The fourth round of the 2011 ILMC will take place in Italy in ten days’ time. Peugeot in LM P1 and Ferrari in LM GTE will be out for revenge on the Imola circuit after their Le Mans 24-Hours defeat, as they will again take on the Sarthe winners, Audi and Corvette.Just three weeks after a classic Le Mans 24 Hours marked by the 13-second gap between the winning Audi (Treluyer-Fässler-Lotterer) and the first of the four Peugeots, the battle in LM P1 looks like being another exceptionally closely-fought one. In the German clan, Marcel Fässler will be the only member of the Le Mans winners present in Italy. He will team up with Timo Bernhard (2010 Le Mans victor) in the no. 1 Audi R18, while in no. 2 will be Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish as the Scot has fully recovered from his terrifying crash in the Sarthe. Peugeot has entered two 908s for Bourdais-Davidson and Montagny-Sarrazin, and hopes to score another victory in the ILMC to consolidate its lead in the overall classification as the French make has already won two of the three races held so far this year - the Sebring 12 Hours thanks to the Oreca team and the Spa 1000 Km with its own car driven by Gené, Wurz and Davidson. The Toyota-powered Lola B10/60, first of the petrol-engined cars in the 24 Hours, driven by Prost-Jani and the OAK-Pescarolo of Moreau-Ragues complete the LM P1 field.
There are, however, four withdrawals in this category. Those of Aston Martin Racing and Hope Racing were foreseeable as the English AMR ONE and the Swiss team’s hybrid prototype are still short on development. The other two are one of the two OAK Pescarolos of the OAK Racing team and the Oreca Peugeot 908 HDi FAP. “As is the case every year, a complete rebuild of the car is necessary after Le Mans, "explains Hugues de Chaunac, the boss of the Peugeot satellite team. “We had a busy start to the season. We’re no longer in the running for the title so we prefer to conserve our forces for other events."The LM P2 category has its full quota. The three teams entered on a yearly basis in the ILMC will all be present as well as another ten cars competing in the Le Mans Series. The Le Mans-winning trio, Ojjeh-Lombard-Kimber-Smith (in LMS) are hoping to beat the redoubtable Signatech Nissan driven by Mailleux-Ordonaz-Ayari.
The six manufacturers officially entered in LM GTE will also be present at Imola. A stone’s throw from the Prancing Horse factory, Fisichella and Bruni are determined to add another victory to their tally in LM GTE Pro. The two drivers who won at Spa in the F458 Italia were beaten by a short head by Corvette at Le Mans. BWM still leads the LM GTE classification after its Sebring victory in the first round of the ILMC, and the German team will have to fight hard if it wants to hold on to its first place.
In the LM GTE Am Championship another combat will rage out on the track. Three races have produced three different winners with the Krohn Racing Ferrari at Sebring, the F430 entered by AF Corse at Spa, and the Larbre Competition Corvette at Le Mans. The only withdrawal of the six teams entered for the full season is the Gulf AMR Middle East Aston Martin Vantage.
IMOLA
The Enzo and Dino Ferrari circuit is in Imola (Emilia-Romagna) a town not far from Bologna andMaranello, the home of the Scuderia Ferrari. Its origins go back to 1950 and it measures 4,909 kms. Between the Italian and San Marino Grand Prix 26 F1 events have been held there. The layout, which has been modified and improved several times since its creation, is special in that races are run in an anti-clockwise direction. Imola’s infrastructures have been rebuilt recently, and although its endurance tradition doesn’t go back very far, this long circuit with fast, off-camber curves is an ideal one to host a round of the ILMC.
