Every car entered in an LMP1 class - from 2004-2020
With the final race this weekend of the LMP1 class (with the exception of a grandfathered car next season) it seems appropriate to mark the 17 year history of the ACO’s long-standing premier class.
So here’s our offer, every different car that has competed in the LMP1 class in the FIA WEC, ILMC, Le Mans Series and American Le Mans Series since the start of 2004.
Not every car below is a pure LMP1, some patently not so, but whether it was an LMP900, LMP675 or GT1 car ‘grandfathered’ in, an oddball grid-filler, part of the massive steps forward by the factory teams in the hybrid era – or the attempts by privateers to stay in the game – they are here – all 71 of them!
With thanks to the DSC photographers who captured this little lot over more than a decade and a half.
The dates shown are the range where the cars mentioned featured in an LMP1 entry – in the early years many of the cars had prior careers in other classes, and there are others later that raced outside an LMP1 class too.
There have been times of feast and famine but at their best the LMP1s were magnificent, Hypercar has a lot to live up to!
2004 Nasamax DM139: The very first car completed to the full 2004 LMP1 regulations, the Nasamax was derived from the team’s 2003 Reynard but had massive underbody and aero upgrades for 2004 – Bio fuel was the unique ingredient with this programme and, with the 2003 Indycar Cosworth replaced by a Judd V10 in 2004 the car showed some promise – but not enough to prevent the project being parked at the end of the season
2004 Pescarolo C60 – The by now ageing LMP900 Courage had been in service with Pescarolo for half a decade – In 2004 Pescarolo replaced their turbocharged Peugeot engines with the Judd V10 – there were flickers of form but not enough to break through the Audi pack – fifth in the Le Mans Series and fourth at Le Mans was a fair reflection of form
2004 Lola B2K/10 -An LMP900 survivor, a pair of cars survived into 2004 for the Le Mans Series and at Le Mans with Ian Dawson’s Taurus Sports, one with a Judd V10, the other with a Caterpillar-branded Diesel engine – the first in the modern era – the engine taken from a VW Touareg SUV – It was a brave, but ultimately unsuccessful, effort – The path was later proven to be correct by those with much, MUCH, bigger budgets!
2004 Dallara SP1 – Rollcentre Racing brought a pair of the pretty and effective Dallara LMP900s into the LMP1 era ring with Judd power (and with one car fitted with a Nissan twin turbo engine for the early part of 2005 before reverting to the Judd) The car proved successful for the British team with several podium finishes keeping them in the hunt for the 2005 Championship until the final race. There were strong performances at Le Mans too, Briefly leading the race in 2005 and running in a strong fourth the previous year before the car suffered broken suspension after contact. A third car appeared briefly in the LMP1 era, Spinnaker Clandesteam making a one-off appearance in the LMS at Monza in 2004
2004 – Lotus Elise GT1 – a brave, but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to field a late 1990s GT1 car in the LMP1 class, the car, entered by ‘Team Elite’ at the 2004 12 Hours of Sebring was never close to the required pace – it never returned to the track.
2004 – Panoz Esperante GTP – Another ex-GT1 machine with hopes of a career into the LMP1 era – It made three race appearances in 2004 in the hands of Larbe Competition – Sebring would see the car finish 9th, but there were dnfs at both Le Mans and the Nurburgring, the Esperante finally bowing out.
