Le Mans24: The 2008 Le Mans 24 Hours preselections

[Plex]

The ACO has officially released the initial list of teams invited to the 2008 edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours. Autocon's confirmation as LMP1 second on the ALMS and the invitation for the FIA-GT top 2 teams per class (as was the case last year) are the two areas where there were still some question marks. As it was the case last year the teams with MC12 Maseratis will need to present an ACO-rules compliant car should they want to participate in the race.

The confirmed list is as follows:

LM P1 :
Audi Sport North America (Winner Le Mans 24 Hours)
Audi Sport North America (ALMS Champion and Petit Le Mans winner)
Team Peugeot TOTAL (2nd Le Mans 24 Hours)
Team Peugeot TOTAL (LMS Champion)
Pescarolo Sport (2nd LMS)
Autocon Motorsport (2nd ALMS)

LM P2 :
Penske Racing (ALMS Champion)
Penske Racing (Winner Petit Le Mans)
Binnie Motorsport (Winner Le Mans 24 Hours)
RML (LMS Champion)
Quifel ASM (2nd LMS)
Barazi Epsilon Sport (2nd Le Mans24 Hours)

LM GT 1 :
Corvette Racing (Winner Petit Le Mans and ALMS Champion)
Corvette Racing (2nd Le Mans 24 Hours)
Oreca (LMS Champion)
Luc Alphand Aventures (2nd LMS)
Vitaphone Racing (FIA GT Champion)
Aston Martin Racing (Winner Le Mans 24 Hours)
Scuderia Playteam Sarafree (2nd FIA GT)

LM GT 2 :
IMSA Performance Matmut (Winner Le Mans 24 Hours)
Risi Competizione (2nd Le Mans 24 Hours)
Risi Competizione (ALMS Champion)
Virgo Motorsport (LMS Champion)
Felbermayr-Proton (2nd LMS)
Flying Lizard Motorsport (Winner Petit Le Mans)
AF Corse ( FIA GT Champion)
BMS Scuderia Italia (2nd FIA GT)

Planetlemans

[Plex]

2008 entry list revealed

Le Mans 24 Hours organisers have revealed the entry list for this year's event, with 20 LMP1 cars due to take the start.

Audi and Peugeot will renew their diesel rivalry with three cars each. Pescarolo will again run two works cars with British customer squad Rollcentre Racing adding a third.

Creation will run one works car and American squad Autocon will bring another. There will be four Courages, two from merged works outfit Oreca and two from Japan with the Terramos and Tokai University squads.

Charouz will enter two Lolas, Chamberlain-Synergy will enter one, and Japanese constructor Dome will bring a single works entry. The final LMP1 entry is from Spanish team turned manufacturer Epsilon Euskadi.

Joan Villadelprat's team, which include ex-Formula One designer Sergio Rinland and ex-Penske and Lola Champ Car designer John Travis, put the finishing touches to their closed-roof EE-LMP1-07 this week.

The LMP2 entries are led by the first appearance at Le Mans of the Porsche RS Spyder. Team Essex and Van Merksteijn Motorsport will bring one each. Speedy Racing Team Sebah will debut its closed-roof Lola in the 12-car class this year.

Aston Martin and Corvette will again go head-to-head for GT1 honours with four cars each, and in GT2, there will be eight Ferraris, three Porsches and two Spykers.

The reserve list contains three more LMP1 cars - Saulnier's Pescarolo and second entries for Creation and Epsilon.

LMP1

1 Audi Sport North America (Joest) Audi R10 TDi
2 Audi Sport North America (Joest) Audi R10 TDi
3 Audi Sport Team Joest - Audi R10 TDi
5 Team ORECA - Courage-ORECA Judd
6 Team ORECA - Courage-ORECA Judd
7 Team Peugeot Total - Peugeot 908 HDi
8 Team Peugeot Total - Peugeot 908 HDi
9 Team Peugeot Sport Total - Peugeot 908 HDi
10 Charouz Racing System - Lola Aston Martin
11 Dome Racing Team - Dome Judd S102
12 Charouz Racing System - Lola Judd
14 Creation Autosportif - Creation AIM CA07
16 Pescarolo Sport - Pescarolo Judd
17 Pescarolo Sport - Pescarolo Judd
18 Rollcentre Racing - Pescarolo Judd
19 Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport Lola AER B06/10
20 Epsilon Euskadi - Epsilon Euskadi Judd
22 Tokai University-YGR Power - Courage-ORECA YGK
23 Autocon - Creation Judd
24 Terramos - Courage Mugen

LMP2

25 RML - Lola MG B05/40
26 Team Bruichladdich Radical - Radical AER SR9
30 Racing Box SRL - Lucchini Judd
31 Team Essex - Porsche RS Spyder
32 Barazi Epsilon - Zytek 07S
33 Speedy Racing Team Sebah - Lola Judd
34 van Merksteijn Motorsport - Porsche RS Spyder
35 Saulnier Racing - Pescarolo Judd
40 Quifel-ASM Team - Lola AER B05/40
41 Trading Performance - Zytek 07S
44 Kruse Schiller Motorsport - Lola Mazda
45 Embassy Racing - Embassy Zytek

GT1

007 Aston Martin Racing - Aston Martin DBR9
009 Aston Martin Racing - Aston Martin DBR9
50 Larbre Competition - Saleen S7R
53 Vitaphone Racing Team - Aston Martin DBR9
55 Interprogressbank Spartak Racing Lamborghini Murcielago
59 Team Modena - Aston Martin DBR9
63 Corvette Racing - Corvette C6.R
64 Corvette Racing - Corvette C6.R
72 Luc Alphand Adventures - Corvette C6.R
73 Luc Alphand Adventures - Corvette C6.R

GT2

76 IMSAPerformance - Porsche 911 GT3-RSR (997)
77 Team Felbermayr-Proton - Porsche 911 GT3-RSR (997)
78 AF Corse - Ferrari F430 GT
80 Flying Lizard Motorsports - Porsche 911 GT3-RSR (997)
81 Tafel Racing - Ferrari F430 GT
82 Risi Competizione - Ferrari F430 GT
83 Risi Competizione - Ferrari F430 GT
85 Spyker Squadron - Spyker C8 Laviolette
90 Farnbacher Racing - Ferrari F430 GT
94 Speedy Racing Team - Spyker C8 Laviolette
96 Virgo Motorsport - Ferrari F430 GT
97 BMS Scuderia Italia - Ferrari F430 GT
99 JMB Racing - Ferrari F430 GT

Reserves

LMP1 Saulnier Racing - Pescarolo Judd
GT1 Interprogressbank Spartak Racing Lamborghini Murcielago
LMP1 Epsilon Euskadi - Epsilon Euskadi Judd
GT2 IMSA Performance - Porsche 911 GT3-RSR (997)
LMP1 Creation Autosportif - Creation AIM CA07
GT2 Spyker Squadron - Spyker C8 Laviolette
GT2 Team Felbermayr-Proton - Porsche 911 GT3-RSR (997)
GT1 Larbre Competition - Saleen S7R

Autosport