Le Mans Series 2009

An LMP and a GT in the 1000 km race at Silverstone

The 2009 Le Mans Series season was the ACO's sixth endurance championship . It was held over five races in the period from April 5, 2009 to September 13, 2009.

Changes in 2009

Set of rules

In 2009 the ACO introduced a number of modifications to both the technical and the sporting regulations. From 2009 onwards, Le Mans prototypes in the LMP1 category with energy recovery systems were allowed to take part in the championship. In contrast to Formula 1 , the generation and conversion of energy was carried out exclusively electrically and only served to reduce fuel consumption. In addition, the upper limit of performance was set at one megajoule . In order to be able to stand up to the ever faster lap times in Le Mans and the associated risk of accidents, the width of the rear wing of all Le Mans prototypes was reduced to 1.6 m from 2009. In addition, all vehicles, with the exception of pure LMP1 gasoline racing engines, had to make do with smaller recesses on the air flow limiter and - if available - reduced boost pressure of the turbocharger . LMP1 diesel engines were also under observation at the Sebring 12-hour race and the 1000 km Catalunya race . After the two events, all diesel vehicles had to take an additional weight of 30 kg on board. In addition to the curtailment of the performance of the prototypes, no openings were permitted on the vehicles that did not represent exhaust pipes, air inlets for the engine or brake cooling or were covered by a NACA hood , air slots or wire mesh. In addition, the ACO is expanding the permitted engines in the LMP1 category to include homologated GT1 engines up to seven liters. LMP2 vehicles were also given the option to use gasoline engines from a series production of 10,000 units per year, as long as the engine did not exceed the displacement limit of 4.5 liters. In the sporting regulations, the ACO introduced a clause on the use of the engines. During the technical inspection before the event, the engine's cylinder heads were sealed. This engine now had to be used in at least two consecutive championship races. If a team did not comply with the regulation due to a defect or an early replacement, they were moved 10 places back on the starting grid and received a point deduction from two championship counters. According to the ACO, this regulation served to reduce costs. In addition, a championship point was awarded for the pole position in the four advertised classes in both the team and driver standings. The counter was distributed both to the driver who completed the best qualifying lap and to his teammates.

Racetracks

Compared to the previous year, only the 1000 km race in Monza was canceled in favor of the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal, which was completed at the end of 2008 . In contrast to the four remaining championship races, the race started in the late evening and was only finished after midnight. In addition to the usual pre-test on the Circuit Paul Ricard , another test opportunity took place at the end of April after the first race on the Circuit Bugatti .

vehicles

During the first pre-test in March 2009, Prodrive revealed the Aston Martin and Lola Cars joint project . The vehicle with the name Lola-Aston Martin LMP1 was largely based on the Lola B08 / 60 already used by Charouz Racing in 2008 . In addition, Zytek , whose racing department had merged with Ginetta during the winter break , presented the current expansion stage of their Le Mans prototype for the LMP1 and LMP2 categories. In the GT2, Reiter Engineering presented a version of the Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4 , but was unable to complete a timed lap. ORECA, on the other hand, only presented its vehicle for the 2009 season at the 1000 km race in Spa-Francorchamps with the ORECA 01 .

Teams and drivers

LMP1

Michael Krumm at the 1000 km race in Barcelona

Defending champion Audi Sport Team Joest withdrew from the series after winning last year. However, two Audi R10 TDIs remained in the championship. Colin Kolles , among other things the owner of the Futurecom TME team, which is active in the DTM for Audi , and Team Kolles reported two R10s that were specially developed for the German team. For this purpose, Kolles mainly hired young racing drivers from formula racing in order to qualify for further tasks. Vice-champion Peugeot, on the other hand, was only represented in the 1000 km race in Spa-Francorchamps and viewed the race as preparation for the Le Mans 24-hour race later that year. In return, Aston Martin Racing , the British car manufacturer, had now entered the series. Behind the team led by David Richards , in addition to Prodrive, Charouz Racing was a participant from the previous year. First, Aston Martin registered two Lola-Aston Martin LMP1s, and after the race at the Nürburgring increased their commitment with another vehicle. However, since only two vehicles per team can be named according to the regulations, the team was named Aston Martin Racing Eastern Europe . In the winter, Henri Pescarolo sold his company to the body parts manufacturer SORA Composites , which, in addition to wind tunnel tests, also enabled the team to name two Pescarolo 01 for the season. However, after the Le Mans 24-hour race, the racing team ran into financial difficulties and only reported Jean-Christophe Boullion and Christophe Tinseau's car for the remaining three championship races . One race later, ORECA also reduced the number of its races, in contrast to Pescarolo Sport, however, the step was made from different points of view. Team owner Hugues de Chaunac not only ordered the development of the ORECA 01 in winter. His company constructed a prototype for the 2009 Formula Le Mans based on the previous year's car . In order to bring these vehicles into the American Le Mans Series , he registered an ORECA 01 at the Petit Le Mans and, in return, decided not to race at the Nürburgring. Also at the last championship run in Silverstone only Olivier Panis and Nicolas Lapierre appeared . The remaining drivers, Bruno Senna , Stéphane Ortelli and Tiago Monteiro , were no longer racing.

