked, can I airbrush the car? Can I paint the car?” says Hussein Al-Attar, the lead exterior designer of the M Hybrid V8. “And the answer to both of those questions was no. Because there are a lot of regulations around Le Mans. It doesn’t matter how thin that layer is, it might actually affect aerodynamics.” 

A foil wrap was applied instead—avoiding critical areas like the wings, the leading edges of the splitter, and any active aerodynamic devices, especially in the back of the car. Mehretu came away satisfied with the translation. “I think somebody from [BMW] Motorsports said, ‘Look, Julie, if you come up with a better way to make this car lighter with your art, we’ll take your idea,” Girst says.

Mehretu is not precious about her art—she’s compelled by the ways in which the car, and its livery, will change throughout the race, gaining the badges of honor in the form of dirt, rubber, cracks, and wear. As she puts it: “My car will only be done when the race is over.”

The Art of Racing: 3 More BMW Art Cars That Saw (Some) Action 

Jenny Holzer's Art Car #15: a BMW V12 LMP

Jenny Holzer’s Art Car #15: a BMW V12 LMP

Photo by: Courtesy BMW

In 1999, Jenny Holzer was provided with a BMW V12 LMP racer for her Art Car, #15 in the series. She covered the car in her signature aphorisms, including phrases such as “Protect Me From What I Want,” and “Lack of Charisma Can Be Fatal.” The lettering was both reflective and glow-in-the-dark, so it would stand out day or night. 

FINISH: DNF — one lap recorded. “It ran just the honorary lap [at pre-qualifying], because the letters that would light up at night in this fluorescent greenish color, they were not allowed to be fluorescent,” Girst says. “It was against regulations.”

Jeff Koon's Art Car #17, a BMW E92 M3 GT2

Jeff Koon’s Art Car #17, a BMW E92 M3 GT2

Photo by: Courtesy BMW

In 2010, Koons created Art Car #17 on a BMW M3 GT2 racer slated to race in Le Mans, with a design that visualized speed and motion even while parked. His initial proposal included a lenticular design, like those postcards that show two different images when you tilt them from side to side. “They had to let that go because of concerns of weight and aerodynamics,” Girst says.

According to Girst, the artist also told the drivers that he hoped while they were racing, they wouldn’t think of the car as a valuable rolling sculpture by the Jeff Koons (whose sculptures soon after set auction records for a living artist, hitting $91 million USD). “The driver essentially said, ‘I don’t give a f***. The moment I’m in the car and I hit the gas, I forget that this is an art car, and I forget how much it might be worth,’” Girst remembers. “Jeff was relieved to hear that.” 

FINISH: DNF. Koons’ M3 retired after 53 laps, besieged by technical issues, then finally running out of gas mid-lap.

John Baldessari's Art Car #19: a BMW M6 GTLM

John Baldessari’s Art Car #19: a BMW M6 GTLM

Photo by: Courtesy BMW

California conceptual artist John Baldessari completed Art Car #19, a BMW M6 GTLM meant for the 2017 running of the 24 Hours of Daytona, a few years before he died. He combined words (the truism “FAST”), a portrait of the unpainted car in profile, and his signature colorful (and, unlike Mehretu, hand-painted) dots—including a giant red dot against a white background that nearly covered the roof’s surface, which confusingly resembled the Japanese flag. 

“So I asked him, ‘Why did you put the red dot so pointedly on the top of the roof, with a white background?’” Girst says. “And he said, ‘Thomas, I cannot come to 24 hour race in Daytona. I’m going to sit in my La-Z-Boy in Santa Monica and watch the race. I want to know which is my car.’”

FINISH: In a relative victory for BMW Art Cars, the No. 19 M6 run by Rahal Letterman Lanigan took 12th overall at Daytona in 2017, and placed 8th out of 11 in the GTLM class, beating out its BMW M6 GTLM garagemate. 

Watch: 2024 Le Mans Preview With Allan McNish – Will Porsche Take Their 20th Win?



