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LM 24 Test Day Official photos of cars:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SNKSTmzoA8

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[h=2]Collard reflects on Cadillac's last Prototype program[/h] Wednesday, 14 June 2017


By Stephen Kilbey / Images by LAT archive & FIAWEC

In IMSA's Weathertech Sportscar Championship this season, racing with three Dallara DPis, Cadillac has been dominating, winning each of the five races so far this year with Wayne Taylor Racing in its return to prototype racing. While winning Daytona, Sebring and Long Beach is no mean feat, the GM brand has yet to win the Le Mans 24 Hours – a race which back in the early 2000s, it attempted to do on three occasions.
Of the drivers who competed with DAMS, and Cadillac Northstar from 2000-'02, only Emmanuel Collard is still racing at Le Mans. This year marks his 23rd consecutive Le Mans as a driver, and his return to racing in prototypes after four years away racing GT cars at the French classic.
Originally, Collard was drafted to Cadillac as a factory driver, he thinks, because of his experience racing with Toyota and its GT-One. Collard failed to win Le Mans with Toyota, but the sheer amount of effort behind the scenes by the Japanese marque made its alumni invaluable to aspirant teams once the programmed came to an end at the turn of the century.
In the three years Collard spent with Cadillac, two of them with French team DAMS, his best finish was 12th overall in 2002. And that's because, he feels, they weren't ready.
"I think it was a good program overall," said Collard, "but the shame is that they really stopped it too early, because while the car was really bad early on, it was quite good when they changed to the LMP02, but they stopped after just three years."
The original chassis, was a Riley and Scott, badged the Cadillac Northstar LMP01, with a four-liter, twin-turbo engine. The five cars that raced struggled for results in 2000, coming away with no podiums in its various ALMS, SRWC, GARRC and Le Mans appearances and multiple DNFs.
"They were very passionate, and they did good as a team effort. The problem was that it came and went so quickly," admitted Collard, who later drove with success for the likes of Pescarolo Sport, Petersen White Lightning and AF Corse, teams that have all achieved notable results at La Sarthe.
"You need experience at Le Mans if you want the success, and that was the problem with Cadillac. It's different now in America with their new prototype, but back then it was a struggle to get the car reliable and fast in such a short space of time.
"You can't win unless you keep coming back and improving a car."
Part of the problem was the team's lack of preparation outside of Le Mans week. Collard firmly believes that you need to be out racing and testing frequently if you want to have any chance of winning. That's why the evolution of the car – the LMP02 (pictured, top and at right) designed by Nigel Stroud – failed to beat the Audi R8 in 2002. All its good results – podiums and top five finishes – came after Le Mans that year, in the ALMS.
Audi's challenger meanwhile, was both fast and reliable at Le Mans, and in the end finished 1-2-3 in '02.
"The first year, was really bad. We started with the Riley & Scott chassis the first year, then we switched, and the car was much better," he said. "The main problem in the end was the engine, and the fact that at the point where it looked like a contender, GM decided to focus solely on Corvette.
"We didn't do much testing before Le Mans (in 2002)," Collard added. "I did that a lot with Toyota in the years before I was with them, and was surprised at how different the approach was. With Toyota we did four 30-hour tests before Le Mans, and we still didn't win. That's the sort of thing you need to do if you're targeting one race, though, and they didn't.
"Performance aside, it wasn't quick to service either, not quick enough when compared to the Audis (which could change a gearbox in a matter of minutes). Every time we had a problem it took forever to get out of the garage. Because of this we weren't ever aiming for the win if we were being realistic."
GM's decision to prioritise Corvette's GT program after 2002 paid off, though, as Collard – who eventually drove for Pratt & Miller in 2010 – can attest. Traveling to Europe to race at Le Mans as an American brand is not easy – it's a different racing culture, with a different organizing body, regulations and environment. Corvette, with its eight class wins, has cracked the code, something Cadillac never managed.
"When I got the call from Corvette, with the chance to drive, it was a really easy decision to make; I knew I could jump straight in, as the C6.R was perfect.
"You feel the experience they have when you walk in the garage," he continued, "they prepared so well – and they still do – the car was quick, and everything behind the scenes was perfect. 90 percent of the team seems to be the same as the beginning of the program, too, so they know what to do.
"I lost my contract with Porsche in 2009, very late, and I contacted Corvette and they told me they were full. But two weeks after, Marcel Fassler committed to Audi, something which I doubt he regrets! So, Corvette called me back with an offer. It was one of the best calls I've ever taken."
This weekend, Collard is racing with TDS in LMP2, with its ORECA 07 alongside fellow Frenchman Francois Perrodo and Matthieu Vaxiviere. Cadillac meanwhile, will be watching from afar, while its IMSA drivers Jordan and Ricky Taylor drive in the race for Corvette Racing (above) and Keating Motorsports, respectively.
Will Cadillac be back to finish what it started? At the moment, it seems unlikely, with DPis not welcome at Le Mans; but who can say what the future holds? Who would have bet on Cadillac winning the 2017 Rolex 24 at Daytona a few years ago?
Either way, with the trophy cabinet quickly filling this year, it's clear that Cadillac has learned from the failings of the last time it went racing with prototypes.