2004-2005 Riley & Scott IIIC – Two of the LMP900 era cars survived in competition into the LMP1 era, both in the ALMS, Intersport fielding a car early in 2004 and Autocon continuing with a limited programme for their car through and into 2005
2004-2005 DBA 03S- The car that started a family of LMP1 and LMP2 cars that lasted until the 2017 LMP2 era – The DBA started life as the Reynard 02S before the company folded – it was campaigned by Creation Autosportif until it was further upgraded by the company (see below)It was initially powered by a Zytek V8 as an LMP675 before being re-engined with a Judd V10 in 2005.Always a prospective giant killer the car took podiums in Le Mans Series competition against Audi R8s
2004-2006 Lister Storm LMP – The Andy Thorby-designed car set a visual standard that would re-emerge in LMP1 cars years later. The car came through multiple iterations including a full ‘hybrid’ LMP900/ LMP1 conversion for 2005 – One race win – at the Vallelunga 6 Hours – was the best result of the Chevy V8-powered car’s career , a lack of development funding the major block to a hugely promising concept
2004-2006 Dome S101 – several iterations of Dome’s LMP900 came along in its three year LMP1 class period – with Judd and Mugen power featuring in Le Mans Series and Le Mans 24 Hours service – whilst Kondo racing and Jim Gainer International also fielded cars in period, by far the most prominent exponent was Jan Lammers’ Racing for Holland, the little Dutchman continuing his relentless pursuit of speed at Le Mans, a pair of seventh place finishes the best of the bunch.
2004-2006 Audi R8 One of the most successful sports prototypes in history, the car, designed as an LMP900 carried on into the LMP1 era and continued to be successful taking the Le Mans Series title in 2004, ALMS titles in 2004 and 2005 and Le Mans wins in 2004 and 2005 too to add to its amazing success story in LMP900. A single car continued into 2006 contesting, and winning three races in the ALMS as the factory worked to develop the replacement R10 TDI – the combined R8/ R10 effort took the title!
2004-2007 Zytek 04S – Zytek took on the original Reynard 02S programme and started their own development. There was a single factory entered car plus a customer car for Jota – both saw some success but the factory car was the more competitive – Two wins in the 2005 Le Mans Series saw them just miss out on the LMP1 title – There was race winning success too in America, the factory car winning the 2005 ALMS race at Laguna Seca against strong opposition – The factory car was sold (as a 05S) to Hitotsuyama Racing in Japan and campaigned in the Japan Le Mans Challenge until 2007
2004-2007 MG Lola EX257: A carry-over from the now defunct LMP675 class, the rapid but often fragile Lola served a single season in LMP1 with RML but lived on longer in the ALMS with Dyson racing – who score two wins with the cars in 2005
2005 Courage C60 Hybrid – After missing the season in LMP1 in 2004 whilst Courage raced, developed and marketed the LMP2 C65 the factory team returned with an LMP900/LMP1 hybrid version of the C60 – this a very different car from Pescarolo’s version of the same base car. The team ran the full Le Mans Series with limited success, fielding a pair of cars at Le Mans and a single car elsewhere.
2005-2006 Pescarolo C60 Hybrid – A further Pescarolo update of the Courage C60 – this a ‘hybrid’ between LMP900 and LMP1 regulations – still Judd powered it served the Pescarolo team for two seasons taking two Le Mans Series titles and, frustratingly for Henri Pescarolo back-to-back second places at Le Mans, 2005 in particular a race where the regulations favoured his car, the Pescarolo’s filling the front row in qualifying!
2006 Zytek 06S – The final Reynard-built chassis was built up as a revised race car and campaigned by the factory team through 2006 in Le Mans Series and in selected ALMS races proving to be competitive, podiums at the Spa 1000 km and at Petit Le Mans – but with no wins
2006 ProTran RS06/H – As with the Nasamax derived from the Reynard 2KQ – and also (as with the Nasamax) redesigned by Kieron Salter – the car, powered by an AER twin turbo V8, saw limited outings in the 2006 Le Mans Series, three race starts, showing some pace, but without luck – The car reappeared at the Vallelunga 6 hours the following year but did not start the race
2006-2007 Oscar (various) – a handful of these cars found their way into a very thin LMP1 entry for the 2006 and 2007 Japan Le Mans Challenge series, the cars were originally built from the late 1980s and through the 1990s for a Japanese Can-Am stye Series, the small engined cars also appearing in major endurance races in Japan. Their appearance in the premier class (whilst others were classified as ‘LMP2s’) can accurately be described as ‘grid filling’
2006-2007 Creation CA 06H – With one car an updated version of the original DBA and the other built on the chassis of Jota’s Zytek 04S, Creation moved to make their cars a closer fit with the prevailing regulations – and with some success – podium finishes came in Le Mans Series, including a double podium at Donington Park – Both cars were sold into the USA when the cars were replaced for 2007 but neither Intersport not Autocon had much success with the slippery LMPs
2006-2007 Courage LC70 – A partnership with Mugen saw a pair of cars in the Le Mans Series and a third car for the Japan Le Mans Challenge – all with Mugen power in 2006, the factory cars switching to AER in 2007 – The Swiss Spirit car raced in 2006 only, with Judd power and proved quick but failed to be ultimately competitive – In late 2007 Courage’s race car business was sold to Oreca ending a 25 year history for the marque.