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Ferrari calls for strict policing of WEC tyre warming rules at Le Mans 24

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Antonello Coletta, the Italian manufacturer’s sportscar racing boss, made the call in light of ban on tyre warmers in the World Endurance Championship and the rule demanding that the rubber must be at ambient temperature when it is put on the cars. 

He appeared to be suggesting that one manufacturer might be gaining an advantage by circumventing the ban, which was introduced at the start of last season but reversed on a one-off basis for the 2023 centenary Le Mans on safety grounds. 

“In past races, we have already seen that someone has been very good at warming their tyres and on a track like this, we lose over 15s [a lap] when we go out on cold tyres,” said Coletta.

“It is important for the organisers to control the temperatures [of the tyres] when they go on the cars — the rules must be respected.

“The authorities need to check the temperatures; they must be sure that all manufacturers stick to the rules.

“I don’t want the Le Mans 24 Hours to be decided on the warm-up of the tyres in the night or other difficult conditions.”

#4 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Mathieu Jaminet, Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy

#4 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Mathieu Jaminet, Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy

Photo by: Andreas Beil

It appears that the someone to which Coletta referred is Porsche, which has had a clear advantage on tyre warm-up at different points of the season so far. 

Coletta added that he remains hopeful that the rules will be correctly policed during the race. 

“I am confident this is going to happen; I am sure the sporting bodies are thinking to ensure all the temperatures are the same,” he said. 

The FIA has confirmed that checks are being conducted at Le Mans without issuing any further reaction to Coletta’s comments. 

These are known to be made on a random rather than a universal basis, but what is unclear is what tolerance is being allowed.

Michelin, the sole rubber supplier in Hypercar, has also confirmed that its engineers have been instructed to advise the team to which they are attached not to run tyres that could contravene the regulations.

The sporting regulations for the WEC state: “Any process that involves a direct or indirect attempt at modifying the temperature of a tyre (compared to the ambient temperature) is forbidden.

“This includes but is not limited to: warming of the car’s suspension components, wheel hub assembly and braking system; modification to the filing medium water heating system/element when washing the wheels.”

#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen

#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen

Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt

Traditionally tyres in sportscar racing were pre-heated in ovens at the back of each team’s pit garage. 

The ban, made on environmental grounds, coincided with the introduction of a new range of tyres from Michelin designed to be driven on from cold. 

It was temporarily reversed for Le Mans last year after a spate of accidents at the previous round of the WEC at Spa, which was held in cold conditions. 

Le Mans organiser the Automobile Club de l’Ouest said in May last year that lifting the ban on a one-off basis would give “tyre manufacturers, teams and drivers valuable time to develop better understanding of how to bring cold tyres up to temperature ahead of the remainder of the 2023 WEC season”.

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Vanthoor made the difference for ‘unexpected’ BMW provisional Le Mans pole

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Vanthoor led the first qualifying session of the most prestigious World Endurance Championship round with a lap of 3m24.465s, nearly two tenths faster than Cadillac’s Sebastien Bourdais.

Vanthoor was only 16th quickest in the short first sector, but he was timed in 1m33.097s in the last one, with Cadillac’s Alex Lynn and Bourdais respectively 0.149s and 0.418s slower. Ferrari’s Antonio Fuoco, third fastest overall, was 0.462s slower in sector three.

«We were not expecting this,» Vosse admitted. «We did not really know what to expect, but we could see that Dries’ last sector made a huge difference in particular.

«And to make such a difference in the third sector, you need to have a good car, but you need to be well equipped!» he added, meaning that Vanthoor needed some guts there.

«Well, maybe the red flag helped us at the end, but who knows? I think, based on his last sector, based on the gap he was creating [for his next lap].»

#15 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello, Marco Wittmann

#15 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello, Marco Wittmann

Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt

This is a welcome result for BMW’s WRT factory squad, which has failed to finish a race in the Hypercar’s class top five so far in 2024 – with the top 10 eluding Vanthoor and his #15 entry team-mates Raffaele Marciello and Marco Wittmann.

