| 23.2.2009 | Dome returns to LMS(LMS)
After one year off a Dome make should appear again in the Le Mans Series this year. A new team called ECOSpeed heading out of Switzerland announced they will enter a Dome S102 in the LMS, Asian Le Mans Series and some of the ALMS races. And of course an application was also sent to ACO for the 24 Hour race. With other late announcements of LMS participation it would be very interesting to see how many cars would in the end appear on the LMS grids this year. Supposing there are not too many last minute withdrawals due to the world economic climate, some races could have best entry in several decades. |
| 23.2.2009 | Team Luc Alphand back to LMS(LMS)
Although the team was absent on the full season entry list and announced FIA GT campaign, now they confirmed that they will enter a single GT1 Corvette for a full season campaign. After announcement of Larbre it seems that the GT1 class in its final Le Mans Series season will not be that weak as originally expected. |
| 20.2.2009 | Jarek Janiš returns to factory Spyker(LMS)
Czech driver Jaroslav Janiš will return to the Le Mans Series to the same team he participated for back in 2007 when a heavy accident and injuries in Spa 1000 kilometre race caused a break in his racing career. After several appearances late in 2008 in lower level races he is now confirmed as a factory driver for Spyker for a full season campaign. During recent Spyker tests Janiš expressed his feelings about the new car and said it is much better than it used to be two years ago. |
| 20.2.2009 | Larbre Competition back to LMS(LMS)
Great news arrived today from Larbre Competition through their press information channels. Despite the team is not listed on the full Le Mans Series entry list, they now confirmed that thy plan a return to the Le Mans Series where they were very successful since the series inception. They will field one of their Saleens S7-R. This means that the Saleen make might be very strong in the LM GT1 class this year. Not only there are two other Saleens among four full season entries but Larbre is by far the most successful team among the potential GT1 entrants. An entry was also applied to ACO for the Le Mans 24 Hours race where the team expects to participate for a 17th consecutive year. |
| 14.2.2009 | New two-car team with Saleens(FIA GT)
Czech team KplusK Motorsports will campaign two Saleens S7-R in GT1 class of the FIA GT Championship. The team has already a successfully appeared in the championship last year. It was in Brno when they managed to finish second in class with their Porsche 997 GT3 RS. In 2009 the lead car will be shared by Karl Wendlinger and Ryan Sharp, who have claimed six wins together over the past two seasons. Czech driver Adam Lacko has been announced as one of the drivers for the second car. |
| 9.2.2009 | Three Peugeots in Spa(LMS)
Recent Peugeot announcement confirmed already expected participation of the factory team in Sebring 12 Hours (with two cars) and of course in the highlight of the season, the Le Mans 24 Hours race. The only other confirmed race is Spa 1000 Kilometres where the factory team should field no less than three cars, in preparation for the Le Mans attack. The participation in the second half of the season remains undecided and will probably depend on the Le Mans result and, perhaps, on current economic situation. Nominated drivers are: Sébastien Bourdais, David Brabham, Marc Gené, Christian Klien, Pedro Lamy, Nicolas Minassian, Franck Montagny, Stéphane Sarazzin and Alexander Wurz. |
| 27.1.2009 | Aston Martin LMP1 to Le Mans and LMS(Le Mans)
Factory Aston Martin will enter two LMP1 cars in Le Mans 24 Hours. They will also race in the Le Mans Series. The cars will be with traditional Gulf colours and among the nominated drivers are Jan Charouz, Tomáš Enge and Stefan Mücke, former drivers of Charouz Racing. Other trio will consist of Darren Turner, Harold Primat and yet to be named driver. The new cars are (of course) coupes and are developed with help of Lola and experience based on last year's Charouz Racing private effort. |
| 27.1.2009 | Le Mans Series entry list released(LMS)
Today LMS published awaited entry list for the full season. A bit surprisingly a single factory team on the full season entry list is not Peugeot but quite new prototype of Aston Martin, which was announced earlier today. Peugeot apparently opted to rely on race by race entry. There is altogether 12 LMP1 prototypes, strong field of 16 LMP2 (5 Lolas, single Porsche RS Spyder), decent entry of 4 cars in GT1 in its final season. The rest of total 49 cars is made by well varied GT2 class with 5 makes presented. Of other expected cars apart from Peugeot, also Epsilon Euskadi is missing, as well as Lavaggi but it was not entered even last year despite appearing in races almost on regular basis. A surprise is entry of two Lucchinis, which are obviously not dead for ACO racing. The most numberous make is Ferrari with 10 cars in two classes, followed by Lola (6), Ginetta/Zytek & Aston Martin (5), Porsche, Pescarolo and Courage-Oreca (4). |
| 25.1.2009 | Rollcentre applies for Le Mans(Le Mans)
Apart from many other activities, mainly related to Mosler MT900 GT3, the team also announced that they had sent an application for Le Mans 24 Hours. Since the team was pretty successful in the middle of the decade, it is very likely ACO will accept them, so we hope to see the team at least for one-off outing with a prototype. Le Mans Series is not completely lost, but we do not think it is likely as the team principal suggested that racing in LMS against diesel factory cars is a waste of money... |
