RML AD Group | Paul Ricard Official ACO Test Information

High Tech, High Speed testing

Full entry list

An impressive list of some 40 cars is entered for the season-opening ACO test at the equally impressive Paul Ricard "High Tech Test Track" at Le Castellet in the south of France.

Paul Ricard ACO Test 2010 - Photo: Marcus Potts / CMC Many of the most significant names in the Le Mans Series, and teams with entries confirmed for the Le Mans 24 Hours, are present in the paddock - although one or two are also notably absent, including the factory Peugeot squad and Audi. In LMP1, interest may be focused on the two-car Rebellion entry, as the team will be showing off the new-for-2010 Lola B10/60 for the first time. These cars are likely to vie with the Beechdean Ginetta Zytek in the paddock as well as on track, since the Rebellion coupés are rumoured to have a couple of very famous names on board for the Sunday test, perhaps eclipsing even Nigel Mansell, who shares "red 5" with his sons Leo and Greg. The Oreca privateer Peugeot 908 may give some indication of the comparative pace of the diesels, but no sign of Kolles, raising further speculation that the privateer Audis may not appear this year.

RML AD Group at Paul Ricard ACO Test 2010 - Photo: Marcus Potts / CMC LMP2 is bolstered by the arrival of six of the Oreca-built Formula Le Mans chassis. It will be interesting to see how these compare with the regular P2 competitors. Pre-event speculation is already picking out three amongst these as likely front-runners; last year's champions, the ASM Quifel Ginetta Zytek; the new-to-LMP2 Strakka Racing ARX-01 and, after the team's switch away from turbocharged engines, the RML AD Group's B08/80 coupé. Both these last two are fitted with the HPD 3.4 litre naturally aspirated LM-V8, which comes with an impressive reputation after a near-faultless run in the ALMS, securing all LMP2 titles for Fernandez Racing in 2009. Others expected to show well are the two Racing Box Lolas, which started 2009 so strongly. All that said, the category is expected to be one of the most tightly contested of any this year, and almost any of the ten P2 cars testing at Paul Ricard could post class-topping times.

An unexpectedly strong group of five GT1 competitors - more than have been entered for the full LMS season - can be attributed to those teams with confirmed 24 Hour entries hoping to fine-tune their set-ups for a fast circuit. Only one, the Larbre Saleen, is expected to be a series regular.

While the FIA GT2 world championship concept has been postponed for a year, following a poor take-up on entries, the Le Mans Series continues to attract the cream of GT2 competition. A dozen, cars, some piloted by some very famous names, confirm that the appeal of this closely-fought class continues to draw in the big guns. The Ferraris continue to dominate, numerically at least, but Porsche has upped the game over the winter with some new developments, and the appearance of the works-supported Schnitzer BMW is an encouraging sign of wider manufacturer interest.

