Toyota back to Le Mans?

[Steve Pyro]

So what's the story with Honda?

In an interview during the ALMS race on Motors, the Acura boss said they were definately asking for an invitation to LM in '08 with the P2 car and that they would be developing a P1 car for 2010.

I'm guessing their P2 car would go against the ACO's rationale that P2 should be a 'privateer' class.  Plus the Acura in ALMS trim would require some restiction / ballast to comply with ACO regs.

[termietermite]

So what's the story with Honda?

In an interview during the ALMS race on Motors, the Acura boss said they were definately asking for an invitation to LM in '08 with the P2 car and that they would be developing a P1 car for 2010.

I'm guessing their P2 car would go against the ACO's rationale that P2 should be a 'privateer' class.  Plus the Acura in ALMS trim would require some restiction / ballast to comply with ACO regs.

The impression I got was that they were happy to comply with the ACO regs (they are all "private" cars really, aren't they?) and just compete for the P2 category (if the car runs for 24 hours, that would give them a pretty good shot!) while developing the P1.  As the Acura brand is coming to Europe I think they'll do all they can to get in.  I'll bet the ACO will do all they can to encourage them.  There was also talk of a privateer Porsche RS Spyder but they haven't found anybody with the budget to run one over here.  I guess Dyson are the favourite candidates but they've failed to get an entry before haven't they?

[Steve Pyro]

I assume then, that an influx of other P2 entries would displace other teams from the P2 class (WR etc) rather than dropping entries from, say, GT2 to still retain 55 total entries.

[termietermite]

After this year's apalling effort in P2, we may see the odd bit of squirming to up the ante in the class - but it's all guesswork.  The off-season could be interesting.  I heard rumours that WR were developing a green fuel car but their site is fast asleep at present.  The entry base is increasing all the time with so many new cars and manufactureres apparently trying to get in.  Personally, I hope the GT entry won't be shrunk to compensate as, for me at least, that's where all the fun and competition is.  And what happens if Henri gets his way and we have petrol as well as diesel classes in P1?  Maybe they should get on and build ten more pits...

[chop456]

I'm guessing their P2 car would go against the ACO's rationale that P2 should be a 'privateer' class.  Plus the Acura in ALMS trim would require some restiction / ballast to comply with ACO regs.

IMSA adopted the 5% restriction on P2's.  Were there any differences in the regs besides that?

[Nordic]

Long term the ACO has plans to scrap the existing GT1 and GT2 class. With the lack of new GT1 cars coming along its time I guess to look again at the regs.

The normal way of doing it would be to upgrade the GT2 and GT3 classes and rename them.

IMHO it would be great if they sat down with the JGT series organisers and found a common set of rules. It would open up the market in the GT class for Honda, Toyota and Nissan to race in Europe as well as the domestic market.

P2 has plenty of support but the woeful relibility must give the ACO cause for concern. If Honda do come along with a reliable package that is available to privateers I am sure the ACo will bite their hand off.

As for the Porsche P2 car, I would love to see it run in Europe but really can't see it happening for a while yet. Dyson have been invited before as class winners etc, but have knocked the ACO back. I would expect if they wanted to run the ACo would be happy to let them.