team	chassis	engine	tires	No.	Regular driver	Substitute driver
Aston Martin Racing	Lola-Aston Martin LMP1	Aston Martin	M.	007	Jan Charouz Tomáš Enge Stefan Mücke
AMR East Europe				008	Miguel Ramos Stuart Hall Chris Buncombe
Aston Martin Racing				009	Harold Primate Darren Turner	Miguel Ramos
Scuderia Lavaggi	Lavaggi LS1	AER P32T	D.	3	Giovanni Lavaggi Wolfgang Kaufmann
Team LNT	Ginetta-Zytek 09S	Zytek ZJ458	M.	5	Nigel Mansell Greg Mansell Lawrence Tomlinson
Team Peugeot Total	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	Peugeot (diesel)	M.	7th	Nicolas Minassian Simon Pagenaud Christian Klien
				9	David Brabham Marc Gené Alexander Wurz
Team ORECA-Matmut AIM	Courage-ORECA LC70 ORECA 01	AIM YS5.5	M.	10	Stéphane Ortelli Bruno Senna	Tiago Monteiro Olivier Panis Nicolas Lapierre
				11	Olivier Panis Nicolas Lapierre
Signature Plus	Courage-ORECA LC70	Judd GV5.5 S2	M.	12	Pierre Ragues Franck Mailleux
Speedy Racing Team Sebah	Lola B08 / 60	Aston Martin	M.	13	Andrea Belicchi Nicolas Prost Marcel Fässler
Kolles	Audi R10 TDI	Audi (diesel)	M.	14th	Andrew Meyrick Charles Zwolsman junior Narain Karthikeyan	Michael Krumm
				15th	Christijan Albers Christian Bakkerud	Giorgio Mondini
Pescarolo sport	Pescarolo 01	Judd GV5.5 S2	M.	16	Jean-Christophe Boullion Christophe Tinseau	Emmanuel Collard
				17th	Bruce Jouanny João Barbosa
Team LNT	Ginetta-Zytek 09S	Zytek ZJ458	M.	22nd	Robbie Kerr Guy Smith Lawrence Tomlinson
Strakka Racing	Ginetta-Zytek 09S	Zytek ZJ458	M.	23	Danny Watts Nick Leventis	Peter Hardman

LMP2

Porsche RS Spyder from Team Essex in Spa-Francorchamps

During the winter break it was announced that neither the van Merksteijn Motorsport championship team nor the Essex team would contest another year in the Le Mans Series. Both teams announced that they had achieved their goals last year. Franz Verschuur, who looked after the Porsche RS Spyder together with Peter van Merksteijn in 2008 , meanwhile wanted to compete in the series under his own name. However, his efforts were dashed. Team Essex remained in the series with a new line-up after the departure of driver and team leader John Nielsen . However, the Danish team only competed as a guest starter in the 1000 km race in Spa-Francorchamps. Embassy Racing returned to the series with a new name for the end of the season, also as a guest starter and after initially discontinuing the motorsport program. The WFR team, which continues to be led by Jonathan France, named one of the two cars from last year Embassy WF01 at Silverstone . Team WFR was not the only team under new names in 2009. The Saulnier Racing team, led by Jacques Nicolet, was given a new name with Oak Racing, and Karim Ojjeh and Claude-Yves Gosselin changed the name from Trading Performance to GAC Racing Team. Gosselin replaced team owner Luc André, but neither changed the contract with the tire manufacturer Michelin nor with the vehicle and engine supplier Zytek. In addition to the guest starter Barazi-Epsilon, the Portuguese team Quifel ASM also relied on Zytek, but like most of the LMP2 field, they used Dunlop tires. In addition to the established companies Michelin and Dunlop, another manufacturer joined the series during the season. The Pegasus Racing team, which so far mainly competed in the French prototype long-distance championship VdeV Modern Endurance , brought the tire manufacturer Avon Tires with them. In addition, Ibanez Racing Service and Q8 Olis Hache Team are two more newcomers to the championship, with the Spanish team, Formula 3 driver Carmen Jordá, the only woman in the field after Vanina Ickx's withdrawal .

team	chassis	engine	tires	No.	Regular driver	Substitute driver
Oak Racing	Pescarolo 01	Mazda-AER MZR-R	D.	24	Jacques Nicolet Richard Hein
Ray Mallock, Ltd. (RML)	Lola B08 / 80	Mazda-AER MZR-R	M.	25th	Mike Newton Thomas Erdos
Bruchladdich Bruneau	Radical SR9	AER P07	D.	26th	Pierre Bruneau Tim Greaves	Stuart Moseley Nigel Greensall Jonathan Coleman Francesco Sini Michael Vergers
Ibanez Racing Service	Courage-ORECA LC75	AER P07	D.	28	José Ibanez Frédéric Da Rocha William Cavailhes
Racing box	Lola B08 / 80	Judd DB	M.	29	Andrea Cecatto Filippo Francioni Giacomo Piccini
				30th	Thomas Biagi Matteo Bobbi Andrea Piccini
Team Essex	Porsche RS Spyder Evo	Porsche MR6	M.	31	Emmanuel Collard Casper Elgaard Kristian Poulsen
Barazi epsilon	Zytek 07S / 2	Zytek ZG348	D.	32	Juan Barazi Fernando Rees
Speedy Racing Team Sebah	Lola B08 / 80	Judd DB	M.	33	Xavier Pompidou Benjamin Leuenberger Jonny Kane
Oak Racing	Pescarolo 01	Mazda-AER MZR-R	D.	35	Mathieu Lahaye Karim Ajlani
WR - Salini	Welter Racing 2008	Zytek ZG348	D.	37	Tristan Gommendy Philippe Salini Stéphane Salini	Bruce Jouanny
Pegasus Racing	Courage-ORECA LC75	AER P07	A.	38	Julien Schell Philippe Thirion	Jean Metz Jean-Christophe Metz
Kruse Schiller Motorsport	Lola B05 / 40	Mazda-AER MZR-R	D.	39	Hideki Noda Francesco Sini Matthew Marsh
Quifel ASM team	Ginetta-Zytek GZ09 / 2	Zytek ZG348	D.	40	Miguel Amaral Olivier Pla
GAC Racing Team	Zytek 07S / 2	Zytek ZG348	M.	41	Karim Ojjeh Claude-Yves Gosselin Philipp Peter
Ranieri Randaccio	Lucchini LMP2 / 04	Nicholson-McLaren LMP2	D.	42	Ranieri Randaccio Raffaele Giammaria	Giauco Solieri
Q8 Oils Hache team	Lucchini LMP2 / 04	Judd XV675	D.	43	Máximo Cortés Carmen Jordá Fonsi Neto	Enrico Moncada Fabrizio Armetta Pierre Combot Nile Montserrat
Team WFR	Embassy WF01	Zytek ZG348	D.	45	Warren Hughes Jody Firth Darren Manning

