2009 Le Mans/LMS/ALMS Thread

MadCat360 said:
Lack of results.
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According to some sources, it's because one of their drivers is unable to participate. And judging by the sound of this, they didn't manage to find a reserve driver before, or a replacement in due time.

Plus it's tough to do the 24 Hours nowadays with just two drivers in the car.
 
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/75438

Kristensen: Sportscars are the future

By Glenn Freeman Tuesday, May 19th 2009, 13:40 GMT

Tom KristensenEight-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Tom Kristensen believes that sportscar racing is heading towards a golden era in the near future.

The Dane announced last week that he will stop racing in the DTM at the end of this year to fully focus on endurance racing, and he feels that more manufacturers are going to join the top category in years to come.

"I believe that the future will belong to sportscars," Kristensen told AUTOSPORT. "We've seen manufacturers come in, and everyone is looking at Le Mans at the moment.

"I think it's a good time, because it gives manufacturers a chance to go in different directions with technology. It's probably not a coincidence that [Ferrari boss] Luca di Montezemolo will be the starter at Le Mans this year as well."

Audi is only planning to do two races with its R15 prototype this year, and the 41-year-old admitted that there is no guarantee of a busy programme next season either.

"Obviously there is not the security of a lot of races, but that is not something for me to think about," he said. "There are ideas and plans, but you can leave me out of those."

Kristensen added that he started seriously considering his future last month, and that a final decision was made just a few days before he announced his plans.

"There had been a lot of talk about my future, but a lot of it was not by me," he said. "But on the other hand, now I am the only older hand in the DTM, and if people are always asking me when I will stop, I don't want to hear that.

"I enjoy racing against these young talents in DTM, it motivates me, but I think this is a good time to focus on sportscars."
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Wow. Quite bold statement from TK.
 
I agree with him. More and more young drivers are voicing interest in sportscars.
 
Young drivers heading into sportscars isn't anything new. If you can't make it to F1 there are only a few places to go in single seater racing. Sportscar racing seems to be coping with the economy reasonably well at least for the time being and while touring car racing in general is going through tougher times and Indycar is still in a slump it's the place to go if you want to make a living out of racing.
 
Time for an admission....

I really know very little about LeMans from a racing perspective... and yet i'm driving there in a car covered in the Gulf livery this year. What should I be watching out for during the hour i'm sober?
 
Martyn said:
It's not confirmed that they're in the same car is it?
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Damn, yeah, you're right.

But the three factory teams have confirmed their full 9-driver lineups:

Audi: Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish, Dindo Capello, Lucas Luhr, Alexandre Premat, Mike Rockenfeller, Marco Werner, Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas

Peugeot: Nic Minassian, Pedro Lamy, Christian Klien, Franck Montagny, Stephane Sarrazin, Sebastien Bourdais, Marc Gene, Alex Wurz, David Brabham

Aston: Miguel Ramos, Harold Primat, Stuart Hall, Stefan Mucke, Jan Charouz, Tomas Enge, Darren Turner, Jos Verstappen, Anthony Davidson.

I thought the last three announcements were meant for the 008 car, but the only trios set in stone now are Audi's.
 
So we can pretty much safely say that the 008 will have the drivers that were in last year's no.10 entry, and the other six will be split among the other cars. We might also assume that 007 will be an all-British affair (Hall, Turner and Davidson).
 
is pagenaud not driving for one of the works pugs? i thought he was.
 
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