2006-2009 Lavaggi LS1 – Initially powered by a Ford V8 and from 2008 with a turbo AER the car appeared at several Le Mans Series races without notable success – It led the Vallelunga 6 Hours in 2008 after setting pole – but again reliability woes struck – it finished 10th
2006-2010 Audi R10 TDI The groundbreaking R10 set the scene for a sea change in the established order in endurance racing bringing a GTL diesel-fuelled V12 engine producing big power and monstrous torque to the track – Its results started well and stayed that way – ALMS drivers and manufacturers titles in 2006-2008 (2006 was a season mixed with the older R8) The Le Mans Series in 2008 and a hat-trick of Le Mans 24 Hours wins – Two cars continued until 2010 with Kolles Racing in Europe and Le Mans with limited success.
2006-2011 Lola B06/10 – Stalwart privateer car utilised in-period by Chamberlain Synergy in LMS and at Le Mans, and by Dyson Racing in ALMS – some podium finishes in USA – AER power from new – cars later raced by Team Cytosport, Intersport and Autocon – the latter continuing until 2011.
2007 Dome S101.5 an update of the S101 to comply with the new regulations – campaigned at Le Mans for their final year by Racing for Holland – sadly a dnf was the result
2007-2008 Lola B07/10 Mild aero update from the earlier 06/10 – Raced with some podium success in Europe for Swiss Spirit (initially with the engine from the Audi R8), and Charouz (powered by a Judd) – one car raced briefly for Intersport in the US
2007-2008 Creation CA 07 – carrying over the 2006 car’s general body profile but with a new-build chassis Creation fielded the car in Europe and in selected ALMS races, Autocon purchasing a chassis for their car too. 2008 saw the Creation Car re-egined with an AIM-badged wider V 10 cylinder engine.
2007-2011 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP – Peugeot’s answer to the Audi diesel juggernaut was to build one of their own! The V12 powered coupe debuted in 2007 with a clean sweep of teams, drivers and manufacturers titles in the Le Mans Seres in 2007 and 2010, ILMC title in 2010 and a win at the 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours – The privately entered 980 HDi FAP also beat the new factory 908s at Sebring on their debut in 2011! The cars won 20 out of the 30 races they contested in both factory and privateer hands
2007-2012 Pescarolo 01 – With the change in regulations in 2007 Pescarolo’s Courages were no longer eligible and the team opted to become a chassis manufacturer for the first time, building two cars for their own team and offering others for sale either as LMP1 or LMP2 – Rollcentre Racing bought a car, and Lister bought a chassis to build a replacement for the Storm LMP – that project did not go ahead.
The lead Pescarolo factory car proved to be very competitive and finished a strong 2nd in the Le Mans Series with the Rollcentre car fourth – the pair finished third and fourth at Le Mans too. 2008 saw Saulnier Racing add a car to the entry but with stiffer diesel opposition results were tougher to find. 2009 saw the LMS runners up slot again for Pescarolo with a win overall at Portimao, Rollcentre though had withdrawn and OAK switched to LMP2.
A single car clinched the Asian Le Mans Series – run in 2009 over two races at Okayama, under the Sora racing banner.
After financial woes saw Pescarolo parked for 2010 they had a dream return in 2011, a pair of wins bookmarking the season , where they again finished as runners up, by a single point, to Rebellion.
