Five Formula Le Mans see the flag crowned with a top-10 finish!
In the wake of the Peugeot 908s, Aston Martin, the Porsche RS spyder , HPD, Ferrari and BMW, the six Oreca FLM prototypes entered in the new LMPC category (Le Mans Prototype Challenge), had a successful first outing on American soil in the Sebring 12 Hours won by Peugeot.
Credit : Julie Sueur
Five of the six Oreca FLM 09 prototypes saw the chequered flag at the end of twelve hours in an incident-packed race. The FLMs lasted the pace in their first long-distance challenge in the thick of the no-holds-barred battle between the major manufacturers. The category victory, and a great tenth place overall, went to one of the two Team Level 5 cars entered by Scott Tucker, in one of the toughest races in motor sport together with the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Credit : Julie Sueur
Two former Le Mans winners, Andy Wallace (1988) and Christophe Bouchut (1993) were entered alongside less experienced endurance drivers, and it was the Frenchman’s driver line-up (Bouchut-Wilkins-Tucker) who won scoring the first LMPC category victory in the ALMS.
When qualifying ended, five LMPCs were covered by under a second, which promised a hotly-contested race. After a thrilling start in which the two FLMs of Team Level 5 opened up a slight gap over the Genoa Racing and Green Earth Team Gunnar cars, a few off-line excursions and penalties decided the order by half distance. The FLMCs made a very impressive debut in endurance racing thanks to their reliability and their robustness. The battle in the LMPC category provided that bit of extra spectacle to the delight of motor sport and endurance aficionados.
Credit : Julie Sueur
This result bodes well for the ALMS and LMS Championships, especially the coming Le Castellet 8 Hours in which the same number of Formula Le Mans cars is expected from teams based in Europe. The American FLMs will be back on the track a week later in the second round of the ALMS Championship on the tricky Long Beach circuit in Californian sunlight.
