2013 24 Hours of Le Mans (June 22 - 23)

With just over a month a go, the ACO have published the latest entry list with almost all the drivers filled in. Among the latest changes is the inclusion of Caterham test-driver Alexander Rossi in the Greaves line-up.

[QUOTE=Press release]The teams entered for the 2013 Le Mans 24 hours have announced the names of the three drivers who will relay one another in their cars. The list in question is a particularly high-quality one for the 90th anniversary of the Le Mans 24 Hours.


The Le Mans 24 Hours, the blue riband event in long-distance racing, enjoy special status in the context of the FIA World Endurance Championship of which it is the third round: double points will be awarded compared to the other races on the calendar. Thus, the event on 22-23 June is a particularly important one for the drivers, the full list of whom is published today.
Remember that for the teams, entry for the Le Mans 24 Hours takes place in two stages: they had until 16th January to send in their entry form for the race and nominate one driver. On 15th May at the latest they had to inform the Automobile Club de l’Ouest of the driver line-ups consisting of three names. After the usual checks the ACO is publishing today, 21st May, the list of drivers selected.

Note that there are only 165 names for 56 cars out of 168 possible places. Ferrari will announce in the near future the name of the driver who will back up Fisichella and Bruni in the no. 51 458 Italia, and GreenGT will officialise the two who will team up with Christian Pescatori before the end of May.

This fantastic list contains 10 former outright winners who will be at the start, the oldest being Christophe Bouchut (victorious in 1993 in a Peugeot 905). He will drive one of the two LM P2 Lotuses, and the most recent, Tréluyer-Fässler-Lotterer, winners in 2011 and 2013, will be aiming for a hat trick!
In addition to the three Audi drivers all the other 2012 winners are back to defend their crown whether together or separately. The victorious LM P2 winning crew has been broken up. Tom Kimber-Smith is in the no. 41 Zytek-Nissan entered by Greaves Motorsport. Ryan Dalziel will be racing in LM GTE Pro in one of the works Vipers and Vicente Potolicchio will be at the wheel of the no. 81 Ferrari 458 Italia.

Victorious in LM GTE Pro at Le Mans last year, Giancarlo Fisichella and Gianmaria Bruni will again share the works no. 51 Ferrari F458 Italia. Toni Vilander, who was with them in 2012, will be driving the no. 71 Ferrari. The third driver who will back up Fisichella and Bruni will be announced shortly.
In LM GTE Am, Patrick Bornhauser and Julien Canal, first in 2011 and 2012, will again team up in the no. 50 Corvette and will have Ricky Taylor as team-mate, not Pedro Lamy who is one of the Aston Martin works driver.

The return of ex-F1 aces to Le Mans continues! Last year Nick Heidfeld, came back after his 1999 debut, while Buemi and Chandhok had their first taste of Le Mans. Bruno Senna (Aston Martin) has returned to tackle the daunting Sarthe circuit again while Kamui Kobayashi (Ferrari) will have his maiden 24-Hours outing.

This year there will be two woman drivers on the grid: Keiko Ihara from Japan in the Lola LM P2 entered by the Gulf Racing Middle East team that competed in the event in 2012, and Natacha Gachnang (no. 43 Morgan Judd) from Switzerland who raced in the 24 Hours in 2010 (Ford GT). For the Gachnangs Le Mans is a family affair as her cousin Sébastien Buemi will be one of the works Toyota drivers, and their grand-father, Georges Gachnang, raced in the event in 1960.

And as always, Le Mans has its fair share of talented gentlemen drivers like Patrick Bornhauser, Tracy Krohn and Jacques Nicolet who do battle all year round in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Then there is American actor Patrick Dempsey, entered in the American Le Mans Series; he will share a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR with fellow-countrymen Joe Foster and Michael Avenatti.

The vast majority of entrants will take part in the test day on Sunday 9th June, the general rehearsal for the Le Mans 24 Hours. It is obligatory for new cars and for teams and drivers that have never raced in the Le Mans 24 Hours before, or who are on the list of those who haven’t taken part in official practice since the 2008 race

After that, they will go through scrutineering and admin. checks on 16-17 June, then official qualifying practice on 19-20 June before the high point of the week - the start of the Le Mans 24 Hours on Saturday 22nd June at 15h00.[/QUOTE]

I'm definitely liking that driver line up for the top Viper

Yes, GTE Pro will definitely be the hotly disputed class with top cars and drivers across the board. It is a shame though, that the BMWs were not entered.

GreenGT has withdrawn the Garage 56 experimental hydrogen/electric H2 freeing a spot for the Prospeed Porsche that usually races in the ELMS:

[quote]Following the withdrawal of the GreenGT H2, selected in the context of the Le Mans 24-Hours 56th garage, the no. 75 Porsche entered by the ProSpeed Racing team has been selected to take part in the race on 22-23 June 2013.

On 3rd June 2012, the GreenGT Technologies team was selected by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest to enter the GreenGT H2, the first racing hydrogen/electric prototype, for the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours.

Due to insufficient preparation GreenGT has decided to withdraw its entry.

The 56th garage is a place offered on the starting grid to a car judged to be technically innovative by the ACO, although it races in the event outside the overall general classification like the DeltaWing in 2012, the first car to be awarded this invitation.
In keeping with the Automobile Club de l’Ouest regulations the place left vacant for the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours by the Swiss team’s withdrawal goes to ProSpeed Competition entered in the LM GTE Am category.

