Le Mans Series 2006

The 2006 Le Mans Series season was the ACO's third endurance championship . It was held over five races in the period from April 9, 2006 to September 24, 2006. In addition to the four European races, a 1000-kilometer race was held in Turkey . The championship was won for the second time after 2005 by Jean-Christophe Boullion and Emmanuel Collard . As in the previous year, the team title went to Pescarolo Sport.

Changes in 2006

Surname

In November 2005, the ACO announced that the series would be renamed from Le Mans Endurance Series to Le Mans Series. According to ACO President Jean-Claude Plassart, Patrick Peter and Stéphane Ratel, the unwieldy abbreviation LMES was the main reason for the name change. She also wanted to build a bridge to the American Le Mans Series , better known in Europe by the acronym ALMS.

Set of rules

In addition to minor aerodynamic rule adjustments, the maximum cockpit temperature for closed prototypes was set at 30 ° C for the first time in 2006. To do this, an air conditioning system had to be installed in the vehicles, an application for acceptance and approval by the ACO. The minimum weight of the LMP1 and LMP2 vehicles has been increased by 25 kg to 925 kg and 725 kg, respectively. In the guidelines for refueling, diesel has now also been considered as a fuel .

Racetracks

Istanbul spa Nürburg Castle Donington Madrid

Venues for the 2006 season

The racing series also comprised five championship runs. The race at Donington was new to the racing calendar, but the race at Silverstone had to give way. The race in Monza, originally planned for September 24th, had to be canceled at the beginning of the season, as a noise restriction was imposed on the course by a citizens' initiative. The 1000 km race on the Circuito del Jarama could be organized at short notice as a replacement event .

vehicles

A number of new vehicles were used in LMP1 in 2006. In addition to the further developments of Creation, Dome , Lister Storm, Lola and Zytek , two completely newly developed cars were also presented. On the one hand the Lavaggi LS1, which contrary to original statements by Giovanni Lavaggi was only operational in Jarama at the end of 2006, and on the other hand Courage. This officially presented the LC70 at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show . The vehicle was designed so that it could compete in both the LMP1 and LMP2 classes with minor changes. Radical developed a new prototype for LMP2, which was completed for LMS pre-tests on the Circuit Paul Ricard .

In 2006, the GT2 version of the Ferrari F430 built by Michelotto in Italy was used for the first time in the Sebring 12-hour race . In the Le Mans Series, he replaced the Ferrari F360 GTC, also made by Michelotto, for all teams.

Teams and drivers

LMP1

The Zytek Group's works team, which won the runner-up in the LMP1 class last year, competed in 2006 with a further developed chassis, but had to skip the race in Turkey because the completion of the vehicle was delayed. In addition, the team was missing from the Monza replacement event in Jarama in order to transport its prototype to Road Atlanta in time to take part in the only 4-hour race of the American Le Mans Series in 2006 . Lavaggi Sport, also put back on schedule by problems with the development of its prototype, was only able to take part in the last race of the season in Jarama. With Xavier Pompidou , team owner Giovanni Lavaggi brought an experienced GT driver into the cockpit of the Lavaggi LS1. The Courage Compétition Team increased its involvement in the Le Mans Series and from the 1000 km race in Spa-Francorchamps put in another Courage LC70. The team was strengthened by the two former Formula 1 drivers Shinji Nakano and Jean-Marc Gounon . The French racing car manufacturer also sold another prototype to the newly established Swiss Spirit Racing customer team. This team, led by Serge Saulnier , based in Magny-Cours , relied on a Judd engine and the Swiss drivers Harold Primat and Marcel Fässler in its first season . Another newcomer to the Le Mans Series was the British Protran Competition Team, which launched its further development based on the Reynard 2KQ from the 1000 km race in Belgium . The title holder of the Le Mans Endurance Series 2005, Pescarolo Sport, strengthened its driver squad for the races in Germany, England and Spain around the Le Mans winner Éric Hélary and the former World Series-by-Nissan driver Didier André .

team	chassis	engine	tires	No.	Regular driver	Substitute driver
Zytek Engineering	Zytek 06S	Zytek 2ZG408	M.	2	Stefan Johansson Hideki Noda	John Nielsen Casper Elgaard Philip Andersen
Lavaggi Sport	Lavaggi LS1	Ford PME	D.	3	Giovanni Lavaggi Xavier Pompidou
Swiss Spirit	Courage LC70	Judd GV5 S2	M.	5	Harold Primate Marcel Fässler
Lister Storm Racing	Lister Storm LMP Hybrid	Chevrolet LS6	D.	6th	Justin Keen Nicolas Kiesa Jens Møller
Creation Autosportif	Creation CA06 / H	Judd GV5 S2	M.	9	Giuseppe Gabbiani Felipe Ortiz	Nicolas Minassian Jamie Campbell-Walter
				10	Nicolas Minassian Kevin McGarrity
Courage Compétition	Courage LC70	Mugen MF458S	Y	12	Jean-Marc Gounon Alexander Frei Gregor Fisken
				13	Shinji Nakano Haruki Kurosawa	Jean-Marc Gounon
Racing for Holland	Dome S101Hb	Mugen MF408S Judd GV5 S2	D.	14th	Jan Lammers Alex Yoong
ProTran Competition	ProTran RS06 / H	Judd GV5 S2	D.	15th	Kevin McGarrity Paul Cope Ben Collins	Phil Bennett
Pescarolo sport	Pescarolo C60	Judd GV5 S2	M.	17th	Emmanuel Collard Jean-Christophe Boullion	Éric Hélary Didier André
Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport	Lola B06 / 10	AER P32	D.	19th	Bob Berridge Gareth Evans Peter Owen

LMP2

Since the drivers of the class winner in 2005 migrated to the LMP1 class, the now free Lola B05 / 40 was prepared for the ASM Team Racing for Portugal. While the first outing of the three Iberian drivers took place under the naming of the Chamberlain-Synergy Team, Miguel Amaral, Miguel Angel de Casto and Angel Burgueño drove from the race on the Nürburgring without the participation of the previous British owners. The team from Binnie Motorsport used another Lola B05 / 40. The previous year’s engine was replaced by a Zytek ZG348, as the Nicholson-McLaren unit stopped working on two out of three missions. Team owner and driver William Binnie shared the cockpit with Sam Hancock, the LMP2 champion of the Le Mans Endurance Series 2004. The strongest faction in the LMP2 2006 was Courage with a total of five prototypes of the type C65 spread over four customer teams. Paul Belmondo Racing, the only team with two cars in LMP2, had to sell one of their two cars before the end of the season for financial reasons and after Didier André's move to Pescarolo Sport. Even G-Force Racing could not finish the season in its initial strength. The nomination was taken over by the German team from Kruse Motorsport, who, however, competed under their own names from the 1000 km race in Donington. Juan Barazi , who was able to drive courage for Kruse Motorsport at the Petit Le Mans in 2005 , founded a new team under the name Barazi-Epsilon during the winter break. The team, led by Michel Leconte, was supported by Epsilon Euskadi , who already gained experience in Formula Renault 3.5 .