«The BMW had almost never done so well, that’s the least one can say,» Vosse exclaimed. «But we did know – we saw at Imola, at Spa, that we were making progress. We did some testing in the meantime, we found some small things again.

«This was on one lap, now we need to look at it on the long term, over a 24-hour race that will be tricky – as the weather seems to show.»

Now, Vosse is not ruling out Vanthoor taking a shock pole position for the legendary French race: «Why not? If he did it today… And he was improving! In the first two sectors, he was five tenths up on his time, so why not?»

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Safety concerns over «crazy» Rossi attention at Le Mans

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MotoGP legend Rossi is making his Le Mans debut with WRT in the LMGT3 class, racing a BMW M4 GT3 after winning on his first foray at the Circuit de la Sarthe in last year’s Road To Le Mans support race. 

Crowds of fans attending the autograph session prompted concern, with Rossi’s team-mate Ahmad Al Harthy telling Motorsport.com: «I’ve never seen anything like that. It got to a stage where it was a bit uncomfortable. 

«You watch big hip-hop artists perform and singers perform and see what it’s like when the crowd starts pushing. And I never would have thought I’d see it right in front of my face.» 

Following this, WRT team principal Vincent Vosse called on Le Mans organiser the Automobile Club de l’Ouest for to ensure the safety of fans and participants in Friday’s popular driver parade through the town.

In a statement, Vosse said: «The attention that Vale brings is obviously crazy and this we have seen for the past three years. In those three years, there has been no decrease in the attention he brings. 

«For the team, in coordination with the series, it means there are some obligations in terms of organisation before each event, and before each activity on site. 

«Our focus, from the moment everything is planned and organised in advance, is that the extra attention, the ‘craziness’ does not impact the way the team operates. 

#46 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3: Ahmad Al Harthy, Valentino Rossi, Maxime Martin

#46 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3: Ahmad Al Harthy, Valentino Rossi, Maxime Martin

Photo by: Shameem Fahath

«Vale always spends extra time with his fans. Even when there is no scheduled autograph session, he takes time with his fans and he has done this every day at the tracks for the last three years — for these situations, the team handles the security. Each appearance goes smoothly due to the planning and organisation. 

«As a team, we have two priorities, safety and that we try to please as many fans as possible. When these activities are organised accurately, we can please more people and do it in a safe way. 

«We hope the organisers have taken note of what happened at yesterday’s autograph session and will take steps to ensure the safety of everyone involved at the driver parade on Friday.”

An ACO statement said: «Drivers’ safety on and off the track is a priority for ACO. 

«The organisers stationed several security officers in the pit lane and no potential risks were reported before and during the autograph session. 

«Our discipline is growing in popularity and the fervour generated by the 24 Hours of Le Mans and its famous drivers is great. 

«We take remarks on board and will take steps to ensure that drivers feel more comfortable during the session next year.»

#46 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3: Valentino Rossi

#46 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3: Valentino Rossi

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Rossi has attracted significant interest since his full-time switch to car racing in 2022, initially in WRT-run Audis before joining BMW’s factory driver roster in December that year. 

He entered the WEC for the first time this season alongside parallel campaigns in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance and Sprint Cups, taking his most recent victory in Misano’s Sprint Cup round last month alongside fellow BMW works driver Maxime Martin.

Rossi and Martin share with Al Harthy in the WEC, with the combination taking a best finish to date of second at Imola. 

Speaking to media on Wednesday, Rossi said he felt «comfortable in the track» after his initial foray last year to learn the ropes, and singled out the Porsche Curves as his favourite element of the 8.467-mile track.

Reflecting on his impressions of the layout, having raced on the shorter Bugatti Circuit in MotoGP where he scored French GP victories in 2002, 2005 and 2008, he said: «It’s more than 200 kilometres average and you are always flat. 

