Le
Mans Series 2009
Round 2. Spa-Francorchamps 1000 Kilometres. May 8th-10th
2009
Weekend Preview
If
you go down to the woods . . .
Round
2 of the 2009 Le Mans Series looks set to be one of the
highlights of the year, not only because the Spa 1000 Kilometres
has become, in effect, a dress rehearsal for this year's
Le Mans 24 Hours, but also because the support bill of races
is simply astonishing. The hills and forests of the Ardennes
will reverberate to the roar and rumble of perhaps the largest
collection of contemporary sports and GT cars ever assembled
. . . and the racing should be pretty good too.
In
December 2008, with the the global "credit crunch"
(now officially an economic recession) in full swing, the
Automobile Club de l'Ouest moved to make the sport they
govern more financially manageable. Various proposals were
aired and subsequently enforced, one of which was the cancellation
of the traditional pre-24 Hours official test. In years
gone by this was actually a "pre-qualification"
event, and those team's entered for the Le Mans 24 Hours
that failed to achieve the necessary times could (and did)
find their entry rejected.
More
recently it lost that competitive edge and became a straightforward
test session, but still a rare opportunity for teams and
drivers to become acquainted to the full 15 kilometre Sarthe
circuit. From that point of view it was extremely valuable,
and teams could work on set-up for new cars, and rookie
drivers could learn what is recognised as one of the sport's
most demanding tracks.
While
cancelling the event does save the teams money, it adds
to their Le Mans challenge by changing the emphasis of the
Wednesday and Thursday qualifying sessions. Exactly how
the structure of these two days may change in 2009 has yet
to be revealed, but the traditional schedule has seen a
pair of two-hour periods of track action on each evening
(7:00pm - 9:00pm and 10:00pm-12:00am), all of them treated
as qualifying sessions. The hope is that Wednesday's periods,
already confirmed as "practice" events only, will
be extended, and may start earlier in the day, leaving Thursday
exclusively for qualifying.
The
ACO did offer, as a rather unappealing compensation, an
extra track test at Le Mans in late April, of which more
later, but restricted this to the shorter Bugatti Circuit.
With only the pit straight and Dunlop sections of the main
track included in the Bugatti configuration, any data collected
would be of little or no value to teams preparing for the
24 Hours, so take-up was limited to just 11 cars. By contrast,
the famous Belgian circuit at Spa-Francorchamps offers a
far more appealing test venue (and just as relevant), so
this year's Spa 1000 Kilometres has become the effective
curtain-raiser to the Le Mans 24 Hours, and several teams
who might otherwise have given the race a miss will be present.
One of the most anticipated contests of this year's 24 Hours
will be the battle between Peugeot, Audi and Aston Martin,
and while the R15 will be absent from Spa, two examples
of Peugeot's revised 2009-specification 908 will take part.
A
grid of well over 50 cars is now expected to take the start
for the 1000 Kilometres, but that's just the top of the
bill in what should be a festival of sportscar racing. Not
only will spectators relish the prospect of the six-hour
LMS feature race, but they will also have the novelty of
the first races in the all-new Formula Le Mans feeder series,
support events from the combined Belgian, British and Dutch
GT championship, the Classic Endurance series and also the
Radical European Masters.
The
logistical challenge will be how the organisers squeeze
so much into just three days, but they've planned to do
this by combining the British, Belgian and Dutch GT races
into one, possibly with as many as 80 cars on track at the
same time, but with the start taking place either at different
locations under the control of separate pace cars, or at
slightly different times. It should certainly be worth watching!
Newcomers
at Spa
With
Le Mans only a few weeks later, a number of major players
have confirmed entries for the Spa 1000 Kilometres. In LMP1,
Team Peugeot Total has announced that it will be entering
two 908 HDi FAPs, although three had been anticipated. "Our
priority is still Le Mans and I don't want to see the team
tire itself out by having to prepare three cars for Spa,"
explained Peugeot Sport Director Olivier Quesnel.
