 Toyota TS030 HYBRID |
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This is the first year of the FIA World Endurance Championship at the end of which a drivers’ world title will be awarded, so for those taking part in the Le Mans 24 Hours, which counts for double points, the race is of capital importance.
For the teams, entering for the Le Mans 24-Hours race is a two-stage process: they had until 19th January 2012 to send in their entry for the event nominating one driver. By 9th May at the latest they had to send their complete driver line-ups consisting of three people to the Automobile Club de l’Ouest.
After the usual checks, the ACO is publishing today, 23rd May, the list of drivers per car. It includes 167 names for 56 cars, as Toyota Racing has asked for the authorisation, granted by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, to announce the name of the third and last driver of the no.8 TS030 hybrid only by the end of this week, as a replacement for Hiroaki Ishiura who recently cried off (sore back).
It is a mouth-watering list with nine outright winners at the start, the oldest being Martin Brundle (winner in 1990, Jaguar) who is back with his son Alex and Lucas Ordenez from Spain, and the most recent Tréluyer-Fässler-Lotterer who will drive the Audi bearing the number one.
A number of 2011 winners are back to defend their crown: Tréluyer-Fässler-Lotterer outright and LM P1 winners, Olivier Lombard victorious in LM P2 entered in the no. 23 Signatech-Nissan, Antonio Garcia, Tommy Milner and Olivier Beretta, winning trio in LM GTE Pro who are split up this year (Garcia, no. 73 Corvette, Milner no. 74 Corvette and Beretta no. 71 Ferrari) as well as Patrick Bornhauser and Julian Canal, who came out on top in LM GTE, and who are still sharing the no. 50 Corvette in which Pedro Lamy has replaced Gabriel Gardel.
Lamy, who was with Peugeot in 2011, is one of the former Lion drivers who has found a seat. Bourdais and Minassian will team up in the no. 17 Dome, and Alexander Wurz is the lead driver in the Toyota squad where he has been joined by Anthony Davidson. Stéphane Sarrazin is racing in LM P2 for the Starworks Motorsports team, and Marc Gené has found a seat as reserve in the Audi squad. Gené, Lamy, Sarrazin, Bourdais, Wurz and several others are all ex-Formula 1 drivers. There will be many of them at Le Mans this year with the arrival of guys as quick as Nick Heidfeld (Rebellion Racing), Sébastien Buemi (Toyota Racing) and Karun Chandhok (JRM) who were racing in F1 in 2011.
Another driver competing in one of the most prestigious championships in the world is NASCAR star Brian Vickers who will be making his Le Mans debut in the no. 61 Ferrari.
This year there is only one women driver on the entry list, Keiko Ihara from Japan in the LM P2 Lola entered by the Gulf Racing Middle East Team.
Le Mans is also the theatre in which a number of amateur drivers like Patrick Bornhauser, Tracy Krohn and Jacques Nicolet, who do battle throughout the year in the FIA World Endurance Championship, will show off their talent.
On this list the ACO hasn’t forgotten its own licence holders like Benoît Tréluyer and the various drivers who have learned the ropes in its driving school like Bastien Brière from the Sarthe plus ACO Volant winner, Fabien Rosier.
The vast majority of entrants will take part in the test day on 3rd June, which is a general rehearsal for the race itself. It is obligatory for new cars, for teams and drivers that have never raced in the Le Mans 24 Hours before, or drivers who are not on the list of those automatically allowed to compete in official practice since the 2007 Le Mans 24 Hours.
They will then take part in scrutineering and admin checks on 10th-11th June, in official and qualifying practice on 13th-14th June before the culmination of the Le Mans week, the start of the Le Mans 24 hours on Saturday 16th June at 15h00.