«In the first part, you have a lot of hard braking for the for the chicane, that is good. 

«But at the same time, we have also a very fast corner in the last part, and also I love the longer tracks. 

#46 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3: Ahmad Al Harthy, Valentino Rossi, Maxime Martin

#46 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3: Ahmad Al Harthy, Valentino Rossi, Maxime Martin

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

«This one is very long and I like. I feel comfortable and I enjoy when I drive.» 

Rossi reaffirmed statements made earlier this year that his intention is to continue running a dual programme of WEC and GTWCE in 2025, which Martin has singled out as an important factor in his improvement.

The Belgian said that «the speed has been there from the beginning» but observed that Rossi has «really improved a lot in terms of understanding the procedures, not doing mistakes, being a lot more confident in the car».

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The GT3 drivers we want to see at Le Mans next

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This year’s Le Mans 24 Hours is the first for which LMGT3 cars will be eligible. Where in the previous GTE era professional drivers allied to manufacturers other than Aston Martin, Corvette, Ferrari and Porsche were frozen out, this year five new marques have been added to the aforementioned quartet, opening up opportunities for new names to shine. With the Hypercar class also seeing a boost to 23 cars for Le Mans, a plethora of top GT3 stars will get their long-awaited debut in endurance racing’s most famous event.

Christopher Mies (Ford), Kelvin van der Linde (Lexus), Daniel Juncadella (Corvette), Franck Perera (Lamborghini) and Valentino Rossi (BMW) are among the big names getting their first shot at Le Mans in GT3, while Edoardo Mortara (Lamborghini) will be joined by BMW trio Raffaelle Marciello, Sheldon van der Linde and Marco Wittmann among the contingent of high-profile rookies in Hypercar.

But which other top GT3 names yet to sample the 24 Hours would we like to see in future editions? Motorsport.com writers pick out some of the best.

Maro Engel: The Mercedes GT3 kingpin

Engel has been a leading light of the Mercedes GT programme for over a decade

Engel has been a leading light of the Mercedes GT programme for over a decade

Photo by: Edge Photographics

A long-time member of the Mercedes AMG GT3 roster, Engel has won most things worth winning in what until this season was an alternative code of GT racing outside the sphere of Le Mans 24 Hours organiser Automobile Club de l’Ouest.

Among his credits are a victory in the Nurburgring 24 Hours, a GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup title and no fewer than three wins in the big race on the streets of Macau. Yet this top performer in GT3 for so long knows that the opportunity might never come given that Mercedes is not one of the chosen manufacturers allowed to race in LMGT3 in the World Endurance Championship and therefore Le Mans.

It’s most definitely on his bucket list — and he even had a trip planned for this year in a RV to sample the atmosphere for the first time. Engel admits that it’s going to hurt if he finishes his career without racing on the Circuit de la Sarthe. It would be a loss for sportscar racing if Le Mans passes him by. Gary Watkins

Jack Hawksworth: IMSA champion waits in the wings

Defending IMSA GTD Pro champion Hawksworth has missed out on Le Mans opportunities afforded to team-mate Barnicoat

Defending IMSA GTD Pro champion Hawksworth has missed out on Le Mans opportunities afforded to team-mate Barnicoat

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

It’s one of the great anomalies that Jack Hawksworth, the reigning IMSA SportsCar GTD Pro champion has never raced in the Le Mans 24 Hours.

The 33-year-old former IndyCar racer – who placed inside Autosport’s Top 50 drivers of 2023 – has been a GT class full-timer since 2017, when he joined the Lexus GTD programme. Originally run by 3GT, the project was elevated by Vasser Sullivan Racing since 2019 and the five-litre V8-powered RC F machine – which isn’t a true GT3 race car, more of a ‘Frankenstein’ design – has flown in Hawksworth’s hands.

He has a dozen class wins and 15 poles to his name, and although success in the Daytona 24 Hours has eluded him, he’s won the 12 Hours of Sebring twice, along with Petit Le Mans in 2022. And he’s stacked up well on pace with Lexus team-mate Ben Barnicoat, who has started Le Mans three times.

