2011 24 Hours of Le Mans

2011 24 Hours of Le Mans

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The 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans (24 Heures du Mans 2011) will be the 79th Grand Prix of Endurance, taking place on June 11–12, 2011 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France, and organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). It will be the third round of the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, and will be part of a World Championship or International Cup for the first time since 1992, when it was part of the World Sportscar Championship.

An endurace race, it starts at 3pm local time (13:00 UTC) and finishes 24 hours later. Audi Sport Team Joest occupy the front row for the race start with their Audi R18 TDI cars, the first pole position in the race for Audi in five years.

New 2011 regulations

2011 will mark the first major revisions in Le Mans regulations since 2007, with significant changes on both the Le Mans Prototype category (LMP) and the Grand Touring category (GT).

The new ACO rules state that the current LMP1 cars (2007-2010) will be rendered obsolete so new prototypes would have to be created. Engines in the LMP1 are similar to the engines in the LMP2 prior to 2010 (maximum engine sizes are: 3.4 L (3400 cc) for naturally-aspirated engines; 2.0 L (2000 cc) for turbocharged petrol engines; 3.7 L (3700 cc) for turbocharged diesel engines). For 2011 cars raced during the 2010 season in an ACO-sanctioned event may participate, but must run smaller air restrictors, less boost pressure (turbo and turbo diesel), and a smaller fuel cell.

LMP2 engines are reduced to those similar to GT2; the engines must be production-based (maximum engine sizes are: 5.0 L (5000 cc) for normally-aspirated engines, 8 cylinders maximum; 3.2 L (3200 cc) for turbocharged engines, 6 cylinders maximum; diesel engines are not permitted). LMP2 will also be focused on lower costs; the maximum cap for an LMP2 car will be set at €400,000 (€325,000 for chassis, €75,000 for engine). Lola Cars International was the first manufacturer to announce two different LMP2 cars, the open cockpit B11/40 and the closed cockpit B11/80; BMW, Ford, Honda (HPD), Jaguar, Nissan and Toyota engines can be fitted into a B11/40.

Hybrid vehicle drivetrain systems will be extensively allowed with the new regulations, which include kinetic-energy recovery systems (KERS; no push-to-pass systems - KERS in LMP cars must be activated with the accelerator pedal), as well as four-wheel drive (non-hybrid vehicles will remain two-wheel drive, specifically rear-wheel drive). All LMP cars will be weighed at 900 kg (2,000 lb). In addition, LMP bodywork must have a Formula One-style vertical fin on the top of the engine cover to reduce lift tendency and such "flipping" airborne crashes such as the 1999 race with three incidents by the Mercedes-Benz CLR, the most famous is by Peter Dumbreck and the 2008 1000 km of Monza crash by Stéphane Ortelli with the Courage-Oreca LC70.

The former GT2 class becomes the sole production-based category in 2011, renamed as GT Endurance category and will be separated into two subclasses, GTE Amateur (GTE Am) and GTE Professional (GTE Pro), with a trophy each class. The 2011 regulations do allow for 2010-spec GT1 cars to take part on GTE Am class, although none have been entered.

Entries

With the construction of a 56th pit that was designed for the 56th entry in the 2010 race, there will be 56 spaces for the 2011 race. Unlike 2010, the 56th pit from 2011 onwards will not be accepted to normal LMP/GT competitors. The ACO have claimed that they will accept a 56th car from anywhere outside of all the ACO rules and regulations and any Le Mans-based series, providing that this vehicle in question demonstrates the use of green environmental-friendly technology.

Automatic invitations

Automatic entries to the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans will be granted to teams that have performed well in the previous year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as the 2010 seasons of the American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Series, Petit Le Mans, Asian Le Mans Series and Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. An automatic invitation is also awarded to the team which accumulates the most points in the Michelin Green X Challenge as part of the Le Mans Series, based on fuel economy of competitors during each event.

Reason Entered	LMP1	LMP2	LMGT
1st in the 24 Hours of Le Mans	Audi Sport North America	Strakka Racing	Team Felbermayr-Proton
2nd in the 24 Hours of Le Mans	Audi Sport Team Joest	OAK Racing	Hankook Team Farnbacher
1st in the Le Mans Series	Team Oreca Matmut	RML	Team Felbermayr-Proton
2nd in the Le Mans Series	Signature Plus	Strakka Racing	AF Corse
1st in the Petit Le Mans	Team Peugeot Total	Patrón Highcroft Racing	Corvette Racing
1st in the American Le Mans Series	No Recipient	Patrón Highcroft Racing	BMW Rahal Letterman Racing
1st in Intercontinental Le Mans Cup	Team Peugeot Total	OAK Racing	Team Felbermayr-Proton
1st in the LMS Green X Challenge		OAK Racing

Entry list

On 9 February 2011, the ACO released the official entry list of 56 cars plus ten reserves.

