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Le Mans / ALMS
LE MANS: Zhuhai Preview
Audi and Peugeot face off for final time in 2011 as curtain closes on Intercontinental Le Mans Cup...
Teams head into the final Intercontinental Le Mans Cup race before the global sportscar series becomes known as the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2012. (Photo: John Dagys)
The international sportscar racing season draws to a close this weekend with the return of Le Mans prototypes and GT cars to China for the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup Six Hours of Zhuhai.
While titles in three of the four categories have been already decided following last month’s 1,000-mile Petit Le Mans enduro at Road Atlanta, Sunday’s season-ender will be the final race under the ILMC moniker before the ACO-run series transforms into the FIA World Endurance Championship next year.
With a series of announcements tied towards the official launch of the WEC scheduled, there will no doubt be plenty of news on and off the track as endurance racing heads back the Guangdong Province of China for second consecutive year.
Last year’s 1000km marathon featured a thrilling down-to-the-wire battle that went in favor of Peugeot, which also sealed the inaugural ILMC title.
One year later, the French Lions have continued a remarkable winning streak, having only lost a single race - the 24 Hours of Le Mans - this year, while having also locked up the teams and manufacturers championships last month.
Peugeot’s two heavily updated 908s, driven again by the season-long pairings of Sebastien Bourdais and Anthony Davidson as well as defending Zhuhai winners Stephane Sarrazin and Franck Montagny, will no doubt face stiff competition from the Audi contingent, which will be looking to end 2011 on a high after a run of bad luck.
Both of the diesel-powered Audi R18 TDIs ultimately retired from Road Atlanta due to contact with other cars, with the No. 1 machine of Romain Dumas ending his race in the wall while battling for the lead.
Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen, the squad’s veteran lineup, have yet to visit the top step of the podium this year, while Timo Bernhard and Le Mans winner Marcel Fassler will likely be just as strong around the twisty 2.684-mile circuit.
Following their surprise podium at Road Atlanta, aided by Audi’s double DNF and driveshaft failure for one of the factory Peugeots, Aston Martin Racing’s 2010-spec Lola-Aston Martin is unlikely to achieve similar results this weekend but could be fighting for best of the gasoline-powered prototypes.
Andy Meyrick joins regulars Stefan Mucke and Harold Primat in the V12-powered beast, which will be making its last start in international sportscar competition.
Other gasoline-powered contenders include the pair of OAK Racing Oak-Pescarolos, bolstered again by the quick lineup of Olivier Pla and Alexandre Premat in the No. 24 machine, while Rebellion Racing’s lone Lola B10/60 Toyota will likely play into the mix as well.
While Peugeot has elected not to bring its 908 HYbrid 4 to the race, there will still be an LMP1 hybrid on the grid, as Tokai University plans to debut its updated Oreca-Courage LC70 YGK, becoming the third different team to employ hybrid technology this year.
Only two cars will do battle in LMP2, on the heels of Signatech Nissan recently clinching the teams’ championship.
With Level 5 Motorsports not making the trip to China, Signatech’s fast, but fragile Oreca 03 Nissan entry of JK Vernay, Franck Mailleux and Lucas Ordonez will likely be in a league of their own against the all-gentlemen lineup from OAK Racing.
Following another epic fight last month that went in favor of AF Corse, GTE-Pro remains the closest fought races in ILMC competition, and the only class yet to crown its 2011 champion.
Ferrari heads into Zhuhai with a 28-point lead over BMW in the manufacturers’ championship. With three Prancing Horses entered in GTE-Pro alone, and a maximum of 31 points up for grabs, the title appears to be firmly in the grasp of the Italian marque.
However, the situation is a little less decided in the teams’ championship, as AF Corse holds a 16-point advantage over the two-car BMW Motorsport effort.
With the Amato Ferrari-owned team only fielding one Ferrari F458 Italia this weekend, the pressure will lie on newly crowned Le Mans Series champions Giancarlo Fisichella and Gimmi Bruni to deliver the ILMC title.
BMW, which could be making its final start in ILMC/WEC competition, will again have a strong lineup in Augusto Farfus, Jorg Muller in the No. 55 car and Andy Priaulx and Uwe Alzen steering the No. 56 machine. The German manufacturer won here last year.
Larbre Competition may have sealed up the GTE-Am title, but its brought in a Corvette heavyweight in search of its third series victory of the year. GM factory driver Olivier Beretta will join Patrick Bornhauser and Julien Canal in the No. 50 Corvette C6.R, which has no doubt become one of the favorites for the class win.
Other contenders include Petit Le Mans winners Krohn Racing, in the midst of a battle for runner-up in the championship with AF Corse, as well as the No. 63 Proton Competition Porsche, which again features the driving strength of Richard Lietz.
Although not recognized in the ILMC championship, two additional categories - Formula Le Mans and GTC - complete the 29-car starting field.
FLM features a single-car entry entered under the banner of PTRS Racing, while the GTC category, open to FIA GT3-spec cars, sees three Audi R8 LMS cars and a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3, to be co-driven by none other than two-time Formula One World Champion Mika Hakkinen.
While official activity does not begin until Friday, many teams were on track Wednesday for seven hours of testing, albeit it in wet conditions. Nearly three hours of additional practice is scheduled for Friday, followed by qualifying on Saturday.