This Belgian outfit, which knows Le Mans well, is now on the list of entrants invited to take part in the event on 22-23 June with the no. 75 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR driven by Emmanuel Collard, François Perodo and Sébastien Crubilé. Perodo-Crublé have already raced in the first two rounds, Silverstone (GB) and Imola (I), of the European Le Mans Series at the wheel of the car, which is entered for the whole championship this season.

This does not modify the number of entrants for the Le Mans 24 Hours, namely: fifty-six consisting of 8 LM P1s, 22 LM P2s, 12 LM GTE PROs and 14 LM GTE Ams.

In 2014, the 56th garage will be occupied by Nissan in agreement with the decision announced on 26th February by the ACO, as the Japanese manufacturer has decided to enter an innovative technology with electric transmission.

Vincent Beaumesnil, Automobile Club de l’Ouest’s Sports Manager: “We do not regret having chosen the Green GT H2. There was a realistic possibility of seeing it at the Le Mans 24 Hours as the fuel cell, the fundamental element of the project, worked remarkably well. Basically the team didn’t have enough time to develop the car, which simply lacked adaption to racing. In its place we’re delighted to welcome the ProSpeed team, which is back for its fourth outing in the Le Mans 24 Hours. The 2013 field is now complete: its overall high-quality promises a remarkable anniversary race.”[/quote]

GreenGT has withdrawn the Garage 56 experimental hydrogen/electric H2 freeing a spot for the Prospeed Porsche that usually races in the ELMS:

[quote]Following the withdrawal of the GreenGT H2, selected in the context of the Le Mans 24-Hours 56th garage, the no. 75 Porsche entered by the ProSpeed Racing team has been selected to take part in the race on 22-23 June 2013.

On 3rd June 2012, the GreenGT Technologies team was selected by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest to enter the GreenGT H2, the first racing hydrogen/electric prototype, for the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours.

Due to insufficient preparation GreenGT has decided to withdraw its entry.

The 56th garage is a place offered on the starting grid to a car judged to be technically innovative by the ACO, although it races in the event outside the overall general classification like the DeltaWing in 2012, the first car to be awarded this invitation.
In keeping with the Automobile Club de l’Ouest regulations the place left vacant for the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours by the Swiss team’s withdrawal goes to ProSpeed Competition entered in the LM GTE Am category.

This Belgian outfit, which knows Le Mans well, is now on the list of entrants invited to take part in the event on 22-23 June with the no. 75 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR driven by Emmanuel Collard, François Perodo and Sébastien Crubilé. Perodo-Crublé have already raced in the first two rounds, Silverstone (GB) and Imola (I), of the European Le Mans Series at the wheel of the car, which is entered for the whole championship this season.

This does not modify the number of entrants for the Le Mans 24 Hours, namely: fifty-six consisting of 8 LM P1s, 22 LM P2s, 12 LM GTE PROs and 14 LM GTE Ams.

In 2014, the 56th garage will be occupied by Nissan in agreement with the decision announced on 26th February by the ACO, as the Japanese manufacturer has decided to enter an innovative technology with electric transmission.

Vincent Beaumesnil, Automobile Club de l’Ouest’s Sports Manager: “We do not regret having chosen the Green GT H2. There was a realistic possibility of seeing it at the Le Mans 24 Hours as the fuel cell, the fundamental element of the project, worked remarkably well. Basically the team didn’t have enough time to develop the car, which simply lacked adaption to racing. In its place we’re delighted to welcome the ProSpeed team, which is back for its fourth outing in the Le Mans 24 Hours. The 2013 field is now complete: its overall high-quality promises a remarkable anniversary race.”[/quote]

I am completely and utterly and totally [SIZE="1"]un[/SIZE]surprised that this happened.

Supposedly this thing does run and is pretty well funded. But from what I've heard its just mismanaged as a project...

A first glimpse from today's free practice. Many, many more images and a full report to follow.

[url="http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/108175"]Le Mans 24 Hours: Loic Duval on pole, Audi locks out top three - Le Mans news - AUTOSPORT.com[/url]

Audi 1-2-3, Toyota follows, then Rebellion. Toyota thinks they can run 2 laps longer per tank. Audi thinks if that happens they need to be 1.5 sec faster PER LAP to overcome the Toyota. Though somehow I think Toyota might run into problem.

GTE-Pro sees Aston Martin leading Porsche. Though the Aston seem awfully fast all of a sudden.....and their time beats last year's GTE pole by 2 sec. I think the BoP for both of those cars are still kinda off? The Vettes are like the slowest car in class now....

Hybrid Delta Wing....

[url="http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/108176"]Nissan unveils electric Le Mans Garage 56 car - Le Mans news - AUTOSPORT.com[/url]

I guess this makes sense since after they announced that its not going to be a full electric car I wonder why they didn't just run in P1.

Seems stupid...

Here is our first, 190-shot gallery from Le Mans:

[url="http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/gallery/34731/Welcome-to-Le-Mans.html"]Welcome to Le Mans - Ultimatecarpage.com - Images, Specifications and Information[/url]

Much more to follow!

Dear God. Allan Simonsen was killed in an accident in a GT-Am Aston Martin at Tertre Rouge. He was taken to hospital and succumbed to his injuries...

I am absolutely shocked. Thoughts out to his friends, family, all at Le Mans, and the racing brother/sisterhood.

Yes indeed. Very sad day. Our condolences to his family and friends.

[quote=Wouter Melissen;997762]Yes indeed. Very sad day. Our condolences to his family and friends.[/quote]

How are things at the track, W?

9th for Kirstensen, 3rd for McNish, and 1st for Duval....shortest distance covered since 2001. I don't think I've seen more safety car....

I think Audi might still protest the 4th place Toyota since it counts for WEC points. The car was clearly abandoned per rule....