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LM24 Tuesday notebook

Wednesday, 14 June 2017


By Stephen Kilbey / Image by Rainier Ehrhardt/LAT

News and notes ahead of this weekend's 85th 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Which Dallara aero kit?


Following the results from the Test Day, a team member of Racing Team Nederland has revealed to RACER that it will try using the high-downforce aero kit on its Dallara P217 during the week to see if quicker lap times are possible. As it stands, the Dutch team, which has Rubens Barrichello, Frits Van Eerd and Jan Lammers in its car (pictured above), has not decided which package it will use in the race.

For Le Mans, it is not mandatory for an LMP2 team to run the low-downforce aero kit which the four chassis manufacturers provide, leaving the door open for teams to try both if they so choose. At the Test Day, the Dallaras were the quickest LMP2s in a straight line, but lost so much time through corners that they were unable to come close to the ORECA 07 Gibsons over a lap.

Asian Le Mans Series on show

This year's Le Mans 24 Hours features the most amount of Asian Le Mans Series entries ever, with 11 taking part in the main race and a further two teams in the Road to Le Mans support race.
To celebrate the growth in the Asian market for the ACO, the teams headed out to the track for a photo call. It also formed part of the series' announcement that it will continue with a four-race calendar in 2017-'18, with the change being a single six-hour race this time among the three other four-hour events.
"To see a record number of Asian Le Mans Series teams here this weekend is really positive, and we expect the number to be higher next year," Cyrille Taesch-Wahlen, Asian Le Mans Series managing director, said. "The motorsport industry in Asia is booming and it is our intention to do whatever we can to help drive this growth even further.
"We are excited to be able to offer our teams the opportunity to make the step up from Asia to the world championship. As the reference endurance racing series for prototypes and GT classes in Asia, we offer the only direct pathway into a world championship and into the world's most significant endurance race – the 24 Hours of Le Mans."
To avoid clashes in the booming Asian market going forward, Taesch-Wahlen has also called for a meeting between the major Asian series' to co-ordinate calendars.

Famous faces
Among the many names present at Le Mans this year, a space in the ACO parking lot has been reserved for F1 CEO Chase Carey, next to Don Panoz – who is set to announce his next Le Mans project this week. Whether this is part of the increasingly cordial relations between the major race organizers and F1, or whether Carey has some sort of honorary role for this year's race is not yet clear.

The current betting for who will take the position as honorary starter, sits with A.J. Foyt, as the 1967 overall Le Mans winner with Ford and IndyCar legend is known to be attending the race, although 1995 F1 world champion Damon Hill is also set to be in attendance. The announcement on who will wave the French flag is set to be made Friday.

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[h=2]Porsche playing cautious with LM24 expectations[/h] Wednesday, 14 June 2017


By Marshall Pruett / Images by Ehrhardt/LAT, Porsche Motorsport

Porsche 919 hybrid team principal Andreas Seidl says the German squad is ready to handle the changes that await the two-car program in Le Mans.
Its family rival from Audi is gone, and its remaining challenger, the highly motivated factory Toyota team, has added a third TS050 Hybrid for the sole purpose of stopping Porsche's winning streak. The subtraction of one competitor and amplification of another, according to Seidl, has not influenced how the back-to-back Le Mans winners will go about their business in France.


"For sure it is a shame that Audi is not there anymore, but in the end, that's history," he told RACER. "We have to look for the future and in terms of the approach for us as a team, it didn't change really anything. Our task is to build a race-winning car, and now the competition is Toyota.
"For sure, with them bringing three cars, based on the statistics, their chances are good. But on the other hand, our decision was clear that we stay on two cars and it is just extra motivation for us to do good."
Porsche's 919 Hybrid was a rocket on its introduction to Le Mans in 2014, and has received non-stop chassis, engine, hybrid system and aerodynamic developments throughout its lifespan. Although everything about the car has been replaced by new ideas and componentry, the same basic layout, using a 2.0-liter turbocharged V4 with dual energy recovery systems has been maintained.
Making giant leaps with the 919 Hybrid has, in Seidl's estimation, become a greater challenge with each return to Le Mans, but Porsche Motorsport managed to find more speed and power entering the 24 Hour.
"The revelations and the steps you make year by year are getting smaller," he said. "But at the same time, looking at the improvements we made on our side, over the winter there were still surprisingly breaks. We made a huge step on the combustion engine for this year, and we also found again improvements on the same old areas of the car – basics like aerodynamics, suspensions and so on.
Just as Porsche's engineers and designers have kept pushing to make technological breakthroughs with its LMP1s, Toyota has also been busy with its newer TS050 Hybrids. The best 919 Hybrid was a full 3.3 seconds behind the fastest TS050 Hybrid at the official Le Mans test earlier this month, which could position Porsche as an underdog for the first time since its return to the class.

