Testing
The major players are now in full Le Mans preparation mode ahead of next month’s Test Day and race with several teams now finalising their line-ups and testing taking place.
Porsche have completed a successful 3 day test at Motorland Aragon, a single 919 Hybrid shared between all six factory drivers as the team look for the vital reliability that would allow them to exploit the clear speed of their car. There are indications though that the test threw up further issues.
6009 kilometres though were covered over the test in good weather with some night running also undertaken.
“So shortly before our first 24-hour race, of course we have focussed on the car’s reliability. With the experience from previous testing and the first two WEC races, we had made modifications which proved to be the right ones. At the same time, we were able to discover new weaknesses, which we will also now try to fix. The coming two weeks will be used to prepare the two race cars and their spare parts for the pre-race test on 1st June in Le Mans. Furthermore, we will keep practicing all race specific procedures, especially pit stops.“
Audi too are undertaking a pre-LM 3 day test, again at Aragon, starting from today.
The Strakka Dome Nissan tests next week at Spa before a further date at Snetterton ahead of the Test Day and others are expected to test at Snetterton too next week, including the Aston Martin racing team
Entry List Changes and Gaps Filled
Amongst the latest flurry of changes to the Le Mans driver line-ups are Murphy Prototypes, Nathanel Berthon joins Karun Chandhok and Rodolfo Gonzalez with Tor Graves, absent through illness for the earlier part of the season clearly unhappy to have been dropped (and announcing his retirement from racing as a result) but not having completed the required contractual stages to seal the deal.
Not unexpectedly Pat Long again joins Dempsey Racing at Le Mans alongside Patrick Dempsey and Joe Foster in the team’s (again) Proton run brand new #77 911 RSR. Long of course has plenty of experience of the new car as part of the Porsche North America roster for TUSCC this year, taking the top step in the controversial 12 Hours of Sebring.
“When we first raced at Le Mans in 2009 it took us several years to get back there to compete in last year’s race and I immediately realized how much I missed it,” said Dempsey, who led his first race laps at Le Mans in 2013. “The grand spectacle of the race, the incredible passion of the fans and the outstanding cooperation of the organizers make Le Mans the unquestioned highlight of our racing season. We are honored to be able to come back for a second consecutive year, my third time overall with Joe, and we are grateful to Porsche and all of our dedicated partners for making this possible.”
Patrick Long: “To have the chance to bring this group back together completely intact and without any major team or personnel changes is an opportunity that doesn’t happen often,” said Long, who has GT class victories at Le Mans in his debut in 2004 and again in 2007. “We came very close last year to not only a podium but a victory, and Patrick and Joe drove incredibly well. I am ready to get to it, to just put our heads down and go after the class win.”
Joe Foster: “While my on-track schedule has decreased, the off-track business demands of keeping our team moving forward is a fulltime job,” said Foster, who joined Dempsey as the anchor drivers in a ninth-place GT2 class finish in their 2009 Le Mans debut. “We are grateful to our partners in the IMSA TUDOR series, many of whom will be joining us at Le Mans, and, of course, we wouldn’t be racing at the level we are both in the United States and overseas without the great support of Porsche. We look forward to giving Porsche an even better race result this year at Le Mans.”
Rapid Brit Gentleman driver Martin Rich meanwhile makes another return to Le Mans after his “lifelong dream” came true with the Lotus Evora in 2011. He’s named in the GTE Am Taisan Ferrari alongside Pierre Ehret and James Rossiter, Rossiter tested for RAM Racing at the WEC Prologue test and had earlier been mooted as a season long driver for the still unseen Lotus T129 LMP1 effort.
His name has disappeared from that roster – Kristijan Albers is now due to be joined in the AER engined machine by Christophe Bouchut, who has raced several times before for the team in LMP2, and has race for Kolles previously at Le Mans in an Audi R10 TDI, and the ever rapid Pierre Kaffer. Here’s hoping the talented trio get to race.