On April 12, the second Signatech entry in LMP2 was withdrawn from the entry list, promoting Extreme Limite AM Paris's Norma M200 from the reserve list.

On May 16, Highcroft Racing's entry in LMP1 was withdrawn from the entry list. The team cited a lack of financial support as the cause, while at the same time announcing their partnership with Honda and HPD had come to a close. The Kronos Racing Lola-Aston Martin was promoted to the entry list.

Entry List
No.	Nation	Team	Car	Tyre	Driver 1	Driver 2	Driver 3
LMP1
1	DEU	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18 TDI	M	Timo Bernhard	Romain Dumas	Mike Rockenfeller
2	DEU	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R18 TDI	M	Marcel Fässler	André Lotterer	Benoît Tréluyer
3	DEU	Audi Sport North America	Audi R18 TDI	M	Tom Kristensen	Rinaldo Capello	Allan McNish
5	CHE	Hope Racing	Oreca 01-Swiss HyTech	M	Steve Zacchia	Jan Lammers	Casper Elgaard
7	FRA	Peugeot Sport Total	Peugeot 908	M	Anthony Davidson	Alexander Wurz	Marc Gené
8	FRA	Peugeot Sport Total	Peugeot 908	M	Stéphane Sarrazin	Franck Montagny	Nicolas Minassian
9	FRA	Team Peugeot Total	Peugeot 908	M	Sébastien Bourdais	Pedro Lamy	Simon Pagenaud
10	FRA	Team Oreca-Matmut	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	M	Nicolas Lapierre	Loïc Duval	Olivier Panis
12	CHE	Rebellion Racing	Lola B10/60-Toyota	M	Nicolas Prost	Neel Jani	Jeroen Bleekemolen
13	CHE	Rebellion Racing	Lola B10/60-Toyota	M	Andrea Belicchi	Jean-Christophe Boullion	Guy Smith
15	FRA	OAK Racing	OAK Pescarolo 01-Judd	D	Guillaume Moreau	Pierre Ragues	Tiago Monteiro
16	FRA	Pescarolo Team	Pescarolo 01-Judd	M	Emmanuel Collard	Christophe Tinseau	Julien Jousse
20	PRT	Quifel-ASM Team	Zytek 09SC	D	Miguel Amaral	Olivier Pla	Warren Hughes
22	BEL	Kronos Racing	Lola-Aston Martin B09/60	M	Vanina Ickx	Bas Leinders	Maxime Martin
24	FRA	OAK Racing	OAK Pescarolo 01-Judd	D	Richard Hein	Jacques Nicolet	Jean-François Yvon
007	GBR	Aston Martin Racing	Aston Martin AMR-One	M	Stefan Mücke	Darren Turner	Christian Klien
009	GBR	Aston Martin Racing	Aston Martin AMR-One	M	Harold Primat	Adrián Fernández	Andy Meyrick
LMP2
26	FRA	Signatech Nissan	Oreca 03-Nissan	D	Soheil Ayari	Franck Mailleux	Lucas Ordoñez
33	USA	Level 5 Motorsports	Lola B11/80-HPD	M	Scott Tucker	Christophe Bouchut	João Barbosa
35	FRA	OAK Racing	OAK Pescarolo 01-Judd BMW	D	Frédéric Da Rocha	Patrice Lafargue	Andrea Barlesi
36	GBR	RML	HPD ARX-01d	D	Mike Newton	Thomas Erdos	Ben Collins
39	ARG	PeCom Racing	Lola B11/40-Judd BMW	M	Luís Pérez Companc	Matías Russo	Pierre Kaffer
40	CHE	Race Performance	Oreca 03-Judd BMW	D	Michel Frey	Ralph Meichtry	Marc Rostan
41	GBR	Greaves Motorsport	Zytek Z11SN-Nissan	D	Karim Ojjeh	Olivier Lombard	Tom Kimber-Smith
42	GBR	Strakka Racing	HPD ARX-01d	M	Nick Leventis	Danny Watts	Jonny Kane
44	FRA	Extrême Limite AM Paris	Norma M200P-Judd BMW	D	Fabien Rosier	Phillipe Haezebrouck	Jean-René De Fournoux
48	FRA	Team Oreca-Matmut	Oreca 03-Nissan	M	Alexandre Prémat	David Hallyday	Dominik Kraihamer