Lexus is expected to utilise Toyota’s true GT3 racer planned for 2026, which should open the door for Hawksworth to finally make that long-awaited Le Mans debut. If so, watch him fly. Charles Bradley

Ricardo Feller: Audi’s rising star

Feller has won twice in DTM with Abt-run Audis and is the reigning GT World Challenge Sprint Cup champion

Feller has won twice in DTM with Abt-run Audis and is the reigning GT World Challenge Sprint Cup champion

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Feller has made a big impact since throwing his hat into the GT3 arena as a 16-year-old after calling time on single-seaters after a solitary season. The Swiss, still only 22, was picked up by Audi for 2022 after winning the Silver Cup class in the GTWCE Endurance Cup at the wheel of an Emil Frey Lamborghini the previous year and has continued to impress as a factory driver.

Feller sealed the Sprint Cup title last year and put in a starring performance at the Spa 24 Hours, both with the Tresor Attempto team. Things happen when Feller gets behind the wheel of an Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo 2: he’s a real racer of the old school and a joy to watch. There are still some rough edges to be smoothed off, but he clearly has a big future ahead of him.

He’s remained part of the rump of the once-bulging Audi GT3 roster as the German manufacturer downscales its involvement in GT3, so his next step as that process continues will be crucial in his career development — and will determine if and when he gets to Le Mans. GW

Lucas Auer: Mercedes all-rounder

Auer came close to winning the DTM in 2022 and has been a leading light of the Mercedes GT programme in recent years

Auer came close to winning the DTM in 2022 and has been a leading light of the Mercedes GT programme in recent years

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

If Mercedes manages to gain an entry into Le Mans next year, it should look no further than Lucas Auer for its designated Pro driver.

Auer proved his mettle in both the Class 1 and the GT3 era of the DTM, establishing himself as a regular frontrunner. The way he strung together a title challenge in 2022 against the all-new BMW M4 of Sheldon van der Linde was mighty impressive, especially when you consider his unmatched speed in the second half of the year that earned him a place in Autosport’s Top 50.

Beyond DTM, Auer has raced in the GT World Challenge Europe and enduro events at Spa, Nurburgring and Daytona, making him a GT3 all-rounder. He also has another ace up his sleeve; the Red Bull-supported Super Formula campaign in 2019 during which he took a podium finish for the nascent B-Max/Motopark partnership.

And while some may consider him as being too loyal to Mercedes, he did spend a year with BMW in 2020 and attracted interest from Porsche in ‘22 before inking a fresh deal with the Three-Pointed Star. Rachit Thukral

Markus Winkelhock: Audi’s man for the big occasion

Loyalty to Audi may cause Winkelhock to miss out on a Le Mans opportunity

Loyalty to Audi may cause Winkelhock to miss out on a Le Mans opportunity

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Now 43, Markus Winkelhock is closer to the end of his career than the start. But given his glittering CV racing Audis in GT3 competition, the absence of a Le Mans start from a CV is the only really missing omission.

Victorious in the Spa 24 Hours and Nurburgring 24 Hours in the same year on two occasions (2014 and 2017), he claimed his latest win in a round-the-clock enduro in January’s Dubai 24. That was his sixth, having also won the Nurburgring 24 in 2012, the same year Winkelhock was crowned GT1 world champion with the All-Inkl Lamborghini squad after a controversial final-round crash at Donington with Yelmer Buurman’s BMW. He was temporarily a Daytona 24 Hours class winner in 2014 too, until a penalty handed to Alessandro Pier Guidi for edging Winkelhock onto the grass on the final lap was rescinded hours after the race.

That Winkelhock found his way into Audi’s GT roster via its DTM programme, rather than LMP1, explains why the one-time Grand Prix starter has never raced in the event won by his uncle Joachim in 1999. And opportunities for the German are seemingly slim even now LMGT3 cars are permitted, given his loyalty to a marque that has ditched its factory racing programmes outside Formula 1.

