[LM24 Race] 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans Entry List Thread

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by FstrthnU

The Ferrari 458 would depend on whether SMP Racing is interested in getting a GT2 Ferrari. Right now, they only own/rent GT3 Ferraris.

It says in the link I posted that they will enter a GTE-spec 458 in the ELMS as well.

[Simmi]

As expected RAM Racing will look to make the step up next year.

Two WEC entries
1x GT-Pro: Matt Griffin/
1x GT-Am: Johnny Mowlem/

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/111505

Will be great to see them at Le Mans. Hopefully Ferrari will chuck them another factory hot shot for the race like Davide Rigon.

[Beetle]

Strakka, Dome Join Forces for LMP2 Program

Strakka Racing and Dome announced Tuesday a new partnership that will see the two organizations team up to develop and market a brand-new LMP2 car that will initially be entered in next year’s FIA World Endurance Championship.

The British squad, which has campaigned HPDs for the last six years in sports car competition, will make the switch to the new Strakka Dome S103-Nissan for 2014, a new collaborative project from the Japanese manufacturer.

Dome’s new closed-top prototype is derived from its S102.5LMP1 car, which was fielded by Pescarolo Team in last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The French squad had since gone into administration for the second time.

“Strakka Racing’s results at Le Mans and performances in both the Le Mans Series and World Endurance Championship racing have impressed us, and our joint sports car racing expertise will enable us to maximize the car’s full potential,” said Dome President Hiroshi Fushida.

“We are confident the Strakka Dome S103 will become a very competitive and desirable cost-capped LMP2 race car.”

Strakka’s new program comes after withdrawing mid-season from the WEC in order to focus its resources on its 2014 program.

It’s understood the team had initially been evaluating options to remain in LMP1, but ultimately decided to commit to a new manufacturer partnership in the cost-capped prototype ranks.

“Our new partnership with Dome signals an exciting new chapter in the history of Strakka Racing and reinforces our commitment to sportscar racing,” said team manager Dan Walmasley.

“Following the difficult decision not to compete in the remaining races of the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship, we’ve focussed on the engineering challenge of building and testing a brand new car ahead of the start of the 2014 season, with the opening race of the WEC only five months away.

“It’s a very tight schedule, but between Strakka Racing and Dome, we’re confident we have the best team of skilled engineers to hit our targets and to debut a fast, reliable and competitive car.”

No specific timeline has been set for the on-track testing debut of the Strakka Dome S103.

That's pretty exciting. We can guarantee at least one car at the 24 next year for sure.

[FstrthnU]

http://sportscar365.com/gt/fiagt/baku-weekend-notebook/
BMW Team Brasil has stopped trying to enter WEC and will return to the Blancpain Sprint Series instead

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by FstrthnU

http://sportscar365.com/gt/fiagt/baku-weekend-notebook/
BMW Team Brasil has stopped trying to enter WEC and will return to the Blancpain Sprint Series instead

Probably further evidence that the Z4 GTE isn't coming outside the States. This team and Ecurie Ecosse have come up against a brick wall.

[Koenigsegg]

I think we will see Craft Racing AMR in GTE-Am next year if they win the GTC championship is AsLMS. Winning GTC means they get an automatic GT invite. They're an official Aston Martin team and Stefan Mücke is entered for Craft for the Sepang round in the AsLMS.

[cobralar]

Has anyone read anything more about Nissan and/or Ferrari for '15?
Any other rumors for any other factory teams? I'd read in the past
that Jaguar, Renault, Honda, and BMW might be interested. I truly believe the WEC can become a great series if you could add a few more factory
teams to P1. By the way, I don't know my history in Le Mans racing.
What has been the most factory teams racing against each other for
the overall in any particular year/era?

[FstrthnU]

Nissan: Depends on how well the ZEOD RC performs. Nissan wants to use the electric tech if they go into LMP1.

Ferrari: Unlikely, would distract from F1 (resources and budget)

Jaguar: Some rumors but nothing concrete. It would most likely be for 2016 or later.

Renault: Possible, more likely 2016 (depends on how they want to use the Alpine branding)

Honda: HPD-ARX 04 available to customers, nobody has bought one yet. Honda will probably not run it as a factory car.

BMW: No news at all. Expect them to focus on DTM and USCC.

[cobralar]

Thanks for your updates...
Perhaps you missed the article on Ferrari's possible re-entering prototype racing. Their president was quoted as saying they "would like to get back to racing against other actual car manufactures, rather than "lemonade makers.""
This isn't the column I read, but here's the same info from the net:

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/08/01/f...rs-of-le-mans/

and more:

http://www.carscoops.com/2013/08/fer...back-from.html

http://motorsportmodeller.blogspot.c...s-in-2015.html

Reading that news for the first time made me more excited about racing than I can remember!

[Mal]

The consensus at the time that it was Luca making political statements aimed at F1 and the rumours were fueled by a speculative blogger.

Most peoples opinion was that unfortunately there was no real substance to the rumour

[Simmi]

Porsche Factory GTE x2 confirmed for next year. Big news.
http://sportscar365.com/wec/porsche-...ogram-in-2014/

What do people think the chances are of us getting a third 'Porsche North America (CORE)' entry in GT at Le Mans?

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by Simmi

What do people think the chances are of us getting a third 'Porsche North America (CORE)' entry in GT at Le Mans?

I'd say 80 to 90% if there's no driver crossover between the TUSC and WEC driver squads. Maybe that's why Porsche are on the factory driver recruitment drive at the moment.

