LMP2 (11 Cars)
26 | D | G-Drive Racing | Roman Rusinov, Alex Brundle, Will Stevens | Oreca 05 Nissan
27 | D | SMP Racing | Nicolas Minassian, Maurizio Mediani, Mikhail Aleshin | BR01 Nissan
30 | D | ESM | Antonio Giovanazzi, Giedo van der Garde, Sean Gelael | Ligier JS P2 Nissan
31 | D | ESM | Ryan Dalziel, Pipo Derani, Chris Cumming | Ligier JS P2 Nissan
35 | D | Baxi DC Racing Alpine | David Cheng, Ho-Pin Tung, Nelson Panciatici | Alpine A460 Nissan
36 | D | Signatech Alpine | Gustavo Menezes, Nicolas Lapierre, Stephane Richelmi | Alpine A460 Nissan
37 | D | SMP Racing | Vitaly Petrov, Viktor Shaytar, Kirill Ladygin | BR01 Nissan
42 | D | Strakka Racing | Nick Leventis, Jonny Kane, Lewis Williamson | Gibson 015S Nissan
43 | D | RGR Sport by Morand | Ricardo Gonzalez, Bruno Senna, Filipe Albuquerque | Ligier JS P2 Nissan
44 | D | Manor WEC | Matt Rao, Richard Bradley, Roberto Mehri | Oreca 05 Nissan
45 | D | Manor WEC | Tor Graves, Alex Lynn, Shinji Nakano | Oreca 05 Nissan
It’s changes aplenty in the LMP2 class for the trip to Japan, with new drivers and a returning car to bump the list to 11.
Let’s start with the championship challengers, because its come down to just two cars. The #36 Signatech Alpine is having a season for the ages, leading the standings by 38 points after four wins including at Le Mans with the double points. Gustavo Menezes, Stephane Richelmi and Nicolas Lapierre continue to be the class of the field, and took a convincing win last time out at CoTA.
The only team with any sporting chance of beating Signatech to the title is the RGR Sport by Morand squad, which has had a fantastic year, winning races at Silverstone and Mexico City. The Ligier though continues to be slightly lacking in outright performance to the Oreca across the board, a lot needs to go right for Bruno Senna, Ricardo Gonzalez and Filipe Albuquerque to take the win.
Stevens in his short time driving sportscars has shown that he can ring the neck out of a P2 car.
The other clear challenger for the win at Fuji is the G-Drive Oreca, which has suffered rotten luck all season long it seems. The speed is there, and the drivers have been capable, but it hasn’t come together all season. With desperation beginning to set in, don’t be surprised though if G-Drive finally wins a race this time round.
There has been a slight shuffle in its driver lineup however, with Will Stevens rejoining the team, subbing for Rene Rast who is on DTM duty. That shouldn’t make much, if any, difference to the car’s pace however, as Stevens in his short time driving sportscars has shown that he can wring the neck out of a P2 car.
Also rejoining the WEC after some time away is Tor Graves, who is set to drive the #45 Manor Oreca, which is making its first appearance in the series since the Nürburgring. Alongside Graves will be Shinji Nakano who drove at Le Mans earlier this year with Race Performance in LMP2 and GP2 convert Alex Lynn for his first crack at sportscars after a brief test in a Toyota TS050 after last season’s Bahrain round. Lynn confirmed to DSC over the weekend that he is set to complete the season in the #45 and we =believe that Graves will too.
It’s good to see Manor back to full strength; here’s hoping that it can have a good clean race, this year hasn’t been cheap on the spares front.
The sister #44 car retains the squad from CoTA, and it was very quick there – this could be a real contendEr now the confidence in the package is returning.
The standout here is van der Garde, who has turned heads driving for G-Drive this season in the ELMS.
No stranger to mid-season changes, ESM also heads to Fuji with new faces, as the #30 Ligier, formerly of Ed Brown, Scott Sharp and Johannes van Overbeek, will now be driven by Antonio Giovanazzi, Giedo van der Garde, Sean Gelael. The standout here is likely to be van der Garde, who has turned heads driving for G-Drive this season in the ELMS.
The Ligier is set to feature the KFC branding that comes courtesy of Galael’s presence too, oh, and ESM has also switched back to Dunlop tyres again, after switching to Michelins earlier in the year, meaning the entire LMP2 grid is again running with Dunlops.
Its clear that ESM’s focus has shifted to its forthcoming IMSA programme next season, though the crew will be very keen to score a good result as its WEC programme closes in on its planned hiatus.
The only other change comes from the SMP outfit, which is welcoming Mikhail Aleshin into the #27, the quick young Russain filling in for full-season entrant Devi Markozov who once again won’t be present in the car. Of the two BR01s competing, Nicolas Minassian, Maurizio Mediani and Aleshin looks to be the one with the most prospects. However, as this season has proven, even a podium – though by no means impossible, will be a tough ask, which is a shame for the car, which has proven to be very quick on occasion.
Strakka Racing will also be aiming for that all-elusive podium finish, after finishing fourth in three races on the bounce heading into CoTA. The British team will hope to bounce back after issues forced its Gibson into an early retirement in Texas.
Johnny Kane, Nick Leventis and Lewis Williamson have all proved that when everything goes right, they can challenge the front runners, and the 015S – which not the best in a straight line – should suit the rest of the Fuji circuit, which features medium and low speed corners.
Baxi DC Racing meanwhile is looking, still, for a result to help turn around its season. Luck has deserted it for much of the year so the crew will be hoping that the Asian rounds are a little kinder as they weigh up the options ahead of 2017.
