The Formula Le Mans cars out to shine in the Portimao night!
The Portimao race course in the Algarve will host the third round of the Le Mans Series. All the teams will be champing at the bit to get out there and go at it hammer and tongs when the race starts at 17h00 (local time). They will tackle the demanding Portuguese track, which is a kind of motor sport roller coaster. The Team ORECA-Matmut and its Peugeot 908 HDi FAP will start the race as the hot favourite. In the FLM category, predicting whether DAMS, Hope PoleVision Racing or Applewood Seven will make the break in the championship in the first night race in which the seven European FLMs are competing, would be a hazardous exercise.
The FLM drivers are hungry for battle and the seven Oreca-FLM 09 prototypes, which will be entered by the five teams in the 2010 FLM Cup, will race alongside the other 26 cars in the LM P1, LM P2, LM GT1 and LM GT2 categories.
DAMS has entered two FLMs
As its team manager, Loïc David, promised DAMS is again entering a second Oreca-FLM09 in the Portuguese round for an English driver line-up, Jody Firth and his mentor, Warren Hughes, who will share the no. 44 FLM. After driving an LM P2 together in the 2009 Silverstone 1000 kms, the two Brits will find themselves in the thick of the intense battle raging between the FLMs this season in the Le Mans Series races.
In the other DAMS entry, no.43, Gary Chalandon will bring his Le Mans 24-Hours experience to his team-mates, Andrea Barlesi and Alessandro Cicognani. Their aim is another podium finish after the one on the Le Castellet circuit in April. DAMS, the reigning FLM champion, is out to get back in the title hunt after a number of race incidents that compromised the Sarthe-based team’s start to the season.
Hope PoleVision Racing has called up the 2009 Champion, Nico Verdonck
Hope PoleVision Racing, the current FLM Championship leader with no.47, which won at Spa, has taken advantage of the break to reshuffle its driver line-ups. Frenchman Olivier Lombard has replaced Wolfgang Kaufmann, and Nico Verdonck , Spa pole setter, will drive alongside Christophe Pillon and Vincent Capillaire in no. 48. The Swiss team will be out to add another victory to its laurels in the Algarve, and has stacked all the odds in its favour by giving cars and drivers a 2-day test session on the Paul Ricard HTTT circuit on 8th and 9th July.
Mathias Beche joins Applewood Seven
Mathias Beche has joined Applewood Seven after his one-off drive in GT1 for Matech Competition in the Spa 1000 kms. Damien Toulemonde will share the no.49 FLM with the Swiss, runner-up in the 2009 FLM Championship. Before Portimao, Beche drove for the Hope PoleVision Racing team, and his presence in the Applewood Seven squad will help compensate for the absence of David Zollinger.
Boutsen Energy Racing will also be out to mix it with the front-runners. After their second place at Spa, Nicolas de Crem, Bernard Delhez and Dominik Kraihamer are determined to go one better in the no. 45 FLM in Portugal.
And finally, in a race in which anything can happen, the consistency and the complimentarity of the driver line-up will be the strong points of the no. 46 FLM entered by JMB (Jean-Michel Bouresche’s squad).
The Automobile Club de l’Ouest confirms the FLMs in the 2011 Le Mans Series!
During the Le Mans 24-Hours week, the ACO announced the 2011 regulations and Pierre Fillon, ACO Vice President, stated that the Formula Le Mans would still be racing in 2011. Oreca has already received several enquiries from teams interested in entering them next year. The FLMs have become one of the vital steps in the endurance ladder over the past 2 years. They provide ideal access to endurance racing, as much for young drivers as for new teams hungry to discover the sport and, of course, the Le Mans 24 hours.
Weekend schedule (local time)
Free practice: Friday 16th July, 12h00-13h30, 17h00-18h00 and 21h30 – 23h00 (night practice)
Qualifying: Saturday 17th July, 09h50 – 10h10 (GT), and 10h20 – 10h40 (Protos)
Race: Saturday 17th July, 17h00-23h00, 215 laps