GT1

Jetalliance's Aston Martin in front of the RML Lola Coupé in Spa

The GT1 group originally advertised by the FIA remained the class with the lowest number of participants in the 2009 Le Mans Series. While the FIA GT Championship 2009 allowed both vehicles according to the old regulations and vehicles with the guidelines valid from 2010, only racing cars with current homologation drove in the Le Mans Series. Defending champion Luc Alphand Aventures concentrated his commitment on a Corvette C6.R. At times, the team owner Luc Alphand wanted to leave the series because he was not satisfied with the marketing of the series, especially the television broadcasts. The runner-up Team Modena, on the other hand, left the GT2 category, leaving only Larbre Compétition and the Russian-German team IPB Spartak Racing as permanent teams. However, after the main sponsor of the team led by German Gorbuntsov had withdrawn, only two registered vehicles remained in the series. In addition, several guest starters started in the individual championship races, for example another Saleen S7R was registered in Spain. However, compared to the Larbre emergency vehicle, Miro Konopka's car was a much older model from 2001. In addition, an Aston Martin DBR9 was allowed to start in Spa-Francorchamps and Silverstone. While JetAlliance had already made an appearance in the series in the 2007 season , the race in England was uncharted territory for Gigawave Motorsport.

team	chassis	engine	tires	No.	Regular driver	Substitute driver
Larbre Compétition	Saleen S7R	ford	M.	50	Roland Bervillé Sébastien Dumez Laurent Groppi	Steve Zacchia Stéphane Lemeret
ARC Bratislava Kaneko	Saleen S7R	ford	M.	51	Miro Konopka Sean Edwards Paul Daniels
IPB Spartak Racing	Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT	Lamborghini L535	M.	55	Roman Russinow Peter Kox	Filip Salaquarda Erik Janiš
Gigawave Motorsport	Aston Martin DBR9	Aston Martin	M.	60	Ryan Sharp Peter Kox
Jetalliance	Aston Martin DBR9	Aston Martin	M.	66	Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer Thomas Gruber Alexander Müller
Luc Alphand Aventures	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	Chevrolet LS7-R	M.	72	Yann Clairay Patrice Goueslard	Luc Alphand Julien Jousse

GT2

Ferrari F430 GTC from Farnbacher Racing in Barcelona

The defending champion Robert Bell and his teammate Gianmaria Bruni switched to the newly founded JMW Motorsport team during the winter break. The abbreviation stands for team leader Jim McWhinter, who, in addition to the drivers, also took over the emergency vehicle, the contract as the development team for the tire manufacturer Dunlop and the former technical director of Virgo Motorsport. But Virgo Motorsport also remained loyal to the GT2 class after parting with part of his team. The team leader Chris Warne bought a new Ferrari F430 and announced the former LMP2 champion Michael Vergers in addition to the brothers Michael and Sean McInerney. The runner-up Marc Lieb received a new team-mate in Richard Lietz . The team owner Horst Felbermayr, who was initially also registered on the car, did not take the wheel of the current Porsche 997 GT3 RSR . In the second mention of the German team, Felbermayr left the wheel to his son, Christian Ried and the Portuguese Francisco Cruz Martins. In addition to Felbermayr, Raymond Narac used another new RSR in the series. Compared to the previous year, however, Narac reduced his involvement in the series to a car. With the Porsche works driver Patrick Pilet, Narac also received a replacement for Richard Lietz, who is now starting at Felbermayr-Proton. In addition, the racing drivers Paul Daniels and Markus Palttala were registered in an older car. While the car in Spa initially drove under the name of Prospeed, the driver duo was supported by Martin Rich in Silverstone from James Watt. Since the beginning of the GT2 class, the German manufacturer has no longer provided the main part of the racing vehicles in series production. In addition to Team Modena, which comes from the GT1 class, team owner Amato Ferrari also entered the GT2 category of the series. However, he registered the F430 under the name Advanced Engineering and remained in the FIA GT championship with his actual team, AF Corse . But Farnbacher Racing now also relied entirely on Ferrari. The German team registered a total of three vehicles during the season. Among other things, an F430 with tire partner Hankook , which had not previously appeared in series. In addition, a Lamborghini Gallardo from Reiter Engineering was added to the GT2 class. However, the team withdrew the entry after the race in Spa. The owner Hans Reiter, whose team also looked after the GT1 Lamborghini, had to cancel the project because the main sponsor no longer financed the GT1 car.

