Anticipation is high as the resurgent European Le Mans Series kicks off at Silverstone this weekend. The depth of quality in the 39 car field speaks for itself and the expectation is for a keen and closely fought campaign. If the Paul Ricard test which took place two weeks ago is anything to go by then the four hour opening race of the series will be a must see race this Easter Saturday and the perfect kick-start to the 2014 season.
LMP2
Last year’s title winners, Signatech, are aiming to retain their hard fought silverware in 2014 with a new ‘pro’ (Gold) driver to partner champion Nelson Panciatici in 2014. Oli Webb joins the French team after several seasons on the single seater merry-go-round where he was usually a front runner. Webb has fitted in to the team easily so far and has official Alpine factory backed status. And….unlike most rostbifs, the Cheshire born and bred 23 year-old speaks fluent French! 2013 LMPC champion driver, Paul Loup Chatin, is the team’s silver ranked driver and has played himself in solidly despite a time consuming off at the Ricard test.
English hopes will be pinned on the Greaves Motorsport and Jota Sport Zytek entries in Northamptonshire this weekend. The former bring a brace of Nissan powered LMP2 cars, both of which will feature fascinating LMP2 ‘rookie’ stories.
In the #41 Caterham liveried Zytek-Nissan is the remarkable story of 16-year old Matt McMurry. The son of former Creation/Autocon/Dyson Racing driver, Chris McMurry, the teenager greatly impressed the more experienced heads in the team at Ricard two weeks ago to the extent that he gets his chance on the International scene this weekend.
Joining McMurry will be Chris Dyson, who essentially gave McMurry his chance in the ELMS through the new Dyson Racing Junior Development Program should be applauded for such a worthwhile initiative. Tom Kimber-Smith will be his usual rapid self in the Zytek-Nissan as the team’s second gold ranked driver.
The #28 Greaves Zytek-Nissan will feature James Littlejohn and Tony Wells making their international LMP2 debuts. The pair have raced together since 2009 when Littlejohn instructed Wells at Silverstone. It has been a remarkable ascent, with a Radical SR8 title in 2012 the trigger for a toe-in-water Paul Ricard test two weeks ago. The two-day test went well and the duo has put pragmatism and sensible step-by-step progress first and foremost as they find their respective feet in LMP2. They will be joined at Silverstone by ex-Delta ADR driver James Walker this weekend.
Last season’s Silverstone winners Jota Sport return for another crack at the ELMS title and they are perhaps in the best position to do so in 2014. Simon Dolan seems to improve as an all-round endurance driver with every race and can now count on the vast racing experience and know-how of Audi Sport drivers as team mates this season. The partnership between the two entities is initially just regarding driver placements but it will be interesting to see if the collaboration matures as the season progresses. Filipe Albuquerque is drafted in to the Jota Sport team for Silverstone after some decent miles at Estoril and Ricard in the Nissan powered Zytek. His presence in the team sees the completion of a very impressive line-up for the Kent based squad.
Replacing the excellent Oliver Turvey in the team and continuing Jota Sport’s tradition of blooding new, young and exciting British talent, is Harry Tincknall. The 22 year old Devonshire driver was a race winner in both British and European F3 and has so far acquitted himself very capably.
“Everything is looking really good heading in to Silverstone. The positivity and confidence in the Jota Sport team is very noticeable,” Tincknell told DSC. “Paul Ricard was valuable for me as before that I had only private tests where there is of course no traffic. I took a cautious approach on the first day but then I was much more proactive through the traffic on the second day. I’ve felt very at home with the LMP2 style straight away. The high downforce corners feel very similar to F3 and the carbon brakes helped me get the rhythm immediately. As a team we are ready.”
Irish eyes hope to be smiling down at Murphy Prototypes again in 2014. After a fine showing last season culminated in a well-deserved win at Paul Ricard, the team has retained Karun Chandhok for the start of the season. Chandhok, a Banbury resident, will be pumped up to perform on home turf and will be joined by former Boutsen-Ginion racer Alex Kapadia, who showed a decent turn of pace in a handful of outings last season, as Tor Graves recovers from a bout of shingles.
Rodolfo Gonzalez spent 2013 getting far too few testing opportunities with the Marussia F1 team, so he is thrilled to be getting the opposite end of the racing spectrum in terms of mileage for 2014.