	No.	Class	Tyre	Team	Drivers	Car
1	008	LMP1	M	Signature Plus	Pierre Ragues Frank Mailleux	Lola Aston Martin
2	009	LMP1	M	Aston Martin Racing	Harold Primat Chris Buncombe Adrian Fernandez Darren Turner Stefan Mücke	Lola Aston Martin
3	4	LMP1	M	Team Oreca Matmut	Olivier Panis Nicolas Lapierre Loic Duval	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP
4	5	LMP1	D	Beechdean Mansell	Nigel Mansell Leo Mansell Greg Mansell	Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S-Zytek
5	6	LMP1	D	Team Oreca Matmut	Soheil Ayari	Oreca 01-AIM
6	12	LMP1	M	Rebellion Racing	Nicolas Prost Neel Jani Marco Andretti	Lola B10/60 Coupé-Rebellion
7	13	LMP1	M	Rebellion Racing	Andrea Belicchi Jean-Christophe Boullion Guy Smith	Lola B10/60 Coupé-Rebellion
8	24	LMP2	D	Oak Racing	Richard Hein Jacques Nicolet	Pescarolo-Judd
9	25	LMP2	D	RML	Tommy Erdos Mike Newton Andy Wallace	Lola HPD Coupé
10	27	LMP2	D	Race Performance	Michel Frey Ralph Meichtry	Radical SR9 -Judd
11	29	LMP2	P	Racing Box	Piergiuseppe Perazzini Marco Cioci	Lola B09 Coupé-Judd
12	30	LMP2	P	Racing Box	Luca Pirri Jesus Diego Villarroel	Lola B09 Coupé-Judd
13	35	LMP2	D	Oak Racing	Matthieu Lahaye Guillaume Moreau	Pescarolo-Judd
14	39	LMP2	D	KSM	Jean De Pourtales Jonathon Hirschi Stéphane Lemeret	Lola B08/47-Judd
15	40	LMP2	D	Quifel-ASM Team	Miguel Amaral Olivier Pla Warren Hughes	Ginetta-Zytek 09S-Zytek
16	41	LMP2	D	Team Bruichladdich	Karim Oijeh Jacob Greaves Thor-Chrsitian Ebbesvik	Ginetta-Zytek 09S-Zytek
17	42	LMP2	M	Strakka Racing	Nick Leventis Danny Watts Jonny Kane	HPD ARX-01
18	43	LMP2	M	DAMS	Gary Chalandon Andrea Barlesi Alessandro Cicognani Laurens Vanthoor	Formula Le Mans-Oreca 09
19	44	LMP2	M	DAMS	Guillaume Bermond Nelson Pantiatici Dean Stirling	Formula Le Mans-Oreca 09
20	45	LMP2	M	Boutsen Energy Racing	Dominik Kraihamer Nicolas De Crem	Formula Le Mans-Oreca 09
21	46	LMP2	M	JMB Racing	Peter Kutemann Maurice Basso	Formula Le Mans-Oreca 09
22	47	LMP2	M	Hope Polevision Racing	Steve Zacchia	Formula Le Mans
23	48	LMP2	M	Hope Polevision Racing	Mathias Beche Christophe Pillon	Formula Le Mans
24	50	GT1	M	Larbre Competition	Gabriel Gardel Patrice Goueslard Julien Canal	Saleen S7R
25	52	GT1	M	Young Driver AMR	Tomas Enge Christoffer Nygaard Peter Kox	Aston Martin DBR9
26	61	GT1	M	Matech Competition	Thomas Mutsch Natach Gachnang Cindy Allemann Rahel Frey Enrique Bernoldi	Ford GT
27	68	GT1	M	Marc VDS Racing Team	Renaud Kuppens Markus Palttala	Ford GT
28	70	GT1	M	Marc VDS Racing Team	Bas Leinders Maxime Martin Eric De Donker	Ford GT
29	75	GT2	M	Prospeed Competition	Marco Holzer	Porsche 997 GT3 RSR
30	76	GT2	M	IMSA Performance Matmut	Raymond Narac Patrick Pilet	Porsche 997 GT3 RSR
31	77	GT2	M	Team Felbermayr Proton	Marc Lieb Richard Lietz	Porsche 997 GT3 RSR
32	78	GT2	D	BMW Team Schnitzer	Jörg Müller Dirk Werner	BMW M3
33	87	GT2	M	IMSA Performance Matmut	Richard Balandras Pascal Gibon Christophe Bourret	Porsche 997 GT3 RSR
34	89	GT2	H	Hankook-Team Farnbacher	Dominik Farnbacher Allan Simonsen	Ferrari F430 GT
35	90	GT2	M	CRS Racing	Pierre Ehret Phil Quaife Pierre Kaffer	Ferrari F430 GT
36	91	GT2	M	CRS Racing	Andrew Kirkaldy Tim Mullen Nicola Larini	Ferrari F430 GT
37	92	GT2	D	JMW Motorsport	Rob Bell Richard Westbrook Tim Sugden	Aston Martin V8 Vantage
38	94	GT2	M	AF Corse	Luis Perez Companc Matias Russo	Ferrari F430 GT
39	95	GT2	M	AF Corse	Giancarlo Fisichella Toni Vilander Jean Alesi	Ferrari F430 GT
40	96	GT2	M	AF Corse	Gianmaria Bruni Jaime Melo	Ferrari F430 GT

The Circuit

The plan of the circuit below shows the principal corners and the configuration to be used for the Le Mans Series test. This will include the whole uninterrupted length of the Mistral Straight. Clicking the image below will access a full circuit plan (in black and white) at high resolution. If you would prefer this as an EPS file, please request that we email you a copy. Any use elsewhere must be acknowledged. Please note that this plan does now include the revised pitlane exit and new garage section, intended to be completed in time for the Paul Ricard 8 Hours in April.

The same view from Google Earth . . .

Click on the image above for a higher resolution image, or use this link to access the Google Earth location directly.