team	chassis	engine	tires	No.	Regular driver	Substitute driver
IMSA Performance Matmut	Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	Porsche M97 / 81	M.	76	Raymond Narac Patrick Pilet
Felbermayr-Proton team	Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	Porsche M97 / 81	M.	77	Marc Lieb Richard Lietz
Advanced engineering	Ferrari F430 GTC	Ferrari F136	M.	78	Matt Griffin Peter Bamford
Engineering tab	Lamborghini Gallardo LP560 GT2	Lamborghini	M.	79	Albert Prince of Thurn and Taxis Christophe Bouchut
Easyrace	Ferrari F430 GTC	Ferrari F136	M.	81	Gean Paolo Tenchini Paso-Maurice Basso Roberto Plati
Team Modena	Ferrari F430 GTC	Ferrari F136	M.	84	Antonio García Leo Mansell	Jaime Melo Toni Vilander
Snora's Spyker Squadron	Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2-R	Audi	M.	85	Tom Coronel Jaroslav Janiš	Benjamin Leuenberger Peter Dumbreck
Drayson Racing	Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2	Aston Martin	M.	87	Jonny Cocker Paul Drayson
Felbermayr-Proton team	Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	Porsche M97 / 81	M.	88	Horst Felbermayr Jr. Francisco Cruz Martins Christian Ried
Hankook Team Farnbacher	Ferrari F430 GTC	Ferrari F136	H	89	Allan Simonsen Pierre Kaffer	Christian Montanari
Farnbacher Racing	Ferrari F430 GTC	Ferrari F136	M.	90	Pierre Ehret Anthony Beltoise Dominik Farnbacher
				91	Gabrio Rosa Andrea Montermini Giacomo Petrobelli	Giacomo Ricci Niki Cadei
JMW Motorsport	Ferrari F430 GTC	Ferrari F136	D.	92	Robert Bell Gianmaria Bruni
Prospeed Compétition	Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	Porsche M97 / 80	D.	94	Paul Daniels Markus Palttala
James Watt Automotive	Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	Porsche M97 / 80	D.	95	Paul Daniels Markus Palttala Martin Rich
Virgo Motorsport	Ferrari F430 GTC	Ferrari F136	D.	96	Michael McInerney Sean McInerney Michael Vergers
JMB Racing	Ferrari F430 GTC	Ferrari F136	M.	99	John Hartshorne Johan-Boris Scheier	Romain Iannetta Plamen Kralev Manuel Rodrigues César Campaniço Albert Prince von Thurn and Taxis Peter Kutemann Stéphane Daoudi

Race results

Overall winners are highlighted in bold .

No.	Day	run	Winner team LMP1	Winner team LMP2	Winner Team GT1	Winner Team GT2
			Winner driver LMP1	Winner driver LMP2	Winner driver GT1	Winner driver GT2
1	April 5th	Barcelona 1000 km Catalunya	# 007 Aston Martin Racing	# 30 racing box	# 55 IPB Spartak Racing	# 77 Felbermayr proton
			Jan Charouz Tomáš Enge Stefan Mücke	Matteo Bobbi Andrea Piccini Thomas Biagi	Peter Kox Roman Russinow	Marc Lieb Richard Lietz
2	10th of May	Spa 1000 km race from Spa-Francorchamps	# 7 Team Peugeot Total	# 31 Team Essex	# 72 Luc Alphand Aventures	# 77 Felbermayr proton
			Nicolas Minassian Simon Pagenaud Christian Klien	Casper Elgaard Kristian Poulsen Emmanuel Collard	Luc Alphand Patrice Goueslard Yann Clairay	Marc Lieb Richard Lietz
3	August 2nd	Algarve 1000 km Algarve	# 16 Pescarolo sport	# 40 Quifel ASM team	# 72 Luc Alphand Aventures	# 92 JMW Motorsport
			Jean-Christophe Boullion Christophe Tinseau	Miguel Amaral Olivier Pla	Julien Jousse Patrice Goueslard Yann Clairay	Robert Bell Gianmaria Bruni
4th	August 23	Nürburgring 1000 km Nürburgring	# 007 Aston Martin Racing	# 40 Quifel ASM team	# 50 Larbre Compétition	# 77 Felbermayr proton
			Jan Charouz Tomáš Enge Stefan Mücke	Miguel Amaral Olivier Pla	Roland Berville Sébastien Dumez Laurent Groppi	Marc Lieb Richard Lietz
5	13.september	Silverstone 1000 km Silverstone	# 10 Team ORECA AIM	# 33 Speedy Racing Sebah	# 60 Gigawave Motorsport	# 92 JMW Motorsport
			Olivier Panis Nicolas Lapierre	Benjamin Leuenberger Xavier Pompidou Jonny Kane	Ryan Sharp Peter Kox	Robert Bell Gianmaria Bruni

1000 km Catalunya

LMP1	total	driver	team	time
1	1	Jan Charouz Tomáš Enge Stefan Mücke	Aston Martin Racing	6: 00: 05,674
2	2	Jean-Christophe Boullion Christophe Tinseau	Pescarolo sport	+14.894 s
3	3	Stéphane Ortelli Bruno Senna	Team ORECA-Matmut AIM	+3 rounds
LMP2	total	driver	team	time
1	7th	Thomas Biagi Matteo Bobbi Andrea Piccini	Racing box	+8 laps
2	8th	Miguel Amaral Olivier Pla	Quifel ASM team	+8 laps
3	9	Andrea Cecatto Filippo Francioni Giocomo Piccini	Racing box	+14 rounds
GT1	total	driver	team	time
1	13	Roman Russinow Peter Kox	IPB Spartak Racing	+20 rounds
2	15th	Luc Alphand Yann Clairay Patrice Goueslard	Luc Alphand Aventures	+22 laps
3	22nd	Roland Berville Steve Zacchia Sébastian Dumez	Larbre Compétition	+25 rounds
GT2	total	driver	team	time
1	14th	Marc Lieb Richard Lietz	Felbermayr-Proton team	+22 laps
2	16	Robert Bell Gianmaria Bruni	JMW Motorsport	+23 laps
3	17th	Allan Simonsen Christian Montanari	Hankook Team Farnbacher	+24 rounds

The first round of the 2009 Le Mans Series took place at the Circuit de Catalunya on April 5th and covered a distance of 209 laps. A distance of 972.895 km was covered.

