Le Mans Test Day Reflections: Part Two, LMP2

The LMP2 category is one of those elements of the 24 hours of Le Mans – it’s a bit like single malt whisky. There is a lot of competition in the class, some of which is very strong. But it’s not obvious, at a casual glance, where the quality lies. And you do need to take your time, look closely, and check the after-taste. In a nutshell, it is a bit of a class for the connoisseur.

Part of the trouble is that, faced with the more popular, higher-profile “beer and wine” of the LMP1 and GTE-Pro classes, LMP2 is all too easy to overlook. It’s not for the masses. And even for those who have an interest, their favourites are often driven by subjective judgements. Just like aficionados of single malt.

This year’s 24 hour race features 22 LMP2 cars – nearly 40% of the entry. The WEC season so far has seen wins for Delta-ADR at Silverstone and Pecom Racing at Spa. At the Test Day on Sunday, the times were headed by Oak Racing’s Morgan-Nissan, (in the hands of Olivier Pla) on 3m 38.801s. This compares with the fastest LMP2 time set last year (by John Martin in the ADR Oreca, during qualifying) of 3m 38.181s.

Ignoring the second Signatech car, which was at the Test, but which is not entered for the 24 hours, we had an Alpine and an Oreca with second and third fastest times – showing the variety for which the class is famous. And with thirteen cars separated by less than five seconds, the closeness is there too.

Rather than debating the difference between a Morgan, an Alpine and an Oreca, I want to look at lap times though. “It always rains at Le Mans”… and in the morning, conditions for the Test were rather unpleasant. But rather than looking at the best lap time for each car in the session, I thought it would be interesting to compare the average of the best laps of each driver. In the case of the Signatech team, I have added the average of Gommendy’s time (in the 37 car) to that of Ragues/Panciatici in the no. 36, since that is the intended line-up in the race.

[sws_divider_small_padding]In the afternoon, track conditions improved and most teams completed more laps than in the morning, so for the table below, I show the average of the two best laps for each driver.

[sws_divider_small_padding]Note that those times marked with an asterisk(*) are the average of two drivers only, where only two drivers took part in the afternoon session. In this case, the average is taken from the best three laps of each of the two drivers that took part.

With such little disparity between the cars, I would not expect anyone to try a different strategy. My expectation would be for stints of 11 laps, and double stint on each set of tyres.

The biggest difference is likely to be in the relative performance of the Silver / Bronze driver(s) that each team has to have on the driving crew, although it is interesting that four crews consist of two Silver / Bronze drivers: no. 25 Delta-ADR, no. 30 HVM Status, no.43 Morand Racing and no.46 Thiriet by TDS Racing.

In fact, another four cars consist entirely of Silver / Bronze drivers: no. 28 Gulf Racing Middle East, no. 39 DKR Engineering, no. 40 Boutsen-Ginion and no.45 Oak Racing. The regulations state that, however you comprise your driving crew, each driver has to be at the wheel for at least 4 hours, though.

And if one looks at the fastest time set by the slowest Silver / Bronze driver only, you may get an indication as to which team is the strongest, or at least, which has the strongest ‘weakest link’.

[sws_divider_small_padding]Of course this does not take account of the different programmes being followed by the different teams. But it is a guide.

So what does it all mean? Suppose we award points (on a 25-18-15- basis) to the teams in the top ten of the three tables shown here, for a sort of aggregate “Wet / Mixed / Dry” including the influence of the Silver / Bronze Driver. This is what we get:

[sws_divider_small_padding]Now I don’t for a moment want to suggest that this means that Jota Sport is going to win the class – although I wouldn’t be surprised if it does. Rather, what I am showing is how complex and multi-faceted the class is.

And describing it all is rather like trying to explain the taste of whisky to someone who’s never drunk it. I hope maybe that I’ve whetted your appetite!

Paul Truswell