But should an Audi customer squad earn one of the prized entries to the world’s most famous endurance event, then it could do much worse than picking up a driver who has a knack for collecting results over sportscar racing’s most gruelling distance. James Newbold

Joao Paulo de Oliveira

Japan-based Brazilian de Oliveira has been a force in Super GT's GT300 class

Japan-based Brazilian de Oliveira has been a force in Super GT’s GT300 class

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

He may be a complete unknown to anyone who doesn’t follow the Japanese motor racing scene, but Joao Paulo de Oliviera’s success in both Super GT and Super Formula makes him an attractive option for any team looking for a left-field option.

De Oliveira was harshly dropped from Nissan’s factory GT500 programme at the end of the 2018 season, but it allowed him to have a new lease of life in Super GT’s secondary class. Joining the Kondo Racing team in a Nissan GT-R GT3 NISMO in 2020, the Brazilian won the GT500 title twice in the next four seasons — and finished second and third in the intervening years.

His ability to drag the car to the front in races where the success ballast is at the maximum has been a key to his recent success, and so has been his intricate knowledge of GT3 tyres thanks to the close relationship he enjoys with Yokohama. 

He has WEC experience too, having contested two events in the Vanwall Hypercar last season, and drove the similarly Kolles-run Lotus T128 LMP2 car at the Le Mans Test Day in 2013 albeit without starting the race. RT

Phil Keen: British GT benchmark

Keen has impressed in Mercedes machinery in British GT this season, having previously shown his credentials in Porsches and Lamborghinis

Keen has impressed in Mercedes machinery in British GT this season, having previously shown his credentials in Porsches and Lamborghinis

Photo by: JEP

Everybody who has set foot in a British GT paddock over the past decade or so knows of Phil Keen’s quality. Since his series debut in 2006, he has won a record-equalling 19 races outright, tied with Jonny Adam, is a three-time championship runner-up and has been competitive in Porsche, Lamborghini and Mercedes machinery.

He has regularly outpaced drivers who have previously taken class wins at the Circuit de la Sarthe — and those who are set to make their Le Mans debut this year. Yet a spot on the grid has always eluded the self-effacing 40-year-old.

He came close in 2015 by driving at the official Test Day, but his Gulf Racing squad never received a Le Mans entry that year. Keen has not been as close since, but nine years on from his last European Le Mans Series campaign with Gulf’s Porsche he returned to the series this season with Le Mans stalwart JMW Motorsport in a Ferrari 296, further underlining his versatility.

Should an opportunity at last come his way in the years to come, it would be richly deserved. Ed Hardy

Keen turned out in Gulf Porsche for Test Day in 2015 but didn't get to race

Keen turned out in Gulf Porsche for Test Day in 2015 but didn’t get to race

Photo by: Eric Gilbert



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Porsche names third LMDh car drivers as full Le Mans entry list revealed

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


The publication of the list followed last week’s deadline by which teams had to nominate their full line-ups for the French enduro on 15/16 June.

The only remaining seats in the 23-strong Hypercar field in the additional factory Penske Porsche 963 LMDh have been filled, as expected, by Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr.

They rejoin Mathieu Jaminet, who was the only nominated driver on the release of the initial entry list in mid-February, for a second season in the car to be run by Penske Porsche Motorsport’s IMSA SportsCar Championship squad.

Dane Cameron, the other member of the PPM driving squad, will be on hand at Le Mans as a reserve for its three 963s.

Cadillac preempted the release of the list by announcing that Aston Martin Formula 1 test and reserve driver Felipe Drugovich would be taking the vacant seat in V-Series.R LMDh run by the Action Express Racing squad.

Fabio Scherer, part of the LMP2 class-winning Inter Europol crew last year, has joined the Nielsen Racing squad along with IndyCar driver Kyffin Simpson.