"So, again looking at our car, we made a big step over the winter, but unfortunately, we have a competitor that might also beat that," Seidl said. "Looking at the tests, it's aggressive what Toyota did, but it was only the pretest so far and it's a long race week. Starting Wednesday, it's another long race, so we have to see how that turns out."
It would be impolite to suggest the Porsche team ran at anything less than 100 percent of the 919 Hybrid's maximum capabilities at the test. It would also be foolish to think the 3.3-second gap to Toyota will stand once the first round of qualifying arrives Wednesday night.
"We were focusing fully on the race preparation in the pretest, not going for any qualifying," he said. "For sure will go quicker again. We go through all the data we collected in the pretest and for sure we are still working on further improvements of the car. [It's] the same as well as for Toyota, so again it is difficult to judge it at the moment."
Changes on the driver side have also take place within the Porsche team since it won Le Mans 12 months ago. Reigning WEC LMP1 champion and Le Mans winner Neel Jani welcomes ex-Audi driver and Le Mans winner André Lotterer and Porsche's 2015 Le Mans winner Nick Tandy into the No. 1 919 Hybrid after Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb were transitioned out of the program.

After WEC LMP1 world champion Mark Webber retired, Porsche brought 2015 Le Mans winner Earl Bamber back into the prototype fold to join Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley in the No. 2 919 Hybrid, and from Seidl's viewpoint, the 50 percent turnover since 2016 won't be an issue.
"I definitely think one of our strong points would be this year that we have a very, very strong driver line-up," he said. "Performance of each these guys is quite equal and at the top level, and obviously that's something which is very important and throughout the 24 hours. In terms of the new guys coming in, obviously it's very interesting if you get a guy like Andre on board, with all this experience he has especially at Le Mans and his record that he has under his belt already, three times winner of this race. Plus, he has a lot of experience with another top competitor over many, many years.
"It took him some time to get used to our car, which is a bit of a different beast compared to the Audi he was used to, but we have seen now he's fully familiar with the car, with team. I think we can expect a lot from him also and together with Nick Tandy, who has shown in 2015 what he is able to do, and another strong guy came in, Earl, who has also shown this in 2015, they will be one of the key factors regarding our success this year."
Porsche's quest for three straight Le Mans wins is set with a solid car, star drivers and a stellar team ready to work around the clock on pit lane. The same can be said of the Toyota team, which makes this fight – a simplified one-on-one battle – worth following.
"It is a long race, 24 hours and everything can happen, and this is how we approach it," Seidl said. "We will try hard again, and everyone wants to win it three times in a row. We will give it all again, but we know also we will have a very, very strong competitor, who is desperate to win it finally."

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[h=2]Lime Rock Park honors Le Mans winner Richard Attwood[/h] Thursday, 15 June 2017


RACER Staff / Image by Revs Digital Library

Richard Attwood's storied racing career now includes being tapped as Honored Guest at Lime Rock Park Historic Festival 35.
Attwood, who steered a Lola Mk5a to victory in the 1963 Monaco Grand Prix Formula Junior support race, will take to the 1.5-mile Lime Rock Park course in celebration of the Historic Festival's hosting of the Formula Junior Diamond Jubilee World Tour. Upward of 40 Formula Juniors from around the world led by Formula Junior Historic Racing Association chairman Duncan Rabagliati will mark the Organization's as well as Lime Rock Park's 60th anniversaries.
Attwood will put a Holman Ford GT40 brought by Lee Holman, Holman & Moody of Charlotte, North Carolina, to the paces in demo laps over the weekend. Recently built from original mid-1960s monocoque and all-original in-period parts, the car tips its hat to Attwood and Sir John Whitmore being the sole drivers to compete in the one-off open version of the Ford GT40, which they raced at the 1965 Nürburgring 1000km.
Circuit de la Sarthe is the track most associated with Attwood who clinched the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans behind the wheel of a Porsche 917 with co-driver Hans Herrmann. He also saw success in Formula One and Formula Two outings in the 1960s.
Lime Rock Park Historic Festival 35 presented by the Prestige Family of Fine Cars brings three days of historic racing on September 1, 2 and 4; registration is open here. The September 3 Sunday in the Park Concours d'Elegance and Gathering of the Marques punctuates the annual Labor Day weekend event. Click here for further information.

