The announcement of the Le Mans 24 Hours entry list is always an occasion – and this year the DSC Editor joined Radio Le Mans’ John Hindhaugh to analyse events as they emerged not only with the Le Mans list proper, but also the 2014 FIA WEC entry and, for the first time we can remember, the European Le Mans Series entry too.
You can download the podcast here – http://audio.rpix.org.uk/wec/2014/2014_aco_announcement.mp3
Beyond the detail of the 56 car entry, and a very strong one it is too, there was plenty of other detail revealed during the ACO Press Conference, ACO President Pierre Fillon revealing that one major development that will begin after this year’s great race is the start of construction of new pit garages, we presume in order to increase the number of cars that the circuit is able to accommodate from 2015.
There was a new logo revealed too for the Le Mans 24 Hours, replacing the previous logo which dates back to 1978 and designed to reflect the two phases of the world’s greatest motor race – in light and in darkness! Here’s the (in no way over the top!) video use for the ‘reveal’
There was news too of a new multimedia app that will be available for spectators this year, more to follow on that front.
There was more detail too of the ‘slow zones’ safety management system exclusively revealed to DSC in November last year as well as an announcement that drivers will have to complete a half day simulator training session to prepare for the challenges of mixed class traffic.
The major announcement though was the entry list of course
Pierre Fillon, President of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest:
“After celebrating in style the 90th anniversary of its favourite event in 2013, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest is writing a new chapter in the history of the race in 2014.
“It has a new logo, a new set of revolutionary regulations for the blue riband LM P1 category, new entries with the return of prestigious makes like Porsche and Ligier, and new partners known worldwide.
“The fascination exerted by the Le Mans 24 Hours is greater than ever before. It’s the guarantee of an event in which this year, more than ever before, technological innovations, respect of sustainable development, top level sport and immense popularity combine.”
Vincent Beaumesnil:
“The field for the 2014 Le Mans 24 Hours is without doubt one of the greatest in the event’s history.
“In the LM P1 category the arrival of Porsche in addition to Audi and Toyota and Lotus plus the entry of the new Rebellions prove the validity of the new technical regulations introduced this year.
“Once again the biggest grid can be found in LM P2 and all the teams at the start are in a position to battle for victory given the evident quality of the entries.
“In GTE Pro, five manufacturers continue to put their trust in us and have entered the 2014 racing versions of their most beautiful road-going GTs.
“In GTE Am, the category that has progressed the most, the open nature of the regulations attracts more and more private teams. Making a choice among the entries was a really difficult task because of the quality of all the applications received by the ACO from all over the world!”
LMP Competitors Reactions To the 2014 Entry
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich, Head of Audi Sport
“Anyone who says they are ready today, hasn’t done their work! There is still a little bit of time, but so much work left to do! The new regulations are a real challenge for all of the constructors and the cars’ technical level will be really high. We will be able to run as fast as last year but with 30% less energy. That’s a real challenge! For several years now, we have been working to make our cars more and more efficient. If you look at the difference between when we started our program in 1999 to 2013, and the laptimes we are now able to get compared to our consumption, we have already made great strides. But these new regulations are even bigger steps that we have to take and it’s good for the future!”
Loïc Duval, Audi Sport driver, winner of the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours
“The car is going to be very good to drive, I think. The competition will be even stronger than in the past. It’s a huge technical and human challenge. The race of the year will be the 24 Hours of Le Mans. And the world championship will likely be very very hard fought this year. We are overjoyed to be part of it and to compete against such a high level of competition.”
Andreas Seidl, team principal of the official Porsche team
“First of all, we’d like to thank the Selection Committee for choosing us. Of course, expectations are very high for us, in regards to Porsche’s history. We have realistic goals because this will be a year to learn and we know how good the competition is. We have developed the most sophisticated cars we have ever seen on a race car. We started with a blank page and we still have a lot of work to do in the coming weeks. Our objective is to finish races, learn as much as possible to improve the car race after race and to be competitive. We have a very good team and very good drivers. We are excited to arrive at the first race of the season, which is only 9 weeks away.”
Romain Dumas, official Porsche driver, winner of the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours
“Everyone is curious to know how the first running of the 919 Hybrid went! For us, it’s a huge challenge, with 200 people working on the project. There are three new factories that have been built in Weissach, so it’s really something! Porsche has 16 victories at Le Mans and it’s been 16 years since we have competed in LM P1 so the objective will be to progress as quickly as possible. We are still testing, everyone is pushing as much as possible and we hope to be ready. The goal will be to finish the first races, and then we’ll see!”