On the eve of the season, Gonzalez told DSC: “I have always wanted to race in sportscars and I am really happy to be with Murphy Prototypes for this season and to be able to have the chance to ‘tick the box’ of racing at Le Mans. I saw what Brendan (Hartley) achieved here at Murphy and it gave me some extra motivation to take a long term view of my career. I can’t wait to start racing at Silverstone, especially after so little action in 2013.”
Murphy Prototypes shook their Oreca-Nissan down at Turweston airfield on Tuesday with Karun Chandhok handling driving duties.
The Morgan runners looked particularly strong at Paul Ricard a fortnight ago. The New Blood by Morand Racing outfit look hungry for race wins, especially with Christian Klien striving to get back on the radar of several manufacturers shopping lists for 2015. The Swiss squad has promoted 2013 LMPC champ Gary Hirsch in to the team and the signs are that the Swiss racer has found the perfect home to fight for another title in ’14. Romain Brandela joins the duo as the bronze driver and has so far done a solid if rather unspectacular job.
2012 champions Thiriet by TDS Racing will be looking to reclaim the titles this season with a brand new Morgan-Nissan. The Beziers based team was stealthily quick in pre-season testing and has possibly one of the most consistently quick line-up’s in the field. Pierre Thiriet is joined by the perennially underrated Tristan Gommendy, while the not to be underestimated Ludovic Badey completes the well-balanced line-up. Make no mistake; this trio will be right at the sharp end in 2014.
Larbre Competition returns to LMP2 with the ubiquitous ‘gaffer’ of Oak Racing, Onroak, Ligier and many other enterprises – Jacques Nicolet. He will be joined for the season by Keiko Ihara who showed improved pace on occasion last year after a nightmarish 2012 and 2013 with the Gulf Middle East Lolas. A platinum or gold driver for Silverstone is yet to be announced but is likely to be Pierre Ragues, who tested the Morgan-Judd at Ricard.
Pegasus Racing has their familiar turquoise Morgan-Nissan for Julien Schell, Niki Leutwiller and Jonathan Coleman this weekend. The 2011 Formula Le Mans champions shook their brand new car down at Magny Cours last month before enjoying a positive test at Ricard.
Sebastien Loeb Racing has purchased an Oreca-Nissan for the 2014 season and will compete in the full season as well as at Le Mans for the first time in LMP2. Like Jota Sport, the Franck Tine managed project will benefit from Audi placed drivers as Laurens Vanthoor and Rene Rast are being placed with the team at La Sarthe. Jan Charouz will lead the driving attack in ELMS with Vincent Capillaire. The latter is right on schedule to realise his dream of racing in his home town in June. Before that he is on a steep learning curve but his progress at Paul Ricard was steady and sensible.
Race Performance had the worst possible start to the season two weeks ago when a mechanical failure on their car pitched Michel Frey headlong in to the guardrail. Their Oreca 03 was beyond repair but a spare tub has been built up for the start of the season. As well as Frey, Frank Mailleux will be hoping to repay the Race Performance team’s hard work with a strong and morale boosting result this weekend.
LMGTE and GTC
The GT ranks have swelled impressively for the 2014 season with many new teams and cars attracted to the general health, increased track time and cost-effectiveness of the European Le Mans Series.
In the LMGTE class Ferrari ruled the roost at the Paul Ricard test and is seemingly ‘honed’ by this year’s Balance of Performance decisions. All but four of the 13 entries for Silverstone are 458 Italias and it is difficult to see anyone closing the stable door in the face of the Prancing Horse this weekend.
The intra-Ferrari fight though should be mouth-watering with AF Corse, SMP Racing, JMW and Kessel Racing. Last year’s champion Matt Griffin moves over to AF Corse and will run with his 2013 Spa 24 Hours partner Duncan Cameron and the very rapid Michele Rugolo.
SMP Racing took the LMGT-Am title last season and Viktor Shaiter will smell more silverware with partners Sergey Zlobin and Andrea Bertolini. This trio looks on paper to be extremely hard to beat but matters off the track and far from their control are causing increasing discomfort to the ambitious and slickly run team (see separate news story).
Another AF Corse entry that looks to be in with a shout of challenging for honours this weekend is the #54 458 Italia of regular partner Piergiuseppe Perrazini and Marco Cioci. They are joined by the always impressive Michael Lyons who has surprisingly little experience of the Ferrari in this configuration. As ever the phalanx of AF Corse entries appear to be the backbone of the class and perhaps Amato Ferrari can call upon Signor Domenicali as a weekend warrior at Silverstone?
