ILMC: Zhuhai Entry List.

 

 

Provisional entry listings for the third and final round of the 2010 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup have are now available. What began as a field of 27 runners has now been reduced to a mere 24, after the withdrawal of the Atlas E-FX Saleen, and MIK Racing’s two Lola-Judd coupes. Although now sporting a slightly diminished field, the event is by no means short of quality contenders.

The Audi vs Peugeot battle continues in LMP1, although the French marque need only finish the race with both entries in order to seal the maiden ILMC LMP1 teams and manufacturers title. Both factories approach the race bearing slightly altered driver lineups as a result of differing driver commitments. Privateer flavour will be provided by fan favourites, Drayson Racing and Tokai University.

Having been the only P2 team to confirm participation in all three rounds of the ILMC, OAK Racing is only required to complete the race to confirm its P2 title. After the surprise forfeit of MIK’s two Lola-Judd entries, the French outfit will be left to run it’s own race alongside the sole Formula Le Mans entry of Hope Polevision.

The battle of the factories continues in GT2, the now dominant GT category yielding works entries from Porsche, Ferrari, BMW, and Jaguar teams. Porsche’s reputation will be defended by two-time Le Mans series champions, Felbermayr-Proton, with assistance from ProSpeed Competition. Regular LMS rivals AF-Corse and CRS will provide Ferrari presence and, flying the sole BMW flag, Schnitzer will field a single entry. After a surprise appearance at the 1000KM of Silverstone,  the Lamborghini Gallardo of Gulf Team First will also be in attendance.

Although Ferrari possess a points advantage in the race for the GT2 manufacturers title, the battle for honours is still very much alive. With a slim possibility remaining for Porsche or BMW teams to seize the first ILMC accolades for their respective marques.

Having successfully completed over nine hours under race conditions during the Petit Le Mans event, Porsche’s GT3R Hybrid will make the trip to Zhuhai for its second ILMC appearance. Capable of competing with GT2 runners, the GT3R Hybrid will compete in a class of its own once more (GT-Exp.), setting out demonstrate the advantages of Hybrid technology alongside regular GT counterparts. Porsche has committed the services of factory drivers (and recently crowned ALMS GT2 series champions) Jörg Bergmeister and Pat Long to provide the Hybrid its Chinese debut.

In addition to the inclusion of Porsche’s GT3R Hybrid, the ACO has also allowed the inclusion of GT3 homologated chassis on a strictly one-off basis, in order to increase grid numbers. The presence of both United AutoSports and KK Performance squads will mark the Audi R8 LMS’ debut appearance in an ACO sanctioned event. Team Hong Kong Racing has also committed an Aston Martin DBRS9 entry.

Entry listings can be seen in full below:

LMP1

• 1 Team Peugeot Total – Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP – Sébastien Bourdais / Simon Pagenaud
• 2 Team Peugeot Total – Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP – Stéphane Sarrazin / Franck Montagny
• 7 Audi Sport Team Joest – Audi R15+ – Tom Kristensen / Allan McNish
• 8 Audi Sport Team Joest – Audi R15+ – Rinaldo Capello / Romain Dumas
• 11 Drayson Racing – Lola-Judd Coupe – Paul Drayson / Jonny Cocker
• 23 Tokai University – Courage Oreca-YGK – Shigekazu Wakisaka / Shogo Mitsuyama

LMP2

• 24 OAK Racing – Pescarolo Judd – Jacques Nicolet / Frédéric Da Rocha / Patrice Lafargue

Formula Le Mans

• 47 Hope Polevision Racing – Oreca-FLM – Luca MORO / TBA

GT1

• 50 Larbre Competition – Saleen S7R – Roland Berville / Julien Canal
• 69 JLOC – Lamborghini Murcielago – Iiri HIROYUKI / TBA

GT2

• 75 ProSpeed Competition – Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (997) – Richard Westbrook / Darryl O’Young
• 77 Team Felbermayr-Proton – Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (997) Marc Lieb / Richard Lietz
• 78 BMW Team Schnitzer – BMW E92 M3 – Jörg Müller / Dirk Werner
• 81 JaguarRSR – Jaguar XKRS – Marc Goossens / Tommi Drissi / Paul Gentilozzi
• 82 JaguarRSR – Jaguar XKRS – TBA / TBA
• 88 Team Felbermayr-Proton – PORSCHE 911 GT3 RSR (997) – Gianluca Roda / Christian Ried / Martin Ragginger
• 90 CRS Racing – Ferrari F430 GT – Pierre Ehret / Phil Quaife / Andrew Kirkaldy
• 95 AF Corse – Ferrari F430 GT – Giancarlo Fisichella / Gianmaria Bruni
• 99 Gulf Team First – Lamborghini Gallardo – Fabien Giroix / Roald Goethe / Frédéric Fatien

GT-Experimental

• 92 Porsche AG – Porsche GT3R Hybrid – Jörg Bergmeister / Patrick Long

GTC

• 91 Team Hong Kong Racing – Aston Martin DBRS9 – Philippe Ma / Marchy Lee
• 96 United AutoSports – Audi R8 LMS – Danny Watts / Richard Meins
• 97 United AutoSports – Audi R8 LMS –  Alain Li / Henri Richard
• 98 KK Performance – Audi R8 LMS – Marchy Li / Alexander Yoong / Matthew Marsh

ALMS: Porsche GT3R Hybrid to Race at Petit Le Mans.

Porsche's GT3R Hybrid during the 2010 Nürburgring 24 Hour. - Image Courtesy Webridestv.com

After months of speculation, Porsche’s latest benchmark in race technology, the GT3R-Hybrid, saw it’s participation in the running of the 2010 Petit Le Mans confirmed.

Having already managed several impressive finishes in the German VLN series, and lead the 2010 Nürburgring 24 Hour event for over eight hours (before later retiring as a result of an engine failure), a visit to the self-proclaimed home of  ‘Green Racing’ would seem a logical step in the development cycle of such a vehicle.

Despite the confirmation of eligibility, the GT3R-Hybrid will run in VLN-specification, and unclassified due to ACO regulations disallowing the participation of GT3-spec chassis.

Head of Porsche Motorsport Activities Hartmut Kristen had the following to say:

“After the 911 GT3 R Hybrid’s fantastic performance at the Nürburgring 24 Hours, we are now eager to gain more experience with the hybrid technology on a variety of race tracks. At the same time, we would like to show fans and customers in our most important market how our ‘race lab’ performs under racing conditions.”

The GT3R-Hybrid will make it’s  Stateside debut at the 13th running of the ten hour Petit Le Mans event in early October.