49	FRA	OAK Racing	OAK Pescarolo 01-Judd BMW	D	Shinji Nakano	Nicolas de Crem	Jan Charouz
LM GTE Pro
51	ITA	AF Corse	Ferrari 458 Italia GTC	M	Giancarlo Fisichella	Gianmaria Bruni	Toni Vilander
55	DEU	BMW Motorsport	BMW M3 GT2	D	Augusto Farfus	Jörg Müller	Dirk Werner
56	DEU	BMW Motorsport	BMW M3 GT2	D	Andy Priaulx	Dirk Müller	Joey Hand
58	FRA	Luxury Racing	Ferrari 458 Italia GTC	M	Anthony Beltoise	François Jakubowski	Pierre Thiriet
59	FRA	Luxury Racing	Ferrari 458 Italia GTC	M	Stéphane Ortelli	Frédéric Makowiecki	Jaime Melo
64	AUT	Lotus Jetalliance	Lotus Evora GTE	M	Oskar Slingerland	Martin Rich	John Hartshorne
65	AUT	Lotus Jetalliance	Lotus Evora GTE	M	Jonathan Hirschi	Johnny Mowlem	James Rossiter
66	GBR	JMW Motorsport	Ferrari 458 Italia GTC	D	Rob Bell	Tim Sugden	Xavier Maassen
71	ITA	AF Corse	Ferrari 458 Italia GTC	M	Robert Kauffman	Michael Waltrip	Rui Águas
73	USA	Corvette Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	M	Olivier Beretta	Tommy Milner	Antonio García
74	USA	Corvette Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	M	Oliver Gavin	Jan Magnussen	Richard Westbrook
75	BEL	Prospeed Competition	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	M	Marc Goossens	Marco Holzer	Jaap van Lagen
76	FRA	IMSA Performance Matmut	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	M	Raymond Narac	Patrick Pilet	Nicolas Armindo
77	DEU	Team Felbermayr-Proton	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	M	Marc Lieb	Richard Lietz	Wolf Henzler
79	GBR	Jota	Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2	D	Sam Hancock	Simon Dolan	Chris Buncombe
80	USA	Flying Lizard Motorsports	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	M	Jörg Bergmeister	Patrick Long	Lucas Luhr
88	DEU	Team Felbermayr-Proton	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	M	Nick Tandy	Abdulaziz Al-Faisal	Bryce Miller
89	DEU	Hankook Team Farnbacher	Ferrari 458 Italia GTC	H	Dominik Farnbacher	Allan Simonsen	Leh Keen
LM GTE Am
50	FRA	Larbre Compétition	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	M	Patrick Bornhauser	Julien Canal	Gabriele Gardel
57	USA	Krohn Racing	Ferrari F430 GTE	D	Tracy Krohn	Nic Jönsson	Michele Rugolo
60	ARE	Gulf AMR Middle East	Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2	D	Fabien Giroix	Roald Goethe	Michael Wainright
61	ITA	AF Corse	Ferrari F430 GTE	M	Piergiuseppe Perazzini	Marco Cioci	Seán Paul Breslin
62	GBR	CRS Racing	Ferrari F430 GTE	M	Pierre Ehret	Shaun Lynn	Roger Willis
63	DEU	Proton Competition	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	M	Horst Felbermayr, Jr.	Horst Felbermayr, Sr.	Christian Ried
68	USA	Robertson Racing	Ford GT-R Mk. VII	M	David Robertson	Andrea Robertson	David Murry
70	FRA	Larbre Compétition	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	M	Christophe Bourret	Pascal Gibon	Jean-Philippe Belloc
81	USA	Flying Lizard Motorsports	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	M	Seth Neiman	Darren Law	Spencer Pumpelly
83	MCO	JMB Racing	Ferrari F430 GTE	D	Manuel Rodrigues	Jean-Marc Menahem	Nicolas Marroc