The 01 made a final appearance in the factory teams hands in the first ever WEC race at Sebring in 2012 – 6th overall and a WEC LMP1 podium a fitting send off.
2008 Epsilon Euskadi ee1 – Spain’s only LMP1 car contested the 2008 Le Mans Series and Le Mans with these handsome Judd powered coupes – two cars raced during the season – including at Le Mans showing encouraging pace later in the year, but not enough to save the programme.
2008 Dome S102 – The Judd V10 powered car raced just once – at the 2008 Le Mans 24 Hours – see below for its 2012 evolution
2008 Radical SR9 (SR10) – Eco Racing’s attempts to bring a bio-diesel fuelled LMP1 effort to the ALMS saw the team struggle with homologation of their LMP2-derived Radical and power unit woes – the car finally appeared, and started the race, at the season finale – was an easy retirement and did not appear again
2008-2009 Lola B08/60 Lola’s entry into the closed cockpit era was accompanied by a collaboration between Aston Martin and Charouz with a V12-engined car for the Le Mans Series – The team contested the full series and Le Mans against stiff factory competition and scored a pair of LMS podiums – The car was acquired by Speedy team Sebah (the outfit that later became Rebellion Racing) and again there was an LMP podium in 2009.
2008-2011 Courage Oreca LC70 – A comprehensive reworking of the Courage LC70, campaigned by the Oreca factory team in the Le Mans Series in 2008 with Judd power with improved results over the Courage, but still not where Oreca wanted to be – retired by the team after opening race in 2009 and replaced by the Oreca 01 – one car sold to Signature Plus – continued in 2009 Le Mans Series with some good results – Another chassis run by Tokai University with their experimental YGK engine at Le Mans and in selected races in Asia with very limited results
2009 Acura ARX 02a – Acura’s effort in the ALMS in 2009 focused on an all-new LMP1 concept from Wirth Research featuring a high-nose, upgraded 4 litre V6 and larger front tyres, the Acura ahead of its time (and of the availability of tyres designed to exploit the concept!) The concept paid off in terms of race wins with the cars fielded by Highcroft and de Ferran trading wins through the season, Duncan Dayton’s outfit coming out the Champions
2009 Audi R15 TDI The V10 engined, diesel-powered successor to the R10 debuted, and won, at Sebring and races only twice more – losing to Peugeot at both Le Mans and Petit Le Mans
2009-2010 Lola B09/60 Drayson Racing were the sole takers for the updated 2009 version of the B08 – now with Judd power the car competed in the final race of 2009 and a full season in 2010 in the ALMS scoring an overall win at Road America in 2010, the team combining their season with a full season in the ILMC – the car also ran strongly in the 2009 Asian Le Mans Series.
2009 – 2010 Ginetta Zytek 09S – campaigned in the Le Mans Series by Team LNT, Strakka Racing and Beechdean Mansell, the latest iteration of the Zytek renamed to reflect Lawrence Tomlinson’s involvement with the company between 2009 and 2010. The cars were always fast, often fragile – the best result coming from the Beechdeam Mansell car with a class win at Hungaroring in 2010, the car though finishing seventh overall behind six LMP2s on a day when the LMP1 entry wilted
2009-2010 Oreca 01 – Oreca’s first eponymous top class prototype contested the Le Mans Series I 2009 and 2010 taking a single overall win at Silverstone in 2009 and finishing fourth overall at Le Mans in 2010, the car powered by the Judd built AIM V10
2009-2011 Lola-Aston Martin B09/60 / Aston Martin DBR1-2 – A massive fan favourite the Lola Aston Martin proved to be a bone of contention between Aston Martin’s David Richards and Lola’s Martin Birrane – each claiming it should bear their company’s names – The V12-engined beast spent two seasons as the factory Aston Martin teams weapon of choice winning team and drivers Championships in the 2009 Le Mans Series – the result including a clean sweep of the podium for the three cars entered at Nurburgring. The car was not on the pace of the diesels at Le Mans but missed out on a podium in 2009 only with a late race contact. The factory would recall the Lola to frontline service after the failure of the AMR One with further success – a short race programme in the ALMS yielding a race win at Laguna Seca and a podium at Petit Le Mans – privateer entries by Signature Plus (2010) and Kronos Racing (2011) at Le Mans saw a dnf and 7th place respectively.