Pascal Vasselon, team principal of Toyota Racing
“We changed our driver lineups: we put the smaller drivers together and the bigger ones together! This allows us to make seats much easier and save a little on weight! So on the No.7 the drivers will be Alexander Wurz, Kazuki Nakajima and Stéphane Sarrazin. And on the No.8, Nicolas Lapierre, Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi. The hybrid cars sector is of course Toyota’s playing field. Toyota has been present in the hybrid market for 15 years. To be given the chance to put a hybrid race car on track at Le Mans and other circuits is fantastic for Toyota. I’m thrilled that we are here and I hope everyone at Toyota realises how important it is. ”
Nicolas Lapierre, Toyota Racing driver
“Right now we have a lot of work. We are doing a lot of testing on track and in the simulator. It’s really a huge challenge with this reduction in energy consumption. Only a few weeks remain before the start of the season and we are happy that Porsche has arrived in this championship! I’m excited to discover it all!”
Jacques Nicolet, OAK Racing team boss
“The Onroak Automotive portion of our company will be the vehicle for Ligier’s return to endurance and OAK Racing will be the on track expression of that. But it won’t be just OAK Racing as other teams like Thiriet by TDS Racing have chosen our new car. This year, the goal is very clear: do as well as last year!”
Philippe Sinault, team principal of Signatech Alpine
“We are very happy to have the chance to write the second chapter in a book that we started last year: the return of the legendary Alpine name! I have mixed feelings that our second car was not selected in the primary list of entries, especially after seeing the competition that we will face. I would have felt a bit more reassured if we had that second car on the grid. In any case, we will do everything we can to take the trophy away from Oak Racing!”
Nicolas Minassian, pilote de SMP Racing
“The SMP Racing programme is a great project, well funded and this will help the Russian pilots to be stronger in the endurance racing discipline. There is a nice test programme and ambitions are very high this year in the World Endurance Championship. ”
Simon Dolan, driver and owner of Jota Sport
“In the last two or three years, the LM P2 class has become very competitive! Le Mans is a true sprint for 24 hours and now the European Le Mans Series races are 4 hours. There will be a good grid in ELMS with 42 cars, and also a great line up of cars at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. I’m excited to experience it all!”
Dominique Heintz, Sébastien Loeb Racing boss
“First of all, I would like to include Sébastien (Loeb) in our thanks for this selection. We are thrilled and we will do our best to honor this selection. We will take advantage of Sébastien’s experience, who has already taken part in two Le Mans 24 Hours, in which he has lived such intense moments! His greatest wish is that the team experience what he did as a driver.”
Reactions from GTE Competitors
Battisti Pregliasco, Team-manager of AF Corse (Ferrari – LM GTE Pro)
“We have always done our max in the past and we will continue to do so with the Ferraris: we are looking for a good fight. We aren’t looking for revenge at Le Mans this year, even though last year it was really close, but that’s racing, that’s sport.”
Jérôme Policand, Team-manager of Team Sofrev ASP (Ferrari – LM GTE Am)
“This will be our first 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2014, but I did it 13 times as a driver. Here we are, invited to Le Mans and it’s a lot of emotion. It’s in part because of Fabien Barthez (lead driver), who has put his trust in us. It’s evident that we’ve taken an unconventional way to get here: a chance meeting in 2008 at a race track and now we are headed to Le Mans, but the hardest part is yet to come.”
Fanck Rava, Team-manager of IMSA Performance Matmut (Porsche – LM GTE Am)
“IMSA Performance Matmut had a very good 2013 season and this year, we will concentrate on the ELMS and I hope we have the same results.”
Olaf Manthey, Team-manager of Porsche Team Manthey (Porsche – LM GTE Pro)
“We won our class last year and we are going to attempt the same this year, but the competition is very very tough. In front of us, we have competitors who will be trying to do the same thing. We will be fighting hard in the WEC and are currently working on this now. Ferrari and Aston should not be sleeping comfortably!”
Patrick Pilet, Porsche factory driver
“It’s going to be complicated to stay untouchable during 24 Hour races (Le Mans and Daytona). We proved our reliability last year and again this year at Daytona. We were also able to see that our competition was often as quick if not quicker than us on a single lap, but we worked hard over the winter. The car has evolved a lot, and now we focus on taking on the 24 Hours of Le Mans to remain unbeaten on long-distance races, as well as focusing on the title in WEC.”
Marc Goossens, SRT Motorsports driver (Viper – LM GTE Pro)
“The real return to Le Mans for Viper was last year. We are absolutely overjoyed again this year that both cars were accepted. All I can say is that we have to keep showing that we have the performance that we had at Daytona this year and at season’s end in ALMS last year. We can only hope.”
David Richards, President of Aston Martin
“Le Mans, is really the high point in our year with all the British fans who come to see us race, so we have lots to do. We have won there before and we are gladly returning. For me, the LM P1 cars get all the glory, but there are some epic battles in GT. In recent years, we’ve seen some huge fights on track with fans watching and encouraging us.”