Reserve entries

As in the previous year's Le Mans, ten cars were selected as reserves. These ten are divided evenly with five LMPs and five GTs. Rather than the first reserve replacing a car of any class, a withdrawing LMP can only be replaced by another LMP and the same applies to GTs. The specific classes within LMP and GT are not considered in this process. Reserve entries are added in the order specified below.

Reserve Entries
Order	Class	No.	Nation	Team	Car	Designated driver
LM GTE
1st	Pro	69	USA	Robertson Racing	Ford GT-R Mk. VII	David Murry
2nd	Pro	86	DEU	Young Driver AMR	Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2	Tomáš Enge

Qualifying

Even though Audi collected many Le Mans victories, Audi will start on pole for the first time since 2006. Despite the capacity reduction to just 3.7L, the new R18 and 908 managed to run several seconds faster than the original LMP1 diesel, the Audi R10 TDI, that clocked a 2006 lap of 3:30.466. The new prototype qualifying speed is also quicker than the Audi R10 in 2007.

Qualifying result

Class leaders are in bold.

Pos	No.	Team	Class	Time	Gap	Grid
1	2	Audi Sport Team Joest	LMP1	3:25.738		1
2	1	Audi Sport Team Joest	LMP1	3:25.799	+0.061	2
3	9	Team Peugeot Total	LMP1	3:26.010	+0.272	3
4	8	Team Peugeot Total	LMP1	3:26.156	+0.418	4
5	3	Audi Sport North America	LMP1	3:26.272	+0.427	5
6	7	Peugeot Sport Total	LMP1	3:26.165	+0.534	6
7	10	Team Oreca Matmut	LMP1	3:30.084	+4.346	7
8	12	Rebellion Racing	LMP1	3:32.883	+7.145	8
9	16	Pescarolo Team	LMP1	3:33.066	+7.328	9
10	13	Rebellion Racing	LMP1	3:34.573	+8.835	10
11	15	OAK Racing	LMP1	3:34.933	+9.195	11
12	22	Kronos Racing	LMP1	3:36.551	+10.813	12
13	20	Quifel-ASM Team	LMP1	3:37.393	+11.655	13
14	26	Signatech Nissan	LMP2	3:41.458	+15.720	14
15	24	OAK Racing	LMP1	3:41.908	+16.170	15
16	42	Strakka Racing	LMP2	3:42.615	+16.877	16
17	48	Team Oreca Matmut	LMP2	3:43.098	+17.360	17
18	39	Pecom Racing	LMP2	3:43.223	+17.485	18
19	49	OAK Racing	LMP2	3:43.479	+17.741	19
20	41	Greaves Motorsport	LMP2	3:43.802	+18.064	20
21	40	Race Performance	LMP2	3:44.294	+18.556	21
22	007	Aston Martin Racing	LMP1	3:45.918	+20.180	22
23	36	RML	LMP2	3:47.308	+21.570	23
24	5	Hope Racing	LMP1	3:47.691	+21.953	24
25	009	Aston Martin Racing	LMP1	3:48.355	+22.617	25
26	44	Extrême Limite AM Paris	LMP2	3:48.420	+22.682	26
27	35	OAK Racing	LMP2	3:48.665	+22.927	27
28	33	Level 5 Motorsports	LMP2	3:48.863	+23.125	28
29	55	BMW Motorsport	LM GTE Pro	3:57.592	+31.854	29
30	51	AF Corse SRL	LM GTE Pro	3:58.040	+32.302	30
31	56	BMW Motorsport	LM GTE Pro	3:58.426	+32.688	31
32	74	Corvette Racing	LM GTE Pro	3:59.519	+33.781	32
33	89	Hankook Team Farnbacher	LM GTE Pro	3:59.519	+33.781	33
34	73	Corvette Racing	LM GTE Pro	3:59.633	+33.895	34
35	77	Team Felbermayr-Proton	LM GTE Pro	3:59.662	+33.924	35
36	59	Luxury Racing	LM GTE Pro	3:59.901	+34.163	36
37	75	Prospeed Competition	LM GTE Pro	3:59.962	+34.224	37
38	79	Jota	LM GTE Pro	4:00.747	+35.009	38
39	66	JMW Motorsport	LM GTE Pro	4:00.890	+35.152	39
40	80	Flying Lizard Motorsports	LM GTE Pro	4:01.024	+35.286	40
41	58	Luxury Racing	LM GTE Pro	4:01.176	+35.438	41
42	61	AF Corse SRL	LM GTE Am	4:01.282	+35.544	42
43	88	Team Felbermayr-Proton	LM GTE Pro	4:01.752	+36.014	43
44	71	AF Corse SRL	LM GTE Pro	4:02.216	+36.478	44
45	76	IMSA Performance Matmut	LM GTE Pro	4:02.548	+36.810	45
46	63	Proton Competition	LM GTE Am	4:03.532	+37.794	46
47	81	Flying Lizard Motorsports	LM GTE Am	4:03.648	+37.910	47
48	70	Larbre Compétition	LM GTE Am	4:03.918	+38.180	48
49	83	JMB Racing	LM GTE Am	4:04.640	+38.902	49
50	60	Gulf AMR Middle East	LM GTE Am	4:04.825	+39.087	50
51	57	Krohn Racing	LM GTE Am	4:05.211	+39.473	51
52	50	Larbre Compétition	LM GTE Am	4:05.955	+40.217	52
53	62	CRS Racing	LM GTE Am	4:07.236	+41.498	53
54	65	Lotus Jetalliance	LM GTE Pro	4:07.465	+41.727	54
55	68	Robertson Racing LLC	LM GTE Am	4:08.208	+42.470	55
56	64	Lotus Jetalliance	LM GTE Pro	4:12.569	+46.831	56