team	chassis	engine	tires	No.	Regular driver	Substitute driver
Pierre Bruneau	Pilbeam MP93	Judd XV675	M.	20th	Marc Rostan Pierre Bruneau
Team Bruichladdich Radical	Radical SR9	AER P07	D.	21st	Tim Greaves Stuart Moseley
Rollcentre Racing	Radical SR9	Judd XV675	D.	22nd	João Barbosa Martin Short	Rob Barff Gregor Fisken Tim Greaves
Binnie Motorsports	Lola B05 / 42	Zytek ZG348	M.	24	William Binnie Allen Timpany Sam Hancock
RML	MG-Lola EX264	AER P07	M.	25th	Mike Newton Thomas Erdos
Ramoero Ramdaccio	Lucchini LMP2 / 04	Judd XV675	D.	28	Ranieri Randaccio Fabio Mancini Gianni Collini
Barazi Epsilon	Courage C65	AER P07	M.	32	Juan Barazi Michael Vergers	Jean-Philippe Belloc Davide Valsecchi
G-Force Racing Kruse Motorsport	Courage C65	Judd XV675	D.	35	Ed Morris Frank Hahn Jean-François Leroch	Jan-Dirk Leuders Jens Petersen Christophe Brück
Paul Belmondo Racing	Courage C65	Mecachrome LMP2	P	36	Claude-Yves Gosselin Pierre Ragues Karim Ojjeh	Paul Belmondo
				37	Paul Belmondo Didier André Yann Clairay
Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport ASM Team Racing for Portugal	Lola B05 / 40	AER P07	D.	39	Miguel Angel de Castro Angel Burgueño Miguel Amaral
ASM Team Racing for Portugal	Lola B05 / 40	AER P07	D.	40	Miguel Angel de Castro Angel Burgueño Miguel Amaral
Kruse Motorsport	Courage C65	Judd XV675	K	44	Jan-Dirk Leuders Jens Petersen	Tony Burgess Norbert Siedler

GT1

Only two cars remained from the teams from the previous season. On the one hand the only Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello , which was used by the Russian-Czech Convers MenX team. On the other hand, Cirtek Motorsport, who now fielded two Aston Martin DBR9s without conversations . However, the team withdrew from the Le Mans Series after the race in Spa. One of the two vehicles was taken over by Team Modena and driven by former Formula 1 driver David Brabham , among others, until the end of the season . Another DBR9 was entered in the denominator list by the Aston Martin Racing Larbre works team. While Aston Martin drove a number of outings in the American Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year, its partner Larbre Competition was active in the FIA GT Championship . In addition to Vincent Vosse, the team signed FIA GT champions Gabriel Gardel and Pedro Lamy , who had already won the GTS title for Larbre in the LMES in 2004. The only Saleen S7-R this season came from Team ORECA , who competed in the championship from the race in Spa. The two former GT2 teams PSI Experience and Luc Alphand Aventures both relied on a Chevrolet Corvette in 2006. While the Belgian team from the FIA ​​GT Championship fielded a car from the Chevrolet works team from the previous year, the former Ski World Cup winner Luc Alphand drove an older Corvette.

team	chassis	engine	tires	No.	Regular driver	Substitute driver
Aston Martin Racing Larbre	Aston Martin DBR9	Aston Martin	M.	50	Pedro Lamy Gabriele Gardel Vincent Vosse
B-Racing RS Line Team	Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT	Lamborghini L535	D.	51	Benjamin Leuenberger Norbert Walchhofer Marino Franchitti
Team ORECA	Saleen S7-R	ford	M.	55	Stéphane Ortelli Soheil Ayari
Cirtek Motorsport Team Modena	Aston Martin DBR9	Aston Martin	M.	61	Anthony Kinch Antonio García	Richard Lyons
				62	Peter Hardman Christian Vann Jamie Campbell-Walter
Team Modena	Aston Martin DBR9	Aston Martin	M.	63	Peter Hardman Antonio García	David Brabham Christian Vann
Convers MenX team	Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello	Ferrari F131	M.	67	Peter Kox Robert Pergl Alexei Igorewitsch Wassiljew
PSI Experience	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	Chevrolet LS7-R	D.	70	Jos Menten Pertti Kuismanen Markus Palttala
Luc Alphand Aventures	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	Chevrolet LS7-R	M.	72	Jérôme Policand Patrice Goueslard Luc Alphand	Anthony Beltoise

GT2

With the withdrawal of last year's winner Sebah Racing, the two defending champions moved to different teams. While Marc Lieb joined the Autorlando Sport team, the Frenchman Xavier Pompidou only drove two races in the GT2 category for James Watt Automotive. In addition, seven other drivers started in the British Porsche team. With the arrival of the newly developed Ferrari F430, the number of Ferraris in GT2 increased by one car. Initially deployed by three teams, the Icer Brakes team had to withdraw from the 24-hour race in Le Mans and then from the Le Mans Series after the serious accident at the 1000 km race in Spa. The vehicle was taken over by GPC Sport and used from the 1000 km race on the Nürburgring. Team LNT changed its vehicle during the winter break and entered the season with two Panoz Esperante GTLMs and made the LMS debut of the American sports car. Since the British team used a TVR Tuscan T400R last year , only one vehicle of this type remained in the series.

team	chassis	engine	tires	No.	Regular driver	Substitute driver
Ice Pol Racing Team	Porsche 996 GT3 RSR	Porsche M96 / 77	D Y	73	Yves-Emmanuel Lambert Christian Lefort	Marc Duez Romain Iannetta
Perspective Automobiles Thierry Perrier	Porsche 996 GT3 RSR	Porsche M96 / 77	D.	75	Philippe Hesnault Nigel Smith	João Barbosa Rob Wilson Anthony Beltoise
Autolando Sport	Porsche 996 GT3 RSR	Porsche M96 / 77	P	76	Marc Lieb Joël Camathias
Seikel Motorsport	Porsche 996 GT3 RSR	Porsche M96 / 77	Y	77	Tony Burgess Philip Collin Tim Bergmeister
Autolando Sport	Porsche 996 GT3 RSR	Porsche M96 / 77	P	78	Gunnar Kristensen Allan Simonsen	Jens Edman
Farnbacher Racing	Porsche 996 GT3 RSR	Porsche M96 / 77	D.	80	Lars Erik Nielsen Marco Seefried	Ian Baas
Team LNT	Panoz Esperante GT-LM	Élan	P	81	Warren Hughes Robert Bell
				82	Lawrence Tomlinson Richard Dean	Tom Kimber-Smith Marc Hynes
GPC sport	Ferrari F430 GTC	Ferrari F136	P	83	Stefano Zonca Andrea Belicchi Marco Cioci
GPC Sport Team Icer Brakes	Ferrari F430 GTC	Ferrari F136	D.	84	Jesús Díez Villarroel Peter Sundberg
Spyker Squadron BV	Spyker C8 Spyder GT2-R	Audi	D.	85	Jeroen Bleekemolen Mike Hezemans	Jonny Kane
				86	Jonny Kane Donny Crevel's Tom Coronel	Peter Dumbreck
Farnbacher Racing	Porsche 996 GT3 RSR	Porsche M96 / 77	D.	90	Pierre Ehret Dominik Farnbacher	Marco Seefried
T2M motorsport	Porsche 996 GT3 RS	Porsche M96 / 77	D.	91	Miro Konopka Yutaka Yamagishi Gate Graves	Robin Liddell Marc Basseng
IMSA Performance Matmut	Porsche 996 GT3 RSR	Porsche M96 / 77	D.	92	Christophe Bouchut Raymond Narac	Sébastien Dumez
Racesport Peninsula TVR	TVR Tuscan T400R	TVR Speed ​​Six	D.	95	John Hartshorne Iain Dockerill Nigel Greensall
James Watt Automotive	Porsche 996 GT3 RSR	Porsche M96 / 77	D.	96	Paul Daniels Xavier Pompidou	Peter Cook Jack Elsegood Wolfgang Kaufmann Bo McCormick Bryce Washington
GPC sport	Ferrari F430 GTC	Ferrari F136	P	97	Luca Drudi Gabrio Rosa	Fabrizio de Simone Andrea Montermini
Virgo Motorsport	Ferrari F430 GTC	Ferrari F136	D.	99	Dan Eagling Tim Sugden	Ian Khan

Results

Racing calendar

Overall winners are highlighted in bold .