N° | LMP 1 | Car | DRIVER (D) | NAT | 1 | AUDI SPORT TEAM JOEST | AUDI R18 E-TRON QUATTRO | André LOTTERER
Marcel FÄSSLER
Benoit TRELUYER | DEU CHE FRA | 2 | AUDI SPORT TEAM JOEST | AUDI R18 E-TRON QUATTRO | Allan McNISH
Rinaldo CAPELLO
Tom KRISTENSEN | GBR ITA DNK | 3 | AUDI SPORT TEAM JOEST | AUDI R18 ULTRA | Marc GENE
Romain DUMAS
Loic DUVAL | ESP FRA FRA | 4 | AUDI SPORT NORTH AMERICA | AUDI R18 ULTRA | Oliver JARVIS
Marco BONANOMI
Mike ROCKENFELLER | GBR ITA DEU | 7 | TOYOTA RACING | TOYOTA TS 030 - HYBRID | Alexander WURZ
Nicolas LAPIERRE
Kazuki NAKAJIMA | AUT FRA JPN | 8 | TOYOTA RACING | TOYOTA TS 030 - HYBRID | Antony DAVIDSON Sébastien BUEMI
Stéphane SARRAZIN | GBR CHE FRA | 12 | REBELLION RACING | LOLA B12/60 COUPE - TOYOTA | Nicolas PROST
Neel JANI
Nick HEIDFELD | FRA CHE DEU | 13 | REBELLION RACING | LOLA B12/60 COUPE - TOYOTA | Andrea BELICCHI
Harold PRIMAT
Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN | ITA CHE NLD | 15 | OAK RACING | OAK PESCAROLO - JUDD | Franck MONTAGNY Bertrand BAGUETTE Dominik KRAIHAMER | FRA BEL AUT | 16 | PESCAROLO TEAM | PESCAROLO 03 - JUDD | Emmanuel COLLARD
Jean-Christophe BOULLION Stuart HALL | FRA FRA GBR | 17 | PESCAROLO TEAM | DOME - JUDD | Nicolas MINASSIAN
Seiji ARA
Sébastien BOURDAIS | FRA JPN FRA | 21 | STRAKKA RACING | HPD ARX 03a - HONDA | Nick LEVENTIS
Danny WATTS
Jonny KANE | GBR GBR GBR | 22 | JRM | HPD ARX 03a - HONDA | David BRABHAM
Karun CHANDHOK
Peter DUMBRECK | GBR IND GBR | N° | LM P2 | Car | DRIVER (D) | NAT | 23 | SIGNATECH NISSAN | ORECA 03 - NISSAN | Jordan TRESSON
Franck MAILLIEUX
Olivier LOMBARD | FRA FRA FRA | 24 | OAK RACING | MORGAN - JUDD | Jacques NICOLET
Matthieu LAHAYE
Olivier PLA | FRA FRA FRA | 25 | ADR-DELTA | ORECA 03 - NISSAN | John MARTIN
Jan CHAROUZ
Tor GRAVES | AUS CZE GBR | 26 | SIGNATECH NISSAN | ORECA 03 - NISSAN | Pierre RAGUES
Nelson PANCIATICI
Roman RUSINOV | FRA FRA RUS | 28 | GULF RACING MIDDLE EAST | LOLA B12/80 COUPE - NISSAN | Fabien GIROIX
Ludovic BADEY
Stefan JOHANSSON | FRA FRA SWE | 29 | GULF RACING MIDDLE EAST | LOLA B12/80 COUPE - NISSAN | Keiko IHARA
Jean-Denis DELETRAZ
Marc ROSTAN | JPN CHE FRA | 31 | LOTUS | LOLA B12/80 COUPE - LOTUS | Thomas HOLZER
Mirco SCHULTIS
Luca MORO | DEU DEU ITA | 33 | LEVEL 5 MOTORSPORTS | HPD ARX 03b - HONDA | Scott TUCKER
Christophe BOUCHUT
Luis DIAZ | USA FRA MEX | 35 | OAK RACING | MORGAN - NISSAN | David HANSSON
Bas LEINDERS
Maxime MARTIN | DNK BEL BEL | 38 | JOTA | ZYTEK Z11SN - NISSAN | Sam HANCOCK
Simon DOLAN
Haruki KUROSAWA | GBR GBR JPN | 40 | RACE PERFORMANCE | ORECA 03 - JUDD | Michel FREY
Ralph MEICHTRY
Jonathan HIRSCHI | CHE CHE CHE | 41 | GREAVES MOTORSPORT | ZYTEK Z11SN - NISSAN | Christian ZUGEL
Elton JULIAN
Ricardo GONZALEZ | DEU ECU MEX | 42 | GREAVES MOTORSPORT | ZYTEK Z11SN - NISSAN | Alex BRUNDLE
Martin BRUNDLE
Lucas ORDONEZ | GBR GBR ESP | 43 | EXTREME LIMITE ARIC | NORMA MP 2000 - JUDD | Fabien ROSIER
Philippe THIRION
Philippe HAEZEBROUCK | FRA FRA FRA | 44 | STARWORKS MOTORSPORT | HPD ARX 03b - HONDA | Vicente POTOLICCHIO
