Le Mans – A great 2014 edition in perspective

In LM P1, we will therefore find the two German brands Audi, title holders in Sarthe and Porsche, back in 2014. Three R18 e-tron quattros led by the Lucas di Grassi trios-Loïc duval-Tom Kristensen, Benoît Tréluyer-Marcel Fässler-André Lotterer and Filipe Albuquerque-Marco Bonanomi-Oliver Jarvis. Opposite, Porsche will line up two 919 Hybrids entrusted to Romain Dumas-Marc Lieb-Neel Jani and Mark Webber-Timo Bernhard-Brendon Hartley. At Toyota, the two TS040s will see changed trios compared to last year. On No. 7, we will find Alexander Wurz, Stéphane Sarrazin and Kazuki Nakajima. On number 8, Nicolas lapierre will be associated with Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi. For Vincent Beaumesnil, Sports Director of the Automobile Club de l?Ouest, “The plateau of 24 Hours of Le Mans 2014 is undoubtedly one of the best in the history of the event. In the LM P1 category, the arrival of Porsche in addition to Toyota and Audi but also Lotus and the entry of the new Rebellions prove the validity of the new technical regulations put in place this year. » Because in LM P1, the three ogres will not be alone. Two private teams join the LM P1 field.

Rebellion Racing will enter two Rebellion Toyota R-One prototypes at the wheel of which will notably attack the Habs Nicolas Cheers, the German Nick Heidfeld and the Swiss Mathias Beche. But the other strong announcement from the conference remains the confirmation of Colin Kolles' Lotus team in the premier category. Gone are the LM P2 and the T128s, make way for the T129 – AER and the Dutchman Christijan Albers. It remains to be seen where these three LM P1-L will position themselves in relation to the queens of the field, all obviously registered in LM P1-H.

In LM P2, the big news lies in the arrival of Sébastien Loeb Racing in Sarthe. The team of the nine-time world champion will entrust an Oreca-Nissan 03 to the German René Rast, a reference in GT but who has no experience of the prototype. A commitment which completes the season of the Alsatian team, already in contention in ELMS. Signatech will continue to thrill fans ofAlpine with a car on which the only nominee is Paul-Loup Chatin. We will also note the return of Ligier to Le Mans with two JSP2s developed by Onroak for Thiriet by TDS Racing (for Pierre Thiriet-Ludovic Badey-Tristan Gommendy) and for Oak Racing – team Asia and the Chinese David Cheng and Ho-Pin Tung. At Oak Racing, the Morgan-Nissan will be led by Alex Brundle, who will aim to finish higher than in 2013, and for that, he will have to win. If another Morgan is lined up under the G-Drive Racing banner (it will be entrusted to Olivier Pla, Roman Rusinov and Julien Cannal), it will also be operated by the Le Mans team. Strakka Racing will also be watched with its Dome S103 entrusted to in-house drivers, namely the British Nick Leventis, Danny Watts and Jonny Kane, or the Oreca-Nissan 03 of Millennium Racing (operated by delta-ADR), on which are registered the Frenchman Fabien Giroix and the Swede Stefan Johansson. The Russians from SMP Racing will also field two 03s, one being allocated to Sergey Zlobin-Fabrizio Mediani-Nicolas Minassian. Two Zytek Z11SN-Nissans will be entered by Jota Sport and Greaves Motorsport. In reserve car, this year we find the Zytek of Caterham Racing, the Morgan-Judd of Larbre Compétition and second Signatech-Alpine A450.

In LMGTE Pro, the Ferrari from AF Corse will be present. The No. 51 will be entrusted, among others, to Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander, the No. 71 to Davide Rigon. RAM Racing, which will also field a car bearing the prancing horse, will put its trust in Irishman Matt Griffin. Opposite, apart from the two Porsche 911 RSRs and the two Aston Martin Vantage, all official, which they will have to face in WEC, the beautiful Italians will have a hard time facing the Corvette C7.R (Gavin-Milner-Westbrook and Garcia-Magnussen-J. Taylor) and the Viper GTS-R SRT (Goossens-D. Farnbacher-J. Bleekemolen and R. Bell-Wittmer-Bomarito)

In GTE Am, Ferrari will once again be the most represented brand. Four cars for AF Corse, one for Ram Racing, one for SMP Racing and one for 8 Star Motorsports (covered by AF Corse). The last 458 Italia will be entered by the French team Sofrev-ASP ​​with Fabien Barthez on board. Aston Martin with three cars for Kristian Poulsen, Richie Stanaway and Paul Dalla Lana will start favorite. Porsche will count on its part on the 911 RSR from Proton Compétition and the 911 GT3 RSR from Dempsey Racing, Prospeed and Imsa Performance

Finally, the Nissan ZEOD RC will be there with Spaniard Lucas Ordonez on board. As planned, it will occupy the 56th stand reserved for a car powered by innovative technology.

All these beautiful people will meet on June 14 for the start of the 24 hours of Le Mans 2014 edition.