No.	date	Race name / circuit	class	team	winner	vehicle
1	9th April	Istanbul Istanbul Park Circuit 1000 km race	LMP1	Pescarolo sport	Emmanuel Collard Jean-Christophe Boullion	Pescarolo C60
			LMP2	Barazi epsilon	Michel Vergers Juan Barazi Jean-Philippe Belloc	Courage C65
			GT1	Aston Martin Racing Labre	Pedro Lamy Gabriele Gardel Vincent Vosse	Aston Martin DBR9
			GT2	GPC sport	Luca Drudi Gabrio Rosa Fabrizio De Simone	Ferrari F430GTC
2	May 14th	Spa-Francorchamps 1000 km race Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	LMP1	Pescarolo sport	Emmanuel Collard Jean-Christophe Boullion	Pescarolo C60
			LMP2	Chamberlain Synergy	Miguel Amaral Miguel Angel de Castro Angel Burgueño	Lola B05 / 40
			GT1	Team Oreca	Stéphane Ortelli Soheil Ayari	Saleen S7R
			GT2	Autorlando Sport	Marc Lieb Joël Camathias	Porsche 996 GT3 RSR
3	16th of July	1000 km race on the Nürburgring Nürburgring	LMP1	Pescarolo sport	Emmanuel Collard Jean-Christophe Boullion Éric Hélary	Pescarolo C60
			LMP2	ASM Team Racing for Portugal	Miguel Amaral Miguel Angel de Castro Angel Burgueño	Lola B05 / 40
			GT1	Aston Martin Racing Labre	Pedro Lamy Gabriele Gardel Vincent Vosse	Aston Martin DBR9
			GT2	GPC sport	Stefano Zonca Andrea Belicchi Marco Cioci	Ferrari F430GTC
4th	August 27	1000km race from Donington Donington Park	LMP1	Pescarolo sport	Emmanuel Collard Jean-Christophe Boullion Didier André	Pescarolo C60
			LMP2	RML	Mike Newton Thomas Erdos	MG-Lola EX264
			GT1	Team Modena	Antonio García Peter Hardman	Aston Martin DBR9
			GT2	Team LNT	Warren Hughes Rob Bell	Panoz Esperante GT LM
5	September 24th	Jarama 1000 km race Circuito del Jarama	LMP1	Pescarolo sport	Emmanuel Collard Jean-Christophe Boullion Didier André	Pescarolo C60
			LMP2	ASM Team Racing for Portugal	Miguel Amaral Miguel Angel de Castro Angel Burgueño	Lola B05 / 40
			GT1	Team Oreca	Stéphane Ortelli Soheil Ayari	Saleen S7R
			GT2	Team LNT	Warren Hughes Rob Bell	Panoz Esperante GT LM

1000 km Istanbul

LMP1	total	driver	team	time
1	1	Emmanuel Collard Jean-Christophe Boullion	Pescarolo sport	4: 01: 42.625
2	3	Justin Keen Nicolas Kiesa Jens Møller	Lister Storm Racing	+7 rounds
3	4th	Bob Berridge Gareth Evans Peter Owen	Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport	+7 rounds
LMP2	total	driver	team	time
1	2	Michael Vergers Juan Barazi Jean-Philippe Belloc	Barazi epsilon	+6 laps
2	5	Marc Rostan Pierre Bruneau	Pierre Bruneau	+9 laps
3	7th	Ed Morris Frank Hahn Jean-François Leroch	G-Force Racing	+9 laps
GT1	total	driver	team	time
1	6th	Pedro Lamy Gabriele Gardel Vincent Vosse	Aston Martin Racing Larbre	+9 laps
2	9	Peter Kox Robert Pergl Alexei Igorewitsch Wassiljew	Convers MenX team	+10 rounds
3	10	Jérôme Policand Patrice Goueslard Anthony Beltoise	Luc Alphand Aventures	+11 rounds
GT2	total	driver	team	time
1	13	Luca Drudi Gabrio Rosa Fabrizio de Simone	GPC sport	+15 rounds
2	14th	Marc Lieb Joël Camathias	Autorlando Sport	+15 rounds
3	15th	Lawrence Tomlinson Richard Dean	Team LNT	+16 rounds

The 1000 km race in Istanbul took place on April 9 at the Istanbul Park Circuit and covered a distance of 134 laps of 5.338 km each, for a total of 715.292 km. Since the track operator could not provide enough fuel, the race was over after four hours.

Emmanuel Collard lapped the course in qualifying in 1: 40.266 and secured Pescarolo Sport the first pole of the season. Nicolas Minassian was only 7/1000 slower in the vehicle from Creation Autosportif. Fastest LMP2 with 1: 42.336 was Thomas Erdos in fourth overall position. Vincent Vosse drove the fastest qualifying lap in GT1. With a time of 1: 48.180, he lapped the course almost eight seconds faster than Peter Sundberg in the Ferrari F430 from Team Icer Brakes.

In the first lap, Emmanuel Collard loses the lead to Minassian, but can briefly take the lead again after 45 minutes. After a successful counterattack by Creation, Collard can only take the lead again after a quicker pit stop. Half an hour later, Nicolas Minassian had to park his prototype in the pits with a damaged gearbox. The strongest pursuer is now Michael Vergers, the leader of the LMP2. One hour before the end of the race, the lead is already four laps, as the factory courage had to end the race prematurely with a defective power steering . Despite the large lead, Jean-Christoph Boullion drove a 1: 10.281 in the Pescarolo on lap 101. Nobody can beat this time until the end of the race. At the finish the lead is now seven laps over the two remaining LMP1s of Lister Storm Racing and Chamberlain Synergy.

At the start there was a collision between Thomas Erdos and Jean-Marc Gounon, which ended in the pit wall for Lola from RML . Although the vehicle can pull into the pit, it loses 26 laps on the fastest LMP2 during the repair. Michael Vergers will lead the class with the courage of Barazi-Epsilon. After João Barbosa fell back in the first hour due to a spin, he was able to fight his way up to the third hour of racing as the second fastest LMP2 in fourth place overall. In the hands of Martin Short, the Radical even overtook Garath Evans in an LMP1. However, ten minutes before the end of the race, the vehicle had an engine failure . Thus the Courage C65 from Barazi-Epsilon crosses the finish line in second place overall. That means the class win in LMP2 and three laps ahead of the pursuing teams from Pierre Bruneau and G-Force Racing.

In the GT1, Pedro Lamy wins the starting duel and leads in front of Jos Menten's Corvette. The PSI Experiance car took the lead thanks to an early pit stop by the Aston Martin. Jos Menten also pits on lap 30 and falls back to third place in the GT1. Both Lamy and the Ferrari of the Convers MenX Team can pass by. About an hour later, the Corvette had to be abandoned with a defect in the alternator. Luc Alphand Aventure's team takes on the podium. The order remains until the end of the race, with Aston Martin Team Larbre winning the GT1 class with Pedro Lamy, Gabriele Gardel and Vincent Vosse.

Richard Dean leads the GT2 class after the first lap, but loses the position to Fabrizio de Simon after around 30 minutes. Initially, Simon was able to set himself apart from the rest of the GT2 field, but then lost ground to the Porsche of the Autorlando Sport Team. The lead changes between these two vehicles several times during the race. Six laps before the end of the race, Gabrio Rosa takes over the GT2 lead from Marc Lieb and takes the first Ferrari F430 victory in the Le Mans Series. Lawrence Tomlison and Richard Dean complete the podium for Team LNT.

1000 km of Spa-Francorchamps

LMP1	total	driver	team	time
1	1	Emmanuel Collard Jean-Christophe Boullion	Pescarolo sport	6: 01: 35,407
2	2	Harold Primate Marcel Fässler	Swiss Spirit	+1 lap
3	3	John Nielsen Casper Elgaard Philip Andersen	Zytek Engineering	+2 rounds
LMP2	total	driver	team	time
1	4th	Miguel Amaral Miguel Angel de Castro Angel Burgueño	Chamberlain Synergy	+2 rounds
2	5	Mike Newton Thomas Erdos	RML	+3 rounds
3	6th	William Binnie Allen Timpany Sam Hancook	Binnie Motorsport	+5 laps
GT1	total	driver	team	time
1	7th	Stéphane Ortelli Soheil Ayari	Team ORECA	+5 laps
2	9	Antonio García Richard Lyons	Cirtek Motorsport	+6 laps
3	10	Pertti Kuismanen Jos Menten Markus Palttala	PSI Experience	+8 laps
GT2	total	driver	team	time
1	15th	Marc Lieb Joël Camathias	Autorlando Sport	+11 rounds
2	16	Lawrence Tomlinson Richard Dean Tom Kimber-Smith	Team LNT	+12 rounds
3	17th	Dan Eagling Tim Sugden	Virgo Motorsport	+12 rounds

The 1000 km of Spa-Francorchamps took place on May 14th and went over a distance of 134 laps of 6.976 km, for a total of 934.784 km.