JMW Motorsport is back to compete for a second ELMS title in three years but this time they will be attempting it on Michelin rather than Dunlop rubber. Drivers wise the team are looking good with Daniel McKenzie coming on board after a formative year of GT action with Beechdean in the Blancpain Endurance Series last season. His former single-seater sparring partner – Daniel Zampieri will bring raw speed and racecraft, while young George Richardson will be out to make a name for himself in endurance racing after a barren 2013 season.
Kessel Racing bring a pair of Ferrari 458s in to the ELMS for this season and the well organised Swiss team served notice of its intent for 2014 by being among the very quickest cars in class at Paul Ricard. Polish driver Michael Broniszewski is improving all the time, and he is paired up with 2010 GT Open champion Marco Frezza and the pacey, experienced Giacomo Piccini.
The Austrian AT Racing team also looked sharp in testing with, as one would expect, Pierre Kaffer really exploring the capabilities of the Ferrari. Belarusian father and son pairing Alexander Talkanitsa Snr and Jnr are more than capable of providing a race winning platform for the AF Corse satellite run operation.
SOFREV-ASP has transferred from the Blancpain Endurance Series to ELMS this season and will do a very good job indeed. Folically challenged shot-stopper and 1998 Coup Du Monde winner Fabien Barthez will make the headlines wherever he goes but Soheil Ayari should set the timing screens alight on occasion.
Of the non-Ferrari runners, Gulf Racing has plenty of positives to work on as they move from the Blancpain Endurance Series to the ELMS for 2014. Entering one Porsche and one Aston Martin, the Milton Keynes based squad retain the exceptional talents of Adam Carroll and Stuart Hall, the former having somehow evaded the capture of a major LMP manufacturer in 2014. Carroll’s freakish ability on new, ‘cold’ tyres has baffled engineers for years and the Northern Irishman will be blindingly fast again this season.
Carroll and team owner Mike Wainwright will be joined by the very promising Ben Barker in the #86 GT3 RSR, while Hall teams up with recent signing Daniel Brown and Roald Goethe in the Aston Martin Vantage V8.
IMSA Matmut Performance and Crubile Sport bring their regular Porsche mounts with the former looking for a third ELMS GT title with regular pairing Narac and Armindo joined by Laurent Pasquali. Crubile has the mystically quick Emmanuele Collard to rely on for obligatory heroics in qualifying and during his race stint. He is joined by team owner Sebastien Crubile and relative newcomer, Francois Perrodo.
In the GTC class a very healthy 15 cars arrive at Silverstone with a much wider spread of five manufacturers represented.
On a high from last weekend’s Blancpain success at Monza, ART Grand Prix also showed an ominous turn of speed in testing at Paul Ricard with Alexander Prémat reminding everyone why he was once so coverted by manufacturers. However, Prémat is only competing in the Blancpain during 2014 and the #88 McLaren MP4-12C will be raced by fellow Monza victor, Gregoire Demoustier. He is joined by Kevin Korjus and Yann Goudy this weekend. Estonian, Korjus, will have a bright endurance racing future judging by his immediate pace at Ricard earlier this month. This kid is one to watch and was on the ‘to watch’ list of many F1 teams until his results dried up last season in the World Series by Renault.
The #99 ART Grand Prix McLaren will also be quick. Alex Brundle will be following in his ‘old man’s’ footsteps in 2014 by racing a McLaren and a Ligier, something which Brundle Snr did in 1994 and 1995 respectively! For Silverstone Alex partners reigning FIA WEC LMP2 champion Ricardo Gonzalez and racing returnee Karim Ajlani, who has got acquainted with the MP4-12C at Estoril and Magny Cours, ahead of his first campaign of note since 2009.
SMP Racing enters three GTC class Ferraris in an attempt to hang on to their hard fought 2013 crown. The #57 line up of Maurizio Mediani, Mika Salo and team principal Boris Rotenberg looks especially strong. Their other two entries are also potential race winners boasting the likes of Olivier Beretta and Kirill Ladygin. The sanctions story looms large for this squad but we are assured they’ll be unaffected at Silverstone.