They will share its ORECA-Gibson 07 with David Heinemeier Hansson.

Bent Viscaal and Maceo Capietto join Jonas Ried, son of team owner Christian Ried, in the Proton Competition ORECA.

Viscaal moves into the #9 car from its sister European Le Mans Series-only entry in place of Matteo Cairoli, who will be racing for the Iron Lynx Lamborghini team in the Hypercar class.

Briton Alex Quinn has joined the AO by TF squad running in the P2 pro/am sub-class, sharing its ORECA with Louis Deletraz and PJ Hyett.

United Autosports confirmed last week that its #22 entry would be raced by team regular Oliver Jarvis, Nolan Siegel and Bijoy Garg.

Nasr and Tandy fill final Penske Porsche

Nasr and Tandy fill final Penske Porsche

Photo by: Perry Nelson / Motorsport Images

Inter Europol confirmed that ex-Formula 2 driver Clement Novolak would expand his programme with the Polish team in the ELMS to include Le Mans.

The Frenchman will share the car with Jakub Smiechowski and Valdislav Lomko, leaving no room for the originally-nominated Tom Dillmann.

Ferrari factory driver Daniel Serra has joined the GR Racing squad for Le Mans along with Riccardo Pera.

They will share the GR Ferrari 296 GT3 with team boss Martin Wainwright.

Ford factory driver Christopher Mies, a two-time winner of the Nurburgring 24 Hours with Audi, will make his Le Mans debut with the Proton team in the LMGT3 class.

Mies will share the additional Ford Mustang GT3 it will field alongside its two full WEC entries with team owner Ried and Ben Tuck.

Four of the original seven cars on the reserve list remain, still led by Proton Competition’s second Porsche 963 LMDh that races full time in the IMSA series.



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Drugovich joins Action Express Cadillac line-up for Le Mans 24 Hours

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


The Brazilian will fill the vacancy at the factory Action Express Racing team for the French enduro on 15-16 June and join Pipo Derani and Jack Aitken, the team’s full-season drivers in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, in the #311 Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh.

Drugovich has landed a factory drive in the Hypercar class after taking his first steps in sportscar racing this year in the European Le Mans Series.

He joined the Vector Sport LMP2 squad for his first race campaign since winning the 2022 Formula 2 Championship, but it was made clear from the outset that he wouldn’t be racing the British team’s ORECA-Gibson 07 at Le Mans.

Action Express team manager Gary Nelson revealed that Drugovich had been “on our radar for a couple of years”.

“After watching him race a sportscar in the ELMS recently, we finally got a chance to meet him and work with him in some simulator testing,” he explained.

“We were impressed by his maturity, discipline and knowledge. Next, we took Felipe to a track test, where he shared our car with Pipo and Jack.

“We are very excited to take the next obvious step and enter Felipe alongside Pipo and Jack at Le Mans. His record speaks volumes.”

#311 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims, Jack Aitken

#311 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims, Jack Aitken

Photo by: Marc Fleury

Drugovich described the chance to race for Cadillac and Action Express at Le Mans as “the most important opportunity in my racing career up to now”.

“The Le Mans 24 Hours is impossible to define in words, such is its magic and importance for cars in general and motor racing in particular,” said the 23-year-old, who is a two-time winner of the Le Mans Virtual Esports event.

“I barely touched the magic of Le Mans twice winning the virtual editions — now I am going to plunge into it for real. What a privilege having another dream come true.”

Drugovich takes a berth filled by Tom Blomqvist in the IMSA series: he is the Action Express team’s endurance driver for the long-distance races at Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, Indianapolis and Road Atlanta.

Cadillac has now filled its full driver line-up for its three-car Le Mans assault made up of its regular solo WEC V-Series.R and its two IMSA entries.

Current IndyCar champion Alex Palou is joining Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn in the #2 Ganassi-run Cadillac Racing WEC car, while Scott Dixon teams up again with Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande in the team’s IMSA entry, #3.

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