SuperEnduroBlog.com wrote:LMP – The Runners and Riders
Mont Blanc Racing (FRA) – Mont Blanc-Nissan MB1
#3 – Raffaele Modena (ITA), Nicolas Lapierre (FRA) and Loïc Duval (FRA)
#24 – Randall Wade (USA), Vic Sunset (USA) and Ragnar Larsen (SWE)
Mont Blanc had a very strong 2018 which peaked with a shock win at Spa-Francorchamps at the hands of Dennis Mignolet. Unfortunately for the French outfit, Mignolet made tracks in the off-season and signed for Jones – leaving Vic Sunset as the sole remaining driver. With this setback, Mont Blanc turned back the clock to their Le Mans Cup line-up and re-signed Larsen and Wade to join the American. Being an all-silver team will cause the #24 issues in comparison to the huge manufacturer backed cars – but sometimes being just outside of the leaders can be a godsend if things get a bit hairy with the big guns.
Touring car specialist Modena is joined by two Frenchmen with a vast history of endurance races in Lapierre and Duval and as such should not be counted out for the occasional podium.
Media Prediction: 8th
ByKolles Racing (AUT) – CLM-AER P1/02
#4 – Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA), Deividas Lukauskis (LTU), Josef Kral (CZE), Christian Klien (AUT) and Adrian Sutil (GER)
#9 – Simon Trummer (SUI), James Rossiter (GBR) and Narain Karthikeyan (IND)
The Austro-Romanian team appears to be operating a revolving door policy with its #4 car this season, with at least five drivers set to take the wheel of the CLM over the course of the year. The ByKolles driver recruitment seems to be stemming from familiarity – with a vast majority of the personnel having had some connection to Colin Kolles at some stage. As usual, we can expect the ByKolles team to occupy the lower half of the class standings.
Media Prediction: 10th
Jones Racing Group (GBR) – Jones-Bentley 116
#5 – Sammy Jones (GBR), Esteban Ocon (FRA) and Luke Gilson-Clarke (FKL)
#55 – Dennis Mignolet (BEL), Connor O’Heagan (IRL) and Gretchen Suarez (USA)
Jones Racing Group joins in with Bentley’s centennial celebrations by running the famous big blower engines in their new 116 chassis. In the off-season, they managed to poach last year’s fourth place driver Dennis Mignolet to lead a squad that features two of Jones’ young driver prodigies in O’Heagan and Gilson-Clarke, Formula One refugee Esteban Ocon and former Valerian racer Gretchen Suarez. Team principal and Grand Prix veteran Sammy Jones also lines up in the team, aiming to have a great showing in his eponymous car.
Much like the manufacturer effort, results will hinge on the reliability of the Bentley engine.
Media Prediction: 9th
Team Bentley (GBR) – Bentley Century LM Edition
#6 – André Lotterer (GER), Timo Scheider (GER), Sandra Yoo (GER) and Kay Lon (GER)
#100 – Calvin Brooks (CAN), Jenson Button (GBR) and Asim Adhikari (NPL)
An internal battle with VAG stablemates Audi will be a big talking point for the British marque who’ll be celebrating their centenary year with a continuation of their prototype programme from 2018. If the Bentleys can keep ticking over, they will be a formidable force – but reliability is definitely a concern for the outfit.
2018’s pairing of Brooks and Adhikari remain a part of the package for this season, whilst being joined by former Grand Prix ace Jenson Button - whom would’ve been a perfect fit for the famous ‘Bentley Boys’ in the 1920s. Meanwhile, the #6 features an all-German lineup of Lotterer, Scheider and Yoo – with controversial playboy Kay Lon taking Yoo’s place at Le Mans. Bentley finished second in the Teams championship last year – but the grid appears to have moved on since then.
