It’s been quite a run since 2011, but it’s now time to say goodbye to the 2011-2016 crop of LMP2s. From 2017 onwards, the cars will only be racing in the AsLMS as grandfathered entries, as the FIA WEC and IMSA welcomes the new-for-2017 quartet of P2 chassis and spec Gibson engine.
During the past regulation cycle’s tenure, 18 chassis were homologated, though many of those were either evolutions of older cars, or just re-badged for brands like Alpine and Mazda. They went on to win multiple titles and races in the hands of countless customer teams, and in the process transformed the LMP2 class from an expensive one, with unreliable cars, into a budding grid of increasingly professional teams and drivers competing around the world.
Back in 2010, the ACO created the regulations to come into effect for the 2011 season as a cost-cutting measure, with various safety enhancements, including the dorsal fin, also becoming mandatory.
In the early years the grids fluctuated, with the ELMS’ playing host to strong fields, while the ALMS and ILMC struggled to hit more than a handful for many races.
But as time passed, and the more recent chassis like the Ligier JS P2 and Oreca 05 took over, the racing went from strength to strength. During the 2016 FIA WEC season, the LMP2 class most certainly came of age, and the numbers seen at Le Mans over the past few years have exceeded those of an entire Formula One field.
And that’s partly why the changes for 2017 came as such a shock. The 2011-2016 regulation cycle featured an incredible amount of variety in chassis, and at points even in engines (despite the fact that Nissan engines consistently won big races and titles against competition from Judd, BMW, Mazda and Honda). So many drivers have also made names for themselves driving them, be it Harry Tincknell, Oliver Turvey, Paul Loup Chatin, Pipo Derani or Olivier Pla. It’s been quite an era.
That’s all in the past now, and it seems that the teams have willingly decided to move on to the newer, faster cars.
Will the next set of LMP2 s continue the upward trend of LMP2’s status in world motorsport though? Only time will tell. For now though, it seems there’s plenty to look forward to.
But before we look ahead to what the next few years will bring, lets have a look at all the chassis, the major titles, and big race wins over the past six seasons from the LMP2 classes.
Cars
Acura HPD ARX-01g
Alpine A450 (Oreca 03)
Alpine A460 (Oreca 05)
BR01
DOME S103
Gibson 015S
HPD ARX-03b
Ligier JS P2
Lola B11/40
Lola B12/80
Lotus T128
Mazda Prototype
Morgan LMP2
Norma M200P
Oreca 03
Oreca 03R
Oreca 05
Zytek Z11SN
Major Title Winners:
ALMS 2011 – Acura ARX-01g – Level 5 Motorsport – Scott Tucker, Christophe Bouchout
ALMS 2012 – HPD ARX-03b – Level 5 Motorsport – Scott Tucker, Christophe Bouchout
ALMS 2013 – HPD ARX-03b – Level 5 Motorsport – Scott Tucker
Asian Le Mans Series 2013 – Morgan Judd – David Cheng Oak Racing
Asian Le Mans Series 2014 – Morgan Judd – David Cheng/ Ho Pin Tung Oak Racing
Asian Le Mans Series 2015/16 – Oreca 03-R Judd – Nichloas Leutwiler – Race Performance
ELMS 2011 – Zytek Z11SN – Greaves Motorsport – Karim Ojieh, Tom Kimber-Smith
ELMS 2012 – Oreca 03 – Thiriet By TDS Racing – Pierre Thiriet, Mathias Beche
ELMS 2013 – Alpine A450 – Signatech Alpine – Nelson Panciatici, Pierre Ragues
ELMS 2014 – Alpine A450 – Paul Loup Chatin, Nelson Panciatici, Oliver Webb
ELMS 2015 – Gibson 015S – Greaves Motorsport – Gary Hirsch, Jon Lancaster, Bjorn Wirdheim
ELMS 2016 – Gibson 015S – G-Drive Racing – Simon Dolan, Harry Tincknell, Giedo van der Garde
FIA WEC 2012
FIA WEC 2013 – Morgan LMP2 – Bertrand Baguette, Martin Plowman, Ricardo Gonzalez
FIA WEC 2014 – Oreca 03R – SMP Racing – Sergey Zlobin
FIA WEC 2015 – Ligier JS P2 – G-Drive Racing – Romain Rusinov, Julien Canal, Sam Bird
FIA WEC 2016 – Alpine A460 – Signatech Alpine – Nicolas Lapierre, Stephane Richelmi, Gustavo Menezes
ILMC 2011 – Oreca 03 – Signatech Nissan – Franck Mallieux, Lucas Ordonez
Major race winners:
Le Mans 2011 – Zytek Z11SN – Greaves Motorsport – Karim Ojjeh, Olivier Lombard, Tom Kimber-Smith
Le Mans 2012 – HPD ARX-3b – Starworks Motorsport – Ryan Dalziel, Stepahene Sarrazin, Enzo Potolicchio
Le Mans 2013 – Morgan LMP2 – Oak Racing – Bertrand Baguette, Martin Plowman, Ricardo Gonzalez
Le Mans 2014 – Zytek Z11SN – Team Jota – Simon Dolan, Harry Tincknell, Oliver Turvey
Le Mans 2015 – Oreca 05 – KCMG – Matthew Howson, Richard Bradley, Nicolas Lapierre
Le Mans 2016 – Alpine A460 – Signatech Alpine – Stephane Richelmi, Gustavo Menezes, Nicolas Lapierre
Petit Le Mans 2011 – HPD ARX-01g – Level 5 Motorsports – Joao Barbosa, Christophe Bouchout, Scott Tucker
Petit Le Mans 2012 – HPD ARX-03b – Level 5 Motorsports – Scott Tucker, Christophe Bouchout, Luis Diaz
Petit Le Mans 2013 – HPD ARX-03b – Level 5 Motorsports – Scott Tucker, Ryan Briscoe, Marino Franchitti
Petit Le Mans 2016 – Ligier JS P2 – Michael Shank Racing – John Pew, Oswaldo Negri Jnr, Olivier Pla
Rolex 24 at Daytona 2016
Sebring 12 Hours 2011 – Lola B11/40 – Scott Tucker, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Luis Diaz
Sebring 12 Hours 2012 – HPD ARX-03b – Starworks Motorsport – Ryan Dalziel, Stepahene Sarrazin, Enzo Potolicchio
Sebring 12 Hours 2013 – HPD ARX-03b – Level 5 Motorsports – Scott Tucker, Marino Franchitti, Ryan Briscoe
Sebring 12 Hours 2016 – Ligier JS P2 – Extreme Speed Motorsports – Ed Brown, Scott Sharp, Johannes van Overbeek, Pipo Derani
