Plenty to see at Le Mans Test day as competition heats up

The Circuit de la Sarthe played host Sunday to the annual day of testing two weeks ahead of the 24 Hour French endurance classic at Le Mans. It marked the first time all 60 cars competing in the event were on the same track. With new liveries unveiled and press pouring over the time sheets, the test weekend left plenty to discuss and recap. 

No. 50 Larbre Competition ‘Art Car’ (photo credit: Larbre Competition)

When the cars arrived mid-week, a Corvette grabbed the headlines with a radical liveried “Art Car,” that had the entire Motorsport world talking. Larbre Competition’s No. 50 Corvette C7.R features a comic strip-esque ‘Human’ livery. Deigned by street artist Ramzi Adek, the car looks nothing short of fantastic and is being praised by many as the best looking art car in recent memory. Perhaps the most unique piece of the livery is the artist used Day-Glo paint and will light up at night. Seeing the No. 50 circling Le Mans at night will be a special sight.

Once the timing screens were turned on and the cars took the track, familiar car No.’s occupied the top slots. Toyota dominated again, logging significantly more laps compared to Porsche and running without incident. The No. 7, 8, and 9 cars conveniently and sequentially finished a respective 1-2-3 on the day. The fastest time being turned by Mike Conway in the No. 7 at a 3:18.132.

Fastest car on the day No. 7 Toyota (photo credit: Toyota Gazoo Racing)

Porsche meanwhile experienced some setbacks and finished 4th and 5th in the session. The No. 2 Porsche required a floor change after Brenden Hartley hit a cone in the 1st test session. This problem was followed by an engine change after an oil leak was discovered during the break between the two sessions. The problems limited the car to 74 laps on the day compared to the 100+ for the Toyota’s. Porsche’s No. 1 car finished behind the No. 2 on the timing sheets despite turning more laps and running problem free. The over 3 second gap between Porsche and Toyota is discouraging for the German marque, however Porsche undoubtedly possess some pace in hand. 

The test session also signified the first laps for the new Gibson powered LMP2 machinery. All 4 FIA Homologated chassis (Oreca, Ligier, Dallara, & Riley-Multimatic) were represented, clocking top speeds faster than the fastest LMP1’s and setting impressive lap times. Although a lap in the 3:25.000’s some engineers claim the cars are capeable of was not achieved, LMP2 cars did crack the 3:30.000 barrier for the first time ever at Le Mans.

No. 36 Alpine-badged Oreca 07, No. 32 United Autosports Ligier, No. 47 Cetilar Villorba Corse Dallara (photo credit: FIA WEC Twitter)

Nelson Panciatici lead the way in the category, turning a 3:28.146 in his Alpine-badged Oreca 07. The quickest non-Oreca chassis required some scrolling to find on the timing sheets. Finishing 14th quickest in class, the No. 32 United Autosports Ligier lapped La Sarthe at a 3:31.907 nearly a full 4 seconds slower than the fastest Oreca. Clearly, the Oreca chassis is the car to have at the moment. The pecking order appears to be Oreca, Ligier, Dallara, and Riley in LMP2.

In GTE-Pro, the US based No. 64 Corvette set the best time with a 3:54.701 followed by the pair of Porsche 911 RSR’s. Off the pace on the day were the Ferrari 488’s and Ford GT’s despite expert predictions heading into the weekend of being the favorite’s. The Ford team seemed especially concerned regarding their pace on the day. With a car designed for one purpose, repeating their dominance of Le Mans from ’66-’69 some 50 years later, Ford will have to find some time in their car before race day.

In GTE-Am, the No. 98 Aston Martin lead he way at the hands of Pedro Lamy with a 3:58.250 lap time followed by the stunning No. 50 Larbre Competition Corvette. 

No. 98 Aston Martin, fastest in GTE-Am (photo credit: AMR Twitter)

As always with GTE, the final pecking order will depend on inevitable BOP changes ahead of the race. Hopefully sandbagging on test day was at a minimum and will result in a competitive 24 Hour race for all manufacturers.

Just two weeks remain between now and race day. Keep checking ltmsport for the lastest news and coverage coming from Le Mans. Follow @rob_c_14 for even more WEC and Le Mans news. We expect the announcements to be plentiful in the lead up to the green flag. 

Panoz returning to Le Mans

A new car is coming to Le Mans. Its creators are hailing the car as “revolutionary,” and Don Panoz referred to the car as, “my Holy Grail.” That’s right, Panoz is returning to Le Mans.

Green4U Technologies, which incorporates the DeltaWing Technology Group will be unveiling their car just prior to the upcoming Le Mans race at a press conference entitled, “Panoz returns to Le Mans.” Although the main headline of the conference is direct, the nature of Panoz’s return to the French endurance race remains unclear.

Panoz Esperante GTR-1H “Sparky” (photo credit: Speedhunters)

Panoz first raced at Le Mans in 1998 with a car well ahead of it’s time. The car nicknamed “Sparky,” was built on the radical looking Esperante GTR-1’s base and became a fan favorite among race goers. Panoz’s program evolved into a full-fledged prototype effort in the IMSA series stateside from 1999-2002, winning eight races in that span.
Panoz Esperante LMP-1 Roadster S (photo credit: Panoz)

The manufacturer returned with its involvement in the DeltaWing program, which ran from 2012-2016 in the IMSA series, as well as a garage 56 entry at the 2012 Le Mans race. With IMSA’s new Dpi format coming, the final race for the DeltaWing occurred at the 2016 24 Hours of Daytona. A mid-race retirement due to an accident erased possibly the cars best chance at winning a significant race, having lead a large portion of Daytona until that point.
DeltaWing (photo credit: Automobile Mag)

A garage 56 entry for either the 2018 or 2019 Le Mans remains the most likely avenue for the new Panoz. Presumably a hybrid or possible even a fully electric prototype. One cannot help but wonder if the ACO and FIA can arrange for an electric prototype to compete in the full WEC calendar. More likely, the car will stay true to the formula Panoz have used in the past, competing occasionally in Le Mans, while focusing primarily on the big endurance races stateside like Daytona, Sebring, and Petit Le Mans.

Regardless of the depth of the program, there seems to be no shortage of excitement surrounding the upcoming car reveal. Keep an eye out for a flood of announcements in the upcoming weeks ahead of Le Mans. The ACO and FIA will be an active bunch in the sixteen days remaining until the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans.