2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup

Sérgio Marques · Oct 1, 2011

Live streaming here:http://www.lemans.org/live-streaming/ilmc/petit-le-mans.html

Bram Hengeveld · Oct 1, 2011

http://www.americanlemans.com/primary1.php?cat=live and here

Xosé Estrada · Oct 2, 2011

Victory for the Peugeot of Montagny-Sarrazin-Wurz with second place of Lapierre-Minassian-Gené and constructors' title for LM P1 teams 2011 : The French constructor made sure after the sixth round of the ILMC season. Larbre Competition wins the team title in LM GTE Am and Signatech Nissan team title in LM P2.

Thirteen points: was the gap from Peugeot before the sixth of seventh rounds of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup 2011. With the pole position of Davidson, it reduced to twelve before the start of the race. At the finish, thanks to successful 1-2 (908 #8 and the 908 Hdi-FAP #10), the French manufacturer scored 28 and secures this year's constructors' title in ILMC that it also won a year ago, and that of LM P1 teams for Peugeot Sport Total.
But the Peugeot Lions struggled on the track at Road Atlanta to win such a success. After a flying start the #7, Bourdais, Pagenaud and Davidson car retired during the third hour with transmission failure. Also the #2 Audi lost a lot of time, affected by clutch problems. It ultimately retired one hour before the finish.

At the head of the field, the battle did not stop for a moment between the Peugeot #8, #1 Audi and Peugeot's private entry of team Oreca #10. Finally, the turning point of the race was at 18:42, after 7 hours 12 minutes of the race, when in a Porsche made contact with Romain Dumas at the wheel of the Audi touching the front of the competitor, and destroying his car by hitting the wall at the edge of the track. It was at that point on the tail of the lead car, then driven by Franck Montagny. An incident that did not warrant investigation by the race director.

Suddenly, the French manufacturer had no real opponent. The two cars were leading to the finish without encountering any problems, giving victory to the trio Montagny-Sarrazin-Wurz devant in the 908 Hdi-FAP #10 private entry of Oreca driven by Lapierre-Minassian-Gené. Third was Aston Martin who saved their season with a podium in ILMC won by Fernandez-Mücke-Primat ahead of Pescarolo OAK of Pla-Prémat and Yvon the car that had finished third at the end of the previous race (6 Hours of Silverstone). Note that this is the third straight victory for Peugeot in Petit Le Mans and again with Montagny and Sarrazin at the wheel.

In LM GTE, the fight was again magnificent from start to finish, the result was decided on the last lap! The start of the race was under the domination of the BMW M3 GT but they had too many punctures, Ferrari managed to return to the fight and there were countless lead changes before the swift and sound Fisichella Bruni-Kaffer car carved out a slight advantage and kept it until the finish. They crossed the line with 6''6 gap on the Porsche 045. The two Italian drivers claimed a third victory in six races this year, the fourth for Ferrari. "It's a great feeling. The same as when I won in F1,” Fisichella was delighted. “We were convinced we could do it. The car, team, everything was perfect. " With 28 points ahead of BMW now, Ferrari has taken a major step towards the manufacturers title in LM GTE. The 6 Hours of Zhuhai will decide between them.

In LM P2, a solid success for another American team: Level 5 Motorsports, with Honda Performance Development #33 Tucker, Bouchut and Barbosa, but it was the French team Nissan Signatech who won the LM P2 title at the end of the sixth round. Very fast early in the race, Mailleux, Vernay-Ordonez were slowed due to problems with power steering. But they were classified and that was enough to record 11 points and take the 2011 title.
A fourth title was won in this race: that of Teams' LM GTE Am with the second-place of Bornhauser Canal Gardel, acquired in the wake of the Krohn Racing Ferrari (Krohn-Jonsson-Rugolo) victory on home soil allowed the Larbre team to pocket the teams' LM GTE Am. In 2010 Larbre Competition previously won the title in the former ILMC LM GT1 category.