The
team has also announced its plans for post-Le Mans, with
factory 908s expected to participate in Round 3 at Portimão
in the Algarve in August 2nd, and then either at Silverstone
in September or at Petit Le Mans a fortnight later. Pescarolo
Sport will end the season for Peugeot by entering a single
908 in the scheduled races at Okayama and Shanghai in November.
Another
new arrival at Spa in LMP1 is the Team LNT Ginetta Zytek
GZ09S, also with an entry in the Le Mans 24 Hours. The car
will be driven by Dyson Racing's Guy Smith, a Le Mans winner
with Team Bentley in 2003, alongsdie Robbie Kerr and team
boss Lawrence Tomlinson. It is a strong line-up in a car
that has already proven its pace, with Strakka Racing's
Danny Watts (photographed above in Team LNT's Ginetta
Zytek GZ09S entry at last year's Petit le Mans) claiming
overall pole at Barcelona with a similar Ginetta-Zytek chassis.
The
reasoning behind Oreca's strange decision to test 2008 specification
cars at Paul Ricard became clearer after Barcelona when
the team revealed a pair of all-new chassis at a shakedown
test at the end of April (left). The new-look cars,
built around a Courage-Oreca tub, feature new suspension,
cooling, electronics, wiring and aerodynamics, are expected
to display the characteristic Lego-block livery in time
for Spa.
Pescarolo
Sport was unlucky not to win in Barcelona, but their new
2009 specification chassis demonstrated great pace, and
still claimed second at the chequered flag despite a late
flutter. The team's second car at Spa will be another of
the new-spec chassis, while Oak Racing's LMP2 Pescarolos
are also expected to display uprated features.
Elsewhere
in LMP2, the Team Essex Porsche returns to the fray, having
missed Barcelona despite an impressive run in the Paul Ricard
test. The Spyders have earned a reputation for being very
expensive to run, and Team Essex is concentrating its efforts
on the Le Mans. As with Peugeot, the team is viewing Spa
as an extended test for the 24 Hours.
Another
returnee is the Barazi Epsilon Ginetta-Zytek GZ07S LMP2
(right, at Silverstone last September), which makes
its season debut at Spa. Team owner Juan Barazi will share
the car with Fernando Rees this year, since Michael Vergers
has departed the squad to take up a full-season drive with
Virgo in GT2.
Hoping
for a better showing at Spa than the 98-lap retirement they
suffered in Barcelona is the rookie squad of Q8 Oils Hache
Team. The outfit returned to the Catalunya circuit two weeks
after that disappointment, and completed a two-day trouble-free
test.
As
if they hadn't been delighted enough by finishing fourth
in LMP2, the Bruichladdich Bruneau Radical team also picked
up the Michelin Green X Challenge award at Barcelona. Pierre
Bruneau suggested that “the Radical is such a good
car that it scores a podium even when you finish fourth!”
No mention was made of the fact that TV’s wine expert
Oz Clarke and Top Gear’s James May ran a Radical SR4
on a special distillation of Bruichladdich single malt whisky
late last year. Although the car ran without problem, the
cost of the fuel at some £26 per litre makes it unlikely
that it will ever become commonly available on the forecourt.
Performance
Equalisation
In
what was something of a surprise move, the ACO announced
shortly after the last round in Barcelona that revised
regulations would be introduced in an attempt to achieve
better parity in LMP1, where it had been determined that
the diesel-powered cars still enjoyed a performance advantage
over their petrol-engined rivals. Considering the relatively
poor performance of the Kolles Audis, neither of which
appeared capable of setting a competitive pace all weekend,
and the outright debut win by the #007 Aston Martin Lola,
this decision raised quite a few eyebrows. The ACO stated:
"Analysis
of the performances of the diesel-engined and petrol-engined
prototypes after the Sebring and Barcelona races showed
that the diesel-engined cars still enjoyed an advantage.