Cytosport fielded a car for the full 2011 AMS season and took four race wins but a lack of consistency saw them cede the title to Dyson Racing
2009-2011 Ginetta Zytek 09HS Three years before the FIA WEC ushered in the factory LMP1 Hybrid era Corsa Motorsports in the American Le Mans Series mounted a late season programme with a Ginetta Zytek equipped with a Zytek KERS system, the car proved the concept but was not yet at a stage of development to challenge the established order.
Italian team MIK Corse brought the car back to the Le Mans Series for a couple of races in 2011, it is believed to have run though as a conventionally powered car only at Spa and was a dnf at Imola
2010-2011 Audi R15 TDI Plus – Updated and much aerodynamically revised version of the 2009 car – Won on its debut at Le Castellet and took the 2010 Le Mans win after Peugeot fell foul of connecting rod failures on all of their cars – the cars completed the 2011 ILMC and competed at Sebring the following year but did not win again.
2010-2012 Oak Pescarolo 01 – Jacques Nicolet’s Oak racing took over the manufacturing and development of the 01 from 2010 – The car saw action in 2011 and 2012 in the Le Mans Series, ILMC, ALMS and FIA WEC with some encouraging form but little consistency, the teams efforts spoiled by a couple of major accidents
2010-2012 Lola B10/60-B11/60 – Further upgrades for the Lola coupe with Rebellion using Judd and then Toyota power and Dyson with Mazda (AER turbo) engines.
Rebellion took the Le Mans Series title in 2011.
2011 HPD ARX 01e – A great ‘what might have been’, the 01e contested just a single race, the 2011 12 Hours of Sebring fielded by Highcroft Racing, the car finishing a fine second overall beating factory Peugeot and Audi diesels – A combination of Highcroft’s refocus on IRL and, later, the financial impact on Honda of the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami, coupled with concerns that the rule makers were unable to balance the petrol and diesel-fuelled LMP1s finished the programme
2011 Audi R18 TDI Audi’s first closed top LMP since the R8C in 1999 – powered by a 3.7 litre diesel V6 and as with all the cars from 2011 onwards, fitted with the dorsal ‘shark’ fin – contested the 2011 ILMC and selected additional races – won once – at Le Mans – beating off the Peugeot challenge with a single surviving car after enormous shunts for McNish and Rockenfeller
2011 Peugeot 908 – The completely new, diesel V8 powered 908 traded power against agility – it raced at Sebring, Le Mans and in the 2011 ILMC – it lost in Florida (to the privately entered, previous model ORECA Peugeot), and at Le Mans to Audi but won every other race – The planned Hybrid4 derivative for the 2012 FIA WEC was canned when Peugeot parked the programme
2011 Aston Martin AMR-One: the straight 6 turbo-powered machine offered a screaming soundtrack but proved to be disastrously unreliable – after outings at Paul Ricard, and then a disastrous two-car entry at Le Mans that saw the two cars complete a combined total of just 6 laps the car was withdrawn – It’s chassis though was later used as the basis for both the initial DeltaWing and the (equally unsuccessful) Pescarolo 03.
2011 Zytek 09SC – Quifel ASM took on the top class challenge after an LMP2 title in the Le Mans Series – the effort lasted just two races – 4th in class on the cars debut was encouraging – but it was all over far too soon.