Media Prediction: 6th
Rebellion Racing (SUI) – Rebellion-AER R-Two
#12 – Mathéo Tuscher (SUI), Gustavo Menezes (USA) and Esteban Gutierrez (MEX)
#13 – Stephane Richelmi (MON), Alexandre Imperatori (SUI) and Richie Stanaway (NZL)
The Rebellion squad has long held the position of being the “best of the rest” in prototype racing and this could be set to continue if weather comes into play, as Rebellion were the only LMP team to select the Falken tyre optimised for wet weather running. As usual, Rebellion appear to have a decent if conservative chassis at their disposal but it remains to be seen whether the AER engine can match this.
Gustavo Menezes is the only silver-rated driver (himself being a LMP2 winner) in a line-up which boasts several class wins at Le Mans and elsewhere – meaning that we have a good chance of hearing the Swiss anthem if the rain begins to pour.
Media Prediction: 7th
Nissan Motorsports (JPN) – Nissan R393
#22 – Benoît Tréluyer (FRA), David Koczo (HUN) and Frank van Nifterick (NED)
#23 – Hagane Shizuka (JPN), Ron Mignolet (BEL) and Simon Redman (AUS)
The defending Prototype champions from 2018 face an uphill struggle if they plan on retaining the title this year with a much wider field to compete against – but as always, it’s a brave man who counts a Voeckler-engineered car out. Ron Mignolet and Hagane Shizuka stick with the Japanese team and are joined by former ALMS champion Simon Redman. GT ace Frank van Nifterick steps up into a major manufacturer effort for the first time and is joined by F1RWRS pioneer David Koczo and Le Mans veteran Tréluyer.
Sheer experience of the lineups should see that the Nissan is fighting until the very end – if not champions.
Media Prediction: 2nd
Lotto Racing (BEL) – Gibson-NISMO 015S
#41 – Stefan Kuntz (GER), Aurelien Moll (BEL) and Antonio Felix da Costa (POR)
#68 – Leonardo Pulcini (ITA), Rui Onorio (KIR) and Miguel Rocha (POR)
The Belgian-Portuguese coalition roll their way into the FIA EC for a second crack at endurance glory after a consistent if unremarkable 2018. Kuntz, Onorio and Rocha are retained from last year’s lineups and are joined by former Marussia pilot Antonio Felix da Costa, Gillet ENB refugee Aurelien Moll and young Italian charger Leonardo Pulcini.
Many see the #41 as a potential contender for the odd podium if the conditions are right and everything goes their way, but I wouldn’t put much hope in the #68 car – which appears to be purely making up the numbers.
Media Prediction: 4th
Audi Sport Joest Racing (GER) – Audi R15 TDI plus
#42 – Marcel Fässler (SUI), James James Davies (GBR) and Akinori Kikkawa (JPN)
#78 – Laurent Gauthier (FRA), Jacob Tucker (USA) and Kimi Raikkonen (FIN)
The big dogs of prototype racing will be out to prove that this is still their yard in 2019 – but face a scrap with the ‘Bentley Boys’ which could bring back memories of the early 2000s for some fans.
Speaking of the early 2000s, former Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen makes his long-awaited return to high level racing this year with Audi – having spent the last few years in the racing wildnerness. The Finn will be joined by the former Gauthier-Renault pairing of Laurent Gauthier and Jacob Tucker, whom took third in SARS in 2016. Outspoken Brit James James Davies also makes his Audi debut this season, joining the combination of multiple Le Mans winner Marcel Fässler and former SARS champion Akinori Kikkawa. Even if Audi don’t make their form count on track – expect them to dominate the motorsport press.
Media Prediction: 5th
Garage 59 McLaren Racing International (GBR) – McLaren MP4-31 LM
#58 – Nick Tandy (GBR), Alvaro Parente (POR) and Rob Bell (GBR)
#59 – Stefan Muecke (GER), Patrick Pilet (FRA) and Frederic Makowiecki (FRA)
McLaren make their long awaited return to motorsport after their financial collapse in the 2014 off-season with the help of the omnipresent Commonwealth Group. The Woking squad have a strong pedigree in endurance racing, winning the Le Mans 24hr in the mid-1990s and will be looking to continue that success in 2019.
