The picture should become much clearer by Sunday evening: until then, maybe even until June, the picture is a little confusing. Why’s that then?
It becomes more important for the smaller teams to make a statement about their pace than it does for the likes of the Goh Audi and the Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx cars. Tom Kristensen likes to be quickest, but could he have gone quicker at Ricard?
The Pescarolo car was very ‘new’ in its revised Judd format, the Lister had a gearshift glitch, Rollcentre and Zytek (the factory) weren’t there…. and so it goes on. But we’d be daft to think that the three Ricard Audis, plus Champion, won’t be in or among the top group by Sunday evening – if all goes to plan.
“We need
to learn about the R8’s new configuration,” says Johnny
Herbert (the Audis ran in 2003, wider wing spec., at Sebring).
So if all that kind of work goes smoothly, expect a thrash at the end, for the honour of fastest man at Le Mans 2004, in April at least. That part of the plan went wrong last year, a red flag towards the end of the day disrupting several teams’ plans for a late burst on soft tyres – but do you remember some of the other incidents? The Job / White Lightning car needed a new shell before June, but went on to win the race, while Frank Biela experienced part one of his 2003 nightmare. And then there was the white lines issue. No, don’t mention the white lines! With so many line-ups coming together relatively late (teams must have any non-qualified drivers present this weekend – newcomers can’t just arrive for race week), there are going to be a good number of drivers having their first experience of their new mounts on Sunday – or their first experience of the track. With such a long lap, and usually three drivers to get settled in, getting in a decent number of tours for each man is going to be asking too much, especially if a team has a significant problem in the morning. Couldn’t this become a two day test? Isn’t there too much to do in one day? New / interesting things to look out for? The Dome and RML Lola fitted with narrower rear wings (180cm, not 200), the Rollcentre Dallara with a very new aero package compared to Sebring (below), the first view of the Spinnaker Dallara Judd, Henri’s new colour scheme, Nasamax’s new colour scheme (and the only LMP1 hybrid), Jon Field with a Judd behind him on the Mulsanne for the first time, Jan Lammers and the Kondo Dome setting the fastest speeds on Mulsanne – and the first sight of the fascinating Taurus Sports Lola Caterpillar. Well, where did you think the engine came from? The Lister will be in its regular black: the red and white Essex Invest colours will appear at Monza for the first time - but we do get John Nielsen making his Lister debut.
And that’s a quick look at the LMP1 prototypes. Every LMP1 entry could fairly accurately be called a privateer entry – and that’s just fine by us. Amazingly, there is only one completely new chassis on the entry list: just one car that hasn’t been to Le Mans before - the Zytek 04S. But lots of teams have got a lot of new things to try. LMP2 comprises one revised WR, the Intersport B2K / 40 Judd – and a phalanx of new Courages. The Lola was fast at Sebring, the Courages have been fast and reliable on the Bugatti – but who is driving them? What do we know about Epsilon Sport? Hopefully we’ll know more by Sunday evening. Ah, Xavier Pompidou is driving one of them.
The Prodrive 550s saw off the Corvettes last year, but Michelins will be one aspect to the levelling of the playing field this time. The Corvette / 550 battle (war?) recommences on Sunday, the previous instalment having taken place at Road Atlanta last October. Do you remember Ollie Gavin’s disbelief at how far behind the Ferraris his Corvette had slipped, having lost lap after lap thanks to ill-timed / placed safety cars? That’s reason enough for the GTS and GT teams to have to race hard throughout, not pace themselves – it’s a 24 hour sprint, of course, and the Corvettes have more new things to try round Le Mans than the 550s. The Pagani and the 575s are effectively new to Le Mans, but perhaps the Zonda will create a surprise at the end of the day? Or will Gavin and Enge or Kox lead the GTS charge?
The GT Class has an abundance of drivers and driver / car combinations new to the race, so expect a good number of the entries to be content with getting as many laps in for as many drivers as possible. Speed is not of the essence. The swiftest should include one of the Freisinger RSRs, the Orbit / BAM! RSR, the Petersen / White Lightning RSR and…. the TVR(s)? We don’t of course know how an RSR will adapt to eight miles in France, while the revised T400R is very different to the same chassis that raced here last year.
Both TVRs will be present, with Michael Caine joining Bob Berridge and Chris Stockton in the ‘in’ car, the second one currently filling the same role as the second RfH Dome: allowed to play on Sunday, but in the race or not? Will Bob Berridge and Jan Lammers be aiming to send a message to the ACO? Let’s hope for fine weather, and some great high speed testing in France. No Radio Web for the Test Day, and the dsc crew arrives later on Saturday – but no doubt we’ll bring ‘arrivals’ news before then, plus all the action on Sunday, from 09.00. PS
Who are we missing this year? Quite a few from 2003, for all sorts
of reasons:
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Well,
to start with, how many of the top runners were at Ricard (which
was supposed to be an LMES test), and how many of those present
were running in full 2004 spec.? The Dome wasn’t, nor the
RML Lola. And how hard were they all trying? We believe Nicolas
Minassian was really trying, but the Creation DBA won’t be
at Le Mans, alas.
GTS
comprises one revised Pagani, two new Barron Connor Ferrari 575s,
two revised Corvettes and four (we think) Ferrari 550s. No Saleens,
of course.
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