Danny Watts achieved the first pole position of the year . With a lap time of 1: 32.492 he qualified the car half a second faster than Darren Turner in the Lola-Aston Martin. The best time of the LMP2 was achieved by Giocomo Piccini. Peter Kox initially took pole position in the GT1, the car was subsequently removed from the classification and passed the lead to Yann Clairay , who lapped the circuit in Spain with a 1: 45.926. In GT2, Gianmaria Bruni drove the fastest lap of the qualification with a 1: 48.606 .

Stefan Mücke and Andrea Belicchi were able to overtake Peter Hardman at the start of the race before the first corner. Turner can also pass the countryman until the end of the first round. 30 minutes later there is a collision between Michael Krumm and Pierre Ragues. Both can continue the race, but Krumm in particular loses several laps due to the subsequent puncture and pit stop. In addition, the safety car must be on the track. A number of prototypes took the opportunity to refuel. This is how Jean-Christophe Boullion leads after race approval. About an hour later the safety car deployed again after Karim Ajlani came to a stop on the track. Belicchi does not pit and thus takes the lead, but has to refuel a few laps later and gives the position first to Jan Charouz and later to Christophe Tinseau. Up to the fourth hour of the race, Boullion and Tinseau can now take a 30-second lead over their pursuers Tomáš Enge , Mücke and Charouz. However, the safety car has to go out again in the last hour after the third-placed Miguel Ramos spins and cannot continue. Before the renewed release, 30 minutes before the end of the race, Mücke and Tinseau are separated by just four seconds. Later, Stefan Mücke can pass the Frenchman and hold the lead until the end of the race.

At the start of the race, Olivier Pla takes the lead in the LMP2 field and continues to lead the class even after the two safety car outings. With the pit stop and driver change to Miguel Amaral, first Matteo Bobbi , later Thomas Erdos , takes the lead. After it was handed over to Mike Newton after two hours of racing , the Lola broke down with an engine failure and Bobbi took the lead again in LMP2. Thomas Biagi , Piccini and Bobbi will hold their position until the end of the race and will be flagged as the winners of LMP2.

In the GT2, Patrice Goueslard can convert pole position into a lead and initially increase the gap between the two Saleens. The driver duo Peter Kox and Roman Russinow , who started from behind , can close the gap to the two remaining GT1s and overtake them later and are therefore only 15 seconds behind the leading car of Luc Alphand Aventures in the third hour of the race. After a driving mistake by team owner Luc Alphand, he is stranded in the gravel bed, but can continue to drive later but loses the lead to Kox and Russinow. These increase the gap to the end of the race by two laps and drive to the first GT1 victory of a Lamborghini in the Le Mans Series.

Antonio García leads the GT2 after the start of the race, closely followed by Patrick Pilet and Gianmaria Bruni. After the driver change at the beginning of García’s second hour of racing, the driver duos Bruni-Bell and Lieb-Lietz take turns at the top. Two hours later, Marc Lieb can finally overtake Robert Bell, together with Richard Lietz, extend the lead and in the end win by one lap.

1000 km of Spa-Francorchamps

LMP1	total	driver	team	time
1	1	Simon Pagenaud Nicolas Minassian Christian Klien	Team Peugeot Total	5: 45: 35.249
2	2	Jean-Christophe Boullion Christophe Tinseau	Pescarolo sport	+27.622 s
3	3	Jan Charouz Tomáš Enge Stefan Mücke	Aston Martin Racing	+1 lap
LMP2	total	driver	team	time
1	8th	Casper Elgaard Kristian Poulsen Emmanuel Collard	Team Essex	+4 rounds
2	9	Xavier Pompidou Benjamin Leuenberger Jonny Kane	Speedy Racing Team Sebah	+4 rounds
3	14th	Mathieu Lahaye Karim Ajlani	Oak Racing	+11 rounds
GT1	total	driver	team	time
1	13	Luc Alphand Patrice Goueslard Yann Clairay	Luc Alphand Aventures	+11 rounds
2	15th	Peter Kox Filip Salaquarda Erik Janiš	IPB Spartak Racing	+12 rounds
3	30th	Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer Thomas Gruber Alexander Müller	Jetalliance	+30 rounds
GT2	total	driver	team	time
1	18th	Marc Lieb Richard Lietz	Felbermayr-Proton team	+14 rounds
2	19th	Antonio García Leo Mansell Jaime Melo	Team Modena	+14 rounds
3	20th	Robert Bell Gianmaria Bruni	JMW Motorsport	+15 rounds

The 1000 km of Spa-Francorchamps took place on May 10th and went over a distance of 143 laps of 7.004 km, for a total of 1001.572 km.

In the qualification, the guest starters from Peugeot secured the front row. Simon Pagenaud and Alexander Wurz were only 27/1000 seconds apart. Paugenaud lapped the course in a time of 2: 01.056. Pole in LMP2 and GT1 also went to a guest starter with Casper Elgaard and Alexander Müller. The best times for both classes after the session were 2: 07.918 and 2: 17.344. In the GT2, Marc Lieb drove to the top of his category and finished his best lap with 2: 21.870.