In the qualification , Marcel Fässler lapped the wet course in 2: 19.538 and put the Courage LC70 on pole position, followed by Casper Elgaard in the Werkszytek. Thomas Erdos finished fourth overall with a time of 1: 22.435 and was therefore best placed LMP2. Antonio García qualified as the fastest GT1. He lapped the course in 2: 26.813. Christoph Bouchut secured IMSA Performance the pole position in the GT2. With a lap time of 2: 30.262, he was more than three seconds faster than all other GT2 participants.

At the start, the top passed the Radillon without any problems, followed by Kevin McGarrity spinning and causing a mass accident in which a total of three other vehicles were irreparably damaged. The safety car is sent out and the race is opened again after half an hour. Shortly afterwards, Peter Owen leaves the track in the Eau Rouge and hits the barriers hard. The safety car has to be on the track again. The race is released a good hour after the start of the race. Marcel Fässler is in the lead, but is overtaken by Jean-Marc Gounon on the first lap. In the third hour of the race, Jean-Christophe Boullion takes the lead and extends it further. Shortly before another safety car phase, the lead over the second-placed vehicle is one lap. After the race has been released, first Marcel Fässler, then Casper Elgaard, overtakes Miguel Amaral, who had been second up to that point. Until the end of the race nothing happens at the top, so Pescarolo Sport wins the second race of the season.

After the two accidents in the initial phase, Thomas Erdos leads the LMP2. However, he has to give up the lead on lap 21 after suffering a puncture. The prototype from Chamberlain Motorsport will lead the class. In the fourth hour of the race, Angel Burgueño was able to move up to second place overall, but lost one lap to the Boullion-Collard driver duo until the next safety car phase in the fifth hour of the race. Around 20 minutes before the end of the race, Miguel Amaral spins with his Lola and has to let Casper Elgaard pass by. Since the team has one lap ahead of the second-placed LMP2, it is still enough for the first class win.

In GT1, Antonio García is the leader after the two safety car phases, followed by Stéphane Ortelli, who overtakes Garcia after 30 minutes. However, Antonio García can experience the class lead again in the fourth hour of the race, only to lose it to the ORECA team half an hour before the end of the race. Soheil Ayari , who is now at the wheel of the Saleen S7-R, extends the lead until the end of the race and secures ORECA its first class win in 2006.

After the race has been approved, Tim Sugden leads the GT2 in the Ferrari F430, followed by Dominik Farnbacher in the Porsche 996 GT3. However, the Porsche soon had transmission problems and had to go to the pits on an unscheduled basis. Sudgen loses four places within an hour, so the leadership of GT2 changes to Christophe Bouchut. When the vehicle is handed over, Marc Lieb can take the lead, but in turn has to give the place back to the Ferrari of Virgo Motorsport. An hour before the end of the race, Lieb took the lead back and Sugden had to let Team LNT's Panoz go.

1000 km Nürburgring

LMP1	total	driver	team	time
1	1	Emmanuel Collard Jean-Christophe Boullion Éric Hélary	Pescarolo sport	6: 00: 26.030
2	2	Nicolas Minassian Felipe Ortiz Giuseppe Gabbiani	Creation Autosportif	+3 rounds
3	3	Jan Lammers Alex Yoong	Racing for Holland	+3 rounds
LMP2	total	driver	team	time
1	5	Miguel Amaral Miguel Angel de Castro Angel Burgueño	ASM Team Racing for Portugal	+6 laps
2	5	William Binnie Allen Timpany Sam Hancock	Binnie Motorsport	+7 rounds
3	8th	Martin Short Joao Barbosa	Rollcentre Racing	+8 laps
GT1	total	driver	team	time
1	10	Pedro Lamy Gabriele Gardel Vincent Vosse	Aston Martin Racing Larbre	+12 rounds
2	11	Jérôme Policand Patrice Goueslard Luc Alphand	Luc Alphand Aventures	+12 rounds
3	13	Peter Kox Robert Pergl Alexei Igorewitsch Wassiljew	Covers MenX Team	+13 rounds
GT2	total	driver	team	time
1	16	Stefano Zonca Andrea Belicchi Marco Cioci	GPC sport	+18 rounds
2	18th	Marc Lieb Joël Camathias	Autorlando Sport	+19 rounds
3	19th	Jeroen Bleekemolen Mike Hezemans	Spyker Squadron	+19 rounds

The 1000 km from the Nürburgring took place on July 16 and covered a distance of 189 laps of 5.137 km, for a total of 970.893 km.

Nicolas Minassian secured pole position in qualifying. He lapped the course in 1: 44.850, almost 0.7 seconds faster than Emanuel Collard, who completed the front row. The fastest LMP2 is again Thomas Erdos in the Lola EX264. He achieved a time of 1: 46.672 and started the race from seventh place overall. In the GT1, Stéphane Ortelli secured the best starting position ahead of Antonio García. The thirteenth row of the grid went entirely to both Ferrari F430s from GPC Sport, which were the fastest GT2 vehicles with 2: 00.017 and 2: 00.088.

On the first lap, Shinji Nakano was able to take the lead for a short time, but was overtaken by Collard a few laps later. Shortly afterwards, the Japanese is pushed into the box to make repairs to the vehicle. The Pescarolo Sport car is in the lead, but is slowly overtaken by Jean-Marc Gounon, who tries to pass Collard after around an hour and a half. The two vehicles touch, but only the courage loses time. After the lead vehicle has been handed over to Jean-Christophe Boullion, the latter can break away from his pursuers. Both factory courages have to go to the pits to carry out repairs on the engine. In the fourth hour, Jan Lammers and Alex Yoong can walk past Creation and are thus directly behind the leading EÉric Hélary. A few minutes before the end of the race, Alex Yoong comes under pressure from Nicolas Minassian. Two minutes before the end of the race, Yoong makes a driving error, Minassian overtakes the Dome and finishes the race in second place.

In the LMP2, Michael Vergers finished the first lap as the class leader, but already in the third lap he pits with problems. First the Radical takes over the lead from Stuart Moseley, then Thomas Erdos and after a long pit stop from class leader João Barbosa. He extends the lead in LMP2 and hands it over to Martin Short. 90 minutes before the end of the race, the Radical loses a place to Erdos, who shortly after drives through the gravel bed . The Lola from the ASM team can take the lead. 15 minutes before the end of the race there was a collision during an overtaking maneuver between the leading LMP2 and João Barbosa. Barbosa has to pits to get a new bonnet, while Lola has to serve a stop-and-go sentence. The Rollcentre pit crew needs more time to change and ASM wins the LMP2 class.

Stéphane Ortelli can convert his position in qualifying into a class lead and quickly builds a gap between himself and the rest of the GT1 field. After half-time the car suddenly slows down and sets lap times at the level of the GT2. In the last hour of the race, the Saleen is pushed into the pits to make repairs to the engine. Gabriele Gardel takes over the leadership. After a puncture, Patrice Goueslard dropped to third place, but was able to overtake Peter Kox's Ferrari F550 a good 50 minutes before the end of the race . Shortly before the end of the race, the leading GT1 comes into the pit. Vincent Vosse takes over the steering wheel of the Aston Martin in order not to be taken out of the classification because the minimum driving time is not met. Despite the unscheduled stop, Lamy, Gardel and Vosse win in the GT1.