The driving personnel is reflective of the marque’s customer GT programme - with the likes of Parente, Makowiecki and Bell all finding success in various national and international GT series. Tandy and Muecke should be expected to lead their respective garages by virtue of having the most Prototype experience in their lineups, but it shouldn’t take long for the rest to catch up.
Media Prediction: 3rd
BMW Efficiency Dynamics JLD Motorsport (GER) - BMW-Oreca 08
#73 – Laurens Vanthoor (BEL), Shane Van Gisbergen (NZL) and Earl Bamber (NZL)
#74 – Anita Horford (USA), Laurindo Coelho (POR) and Evgeny Restov (RUS)
JLD and BMW set the early pace at the start of 2018 by winning last year’s Daytona enduro – but failed to capitalise on any of this initial success after the opening round and finished an embarrassingly low eighth place in the teams standings. However, much of the focus in the second half of the season shifted to their 2019 challenger and it appears the gamble has paid off – with the Oreca 08 seemingly the car to beat if testing form is to be believed.
The #73 is definitely the strongest car of the two – with BMW picking up two Porsche refugees in Vanthoor and Bamber to drive alongside Bathurst 12 hour and V8 Supercar champion Shane Van Gisbergen. In the other car, Horford and Coelho are retained from last season and are joined by former Ferrari and Sauber pilot Evgeny Restov. Vanthoor and Bamber have raced together as a pairing for the past few years, so this partnership should work well and gives JLD the best chance at picking up the trophy.
Media Prediction: 1st
De Baar Racing Technology (NED) – De Baar-AER GT01X
#76 – Andrea Battani (ITA), Diego Mauricio Batistuta (ARG) and Micko Glotch (GER)
#076 – Mika Paasonen (FIN), Deiter Hallenstein (GER) and Anthony North (GBR)
De Baar’s choice of drivers are somewhat of an eclectic mix with one fairly decent car in the #76 and one bang average car in the confusingly numbered #076 car.
North, Paasonen and Hallenstein – like some of the other minnows of LMP come into this championship with a decent chunk of sportscar experience but have seemingly sat on the sidelines for the better part of two years, meaning there will be a lot of rust to shake off.
Battani (the team’s only Gold rated driver), Batistuta and Glotch definitely have the potential to upset the order in a race of attrition but I wouldn’t expect much more than a handful of top ten finishes from the Dutch outfit.
Media Prediction: 11th
Scuderia Adriatica powered by Subaru (ITA) - Adriatica-Subaru SAS19-01
#94 – Paul di Resta (GBR), Jamie Green (GBR) and Neel Jani (SUI)
#95 – Mark Webber (AUS), Edoardo Mortara (ITA) and Kazuki Nakajima (JPN)
In terms of driver line-up – few teams are as star-studded as the folks at Scuderia Adriatica. However, Adriatica’s season - like many teams opting for left-field engine suppliers – will likely be defined by how well the Subaru unit can hold up against the more established manufacturers. The Boxer engine is reportedly well down on power compared to the majority of the class, which will not be good news for any of the megastars that the Japanese manufacturer has bankrolled. Expect these to be knocking around the bottom end of the sheets – if they finish at all.
Media Prediction: 12th
Equipe Fantomette (FRA) – Fantomette-Hart FM19
#444 – Stephanie Brown (USA), Christian Fittipaldi (BRA) and Martin Tomczyk (GER)
#445 – Daniel Wenroth (BRA), Kieth Remedios (CRC) and Dinah Lance (USA)
Fantomette face an absolutely dreadful season if the rumours about their woefully underpowered Hart power unit are found to be true. Severe doubt has to also be cast on the points-scoring potential of their driver choices as well, with only Fittipaldi and Tomczyk the standout names in a fairly underwhelming stable. Brown, Lance, Wenroth and Remedios have all carved out a very small following for their exploits in Touring Cars and Endurance racing but when push comes to shove – these drivers are no more notable than the most anonymous of GTE AM drivers.
The horrific engine and uninspiring driver selections mean that many cannot see these fighting for much more than the wooden spoon.
Media Prediction: 13th