The Six Hours of Zhuhai, the seventh and final round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, gets underway Sunday at 11 a.m. local (Saturday, 10 p.m. ET).
John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at
While titles in three of the four categories have been already decided following last month’s 1,000-mile Petit Le Mans enduro at Road Atlanta, Sunday’s season-ender will be the final race under the ILMC moniker before the ACO-run series transforms into the FIA World Endurance Championship next year.
With a series of announcements tied towards the official launch of the WEC scheduled, there will no doubt be plenty of news on and off the track as endurance racing heads back the Guangdong Province of China for second consecutive year.
Last year’s 1000km marathon featured a thrilling down-to-the-wire battle that went in favor of Peugeot, which also sealed the inaugural ILMC title.
One year later, the French Lions have continued a remarkable winning streak, having only lost a single race - the 24 Hours of Le Mans - this year, while having also locked up the teams and manufacturers championships last month.
Peugeot’s two heavily updated 908s, driven again by the season-long pairings of Sebastien Bourdais and Anthony Davidson as well as defending Zhuhai winners Stephane Sarrazin and Franck Montagny, will no doubt face stiff competition from the Audi contingent, which will be looking to end 2011 on a high after a run of bad luck.
Both of the diesel-powered Audi R18 TDIs ultimately retired from Road Atlanta due to contact with other cars, with the No. 1 machine of Romain Dumas ending his race in the wall while battling for the lead.
Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen, the squad’s veteran lineup, have yet to visit the top step of the podium this year, while Timo Bernhard and Le Mans winner Marcel Fassler will likely be just as strong around the twisty 2.684-mile circuit.
Following their surprise podium at Road Atlanta, aided by Audi’s double DNF and driveshaft failure for one of the factory Peugeots, Aston Martin Racing’s 2010-spec Lola-Aston Martin is unlikely to achieve similar results this weekend but could be fighting for best of the gasoline-powered prototypes.
Andy Meyrick joins regulars Stefan Mucke and Harold Primat in the V12-powered beast, which will be making its last start in international sportscar competition.
Other gasoline-powered contenders include the pair of OAK Racing Oak-Pescarolos, bolstered again by the quick lineup of Olivier Pla and Alexandre Premat in the No. 24 machine, while Rebellion Racing’s lone Lola B10/60 Toyota will likely play into the mix as well.
While Peugeot has elected not to bring its 908 HYbrid 4 to the race, there will still be an LMP1 hybrid on the grid, as Tokai University plans to debut its updated Oreca-Courage LC70 YGK, becoming the third different team to employ hybrid technology this year.
Only two cars will do battle in LMP2, on the heels of Signatech Nissan recently clinching the teams’ championship.
With Level 5 Motorsports not making the trip to China, Signatech’s fast, but fragile Oreca 03 Nissan entry of JK Vernay, Franck Mailleux and Lucas Ordonez will likely be in a league of their own against the all-gentlemen lineup from OAK Racing.
Following another epic fight last month that went in favor of AF Corse, GTE-Pro remains the closest fought races in ILMC competition, and the only class yet to crown its 2011 champion.
Ferrari heads into Zhuhai with a 28-point lead over BMW in the manufacturers’ championship. With three Prancing Horses entered in GTE-Pro alone, and a maximum of 31 points up for grabs, the title appears to be firmly in the grasp of the Italian marque.
However, the situation is a little less decided in the teams’ championship, as AF Corse holds a 16-point advantage over the two-car BMW Motorsport effort.
With the Amato Ferrari-owned team only fielding one Ferrari F458 Italia this weekend, the pressure will lie on newly crowned Le Mans Series champions Giancarlo Fisichella and Gimmi Bruni to deliver the ILMC title.
BMW, which could be making its final start in ILMC/WEC competition, will again have a strong lineup in Augusto Farfus, Jorg Muller in the No. 55 car and Andy Priaulx and Uwe Alzen steering the No. 56 machine. The German manufacturer won here last year.
Larbre Competition may have sealed up the GTE-Am title, but its brought in a Corvette heavyweight in search of its third series victory of the year. GM factory driver Olivier Beretta will join Patrick Bornhauser and Julien Canal in the No. 50 Corvette C6.R, which has no doubt become one of the favorites for the class win.
Other contenders include Petit Le Mans winners Krohn Racing, in the midst of a battle for runner-up in the championship with AF Corse, as well as the No. 63 Proton Competition Porsche, which again features the driving strength of Richard Lietz.
Although not recognized in the ILMC championship, two additional categories - Formula Le Mans and GTC - complete the 29-car starting field.
FLM features a single-car entry entered under the banner of PTRS Racing, while the GTC category, open to FIA GT3-spec cars, sees three Audi R8 LMS cars and a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3, to be co-driven by none other than two-time Formula One World Champion Mika Hakkinen.
While official activity does not begin until Friday, many teams were on track Wednesday for seven hours of testing, albeit it in wet conditions. Nearly three hours of additional practice is scheduled for Friday, followed by qualifying on Saturday.
The Six Hours of Zhuhai, the seventh and final round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, gets underway Sunday at 11 a.m. local (Saturday, 10 p.m. ET).
John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at
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