Both vehicles from GPC Sport are in the lead in the GT2. Marc Lieb can slowly catch up with the two Ferraris and takes the lead after a collision between Fabrizio de Simone and a Spyker. After halfway through the race, Lieb hands over his vehicle to Joël Camathias. Shortly afterwards the safety car has to go out and the Ferrari from GPC Sport comes into the pits. With the yellow stop, Marco Cioci is now almost 90 seconds ahead of Camathias. There are no changes in the ranking until the end of the race and GPC Sport clinches its second class win of the season.

1000 km Donington

LMP1	total	driver	team	time
1	1	Emmanuel Collard Jean-Christophe Boullion Didier André	Pescarolo sport	5: 59: 26.921
2	2	Nicolas Minassian Kevin McGarrity	Creation Autosportif	+2 rounds
3	3	Jamie Campbell-Walter Felipe Ortiz Giuseppe Gabbiani	Creation Autosportif	+4 rounds
LMP2	total	driver	team	time
1	4th	Mike Newton Thomas Erdos	RML	+10 rounds
2	10	Marc Rostan Pierre Bruneau	Pierre Bruneau	+22 laps
3	13	William Binnie Allen Timpany Sam Hancock	Binnie Motorsport	+28 rounds
GT1	total	driver	team	time
1	6th	Antonio García Peter Hardman	Team Modena	+16 rounds
2	7th	Jérôme Policand Patrice Goueslard Luc Alphand	Luc Alphand Aventures	+16 rounds
3	8th	Peter Kox Robert Pergl Alexei Igorewitsch Wassiljew	Covers MenX Team	+18 rounds
GT2	total	driver	team	time
1	11	Warren Hughes Robert Bell	Team LNT	+25 rounds
2	12	Marc Lieb Joël Camathias	Autorlando Sport	+26 laps
3	14th	Luca Drudi Gabrio Rosa Andrea Montermini	GPC sport	+28 rounds

The 1000 km race in Donington took place on August 16 and covered a distance of 249 laps of 4.023 km for a total of 1001.727 km.

Jean-Marc Gounon secured pole position with a lap time of 1: 20.756, ahead of Stefan Johansson, Jean-Christophe Boullion and Jamie Campbell-Walter. 200 ms separated Campbell-Walter from Gounon. The fastest LMP2 was again Thomas Erdos in the Lola EX264. He lapped the course in 1: 21.557 and started the race from eighth place on the grid. With a lap time of 1: 27.390, Pedro Lamy secured the best position in GT1, while Tim Sudgen, starting position 26, completed the best qualification time in GT2.

At the flying start Nideki Noda took the lead for a short time, but was overtaken by pole setter Gounon on the first lap. Jean-Christophe Boullion runs over the posts in the chicane and gets a stop-and-go penalty. He stops against the rules and receives another stop-and-go penalty. In the third hour of the race, Stefan Johansson can take the lead from third position. However, after almost an hour at the head of the field, Johannson has to go into the pits. At first the Zytek cannot start off immediately with a locking rear wheel, later the vehicle has to be parked for good with clutch problems. Didier André took the lead two hours before the end of the race and won for Pescarolo Sport in front of both Creation Autosportif vehicles.

In LMP2, Thomas Erdos can maintain his class lead, but has to admit defeat to Sam Hancock after 30 minutes. While Erdos ran a punctured tire shortly afterwards, Hancook lost control of his vehicle and stood off the track for several minutes. João Barbosa takes advantage of the problems and takes the lead. Numerous technical defects have thinned out the field of the LMP2. A few minutes before the end of the race, Martin Short and João Barbosa's car was pushed into the pits. The problems with the starter cannot be repaired. In the end, Mike Newton and Thomas Erdos win the LMP2.

Stéphane Ortelli can pass Pedro Lamy on the first lap, but, like Boullion, receives a stop-and-go penalty for running over the post. Before the start of the second hour of the race, Ortelli took the lead again, but later had to park the Saleen with an engine failure. Luc Alphand Aventures' Corvette is now in the lead. Two laps before the end of the race, Jérôme Policand had problems with his brakes and had to let Antonio García go on the last lap. The British team is driving to their first class win of the season on home soil.

Tim Sugden is initially in the lead in GT2, but is overtaken by Andrea Montermini after ten minutes. Before the end of the first hour of racing, Robert Bell can take the lead and will hold this position until the fifth hour of racing. However, Andrea Montermini can catch up again and overtakes the now driving Warren Hughes. Almost ten minutes later, Montermini is standing in the gravel bed after a collision with the Protran RS06 / H. GPC Sport's Ferrari loses two laps to the now again leading Hughes and finishes the race behind Marc Lieb in third place in the GT2.

1000 km Jarama

LMP1	total	driver	team	time
1	1	Emmanuel Collard Jean-Christophe Boullion Didier André	Pescarolo sport	6: 01: 01,399
2	3	Harold Primate Marcel Fässler	Swiss Spirit	+5 laps
3	4th	Nicolas Minassian Felipe Ortiz Giuseppe Gabbiani	Creation Autosportif	+7 rounds
LMP2	total	driver	team	time
1	2	Miguel Amaral Miguel Angel de Castro Angel Burgueño	ASM team	+4 rounds
2	11	Jan-Dirk Leuders Jens Petersen Norbert Siedler	Kruse Motorsport	+18 rounds
3	13	Marc Rostan Pierre Bruneau	Pierre Bruneau	+23 laps
GT1	total	driver	team	time
1	6th	Stéphane Ortelli Soheil Ayari	Team ORECA	+11 rounds
2	7th	Pedro Lamy Gabriele Gardel Vincent Vosse	Aston Martin Racing Larbre	+12 rounds
3	8th	Antonio García David Brabham Peter Hardman	Team Modena	+13 rounds
GT2	total	driver	team	time
1	14th	Warren Hughes Robert Bell	Team LNT	+23 laps
2	15th	Gunnar Kristensen Allan Simonsen	Autorlando Sport	+23 laps
3	16	Jonny Kane Peter Dumbreck	Spyker Squadron BV	+23 laps

The 1000 km of Jarama took place on September 24th on the Circuito del Jarama and went over a distance of 237 laps of 3.850 km, for a total of 912.45 km.

In qualifying, Jean-Christoph Boullion secured the second pole position of the season. He lapped the course in a time of 1: 23.242, while in the LMP2 Thomas Erdos set the fifth qualifying time in the fifth race. His lap time was 1: 24.473, so he started the race from fourth overall position. In the large GT class, Stephané Ortelli was able to qualify in fifteenth starting position with a lap time of 1: 28.736. Marc Lieb secured Autorlando Sport the first GT2 pole position of the season. He drove around the course in 1: 32.365 and was thus more than 1.5 seconds faster than Fabrizio de Simone.

At the start of the race, Emmanuel Collard can convert his teammate's pole position into a lead. Behind him is Jean-Marc Gounon, who briefly overtook Collard several times until he retired with transmission problems shortly before the third hour of the race. Now the courage of the Swiss Spirit Team is the worst pursuer of the French Pescarolo Sport team. But the courage of Swiss Spirit also fails 4.5 hours after the start of the race. Collard, André and Boullion not only win all races this season, but also defend their title.

In the LMP2, Thomas Erdos leads the race, but is overtaken by Miguel Angel de Castro around ten minutes after the start. The ASM team can hold the lead until the third hour of the race, when João Barbosa overtakes in the Radical SR9. Shortly afterwards Barbosa hands the car over to Rob Barff, who leaves the track a few minutes later and thus loses the class lead again. Shortly afterwards, Barff has to finally park the vehicle with a gearbox damage. The team of Miguel Angel de Castro, Angel Burgueño and Miguel Amaral will not give up the lead they have won until the end of the race. Behind them, in a safe second place, the Erdos vehicle suffers major engine damage five minutes before the end of the race. Due to the failure, Mike Newton and Thomas Erdos gamble away the LMP2 championship.

