RACE PREVIEW
constructor . From America , several opentop Riley & Scott prototypes from earlier this century add to the stunning variety in the P1 class . More US flavour is provided by Antoine d ’ Ansembourg ’ s Judd-powered Dallara SP1 , a design that started life as the Mopar-engined Chrysler LMP1 before ORECA took over the project . Chassis DO-05 that the young Belgian will race was the Doran-Lista car successfully campaigned in the ALMS and Grand-Am by Belgian / Italian combo Didier Theys / Mauro Baldi – in fact , the d ’ Ansembourgs sourced the car from their countryman Theys himself !
The P2 cars present at Silverstone show similar variation in age and looks . One of the most recent P2s in the field is Stuart Wiltshire ’ s Ligier JSP2 , the LMP2 built by French manufacturer Onroak , while at the other end is Mike Newton ’ s MG-Lola EX257 , another AERengined car that is still going strong despite its 18 years of age . Multiple Le Mans class winner Newton is in fact the driver who together with Tommy Erdos raced this car in period . Wiltshire and Newton take on Mike Furness in the Courage-Judd LC75 , the ORECA-built LMP2 that preceded later designs such as the FLM09 ( the car for the one-make Formula Le Mans series and the later LMPC class in North America ), the HPD / Acura ARX cars and ORECA ’ s own 03 – an example of the latter is brought by Mark Higson . The lineage is easy to spot in the shape of the twin rollbar that they all share .
Another interesting car is Matt Wrigley ’ s Lola B07 / 46 , a Mazda-powered car for the ALMS with essentially the same AER-sourced MZR-R engine that is found in the Brooks / O ’ Connell LMP1 . LMP3 is prototype ’ s most recent category and effectively the successor to the ACO ’ s initial FLM project that was soon adopted across the Atlantic in the LMPC class . This understudy prototype class will mainly feature examples of the leading Ligier JSP3 design .
GT cars will be part of the line-up , across the GT1 , GT2 / GTE and GT3 categories as they
Friday 15:13 - 15:43
evolved through recent decades . Some of the best GT cars were created in the age of the almost-no-compromise GT1 machine , and the Aston Martin DBR9 is among the most evocative – Niko Ditting storming past in his V12-engined Aston will be a similar experience to d ’ Ansembourg in his DBR1-2 prototype . Another loud specimen is the ORECA-built Viper GTS-R brought by Dutchman Mathijs Bakker and his son-in-law Joshua Kreuger – and not just decibel-wise . Its lairy looks with monstrous downforce-inducing diffuser add-ons latched on to its bulging bodywork scream effectiveness as well as speed . A pair of Mosler MT900Rs add an American touch to the GT field , while Porsche is present through
RACE 9 Saturday 17:10 - 17:50 RACE 17 Sunday 14:50 - 15:20
a pair of 997 GT3 RSRs from the GT2 era , Steve Osborne and Chris Ward representing the WEC side while Jonathan Cockerton brings a Grand-Am-specced machine . As for outright class favourites , look no further than the very quick and very recent Ferrari 458 GT3s of Jason Wright and Colin Sowter .
Both Masters Endurance Legends races feature a mandatory pitstop in a ten-minute pit window halfway into each 40-minute race . Additional ‘ penalty ’ time in the pits for any ‘ elite driver ’ taking part will help even things out between the professionals and the gentlemen drivers .
MATTIJS DIEPRAAM
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