2011 Oreca Swiss Hy tech Hybrid: Fielded by Hope Polevision Racing this Oreca 01 based effort would become the first hybrid-powered car to race at the Le Mans 24 Hours – its VW 4 cylinder engine boosted by a Flybrid KERS system – it score a dnf at Le Mans and was not raced again
2012 Audi R18 ultra – significantly upgraded from the 2011 car – Audi’s last non-hybrid LMP1 – started the 2012 FIA WEC before the hybridised e-tron Quattro was rolled out. The car won the first two WEC races, these the last non-hybrid race wins before Silverstone in 2018 – the ultras competed alongside the hybrids until Bahrain
2012 Dome S102.5 – An updated version of the 2008 S102 now with a Judd V8 and with bodywork and front end modified to current regulations – it arrived with Pescarolo team at a traumatic time for the squad – a warm-up race at Spa followed by a non-finish at Le Mans alongside the disastrous Pescarolo 03 finished the career for the car, and for the team
2012 Pescarolo 03 – Intended as the successor to the successful Pescarolo 01, the Aston Martin AMR-One chassied car was an absolute flop – its aerodynamics scary enough to have Jean-Christophe Bouillon walk away during Le Mans week, this its only appearance – It meant the end for Henri Pescarolo’s long-established team as LMP1 budgets soared out of reach.
2012-13 Toyota TS030: Intended initially as the team’s development car for 2012 ahead of a 2013 entry into the new FIA WEC the team were persuaded into an early entry after the last minute withdrawal of Peugeot – with its supercapacitor boosted hybrid output the car proved to be very fast, three race wins in 2012 forced Audis hand in adopting an all-hybrid programme, took a further win in 2013 before the arrival of the TS040 the following season.
2012-13 HPD ARX 03a – The Nick Wirth designed car featured as the weapon of choice for both Strakka Racing and JRM in the inaugural FIA WEC and with Muscle Milk Picket Racing in the ALMS in 2013 and into 2013 – Strakka scored a solo overall podium in 2012 – their car lasting in the WEC until Le Mans 2013 – The US-based car fared much better, 14 race wins (albeit against limited numbers in opposition, gave the team back-to-back titles – the latter part of 2013 with the car in updated configuration (see 2013 HPD ARX 03c)
2012-2013 Lola B12/60 – Upgraded version of the B08/60 – run by Rebellion Racing with Toyota power in FIA WEC and with turbo Mazda AER power for Dyson Racing in the ALMS – The Dyson car won two races en route a narrow loss to the Muscle Milk HPD, the Rebellion cars a trio of WEC overall podium finishes against factory opposition – Rebellion also contested and won Petit Le Mans with a Lola Toyota in both 2012 and 2013 and finished on the overall podium at Sebring against factory opposition – Rebellion continued with the Lollas into the early part of the 2014 WEC season whilst awaiting their new R-Ones
2012-2015 Audi R18 e-tron quattro – rolled in as one car here but over its four year career it made remarkable strides in efficiency and pace with progressive improvements in the car’s mechanical flywheel accumulator though this was always a step behind the best of the battery tech on competing cars – took driver and manufacturers titles in 2012 and 2013 FIA WEC and wins at Le Mans from 2012-2014
2013 Deltawing – after an invitation entry in the 2012 Petit Le Mans the Deltawing was accepted into the P1 class for the 2013 ALMS, the open topped car, now powered by a 4 cylinder Elan engine – it was significantly off the pace of the true LMP1 cars with a best result of 5th overall at Road America
2013 Deltawing DWC13 – took over from the original car from the CoTA round
2013 HPD ARX 03c Mild update for the 03a, rolled out on the Muscle Milk car in the second half of the 2013 season and helped to secure back to back titles.
2014 Lotus CLM P1/01 After a season with the Adess-chassied Lotus T128 in LMP2 the Kolles team stepped up to LMP1 with a similarly chassied car (though apparently without Adess involvement, to field their first LMP1 effort in the WEC – there were few good days with just two finishes.
2014-15 Toyota TS040 – A substantial slice of aero-rule-bending genius – and a developed powertrain, saw Toyota leapfrog the dominant Audis in 2014, the TS040 taking five wins against the R18s, and the new Porsche 919s to claim the World Championship before the German factories responded the following year!
2014-2016 Rebellion R-One With Lola gone Rebellion needed a new chassis partner and Oreca fitted the bill, the R-One based on the Oreca 05 LMP2 chassis and designed as an LMP1 in very quick order – The cars debuted in 2014 at Spa, powered by the varied over Toyota V8. 2015 saw a switch to AER power and a season of frustration before the car’s final year saw a dream start to the season with a pair of overall podiums to accompany a trio of LMP1 Privateer titles – its best Le Mans result was fourth overall in 2014.