At the start of the race, several Le Mans prototypes clash. Darren Truner and Jean-Christophe Boullion fall far behind. The two Peugeot vehicles lead ahead of Bruno Senna. 10 minutes later Senna has to go to the pits with a puncture. Since rubber parts are on the track, the safety car has to deploy. With the renewed opening of the race, first Turner, later Boullion, is in third place. After completing the first hour, runner-up David Brabham collides with Ibanez Racing's LMP2. This puts ORECA courage out of the race, Brabham has to go to the pits for repairs and later also receives a stop-and-go penalty for pushing the competitor away. A few minutes later Bruce Jouanny hits the track barrier in the raidillon and the safety car has to deploy again. Halfway through the race, Simon Pagenaud is now in front of Nicolas Lapierre and Christophe Tinseau. An accident involving the Easyrace GT2 Ferrari brings the safety car back onto the track. The field will be merged, Tinseau and Lapierre are now driving close together and Tinseau can move up to second place at the next pit stop. Bruno Senna's departure in the final phase makes it necessary to use the safety car again and as a result Tomáš Enge can also pass Lapierre. In the end, Simon Pagenaud, Nicolas Minassian and Christian Klien won the race with a start-to-finish victory .

In the LMP2, Xavier Pompidou is first ahead of Olivier Pla and Emmanuel Collard. After the safety car phase, triggered by Bruno Senna's tire damage, Collard was able to take the lead. With his refueling stop, Philipp Peter takes first place in the LMP2. The third placed Zytek by Olivier Pla and Miguel Amaral had to go to the pits with a technical defect and lost 11 laps on the top. After completing the second pit stop of the LMP2 field, Team Essex's Porsche RS Spyder is back in front. Collard, Kristian Poulsen and Casper Elgaard held the lead until the end, even if the caution phases repeatedly brought the LMP2 field together during the course of the race, Poulsen crossed the finish line with a 7/100 second lead over pursuing Xavier Pompidou.

In the GT1, Peter Kox takes the lead after the Aston Martin DBR9 from Jetalliance with a technical defect only takes off from the pits late. After that, the lead alternates again and again during the course of the race between the Corvette of Luc Alphand's team and the Lamborghini of IPB Spartak Racing. In the end, the defending champion Alphand got the upper hand and achieved a class win.

Marc Lieb takes the lead in the initial phase. Halfway through the race, the leading Lieb collides with the Jetalliance GT1. Lieb loses parts of the wheel cover and has to go to the pits. Gianmaria Bruni takes over the GT2 leadership and holds it until the team's last driver change. Robert Bell is now driving the Ferrari, but has to go to the pits again after one lap because his rear wheel was not fitted correctly. First Antonio García takes the lead, but has to admit defeat to Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz, who win the race. After the end of the race, Lieb / Lietz was disqualified because of the damage to the vehicle. Only an appeal process, later in the year, made the Felbermayr-Proton team the class winner again.

1000 km Algarve

LMP1	total	driver	team	time
1	1	Jean-Christophe Boullion Christophe Tinseau	Pescarolo sport	5: 49: 04,176
2	2	Jan Charouz Tomáš Enge Stefan Mücke	Aston Martin Racing	+1: 25.548 s
3	3	Tiago Monteiro Bruno Senna	Team ORECA-Matmut AIM	+1 lap
LMP2	total	driver	team	time
1	6th	Miguel Amaral Olivier Pla	Quifel ASM team	+8 laps
2	7th	Andrea Cecatto Filippo Francioni Giocomo Piccini	Racing box	+10 rounds
3	8th	Karim Ojjeh Claude-Yves Gosselin Philipp Peter	GAC Racing Team	+10 rounds
GT1	total	driver	team	time
1	14th	Patrice Goueslard Yann Clairay Julien Jousse	Luc Alphand Aventures	+21 laps
2	23	Roland Berville Sébastian Dumez Stéphane Lemeret	Larbre Compétition	+43 laps
3	-	not forgiven	-	-
GT2	total	driver	team	time
1	15th	Robert Bell Gianmaria Bruni	JMW Motorsport	+25 rounds
2	19th	Raymond Narac Patrick Pilet	IMSA Performance Matmut	+25 rounds
3	20th	Antonio García Jaime Melo Leo Mansell	Team Modena	+26 laps

The third round of the Le Mans Series 2009 took place at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve on August 2nd and covered a distance of 215 laps. A distance of 1000.395 km was covered.

On the course, which was completed at the end of 2008, Nicolas Lapierre took pole position with a lap time of 1: 31.020. In addition, Stefan Mücke qualified, the Lola-Aston Martin of the works team. In the LMP2, Olivier Pla lapped the course with 1: 34.296 and started the race as the fastest LMP2 driver from tenth position. The best times with 1: 42.052 and 1: 44.804 went to Yann Clairay in the GT1 and Richard Lietz in the GT2.

At the start, Nicolas Lapierre can easily pull away from Stefan Mücke. However, Mücke overtook Lapierre after 30 minutes, who shortly after had to pit to repair the car. Mücke is now leading until the pit stop, after which Jean-Christophe Boullion takes the lead after a driving error by Stefan Mücke. Boullion and Tinseau were able to expand their position in the period that followed, giving up the lead several times at short notice until the end of the race due to different pit stop strategies. After completing 215 laps, the car was flagged as the winner by Pescarolo Sport, followed by the Aston Martin works team and both vehicles from ORECA.