Jos Menten finished the first lap in the GT1 class as the leader, but was overtaken by Stéphane Ortelli after 20 minutes. Ortelli can then extend his lead further, while the position behind the ORECA vehicle changes several times. Ultimately, Gabriele Gardel establishes herself behind it. One hour before the end of the race, Antonio García can catch up with the third-placed PSI Experiance Corvette. After a struggle for positions over several laps, Garcia moved up to third place in the GT1.

Marc Lieb is leading in GT2, followed by Fabrizio de Simone. During the first hour, contact occurs between the two vehicles and Simone spins and loses time. Some time later there was the safety car phase after the accident involving GT2 driver Yves Lambert. Shortly before the race was reopened, Lieb and Joël Camathias' Autolando Porsche suffered a major gearbox damage. This allows Luca Drudi to take the lead, followed by Warren Hughes for Team LNT. GPC Sport's Ferrari F430 leads the race to the end of the class but is disqualified because Fabrizio de Simone spent more than four hours behind the wheel of his vehicle. Then Warren Hughes and Robert Bell are named class winners in GT2.

Total score

Driver ranking

Points are awarded to the drivers of the first eight vehicles in each class. The points are distributed as follows: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. Drivers who have not driven for at least an hour will not receive any points. If two or more drivers have the same number of championship points, those who have achieved the best individual result in the season will be better off. If all drivers have achieved the same result, priority will be given to the one who has the most placements with the result. If all drivers have the same number of corresponding results, the one who achieved the relevant individual result first will be rated better. Otherwise, all drivers have the same ranking.

LMP1

Emmanuel Collard and Jean-Christophe Boullion won the 2006 LMP1 drivers' championship ahead of schedule at the race in England. With five wins in five races, the duo not only won the championship, but also overtook Allan McNish with seven overall victories , who had been the most successful driver in the series with three overall victories. Second place went to Didier André, who from the 1000 km race in Donington collected championship points together with Collard and Boullion.

space	driver	team	Run 1	Run 2	Run 3	Run 4	Run 5	Total
1	Emmanuel Collard	Pescarolo sport	10	10	10	10	10	50
=	Jean-Christophe Boullion	Pescarolo sport	10	10	10	10	10	50
2	Didier André	Pescarolo sport				10	10	20th
3	Felipe Ortiz	Creation Autosportif			8th	6th	6th	20th
=	Giuseppe Gabbiani	Creation Autosportif			8th	6th	6th	20th
4th	Bob Berridge	Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport	6th		5	4th	5	20th
=	Gareth Evans	Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport	6th		5	4th	5	20th
5	Harold Primate	Swiss Spirit		8th	3		8th	19th
=	Marcel Fässler	Swiss Spirit		8th	3		8th	19th
6th	Nicolas Minassian †	Creation Autosportif			8th		6th	14th
7th	Peter Owen	Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport			5	4th	5	14th
8th	Eric Helary	Pescarolo sport			10			10
9	Kevin McGarrity	Creation Autosportif			1	8th		9
10	Nicolas Kiesa	Lister Storm Racing	8th					8th
=	Jens Møller	Lister Storm Racing	8th					8th
11	Nicolas Minassian †	Creation Autosportif				8th		8th
12	Gregor Fisken	Courage Compétition			2	5		7th
=	Jean-Marc Gounon	Courage Compétition			2	5		7th
=	Alexander Frei	Courage Compétition			2	5		7th
13	John Nielsen	Zytek Engineering		6th				6th
=	Casper Elgaard	Zytek Engineering		6th				6th
=	Philip Andersen	Zytek Engineering		6th				6th
=	Jan Lammers	Racing for Holland			6th			6th
14th	Alex Yoong	Racing for Holland			6th			6th
15th	Jamie Campbell-Walter	Creation Autosportif				6th		6th
16	Stefan Johansson	Zytek Engineering			4th			4th
=	Hideki Noda	Zytek Engineering			4th			4th
17th	Shinji Nakano	Courage Compétition					4th	4th
=	Haruki Kurosawa	Courage Compétition					4th	4th
18th	Paul Cope	ProTran Competition			1			1
=	Ben Collins	ProTran Competition			1			1

† - Nicolas Minassian's points have been split as Minassian drove both of the team's cars. The team decided to include the maximum number of points in the team ranking.

LMP2

Michael Vergers and Juan Barazi won the drivers' championship in the LMP2 in the final minutes of the Jarama 1000 km race. With the technical defect on the engine and the associated failure of Mike Newton and Thomas Erdos a few minutes before the end of the race, the two drivers from Barazi-Epsilon only needed three points. However, since there were only five prototypes in this category left in the race at the time, the requirement was reduced to one finish. Although none of the drivers scored more points overall than Miguel Angel de Castro and Angel Burgueño, the duo only ended the season in midfield. Due to the change from Chamberlain-Synergy to Joao Basso's team during the season, the points for runs from the 1000 km race at the Nürburgring were counted separately.

space	driver	team	Run 1	Run 2	Run 3	Run 4	Run 5	Total
1	Michael Vergers	Barazi epsilon	10	5	3	5	5	28
=	Juan Barazi	Barazi epsilon	10	5	3	5	5	28
2	Mike Newton	RML	3	8th	5	10		26th
=	Thomas Erdos	RML	3	8th	5	10		26th
3	Marc Rostan	Pierre Bruneau	8th		2	8th	6th	24
=	Pierre Bruneau	Pierre Bruneau	8th		2	8th	6th	24
4th	Miguel Angel de Castro †	ASM Team Racing for Portugal			10		10	20th
=	Angel Burgueño †	ASM Team Racing for Portugal			10		10	20th
=	Miguel Amaral	ASM Team Racing for Portugal			10		10	20th
5	Sam Hancock	Binnie Motorsports		6th	8th	6th		20th
=	Allen Timpany	Binnie Motorsports		6th	8th	6th		20th
6th	Davide Valsecchi	Barazi epsilon		5		5	5	15th
7th	William Binnie	Binnie Motorsports		0 ‡	8th	6th		14th
8th	Jean-Philippe Belloc	Barazi Epsilon	10		3			13
9	Jens Petersen †	Kruse Motorsport				4th	8th	12
=	Jan-Dirk Leuders †	Kruse Motorsport				4th	8th	12
10	Karim Ojjeh	Paul Belmondo Racing	4th	4th			4th	12
=	Pierre Ragues	Paul Belmondo Racing	4th	4th			4th	12
11	Miguel Angel de Castro †	Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport		10				10
=	Angel Burgueño †	Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport		10				10
12	Norbert Siedler	Kruse Motorsport					8th	8th
13	Claude-Yves Gosselin	Paul Belmondo Racing	4th	4th				8th
14th	Ed Morris	G-Force Racing	6th					6th
=	Jean-François Leroch	G-Force Racing	6th					6th
15th	João Barbosa	Rollcentre Racing			6th			6th
=	Martin Short	Rollcentre Racing			6th			6th
16	Paul Belmondo	Paul Belmondo Racing	5					5
=	Didier André	Paul Belmondo Racing	5					5
=	Yann Clairay	Paul Belmondo Racing	5					5
17th	Tim Greaves	Team Bruichladdich Radical			4th			4th
=	Stuart Moseley	Team Bruichladdich Radical			4th			4th
18th	Tony Burgess	Kruse Motorsport				4th		4th
19th	Christophe Brück	Kruse Motorsport			1			1
19th	Jens Petersen †	Kruse Motorsport			1			1
=	Jan-Dirk Leuders †	Kruse Motorsport			1			1

† - Drivers took part in the championship with different teams, the points collected in different teams are not added up.
‡ - Driver did not receive any points for the championship run because he did not drive at least one hour in the race.