[Mechanic Z]

Originally Posted by Simmi

Porsche Factory GTE x2 confirmed for next year. Big news.
http://sportscar365.com/wec/porsche-...ogram-in-2014/

What do people think the chances are of us getting a third 'Porsche North America (CORE)' entry in GT at Le Mans?

That would be really cool. Really miss having a lot of US teams to cheer for at Le Mans.

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

I'd say 80 to 90% if there's no driver crossover between the TUSC and WEC driver squads. Maybe that's why Porsche are on the factory driver recruitment drive at the moment.

If the drivers want to go for championships then both the US and WEC crews will need to be completely separate due to the overlaps at Laguna/Spa, CoTA (if nothing changes) and Petit/Fuji.

So just for example you could have:

WEC 1 - Lieb/Lietz
WEC 2 - Pilet/Bergmeister
TUSC 1 - Long/Braun
TUSC 2 - Tandy/Christensen

Then at Le Mans you could fold the second TUSC line-up into the other cars then add Wolf Henzler.

Toughest ask would be at Petit where they'd need to go out and find two more drivers. But with the ladder system they are never short of guys.

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by Simmi

If the drivers want to go for championships then both the US and WEC crews will need to be completely separate due to the overlaps at Laguna/Spa, CoTA (if nothing changes) and Petit/Fuji.

So just for example you could have:

WEC 1 - Lieb/Lietz
WEC 2 - Pilet/Bergmeister
TUSC 1 - Long/Braun
TUSC 2 - Tandy/Christensen

Then at Le Mans you could fold the second TUSC line-up into the other cars then add Wolf Henzler.

Toughest ask would be at Petit where they'd need to go out and find two more drivers. But with the ladder system they are never short of guys.

Small flaw with those potential line-ups, Lieb might be whisked off from Manthey to drive the LMP1.

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

Small flaw with those potential line-ups, Lieb might be whisked off from Manthey to drive the LMP1.

I put him in there as I don't see them putting Lieb in the P1. But that's just my opinion.

I think they've tested him as effectively a contingency while they look at other options - specifically the F1 musical chairs.

[Brake dust]

I'm guessing that Marco Holzer will be at CORE in 2014 with Braun driving in LMPC

WEC 1 - Lieb/Lietz
WEC 2 - Pilet/Bergmeister
TUSC 1 - Long/Holzer
TUSC 2 - Tandy/Christensen

The option would be Bergmeister rejoing P Long in TUSC.

[PointDSM]

I agree with that line-up except I would keep Braun in at CORE and have Tandy be the Porsche journey-man (being the extra driver for 100 different teams around the globe).

[Mechanic Z]

I'd be surprised if Tandy didn't end up in one or the other of the factory teams, after how well he drove at Petit Le Mans for Falken.

[Beetle]

Originally Posted by Koenigsegg

I think we will see Craft Racing AMR in GTE-Am next year if they win the GTC championship is AsLMS. Winning GTC means they get an automatic GT invite. They're an official Aston Martin team and Stefan Mücke is entered for Craft for the Sepang round in the AsLMS.

Good call, Koenigsegg, I was thinking along those lines. Perhaps Darryl O'Young as another possible entry for the 24? It seems like he's making a commitment to do Le Mans whenever possible.

Originally Posted by Simmi

I put him in there as I don't see them putting Lieb in the P1. But that's just my opinion.

I think they've tested him as effectively a contingency while they look at other options - specifically the F1 musical chairs.

Lieb has virtually no experience in prototypes so unless he's exceptionally fast in testing I doubt they'd put him in. Best to leave him where he does best. Oliver Turvey is another young hot shoe that comes to mind when I think of an empty P1 driver slot.

[Gingers4Justice]

Do you think there's a chance that Porsche could enter CORE as well to give themselves an even greater chance of GTE PRO victory? Stranger things have happened.

Although that would actually be very strange, thinking about it, given Porsche already has two teams entered.

[Beetle]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

Do you think there's a chance that Porsche could enter CORE as well to give themselves an even greater chance of GTE PRO victory? Stranger things have happened.

Although that would actually be very strange, thinking about it, given Porsche already has two teams entered.

In GTE-Pro? Which two teams are they? All I know of is Manthey AG.

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by Beetle

In GTE-Pro? Which two teams are they? All I know of is Manthey AG.

I meant overall. Of course, Manthey, CORE and the LMP1 team will be three separate operations, but the euros and dollars will be coming from the same place.

[Beetle]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

I meant overall. Of course, Manthey, CORE and the LMP1 team will be three separate operations, but the euros and dollars will be coming from the same place.

Understood. I wonder if Proton will step up to a Pro car with Tandy, Bachler, and perhaps Collard? They ran a very quick #77 this ELMS season.

[911targa]

Originally Posted by Beetle

Understood. I wonder if Proton will step up to a Pro car with Tandy, Bachler, and perhaps Collard? They ran a very quick #77 this ELMS season.

Sadly nope, during Shanghai WEC event I asked Hartmut Kristen if there's any possibilty to see an European team racing GTE PRO next year and he answered "I don't think so, due to cost issues and limited resources". Maybe techical support is another big problem besides the cost.

Proton plans to run a pair of 991 RSR next year, both in AM class. They could have 2 automatically entries, one for finishing 2nd in ELMS this year and a 2014 full season WEC entry. If Dempsey continues the deal then hopefully there's a 3rd Proton-prepared 991.