At the start of the LMP2 race, Oliver Pla can convert his pole position into a class lead, initially closely followed by Philipp Peter in the GAC Racing Team's Zytek. In the following race, Pla and later Miguel Amaral were able to set themselves apart from the rest of the LMP2 field, while the pursuers of GAC Racing Team lost their second class position in the last hour of the race to the racing boxing team of Andrea Ceccato, Filippo Francioni and Giocomo Piccini.

In the GT1 field with only two vehicles, Patrice Goueslard can take the lead. Stéphane Lemeret cannot follow the defending champion Goueslard, after the driver change, Roland Berville has to go to the pits around 150 minutes after the start of the race. In the following repairs, the pursuit team loses several rounds. Luc Alphand's team, on the other hand, can pass through without any major problems and finishes the race in 14th place overall with a start-to-finish class win.

In the GT2, Francisco Cruz Martins runs into team mate Richard Lietz in the first corner. While the race for Martins is over after a few meters, Lietz can drive the Porsche into the pit for repairs. In the meantime, the tour goes to colleague Patrick Pilet, who hands over the car to team owner Raymond Narac after two hours. When the driver changes, the damaged splinter is repaired, so Narac falls in third place by the time he leaves the pits, behind the two Ferraris from JMW Motorsport and Team Modena. These then lead the GT2 field. Ultimately, however, Robert Bell and Gianmaria Bruni were able to prevail against the driver trio from Team Modena, who in turn lost second position to Narac and Pilet.

1000 km Nürburgring

LMP1	total	driver	team	time
1	1	Jan Charouz Tomáš Enge Stefan Mücke	Aston Martin Racing	5: 57: 26.595
2	2	Harold Primate Darren Turner	Aston Martin Racing	+1: 04.856 s
3	3	Chris Buncombe Stuart Hall Miguel Ramos	AMR East Europe	+2 rounds
LMP2	total	driver	team	time
1	6th	Miguel Amaral Olivier Pla	Quifel ASM team	+6 laps
2	7th	Andrea Cecatto Filippo Francioni Giocomo Piccini	Racing box	+8 laps
3	8th	Mathieu Lahaye Karim Ajlani	Oak Racing	+10 rounds
GT1	total	driver	team	time
1	23	Roland Berville Sébastian Dumez Laurent Groppi	Larbre Compétition	+27 rounds
2	29	Patrice Goueslard Yann Clairay Julien Jousse	Luc Alphand Aventures	+57 laps
3	-	not forgiven	-	-
GT2	total	driver	team	time
1	13	Marc Lieb Richard Lietz	Felbermayr-Proton team	+21 laps
2	14th	Tom Coronel Jaroslav Janiš	Snora's Spyker Squadron	+22 laps
3	15th	Pierre Ehret Anthony Beltoise Dominik Farnbacher	Farnbacher Racing	+22 laps

The 1000 km race on the Nürburgring took place on August 23, 2009 on the Grand Prix circuit in the Eifel and covered a distance of 1001.715 km, circling the circuit 195 times.

In qualifying, the Aston Martin works team secured the front row, with Stefan Mücke leading the field with a lap time of 1: 41.944. Pole position in the LMP2 went to Olivier Pla, he lapped the course in 1: 45.578 and started on 9th place overall. In the GT1, the Frenchman Laurent Groppi took the best starting position, while Pierre Kaffer in the GT2 gave his tire manufacturer Hankook the first pole position in the series.

At the start of the race, Stefan Mücke is leading ahead of Darren Turner and Andrea Belicchi. Mücke can break away from Turner especially after the first pit stop. After the driver changes that followed, the Lola-Aston Martin with starting number 007, now driven by Jan Charouz, continues to lead. Team mate Harold Primat will drive behind and Nicolas Prost up to 15 minutes before the race is halfway through . However, Prost has to drive his vehicle to the pit unplanned and falls far behind due to repair work. The third Lola-Aston Martin from Stuart Hall takes the place. Two hours before the end of the race, Darren Turner overtook the sister car that had been leading up until then. After the last driver change, Harold Primat has to go to the pits again 30 minutes before the end of the race, team mate Stefan Mücke takes the lead again and wins the race ahead of the other two Lola-Aston Martin in Gulf Oil colors.

In the LMP2, Olivier Pla was able to pull away from Philipp Peter at the start, later Thomas Erdos and, after the first pit stops, Jonny Kane took over the pursuit position. Halfway through the race, Jonny Kane falls behind due to technical defects, Erdos completely retires with engine failure. Andrea Ceccato takes second place for the Racing Box Team. By the end of the race, Pla and Amaral can extend their lead in LMP2 to two laps and win their class ahead of Ceccato, Filippo Francioni and Giacomo Piccini.

In the GT1 category, which consists of just two vehicles, Laurent Groppi is leading ahead of Yann Clairay. The Labre Compétition team can hold the lead until halfway through the race, but Roland Berville then has to admit defeat to his compatriot Patrice Gouslard. An hour later, Berville pits with braking problems. But Luc Alphand Aventures also had to change a valve on the Corvette's engine. Labre can complete her repairs faster and wins in the GT1 category. Luc Alphand Aventures, however, can send their car back on the track in good time to be classified and thus finish second in GT1.

At the start of the race, Pierre Kaffer takes the lead in the GT2, followed by his fellow brands Antonio García and Gianmaria Bruni. Before the first pit stop, Kaffer fell back to fourth place, now Gianmaria Bruni was in the lead. After two hours, Bruni and Robert Bell push the Ferrari into the pits with problems with the power transmission . Toni Vilander takes the lead , followed by Richard Lietz. After further pit stops with driver changes, García is now in the lead, who can maintain the lead until the next driver change. After the handover to Leo Mansell, Marc Lieb overtooks, Mansell was also pushed off the track by the Courage ORECA driver Franck Mailleux before the start of the last hour of the race and lost several laps in the gravel. At the same time there is a duel between Anthony Beltoise and Tom Coronel for further podium positions. The two opponents collide and Beltoise has to pits because of the collision for a stop-and-go penalty. Beltoise was unable to fully make up for the resulting deficit and finished the race in third behind Lieb and Coronel.