GT1

The championship in GT1 was open until the last race. A total of eight drivers still had the opportunity to decide the season for themselves. The driver pairing Jérôme Policand and Patrice Goueslard dropped out prematurely in Jarama with a broken steering and thus ended the championship in fourth place. Peter Kox and Alexei Vailiev finished all races of the season in the top four of the GT1 and thus collected a total of 28 points. Pedro Lamy, Gabriele Gardell and Vincent Vosse were able to show four points more in the end. With one retirement in five races but two class wins, the drivers of Aston Martin Racing Larbre ultimately won the championship for themselves. Antonio García would also have been among the title contenders if he hadn't moved from Cirtek Motorsport to Team Modena during the season. Like his team mate Peter Hardman, he was rated individually for both teams.

space	driver	team	Run 1	Run 2	Run 3	Run 4	Run 5	Total
1	Pedro Lamy	Aston Martin Racing Larbre	10		10	4th	8th	32
=	Gabriele Gardel	Aston Martin Racing Larbre	10		10	4th	8th	32
=	Vincent Vosse	Aston Martin Racing Larbre	10		10	4th	8th	32
2	Peter Kox	Convers MenX team	8th	4th	6th	6th	4th	28
=	Alexei Igorewitsch Wassiljew	Convers MenX team	8th	4th	6th	6th	4th	28
=	Robert Pergl	Convers MenX team	8th	4th	6th	6th	4th	28
3	Stéphane Ortelli	Team ORECA		10	5		10	25th
=	Soheil Ayari	Team ORECA		10	5		10	25th
4th	Jérôme Policand	Luc Alphand Aventures	6th	3	8th	8th		25th
=	Patrice Goueslard	Luc Alphand Aventures	6th	3	8th	8th		25th
5	Antonio García †	Team Modena				10	6th	16
=	Peter Hardman †	Team Modena				10	6th	16
6th	Luc Alphand	Luc Alphand Aventures			8th	8th		16
7th	Pertti Kuismanen	PSI Experience		6th		5	5	16
=	Jos Menten	PSI Experience		6th		5	5	16
=	Jos Menten	PSI Experience		6th		5	5	16
8th	Antonio García †	Cirtek Motorsport	5	8th				13
9	Peter Hardman †	Cirtek Motorsport	4th	5				9
=	Christian Vann	Cirtek Motorsport	4th	5				9
10	Richard Lyons	Cirtek Motorsport		8th				8th
11	Anthony Beltoise	Luc Alphand Aventures	6th					6th
12	David Brabham	Team Modena					6th	6th
13	Anthony Kinch	Cirtek Motorsport	5					5
14th	Jamie Campbell-Walter	Cirtek Motorsport		5				5

† - Drivers took part in the championship with different teams, the points collected in different teams are not added up.

GT2

Victory in the GT2 drivers' championship went to Joël Camathias after the race in Donington. Marc Lieb, who was originally excluded from the Spa 1000 km race for exceeding the maximum driving time of four hours, got the points back at the end of the season. The team successfully protested at the ACO, but Tim Bergmeister and Anthony Beltoise were denied the points in similar cases. The runner-up title secured fourth place in Jarama for the two LNT drivers, Lawrence Tomlinson and Richard Dean.

space	driver	team	Run 1	Run 2	Run 3	Run 4	Run 5	Total
1	Joël Camathias	Autolando Sport	8th	10	8th	8th		34
=	Marc Lieb	Autolando Sport	8th	10	8th	8th		34
2	Lawrence Tomlinson	Team LNT	6th	8th	2		5	21st
=	Richard Dean	Team LNT	6th	8th	2		5	21st
3	Warren Hughes	Team LNT				10	10	20th
=	Robert Bell	Team LNT				10	10	20th
4th	Dan Eagling	Virgo Motorsport	1	6th	5	3	4th	19th
=	Tim Sugden	Virgo Motorsport	1	6th	5	3	4th	19th
5	Christophe Bouchut	IMSA Performance Matmut	5	4th	3	4th	2	18th
=	Raymond Narac	IMSA Performance Matmut	5	4th	3	4th	2	18th
6th	Luca Drudi	GPC sport	10		1	6th		17th
7th	Jonny Kane	Spyker Squadron BV	2		4th		6th	12
8th	Fabrizio de Simone	GPC sport	10					10
9	Stefano Zonca	GPC sport			10			10
=	Andrea Belicchi	GPC sport			10			10
=	Marco Cioci	GPC sport			10			10
10	Jeroen Bleekemolen	Spyker Squadron BV	4th		6th			10
=	Mike Hezemans	Spyker Squadron BV	4th		6th			10
11	Marco Seefried	Farnbacher Racing		5		5		10
12	Tom Kimber-Smith	Team LNT		8th				8th
13	Gunnar Kristensen	Autolando Sport					8th	8th
=	Allan Simonsen	Autolando Sport					8th	8th
14th	Pierre Ehret	Farnbacher Racing	3			5		8th
=	Dominik Farnbacher	Farnbacher Racing	3			5		8th
15th	Nigel Smith	Perspective Automobiles		3		2	3	8th
15th	Philippe Hesnault	Perspective Automobiles		3		2	3	8th
16	Gabrio Rosa	GPC sport	0 †		1	6th		7th
17th	Marc Hynes	Team LNT			2		5	7th
18th	Andrea Montermini	GPC sport				6th		6th
19th	Peter Dumbreck	Spyker Squadron BV					6th	6th
20th	Sébastian Dumez	IMSA Performance Matmut	5					5
21st	Lars-Erik Nielsen	Farnbacher Racing		5				5
22nd	Anthony Beltoise	Perspective Automobiles		0 †		2	3	5
23	João Barbosa	Perspective Automobiles		3				3
24	Donny Crevels	Spyker Squadron BV	2					2
25th	Tony Burgess	Seikel Motorsport		2				2
=	Philip Collin	Seikel Motorsport		2				2
26th	Ian Kahn	Virgo Motorsport	1					1
27	Yves-Emmanuel Lambert	Ice Pol Racing Team	1					1
=	Christian Lefort	Ice Pol Racing Team	1					1
=	Romain Ianetta	Ice Pol Racing Team	1					1
28	Wolfgang Kaufmann	James Watt Automotive					1	1
=	Peter Cook	James Watt Automotive					1	1
=	Paul Daniels	James Watt Automotive					1	1

† - Driver did not receive any points for the championship run because he did not drive at least one hour in the race or exceeded the maximum driving time of four hours.

Team evaluation

LMP1

The team classification was won by Henri Pescarolo's team . With the maximum number of possible points, Pescarolo Sport defended the LMP1 title. Together with runner-up Creation Autosportif, both teams received an invitation to the 2007 Le Mans 24-hour race. Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport narrowly missed second place. Although they, like Creation, were able to score 20 championship points, the worse result in the 1000 km race at Nürburgring decided against Hughes Chamberlain's team.

space	No	team	chassis	engine	Run 1	Run 2	Run 3	Run 4	Run 5	Total
1	# 17	Pescarolo sport	Pescarolo C60	Judd GV5 S2	10	10	10	10	10	50
2	# 9	Creation Autosportif	Creation CA06 / H	Judd GV5 S2			8th	6th	6th	20th
3	# 19	Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport	Lola B06 / 10	AER P32	6th		5	4th	5	20th
4th	# 5	Swiss Spirit	Courage LC70	Judd GV5 S2		8th	3		8th	19th
5	# 2	Zytek Engineering	Zytek 06S	Zytek 2ZG408		6th	4th			10
6th	# 6	Lister Storm Racing	Lister Storm LMP Hybrid	Chevrolet LS6	8th					8th
7th	# 10	Creation Autosportif	Creation CA06 / H	Judd GV5 S2				8th		8th
8th	# 12	Courage Compétition	Courage LC70	Mugen MF458S			2	5		7th
9	# 14	Racing for Holland	Dome S101Hb	Judd GV5 S2			6th			6th
10	# 13	Courage Compétition	Courage LC70	Mugen MF458S					4th	4th
11	# 15	ProTran Competition	ProTran RS06 / H	Judd GV5 S2			1			1