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LM24 i week, 5,000 tires
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ubF2jxeOwM

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LM24 2017 VLOG part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGWnAcCeDaw

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24H OF LE MANS 2017 VLOG PART 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW8semgJ16g

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LM24 video: Tony Kanaan's third report for RACER

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6cTAM2FOgg
Thursday June 15

Ford Chip Ganassi Racing's Tony Kanaan didn't have much to say after his No. 68 Ford GT team struggled in qualifying, but he still delivered his daily Le Mans report for RACER by bringing us to the dinner table with Rubens Barrichello and Scott Dixon.

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[h=2]Gavin, Milner credit IMSA experience with LM24 preparation[/h] Thursday, 15 June 2017


By IMSA Wire Service / Image JEP/LAT

Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin know what it takes to win. They've certainly done a reasonable amount of it over the past couple of years.

Two years ago, they won the GTE Pro class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, sharing the No. 64 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R with another WeatherTech Championship regular, Jordan Taylor.


Last year, they won the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida. They also won at Lime Rock Park – which was the historic 100th victory for the Corvette Racing program – and at Road America. All that winning, along with some other solid results throughout the season, made them champions of the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class in the 2016 WeatherTech Championship.

Already this year, they've got another win, the BUBBA burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach in April, but they're hungry for more. They want to win Le Mans again this weekend, which would be the ninth at the Circuit de la Sarthe for Corvette Racing, and they'll go for it with co-driver Marcel Fassler in the familiar, Velocity Yellow No. 64 C7.R.

They think they've got a good shot, too, by virtue of the preparation they get on a regular basis by competing in the WeatherTech Championship.

"The IMSA championship is so competitive," says Milner, a two-time winner at Le Mans. "It's a really good place for us to hone our skills and make sure that we're all on top of our game, because we need every bit of it here at Le Mans. Certainly, the success we had last year with the car in IMSA, that rolls a little bit into the momentum coming into Le Mans."

Of course, Milner and Gavin aren't alone in representing IMSA at Le Mans. They've got their own teammates in the No. 63 Corvette, Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen – who currently lead the WeatherTech Championship GTLM standings with a pair of victories this season – along with Jordan Taylor, who joins the No. 63 team this weekend after dominating the WeatherTech Championship Prototype class throughout the first half of the season alongside brother Ricky Taylor in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R.

They've also got competition in the pair of full-time WeatherTech Championship Ford GTs and the Risi Competizione Ferrari that they race all year, as well as several familiar faces in the cockpit of the Porsche 911s in the GTE Pro class.

"It's kind of nice to see so many IMSA faces here, because you race them in the U.S., so you get to know how they drive," says Gavin, who owns five victories at the Circuit de la Sarthe. "You learn certain styles and how aggressive some guys are. You get to know the guys who will give you respect. Someone like Patrick Pilet (the 2015 GTLM champion Porsche racer), you know will give you respect, while some other guys you have to be more careful with."

Milner added a few more familiar names that he's looking forward to battling at Le Mans.

"We have a good battle with some of our teammates; with (Ford GT drivers) Richard Westbrook, and for me as well with Joey Hand and Dirk Mueller from our BMW days. There's a good rivalry there for sure.

"You can't get away from Chevy versus Ford. That'll live on as long as there are cars on the street. Last year, Ford had a really fast car and we're working hard to catch up to them and see if we can give them a race this year."

In Wednesday night's first qualifying session, both Corvettes slotted in just behind Pilet's No. 91 Porsche and ahead of both of the U.S.-based Ford GTs. Final qualifying takes place this evening, so it remains to be seen where they'll land on the final starting grid. But as Milner points out, reliability is nearly equal in importance to speed at Le Mans, and he's confident in the team's preparation.

"As long as I've been with Corvette, we haven't done a specific 24-hour test," he explains. "We oftentimes will run our stuff a long time over multiple tests. Items are proven over 24 hours. You see the value in doing a single 24-hour test, but over the years, here at Le Mans, our reliability has been really strong."

The other key, says Gavin, is managing traffic on the nearly eight-and-a-half-mile long circuit. This year, the introduction of new LM P2 race cars brings an added dynamic alongside the LM P1 cars.

"You fall into a routine with the traffic in IMSA, but here, the speed differential between us and the P2 cars is massive," he says. "It's almost like having 30 P1 cars on track. You've got to be on your game and not take your eye off the radar system.

"Places like the Esses into Tertre Rouge, last year, if a P2 car was behind you, it wouldn't try to pass you unless it was a really fast guy. Now, any P2 car can pass you there, because they have the power to do it.

"In some ways, it makes it a little easier, because you're not around one another for too long, but you still have to be aware of the closing speeds and know where they're going to go. You've got to be really on your game. There's no chance for relaxing."

The 24 Hours of Le Mans starts at 9 a.m. ET on Saturday, June 17. FOX Sports and Radio Le Mans will offer live coverage throughout the race.