NEWS
ILMC: Zhuhai Preview
Twenty-four cars in four classes will line up for the start of the final round of the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup season, the Zuhai Six Hours in Zuhai, China on November 13. The 14-turn, 4-km Zuhai track, the first race course built in China, hosted the season finale in 2010, and will again in 2011.
There will be a bit less excitement this year, as the LMP1, P2 and GTE-Am titles are already decided, but the battle in GTE-Pro between Ferrari and BMW is still on, thought the Italian marque has a nearly insurmountable 28-point lead.
Peugeot has already won the LMP1 Manufacturer’s title, and Signatech Nissan the P2 crown, while Larbre Racing has clinched GTE-Am. That doesn’t mean these teams won’t be competing all-out. Peugeot wants to continue its dominance over Audi by winning every race but Le Mans, and Larbre Racing will want to show well as Corvette Racing factory pilot Olivier Beretta will be sharing the driver’s seat.
Olivier Beretta: “I had the opportunity to work with Jack Leconte’s team during the Le Mans Test Day when I drove the Larbre Competition-prepared Corvette while the works cars were still in Long Beach. There have been chances to race with the team before but somehow different programmes and dates have always got in the way. Larbre has won many global championships and do an excellent job representing GM in the ILMC. Zhuhai finally offered me the opportunity to drive for them so it was an easy decision when Jack called to ask. I also know Patrick and Julien quite well. They’re two good drivers with experience so I’ve got high hopes of challenging for victory.”
Jack Leconte, Larbre Competition Team Principal: “It’s fantastic that Olivier will be joining Larbre Competition at Zhuhai next month. His level of experience with Corvette makes him the ideal candidate to bolster our driver line-up as we aim to celebrate a fine 2011 campaign by winning the final ILMC round of the year.
“For all car manufacturers, the burgeoning Chinese market is now of huge significance. That’s especially true of sportscar brands, be they Italian, German or American, with China becoming the second largest world market in terms of sales after the US. General Motors has therefore decided to support their only partner team in the ILMC by strengthening the #50 Corvette crew in Zhuhai with the addition of Olivier.
“It also demonstrates GM Racing’s commitment and links with Larbre Competition as further projects begin to take shape, details of which will be announced soon.”
For the rest of the fields this will be a last chance to earn a win in 2011. The teams will have a few months to rebuild if anything breaks, so there is no reason to hold back at Zuhai. As an added attraction, former two-time Formula One champ Mika Häkkinen will be coming out of retirement to co-drive a Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 at Zuhai. Häkkinen will team up with Mercedes-Benz DTM driver Cong Fu-Cheng and Lance David Arnold for the car’s Chinese debut.
The Zuhai race will be broadcast on three channels in China, plus ESPN Star in Southeast Asia. Eurosport will broadcast the end of the race and Eurosport Asia-Pacific will air the entire race live. The race will also be available via the Internet on the ILMC site and the lemans.org site. Peugeot will stream the race live on www.peugeot-sport.com and www.peugeot.com.cn. No word yet whether Audi will broadcast on its website, but they have for all the other ILMC rounds.