LMP2

Before the last race in Jarama, four teams still had the opportunity to win the team title in LMP2. With the failure of Binnie Motorsports and RML, the number of candidates was reduced to the two French teams of Pierre Bruneau and Michel Lecompte. Bruneu needed a win, but had fallen more than 15 laps behind the leading LMP2 in the race. With a fourth place Barazi-Epsilon won the team classification and the automatic invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Despite the failure in Jarama, RML finished the season as runner-up and received the second invitation to be awarded for the 2007 Le Mans race.

space	No	team	chassis	engine	Run 1	Run 2	Run 3	Run 4	Run 5	Total
1	# 32	Barazi Epsilon	Courage C65	AER P07	10	5	3	5	5	28
2	# 25	RML	MG-Lola EX264	AER P07	3	8th	5	10		26th
3	# 20	Pierre Bruneau	Pilbeam MP93	Judd XV675	8th		2	8th	6th	24
4th	# 40	ASM Team Racing for Portugal	Lola B05 / 40	AER P07			10		10	20th
5	# 24	Binnie Motorsports	Lola B05 / 42	Zytek ZG348		6th	8th	6th		20th
6th	# 44	Kruse Motorsport	Courage C65	Judd XV675				4th	8th	12
7th	# 36	Paul Belmondo Racing	Courage C65	Ford Mecachrome	4th	4th			4th	12
8th	# 39	Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport	Lola B05 / 40	AER P07		10				10
9	# 35	G-Force Racing	Courage C65	Judd XV675	6th		1			7th
10	# 22	Rollcentre Racing	Radical SR9	Judd XV675			6th			6th
11	# 37	Paul Belmondo Racing	Courage C65	Ford Mecachrome	5					5
12	# 21	Team Bruichladdich Radical	Radical SR9	AER P07			4th			4th

GT1

In the GT1, the team classification could only be decided in the last race of the season. Luc Alphand Aventures, Convers MenX, Aston Martin Racing Larbre and Team ORECA still had the mathematical possibility of an overall victory. Although ORECA won the race in Jarama, all other contenders for the championship should have been canceled. As both Yvo Horn's Russian-Czech team and the Aston Martin works team were evaluated, the decision was made between these two candidates. In the end, Aston Martin Racing Larbre finished the race in second place and thus secured the championship title in GT1 with the better result. Both the champion and runner-up Convers MenX received an invitation to the 2007 Le Mans 24-hour race.

space	No	team	chassis	engine	Run 1	Run 2	Run 3	Run 4	Run 5	Total
1	# 50	Aston Martin Racing Larbre	Aston Martin DBR9	Aston Martin	10		10	4th	8th	32
2	# 67	Convers MenX team	Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello	Ferrari F131	8th	4th	6th	6th	4th	28
3	# 55	Team ORECA	Saleen S7-R	ford		10	5		10	25th
4th	# 72	Luc Alphand Aventures	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	Chevrolet LS7-R	6th	3	8th	8th		25th
5	# 63	Team Modena	Aston Martin DBR9	Aston Martin				10	6th	16
6th	# 70	PSI Experiance	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	Chevrolet LS7-R		6th		5	5	16
7th	# 61	Cirtek Motorsport	Aston Martin DBR9	Aston Martin	5	8th				13
8th	# 62	Cirtek Motorsport	Aston Martin DBR9	Aston Martin	4th	5				9

GT2

As in the GT2 drivers' standings, the decision in favor of the Autorlando-Sport-Team was made ahead of schedule. The runner-up championship and the associated invitation to the 24-hour race at Le Mans, however, was far tighter. A total of seven vehicles could still hope for the invitation after the race in Donington. With the disqualification of the original class winner GPC Sport and the associated fourth place of the Panoz Esperante GT-LM with the starting number 82, Team LNT ultimately secured a start authorization for Le Mans 2007.

space	No	team	chassis	engine	Run 1	Run 2	Run 3	Run 4	Run 5	Total
1	# 76	Autolando Sport	Porsche 996 GT3 RSR	Porsche M96 / 77	8th	10	8th	8th		34
2	# 82	Team LNT	Panoz Esperante GT-LM	Élan	6th	8th	2		5	21st
3	# 81	Team LNT	Panoz Esperante GT-LM	Élan				10	10	20th
4th	# 99	Virgo Motorsport	Ferrari F430 GTC	Ferrari F136	1	6th	5	3	4th	19th
5	# 92	IMSA Performance Matmut	Porsche 996 GT3 RSR	Porsche M96 / 77	5	4th	3	4th	2	18th
6th	# 97	GPC sport	Ferrari F430 GTC	Ferrari F136	10		1	6th		17th
7th	# 86	Spyker Squadron BV	Spyker C8 Spyder GT2-R	Audi	2		4th		6th	12
8th	# 83	GPC sport	Ferrari F430 GTC	Ferrari F136			10			10
9	# 85	Spyker Squadron BV	Spyker C8 Spyder GT2-R	Audi	4th		6th			10
10	# 78	Autolando Sport	Porsche 996 GT3 RSR	Porsche M96 / 77					8th	8th
11	# 90	Farnbacher Racing	Porsche 996 GT3 RSR	Porsche M96 / 77	3			5		8th
12	# 75	Perspective Automobiles	Porsche 996 GT3 RSR	Porsche M96 / 77		3		2	3	8th
13	# 80	Farnbacher Racing	Porsche 996 GT3 RSR	Porsche M96 / 77		5				5
14th	# 77	Seikel Motorsport	Porsche 996 GT3 RSR	Porsche M96 / 77		2				2
15th	# 73	Ice Pol Racing Team	Porsche 996 GT3 RSR	Porsche M96 / 77		1				1

reporting

All five races of the season were broadcast live in full by the television broadcaster Motors TV . The program was commented on by Mark Cole and Carlton Kirby.

literature

• Olivier Loisy / Jean-Marc Teissedre: 2006 Le Mans Series Yearbook Apollo Publishing, ISBN 2-9521044-5-X

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 2006 Le Mans Series Yearbook. 2006, p. 14
2. ^ Reglement Technique ACO - ACO Technical Regulations 2006 Prototype "LM" P1 & "LM" P2. November 25, 2005
3. ↑ Harald Gallinnis: http://www.gt-eins.at/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=284&Itemid=29 as of March 27, 2006
4. ↑ Wouter Melissa: http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/2845/Lavaggi-LS1-Ford.html Status: October 9, 2006
5. ↑ Wouter Melissa: http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/2839/Radical-SR9-AER.html Status: July 24, 2006
6. ↑ 2006 Le Mans Series Yearbook. 2006, p. 196
7. ↑ Michael J. Fuller: http://www.mulsannescorner.com/newsmarch06.html Status March 15, 2006
8. ↑ Harald Gallinnis: http://www.gt-eins.at/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=674&Itemid=29 Status: August 14, 2006
9. ↑ Markus Berns: http://www.projectlemans.de/content/view/2140/192/ Status: July 2, 2006
10. ↑ 2006 Le Mans Series Yearbook. 2006, p. 28
11. ↑ Markus Berns: http://www.projectlemans.de/content/view/2155/192/ Status: July 9, 2006
12. ↑ 2006 Le Mans Series Yearbook. 2006, p. 14
13. ↑ Guido Quirmbach: http://www.projectlemans.de/content/view/2042/192/ Status: June 1, 2006
14. ↑ 2006 Le Mans Series Yearbook. 2006, p. 39
15. ↑ Markus Berns: http://www.projectlemans.de/content/view/1304/192/ Status: August 25, 2005
16. ↑ Le Mans Series Sporting Regulations 2006 III - Points Allocation
17. ↑ Harald Gallinnis: http://www.gt-eins.at/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=738&Itemid=1 as of September 7, 2006