The Russian influence (don’t use invasion Smith!) has spread to Barwell Motorsport this season as they enter a BMW Z4 under the Team Russia by Barwell banner in deference to their deal with Leo Machitski and Timur Sardarov. While the former is well-known to endurance racing fans through his 2006 British GT3 Championship title campaign, Sardarov is less eminent. However, the 31 year old got his GT career off in fine style last season by take four Britcar wins in a Barwell-entered BMW Z4.
There is plenty to keep the Danes occupied and entertained in 2014 as two all-Danish line-ups enter the series. The Formula Racing Ferrari 458 Italia features Jan Magnussen, who will be racing at Silverstone almost 20 years to the day since he kicked off a dominant British F3 campaign (his two year-old son often played in the paddocks while Dad raced back then, wonder what happened to him?). Jan is joined by Johnny Laursen and the fantastically named Mikkel Mac Jensen. The other all-Danish Ferrari is run by AF Corse and features ‘Team Roskilde’ in the shape of Dennis Lind and Mads Rasmussen.
Despite a difficult test at Paul Ricard the Sebastien Loeb Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra is, on paper, a very strong proposition indeed. Henry Hassid is one of the best kept secrets of GT racing and is capable of some sensational drives – witness his often overlooked burn from the stern at last season’s BES race at Silverstone. With Olivier Lombard and the usually brilliant Mike Parisy, the sole Audi entered GTC contender will be there or thereabouts once it is fully sorted.
Porsches will, as always, be in the mix for race victories this season, with Pro GT by Almeras and Prospeed entering GT3 Rs. Franck Perera is a hidden GT gem, yet to be properly unearthed in endurance racing, and as usual he partners Eric Clement. The man from Pau, Lucas Lassere, joins ‘Fast Frank’ and Clement this season.
Prospeed Competition has a strong line-up of experience and pace which should see them mounting the occasional challenge for strong results. Paul Van Splunteren, Maxime Soulet and Gilles Vannelet are set for the season with the Belgian team.
Others to watch out for in the expanded GTC class will be Jerome Policand’s SOFREV-ASP run car with Jean-Philippe Belloc joining Pascal Gibon and Christophe Bourret. The Team Ukraine Ferrari 458 Italia will also be worth watching in the hands of Alessandro Pier Guidi. The quick Italian is more than capable of snatching a class pole now and again.
FIVE KEY STORIES TO LOOK OUT FOR AT SILVERSTONE AND BEYOND!
1. The new maximum time in cockpit rules for 2014 will soon get in to your head. But for now here is a quick guide:
Two crews
Gold or Platinum driver: 1hr 40mins maximum
Bronze or Silver driver: 2hrs 20mins maximum
Three crews
Two Gold or Platinum drivers in same team – maximum running time – 1hr50mins
Bronze or Silver driver: minimum running time – 2:20 h
Gold or Platinum driver (if one of): – 1hr 40mins maximum
Bronze or Silver driver: 1hr 40mins minimum
If no Gold or Platinum driver then the Bronze or Silver driver has minimum of 40 mins
LMGTE and GTC
Two drivers: – The minimum driving time per driver is 1:45h
Three drivers including a Gold or Platinum driver – 1hr15mins maximum
Bronze or Silver driver: 45mins minimum
Crew of three drivers but not including a Gold or Platinum – 1hr minimum
Got that?
2. Tyres: Its Dunlop v Michelin as usual but both companies have new compounds this season. Dunlop didn’t have their super soft at Ricard but there are expectant hopes for its increased grip. Michelin has designed new tyres which pack its best technology without incorporating elements covered by ‘trade secrets’. The new tyres aim to have reduced performance drop-off. Like last year, the sizes of the tyres used by the LMP2 prototypes are 30/65-18 (front) and 31/71-18 (rear).
3. More track time over each race weekend: 2 x 90mins Free Practice session; 20mins Qualifying each for split LMP2 and LMGTE/GTC classes; 4 hour instead of 3 hour race.
4. Will the Ferraris be in a different race in the GT classes? There was much discontent about their expected superiority and favourable BOP for the season ahead.
5. Which of the new young guns will prick up the ears of FIA WEC teams? Korjus, Tincknell and Ben Barker could do their careers a lot of long-term good in 2014.
Follow all the action from Silverstone with live updates via @dscracelive on Twitter, and all the regular interviews, reports, results and photography on the site.
Sam Smith
