Le Mans – Highcroft Amongst Le Mans Entries
An early entry list has been released for the 24 Hours of Le Mans race to be held later this year and on the list is the ALMS defending champions Highcroft in the LMP2 class. Highcroft will be entering the event for the first time ever and have stated the mission objective is victory in the LMP2 category. The team won the LMP1 championship in the ALMS season last year, however the team will be running an LMP2 Acura this year as the technical regulations... [Read More...]
ALMS – Marino Franchitti Joins Highcroft, Bummer for Mazda.
Autoweek Magazine announced today that Marino Franchitti has signed with Highcroft Racing and joins David Brabham and Simon Pagenaud as their third LMP driver for 2010. Marino had been with the Dyson team driving the Mazda powered Lola coupe for the past two seasons, but with Dyson’s 2010 plans still not completed with regards to running a second car and the 12 Hours of Sebring not too far away, Franchitti opted for a part-time ride... [Read More...]
Le Mans – Strakka is Acura Powered
While the Acura LMP2 program may be dead here in America, it has found new life in Europe as Strakka Racing has become the first team to acquire the car outside of the US. The car seen great sucess under the Fernadez Racing team as it took the LMP2 championship against the Dysin Mazdas. The car was shown to have some weak spots in development towards the middle of the season but put on a great show for the season finale at Laguna Seca. The car made... [Read More...]
Le Mans – de Ferran ALMS Program Dead?
de Ferran Motorsport may have moved yet another step closer to killing their sportscar program this week when Honda Performance Development stated they will be ending their partnership with the team. The crew here at openpaddock.net have really began to speculate on whether or not a de Ferran entry would be present on the 2010 grid, and this news seems to all but confirm the end for the program. HPD claimed the partnership had to end due to economical... [Read More...]
ALMS – Pagenaud Signing at Patron Highcroft Raises Questions
Simon Pagenaud has signed a contract with Patron Highcroft for 2010 to replace Scott Sharp who previously left the team to start his own GT2 team. Simon will partner with David Brabham in the newly revised Acura ARX-01c LMP2 car. This will give Patron Highcroft a very impressive driver pairing. David Brabham is one of the most talented and experienced sportscar drivers of this generation. Teaming him with a very quick and capable Pagenaud only... [Read More...]
Le Mans – Highcroft and Acura 2010
While we await formal news about Acura’s factory involvement with the American Le Mans series, the Patron Highcroft team has announced they will stay with the Acura. The car they chose is the surprising part. The team has chosen to run the ARX-01C which took Fernandez racing to championship glory in 2009. The article on Autosport states the team will continue to work with Honda Performance Development, however Acura has been relatively quiet... [Read More...]
Le Mans – Acura LMP2 and Europe
The Acura ARX-01b LMP2 challenger is set to make its European debut next year in the hands of the JAS Motorsports team. JAS has been a partner with Honda for the last decade and have won both touring car titles as well as rally titles under the Japanese manufacturer’s banner. The team will take the LMP2 machine into the European Le Mans series and have listed the 24 Hours of Le Mans race as an ultimate goal as well. At this time the Milan based... [Read More...]
Le Mans – Sharp Leaves Highcroft
It was announced just a couple weeks ago that Scott Sharp would be forming his own GT2 Ferrari team to compete in the American Le Mans series; however at the time he stated he would still drive the Patron Highcroft Acura in LMP1. Funny how quickly things change. Scott announced today that he will not defend his LMP1 crown and will instead race for his private entry team known as Extreme Speed Racing. The tea is further going to expand into a two... [Read More...]
Le Mans – Why Red Flag?
As we stated on Episode 10, the Petit Le Mans was a little more Petit than usual. There have been a number of people who have asked questions regarding the decision making process for the red flag. Like why did it take so long to end the race? They have rain tires, why did they not just keep going? Well the good folks have done what the FIA wishes it could do and has released a press statement giving some insight into why things happened the way they... [Read More...]