| 25.1.2009 | Porsche Spyders heading to Le Mans(LMS)
After the Team Essex has been listed among entrants taking their invitation to Le Mans this year, it became promising that we would have Porsche Spyder back in the most important Endurance race again. Now it has become clear that Team Essex entry will be taken by Poulsen Motorsport and that ex-Merkensteijn car will be entered by Team Goh, who has just purchased it. Some starts of both team in Le Mans Series are also possible, for now it was Team Goh who confirmed their plan to enter Spa 1000 Kilometres race. The only other European Porsche Spyder is supposed to race full LMS campaign but will not enter the 24 Hour race as they did not take their invitation. |
| 25.1.2009 | Creation to race in ALMS(ALMS)
As the team already suggested in the past that ALMS might be a good option for them, now they confirmed a full ALMS campaign in 2009 hoping for some overall victories and pole positions. It is a good news for ALMS, which is now stuggling to put together half dozen of entries in their principal classes. |
| 24.1.2009 | Saulnier Racing becomes OAK Racing(LMS)
Saulnier Racing team, which fielded Courage LMP2 in 2007 and pair of Pescarolos in both prototype classes last year, will continue this year with two LMP2 Pescarolos under a new banner: OAK Racing. A subheading Team Mazda France in the new team's logo reflects a switch to new Mazda engine, which are becoming increasingly popular. Team principal Jacques Nicolet also emphasises their new partnership with Dunlop tyre manufacturer, which is obviously trying to make a real comeback to sports car racing. With 34 wins in Le Mans Dunlop has really something to base on. The team also applied for Le Mans entry with both cars. |
| 20.1.2009 | First accepted entries for Le Mans released(Le Mans)
Today ACO released a list of the teams that confirmed interest in their automatic invitation, which is based on results in previous season in Le Mans, LMS, ALMS, FIA GT and Petit Le Mans. Among large prototypes we have two Peugeots and only two Audis out of three automatic entries. LMP2 was not expected to use by any team but surprisingly Team Essex entry si listed. Hard to say whether it is just a banner of a different team or Nielsen and his Porsche will be back for Le Mans. In GT classes there is together 10 slots taken, three of which are GT1s - all Corvettes, two factory and one Alphand entry. So Aston Martin will not race in GT1, so expected LMP1 entry along with recent confirmation of Aston Martin's presence in Le Mans seems to be very likely. A question is if the new cars will be entered as Lolas or pure Aston Martins (built by Lola). |
| 19.1.2009 | Private Audi R10 to Le Mans Series !(LMS)
Audi privateer Colin Kolles announced recently that he would buy two Audis R10 to race them in Le Mans Series and Le Mans 24 Hours. It will be fully private effort but Audi factory welcomed this decision and will provide service support. |
| 19.1.2009 | Strakka Racing with Ginetta-Zytek in 2009(LMS)
Another good news comes from Strakka Racing today. While potential GT1 class numbers in LMS are down by one as the team confirmed they will not race their Aston Martin DBR9 anymore, after a year break we should see again a Zytek in the top LMP1 class. The team's vision was highly influenced by their successful test late in last year. |
| 14.1.2009 | GT1 class in Le Mans Series is not dead!(LMS)
Despite the class is in its final season and seems to have no entries in ALMS after Corvette is gone in coupel of races, it seems that in Europe it will be alive during 2009. Alphan Corvettes are gone to FIA GT, Team Modena will move from Aston Martin to GT2 Ferrari so from last year's entrants we have left just Lamborghini and occassional entry of Strakka Racing, plans of both are not known yet. But at least a new team Full Speed Racing confirmed a full year campaign in the class with nice Saleen S7-R. A question is what kind of opposition will they face. |
| 13.1.2009 | Pegasus Racing moves to Le Mans Series(LMS)
Pegasus Racing, which raced in VdeV series last year, announced they will move to the Le Mans Series for a full campaign. Drivers Julien Schell and Philippe Thirion will share Courage LC75 AER 2.0 Turbo. |
| 13.1.2009 | Aston Martin confirms Le Mans campaign(Le Mans)
Despite no details available yet, we should see strong presence of the Aston Martin in Le Mans this year, fifty years after manufacturer's first and so far only overall victory. This was confirmed by David Richards to endurance-series.com. |
| 13.1.2009 | Kruse Schiller Motorsport will field another Coupe(LMS)
Le Mans Series could be great even in the current economic climate. Another team announced a campaign of a closed prototype. Kruse Schiller Motorsport should enter a new Lola B08/80. If all announced entries would happen, we would have at least 6 closed LMP2 in the field, plus hopefully at least similar number in the P1 class (two Charouz Lolas?, 2 Euskadis, confirmed Lola Aston Martin of Speedy, perhaps Peugeots). |
| 8.1.2009 | Charouz with Audi power?(LMS)
Latest issue of French magazine Auto Hebdo suggests that manufacturer Audi could be represented in the Le Mans Series this year. Engines from last year's Audi R10 TDi would be fitted in a Lola chassis and campaigned by Charouz Racing System. The private Czech team would enter two cars. |