1000 km Silverstone

LMP1	total	driver	team	time
1	1	Olivier Panis Nicolas Lapierre	Team ORECA-Matmut AIM	5: 29: 12.688
2	2	Andrea Belicchi Marcel Fässler Nicolas Prost	Speedy Racing Team Sebah	+51.760 s
3	3	Jan Charouz Tomáš Enge Stefan Mücke	Aston Martin Racing	+1: 01.730 s
LMP2	total	driver	team	time
1	8th	Benjamin Leuenberger Xavier Pompidou Jonny Kane	Speedy Racing Team Sebah	+5 laps
2	10	Thomas Erdos Mike Newton	RML	+9 laps
3	11	Jacques Nicolet Richard Hein	Oak Racing	+11 rounds
GT1	total	driver	team	time
1	19th	Peter Kox Ryan Sharp	Gigawave Motorsport	+20 rounds
2	21st	Roland Berville Sébastian Dumez Laurent Groppi	Larbre Compétition	+21 laps
3	22nd	Patrice Goueslard Yann Clairay Julien Jousse	Luc Alphand Aventures	+22 laps
GT2	total	driver	team	time
1	23	Robert Bell Gianmaria Bruni	JMW Motorsport	+23 laps
2	24	Tom Coronel Jaroslav Janiš	Snora's Spyker Squadron	+25 rounds
3	25th	Raymond Narac Patrick Pilet	IMSA Performance Matmut	+25 rounds

The 1000 km race at Silverstone took place on September 13, 2009 and covered a distance of 195 laps of 5.140 km, for a total of 1002.43 km.

Nicolas Lapierre set the fastest lap in the LMP1 qualification with 1: 32.798, making him the only driver below the 1:33 mark in 2009. The best time of the LMP2 was secured by Olivier Pla, who set the course in 1: 36.092. In the GT1, Laurent Groppi had the upper hand with 1: 45.714. The last GT2 pole in 2009 went to Richard Lietz with a lap time of 1: 48.638.

Stefan Mücke prevailed against Nicolas Lapierre at the start of the race and took the lead. Jean-Christophe Boullion, who was moved to the last starting position after an unauthorized tire change before the start of the race, fought his way through the entire field in 45 minutes and is now leading Stefan Mücke. Until the second pit stop, Olivier Panis' ORECA can pass Jan Charouz, who is now sitting in the car. 40 minutes after the regular pit stops, Boullion's team-mate Christophe Tinseau has to go to the pit unplanned to have major repairs carried out on the car. Panis takes the lead, followed by Jan Charouz. In the course of the second half of the race, Marcel Fässler took second position and continued to expand the gap to the trio Mücke, Charouz and Tomáš Enge. When the leader handed Lapierre back to Panis at the last stop, the bonnet was changed unexpectedly. Fässler takes the lead for a short time, but has to replace the ventilation grilles himself during his pit stop so that Panis is back in first position 15 minutes before the end of the race and wins the race.

literature

• Cécile Bonardel, Michael Cotton, Marc Laffeas, Olivier Loisy, Jean-Marc Teissèdre: 2009 Le Mans Series Yearbook Apollo Publishing, ISBN 978-2-9521044-4-9 .

Web links

Commons : Le Mans Series 2009  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official Le Mans Series website
• reporting
• Race results

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Reglement Technique ACO - ACO Technical Regulations 2009 Prototype "LM" P1 & "LM" P2. November 17, 2008
2. ↑ Le Mans Series 2009 Sporting Regulations. July 11, 2009
3. ↑ Harald Gallinnis: http://www.gt-eins.at/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3647&Itemid=2 as of March 10, 2009
4. ↑ Harald Gallinnis: http://www.gt-eins.at/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3739&Itemid=2 as of April 6, 2009
5. ↑ ^{a b} 2009 Le Mans Series Yearbook 2009. S. 188
6. ↑ Harald Gallinnis: http://www.gt-eins.at/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3539&Itemid=2 Status: February 6, 2009
7. ↑ Oliver Runschke: http://www.speedweek.de/news/8887/OAK-Racing-uebernehmen-Pescarolo-Sport.html Status: December 9, 2009
8. ↑ Harald Gallinis: http://www.gt-eins.at/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3104&Itemid=2 as of September 25, 2008
9. ↑ Oliver Runschke: http://www.speedweek.de/news/1305/Keine-Extrawurst-fuer-Team-Essex.html Status: February 27, 2009
10. ↑ 2009 Le Mans Series Yearbook 2009 p. 224
11. ↑ Harald Gallinnis: http://www.gt-eins.at/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3411&Itemid=2 Status: December 26, 2008
12. ↑ Harald Gallinnis: http://www.gt-eins.at/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3611&Itemid=2 Status: February 26, 2009
13. ↑ ^{a b} Harald Gallins: http://www.gt-eins.at/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4212&Itemid=1 as of August 14, 2009
14. ↑ 2009 Le Mans Series Yearbook . 2009 p. 51
15. ↑ 2009 Le Mans Series Yearbook . 2009 p. 56f
16. ↑ Harald Gallins: http://www.gt-eins.at/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3448&Itemid=2 Status: January 9, 2009
17. ↑ 2009 Le Mans Series Yearbook . 2009 p. 56