In order to guarantee the equivalence between the different
engines, the ACO, in keeping with its undertakings, has
decided to impose the following adjustments on diesel-engined
prototypes from the Spa-Francorchamps race onwards:
Reduction of the orifice of the fuel flow limiter of the
autonomous fuel tank (the current diameter of 38mm for
diesels will now be the same as that for petrol-engined
cars: 33mm).
An
additional 30 kilos will be added made up of one or more
pieces of ballast sealed by the scrutineers. Once the
ballast has been removed the car must not weigh less than
900 kilos.
While this declaration caught most pundits on the hop,
the long-anticipated announcement involving an addressing
of the fuel incompatibility issue in LMP2 failed to materialise.
News of general dissatisfaction within LMP2 ranks broke
just before Barcelona, with two teams letting it be known
that they were unhappy with the way the current bio-fuel
formulation favours the normally-aspirated engines. The
issue was effectively confirmed by RML AD Group it its
own post-race press release, which revealed that the Mazda-Lola's
engine failure at Barcelona had been attributable to the
fuel incompatibility problem.
The
issue first arose at Paul Ricard in March 2008, when RML's
MG Lola suffered two catastrophic engine failures during
the official pre-season test. Subsequent examination by
engine manufacturer AER revealed that the bio-fuel formulation,
introduced new for 2008, was incompatible with the turbocharged
engines. Appeals were made to the ACO to address the problem,
but nothing was forthcoming, although assurances were
offered that suggested the issue would be investigated.
RML, in common with other teams running turbocharged engines,
were left with no option but to de-tune their engines
for the remainder of the season.
Frustrated
by a year of having to compete with a power disadvantage
of some 50 horsepower, RML announced a two-year engine
deal with Mazda from November 2008. While hopes remained
that the incompatibility issue really would be addressed,
the Mazda unit offered the benefit of being less highly
stressed than the end-of-development MG XP-21, and better
able to cope with the poor quality fuel. Hopes were dashed
when samples of the 2009 specification fuel were analysed,
only to reveal that the quality was actually inferior
to the fuel supplied in 2008, and the affect on turbocharged
engines was (is) likely to be even more acute.
Proof
of the pudding came with the relatively poor results achieved
by the turbocharged runners at Barcelona - the best finish
coming from the Bruichladdich Radical in fourth - and
the engine failures suffered by both the RML and the KSM
Lolas. Further appeals have been made to the ACO.
Formula
Le Mans
This
weekend sees the inaugural races in the new Formula Le Mans
championship. Seen as a feeder series for the Le Mans Series,
and an opportunity for young up-and-coming drivers to break
into the world of sports prototype racing, Formula Le Mans
is based around the one-make chassis principal. The cars,
developed by Oreca, certainly look the part, and have all
the attributes and styling of a typical prototype but at
a relatively modest cost. "There are numerous national
and international competitions in the GT field which ensure
a perfect flow-through [to the higher levels for competitors],
however when it comes to the prototypes this is less evident;
hence Formula Le Mans," says the ACO.
This
new formula provides exactly that kind of foundation for
those aspiring to move into LMP1 and LMP2, and should also
offer an entertaining spectacle. Several reputable teams
have expressed an interest, and the series has the wider
support of the industry, so it will be interesting to see
how it develops.
Bugatti
Test
As
mentioned above, the ACO offered the smaller Bugatti Circuit
at Le Mans as a substitute test for team's preparing for
the Le Mans 24 Hours last week (25th-26th April) but only
eleven cars took part in the test. Of these, just three
were LMP2 entrants; the Team Essex Porsche, the GAC (formerly
Trading Performance) Zytek and the Speedy Sebah Lola. The
latter suffered a serious "off" on the Sunday
morning, causing extensive damage to the front right three-quarters.
The tub was returned to Lola for repairs, but at the time
of writing there is every expectation that the chassis will
be repaired and back in action again at Spa.