Results of Petit Le Mans : click here
ILMC 2011 Manufacturers positions after Petit Le Mans : click here
ILMC 2011 Teams positions after Petit Le Mans : click here

Xosé Estrada · Oct 2, 2011

The best thing was the 2 laps sprint race from the GTs

Bram Hengeveld · Oct 3, 2011

I really thought that the Porsche would overtake both the Ferrari and the BMW in the final laps after the caution-period. Super close finish

What was your opinion about the Audi vs Peugeot incident? Was Dr Ullrich's reaction a little bit premature?

Xosé Estrada · Oct 3, 2011

I think you can have the impression of the Peugeot moving to the left, but he never did, is more a kind of perception effect considering the straight goes to the left at that point as well.

Xosé Estrada · Oct 20, 2011

For the second year running, the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup season will finish in China on 13[SUP]th[/SUP] November in the Zhuhaï 6 Hours, in which the two-time F1 World Champion Mika Häkkinen will compete! From a sporting point of view, beyond a much sought-after victory on a prime market, the main centre of attention will be the attribution of the manufacturers’ title in LM GTE.

Many people’s eyes will be focused on the no. 96 AMG Mercedes-Benz SLS GT3 on the grid for the Zhuhaï 6 Hours. Not only because it will be the first outing of a car bearing the famous 3-pointed star in an ILMC race (in GTC accepted in China as in 2010), but also because it will be driven by Mika Häkkinen, the F1 World Champion in 1998-1999. The Finn, who won his two titles with the McLaren-Mercedes squad, has maintained strong links with the German make, which has entered this car under the AMG China team banner. Mika will be backed up by German Lance David Arnold and Cong Fu Cheng, the first Chinese driver to have raced in the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2008. Four GTCs (three Audi R8 LMSs and the Mercedes-Benz) plus a Formula Le Mans complete the field of 29 entries for the final round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.

The main sporting challenge in the race is in the LM GTE category. Ferrari will start the Zhuhaï event hoping to win the ILMC manufacturers’ title in this category. So far the Italian cars have had a great season with four wins in six races including three for the Fisichella-Bruni pairing not enough, though, to clinch outright victory in the title chase before the final round in Zhuhaï. Ferrari needs only one point to be crowned and beat BMW, while in the teams’ classification AF Corse has only 14 points in hand over BMW Motorsport.

Mathematically speaking, Peugeot is already assured of winning the championship title in the LM P1 manufacturers’ category (subject to the ACO confirming the results after the Zhuhaï event), and the Lion from Sochaux is determined to continue its winning streak. In fact, the French make has emerged victorious in all the ILMC rounds of the season so far with the notable exception of the Le Mans 24 Hours. For Peugeot as well as for Audi a win in China is of capital importance given what’s at stake in the world’s no. 1 motor car market. The outsiders in the duel between the diesel-engined prototypes will be Aston Martin Racing (3[SUP]rd[/SUP] in the Petit Le Mans on 1[SUP]st[/SUP] October), OAK Racing (3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Silverstone, 11[SUP]th[/SUP] September) with two LM P1s and Rebellion Racing with its Lola-Toyota not forgetting the Japanese entry of a Courage LC70 by Tokai University.

The economic stakes are equally as high for the manufacturers entered in LM GTE. Ferrari, BMW, Lotus, Corvette, Aston Martin and Porsche also have a solid foothold on the Chinese market: recently, the country became the leading importer of Porsches ahead of the United States! That gives an idea, above and beyond the final titles that will be awarded, of the intensity of the battle between the ILMC entrants.

In LM GTE Am, the Larbre Competition Corvette will be under no pressure as it already won the 2011 teams’ title in LM GTE Am at the Petit Le Mans. Obviously, it will be after a prestige victory in China. The same applies to Signatech-Nissan also victorious in the American event, whose sole rival will be the OAK Racing entry following the withdrawal of Level 5 Motorsports.

Entry list