2014-2017 Porsche 919 Hybrid – Porsche’s latest top class Sportscar added once again to its roll of honour – The 919 was, after its debut season in 2014, nigh-on unbeatable – three consecutive FIA WEC Drivers and Manufacturers titles, and three consecutive Le Mans wins too from 2015-17 – One of the true greats of the modern era, its evolution through a short four year career was remarkable
2015 Nissan GTR LM – One of the great “might have beens” of LMP1 – the radical Nissan was the only ever front-engined ‘real’ LMP1 but after a development process that was way too short, and with the hybrid-drive supplier failing to provide a unit capable of functioning reliably, the car’s sole appearance saw the package raced incomplete and way off the pace – Project insiders say the car had real potential – Nissan lost their nerve and pulled the programme
2015-2016 CLM P1/01 – A new car replacing the Lotus T128-derived predecessor – still AER powered and battling to stay ahead of the LMP2s and against privateer sub-class opponents Rebellion – the highlights were class wins at Nurburgring and Cota in 2015, and at Shanghai in 2016.
2016 Audi R18 – The final season for Audi saw a radically different car with a high nose and a lithium ion battery replacing the flywheel KERS system but retaining the 4 litre turbocharged V8 diesel – The car was very fast – a match for the competition – and won on its debut before being excluded for an underbody infringement – there were two wins and a podium at Le Mans en route to second in the manufacturers Championship – Most felt that the car, with a season of development, could take the fight to Porsche – but at the end of 2016 it was all over for the car, and for Audi’s LMP1 programme
2016-20 Toyota TS050 – The fastest racing Sportscar ever, in terms of lap-time, at Le Mans – Another astonishing piece of tech development that saw the car continue to move forwards despite regulatory pressure downwards – Toyota seeing quantum leaps forward in efficiency and speed with its now battery equipped package – Some will remember its three year stretch of Driver, manufacturer/ team and Le Mans Championship wins as coloured by a lack of competition – Look harder at the numbers though and the competition would have had to step up their game to match the TS050!
2017-2020 – ENSO CLM P1/01 – Yet another name for the ByKolles entered effort but with a further series of evolutions on the same theme but with a new and upgraded chassis in 2018. A switch to the Cosworth-built NISMO engine designed for the GTR LM was the wrong route – the team switching again to the Gibson V8 in 2018
2018-19 BR Engineering BR1: Funded by SMP Racing for the 2018/19 FIA WEC and attracting a further customer car from DragonSpeed the cars were very, very rapid, Jenson Button scoring the third fastest LMP1 lap ever at Silverstone – but wild! The season was punctuated by major accidents – including a full blower for one of the SMP cars at Spa and a leg-breaking shunt at Spa too for the Pietro Fittipaldi in the DragonSpeed car – A highlight was the podium finish at Le Mans in 2019, but the cars were parked post season.
2018-20 Ginetta G60-LT-P1: After an abortive first season effort with a very much underpowered turbo Mecachrome engine by CEFC TRSM Racing (Manor) with a pair of cars running only at Le Mans, the car was reworked with AER’s P60B turbo V6 – the car proved to be fast but suffered niggles during the 2019/20 WEC season with Team LNT – the team opted to withdraw before season’s end
2018-2020 Rebellion R13 Gibson: A second Oreca based LMP1 effort for Rebellion Racing, this time based on the ORECA 07 and powered by the Gibson GL 458 engine – The cars took three overall FIA WEC wins, one in 2018 at Silverstone when both Toyotas were excluded, the other two in 2020 with the LMP1 Success handicap system in place – Fast and reliable, the cars would score overall podium finishes in 2018 and 2020 at Le Mans – including second overall in 2020. The car is set to be the ‘last man standing’ in LMP1 with one car being rehomologated as a grandfathered Alpine A480.
