The seven Ligier JS P217s in the record 25-car LMP2 entry for the 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours will race as they were presented for last weekend’s Test Day, when they were found to be significantly slower than the pace setting Oreca 07s, 13 of which set the 13 fastest times of the day.
Onroak Automotive is known to have tried a number of different avenues to find a way to close the gap. Only one performance upgrade is allowed during the four-year homologation period for each of the four chassis, a move to use that opportunity this early in the car’s life would effectively hand an advantage to the other chassis manufacturers in the coming years.
After a late afternoon meeting in the Place de la Republique with ACO Sporting Director Vincent Beaumesnil, Jacques Nicolet told DSC that a proposal to the FIA and ACO to bring forward an early change outside the current regulations was refused by the other three LMP2 chassis manufacturers.
“The other manufacturers have decided that we cannot make this change,” he told the DSC Editor.
When asked whether they might therefore make the change using their one permitted performance upgrade the answer was clear:
“It is too early to do that, we will race with what we have.”
The context for the issue comes with the Ligiers finding that its low-drag bodywork configuration left them significantly down in terms of both straightline speed and overall lap time. The best of the Ligiers at the Test Day, the #32 United Autosports car in the hands of Filipe Albuquerque, managed a best lap time of 3:31.907. That compared to the fastest ORECA 07 time, Nelson Panciatici in the #35 Signatech Alpine A470 – 3:28.146, the deficit through the speed trap to the fastest Dallara (341.3 km/h) just as profound, Albuquerque posting 333.9 km/h.