Ryan DALZIEL
Thomas KIMBER-SMITH | VEN GBR GBR | 45 | BOUTSEN GINION RACING | ORECA 03 - NISSAN | Bastien BRIERE
Jens PETERSEN
Shinji NAKANO | FRA DEU JPN | 46 | THIRIET BY TDS RACING | ORECA 03 - NISSAN | Pierre THIRIET
Mathias BECHE
Christophe TINSEAU | FRA CHE FRA | 48 | MURPHY PROTOTYPES | ORECA 03 - NISSAN | Jody FIRTH
Brendon HARTLEY
Warren HUGHES | GBR NZL GBR | 49 | PECOM RACING | ORECA 03 - NISSAN | Luis PEREZ-COMPANC Pierre KAFFER
Soheil AYARI | ARG DEU FRA |
N° | LM GTE Pro | Car | DRIVER | CAT | 51 | AF CORSE | FERRARI 458 ITALIA | Giancarlo FISICHELLA Gianmaria BRUNI
Toni VILANDER | ITA ITA FIN | 59 | LUXURY RACING | FERRARI 458 ITALIA | Frédéric MAKOWIECKI Jaime MELO
Dominik FARNBACHER | FRA BRA DEU | 66 | JMW MOTORSPORT | FERRARI 458 ITALIA | Jonny COCKER
James WALKER
Roger WILLS | GBR GBR NZL | 71 | AF CORSE | FERRARI 458 ITALIA | Andrea BERTOLINI Olivier BERETTA
Marco CIOCI | ITA MCO ITA | 73 | CORVETTE RACING | CHEVROLET CORVETTE C6 ZR1 | Antonio GARCIA
Jan MAGNUSSEN
Jordan TAYLOR | ESP DNK USA | 74 | CORVETTE RACING | CHEVROLET CORVETTE C6 ZR1 | Oliver GAVIN
Tommy MILNER
Richard WESTBROOK | GBR USA GBR | 77 | TEAM FELBERMAYR-PROTON | PORSCHE 911 RSR (997) | Richard LIETZ
Marc LIEB
Wolf HENZLER | AUT DEU DEU | 80 | FLYING LIZARD MOTORSPORTS | PORSCHE 911 RSR (997) | Jörg BERGMEISTER Patrick LONG
Marco HOLZER | DEU USA DEU | 97 | ASTON MARTIN RACING | ASTON MARTIN VANTAGE V8 | Stefan MÜCKE
Darren TURNER
Adrian FERNANDEZ | DEU GBR MEX | N° | LM GTE Am | Car | DRIVER (D) | NAT | 50 | LARBRE COMPETITION | CHEVROLET CORVETTE C6-ZR1 | Patrick BORNHAUSER Julien CANAL
Pedro LAMY | FRA FRA PRT | 55 | JWA-AVILA | PORSCHE 911 RSR (997) | Paul DANIELS
Markus PALTTALA
Joël CAMATHIAS | GBR FIN CHE | 57 | KROHN RACING | FERRARI 458 ITALIA | Tracy KROHN
Niclas JONSSON
Michele RUGOLO | USA SWE ITA | 58 | LUXURY RACING | FERRARI 458 ITALIA | Pierre EHRET
Frankie MONTECALVO
Gunnar JEANNETTE | DEU USA USA | 61 | AF CORSE-WALTRIP | FERRARI 458 ITALIA | Robert KAUFFMAN
Rui AGUAS
Brian VICKERS | USA PRT USA | 67 | IMSA PERFORMANCE MATMUT | PORSCHE 911 RSR (997) | Anthony PONS
Raymond NARAC
Nicolas ARMINDO | FRA FRA FRA | 70 | LARBRE COMPETITION | CHEVROLET CORVETTE C6-ZR1 | Christophe BOURRET Pascal GIBON
Jean-Philippe BELLOC | FRA FRA FRA | 75 | PROSPEED COMPETITION | PORSCHE 911 RSR (997) | Abdulaziz ALFAISAL
Bret CURTIS
Sean EDWARDS | SAU USA GBR | 79 | FLYING LIZARD MOTORSPORTS | PORSCHE 911 RSR (997) | Seth NEIMAN
Patrick PILET
Spencer PUMPELLY | USA FRA USA | 81 | AF CORSE | FERRARI 458 ITALIA | Pierguiseppe PERAZZINI Matt GRIFFIN
Nicola CADEI | ITA IRL ITA | 83 | JMB RACING | FERRARI 458 ITALIA | Manuel RODRIGUES Philippe ILLIANO
Alain FERTE | PRT FRA FRA | 88 | TEAM FELBERMAYR-PROTON | PORSCHE 911 RSR (997) | Christian RIED
Gianluca RODA
Paolo RUBERTI | DEU ITA ITA | 99 | ASTON MARTIN RACING | ASTON MARTIN VANTAGE V8 | Christoffer NYGAARD Kristian POULSEN
Allan SIMONSEN | DNK DNK DNK |
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