2010 Le Mans Series

The 2010 Le Mans Series was the seventh season of Automobile Club de l'Ouest's Le Mans Series. It featured five events between 11 April and 12 September 2010. For the first time in 2010, Formula Le Mans (FLM) cars were run in a fifth class in the series, running alongside Le Mans Prototype cars and GT cars, rather than as a support series.^[1] It was also the final season when GT1 cars were allowed to run in the series.

Stéphane Sarrazin won the LMP1 championship despite sharing his car with Nicolas Lapierre for most of the season; Sarrazin did not run with his usual Team Oreca Matmut outfit at the 1000 km of Spa, instead gaining championship points with his Peugeot Sport teammates in a precursor to the 24 Hours of Le Mans the following month. Despite this, Sarrazin won only one race, winning at the 1000 km of Algarve with Lapierre and Olivier Panis. Lapierre was second ahead of Rinaldo Capello, who won at Paul Ricard with Allan McNish. Other class victories went to Sébastien Bourdais, Pedro Lamy and Simon Pagenaud at Spa, Greg Mansell and Leo Mansell at the Hungaroring, and Nicolas Minassian and Anthony Davidson at Silverstone. In LMP2, Thomas Erdos and Mike Newton claimed the championship for the second time, after their more consistent finishes helped them to fend off Strakka Racing's Jonny Kane, Danny Watts and Nick Leventis, who won three races to one for Erdos and Newton. The only other win was taken by Miguel Amaral and Olivier Pla at Spa.

The GT1 championship went to Larbre Compétition pairing Gabriele Gardel and Patrice Goueslard, as they were the only team to attempt every race in the championship. Julien Canal and Fernando Rees joined them in various races but were not a factor in the championship. The only team to beat Larbre during the season was the Marc VDS Racing Team car of Eric De Doncker, Bas Leinders and Markus Palttala, who won at Spa. GT2 proceedings saw a second successive title for Felbermayr-Proton duo Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz, winning three of the season's five races. The other two were taken by AF Corse duo Gianmaria Bruni and Jaime Melo at Algarve and at Silverstone. Another tight championship battle was fought out in the Formula Le Mans class, with DAMS' Andrea Barlesi and Gary Chalandon holding off Hope Polevision Racing driver Steve Zacchia by just two points. The season's five races were shared between four different entries, with Barlesi and Chalandon only winning at the Hungaroring with Alessandro Cicognani. Zacchia won at Spa with Wolfgang Kaufmann and Luca Moro, Damien Toulemonde, Ross Zampatti and David Zollinger won at Paul Ricard, while Jody Firth and Warren Hughes won twice, in the Algarve, and at Silverstone.

Schedule

On 27 October 2009 the ACO released a preliminary calendar for the 2010 season featuring three named events and two unconfirmed events, plus the traditional pre-season test session at Circuit Paul Ricard.^[2] The calendar was further revised with two additional events at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve and the Hungaroring. The Paul Ricard race was also extended to eight hours in length.^[3] The 1000 km of Silverstone was also the part of the inaugural Le Mans Intercontinental Cup for LMP1s,^[4] and it was also the first time that the race had been run on the circuit's "Arena" configuration.

Except for the 8 Hours of Castellet, as the name implied an eight-hour time limit, all races ran for either 1000 km or six hours, whichever came first;^[5] partially wet weather and a red flag period caused the 2010 1000 km of Spa to run slightly less than the 143 laps it was originally scheduled; the top three finishers completed 139 laps at the end of six hours. The 2010 1000 km of Hungaroring race was also run at a distance shorter than the 1000-km scheduled distance after six hours.

Rnd	Race	Circuit	Date
–	Official Test Session	Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet, France	7–9 March
1	8 Hours of Castellet	Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet, France	11 April
2	1000 km of Spa	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium	9 May
3	1000 km of Algarve	Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, Portimão, Portugal	17 July
4	1000 km of Hungaroring	Hungaroring, Mogyoród, Hungary	22 August
5	Autosport 1000 km of Silverstone	Silverstone Circuit, United Kingdom	12 September

Season results

Overall winner in bold.

Rnd.	Circuit	LMP1 Winning Team	LMP2 Winning Team	FLM Winning Team	GT1 Winning Team	GT2 Winning Team	Results
Rnd.	Circuit	LMP1 Winning Drivers	LMP2 Winning Drivers	FLM Winning Drivers	GT1 Winning Drivers	GT2 Winning Drivers	Results
1	Paul Ricard	No. 7 Audi Sport Team Joest	No. 42 Strakka Racing	No. 49 Applewood Seven	No. 50 Larbre Compétition	No. 77 Team Felbermayr-Proton	Results
1	Paul Ricard	Allan McNish Rinaldo Capello	Danny Watts Nick Leventis Jonny Kane	Damien Toulemonde David Zollinger Ross Zampatti	Gabriele Gardel Patrice Goueslard Julien Canal	Marc Lieb Richard Lietz	Results
2	Spa	No.3 Team Peugeot Total	No. 40 Quifel-ASM Team	No. 47 Hope Polevision Racing	No. 70 Marc VDS Racing Team	No. 77 Team Felbermayr-Proton	Results
2	Spa	Sébastien Bourdais Pedro Lamy Simon Pagenaud	Miguel Amaral Olivier Pla	Wolfgang Kaufmann Steve Zacchia Luca Moro	Eric De Doncker Bas Leinders Markus Palttala	Marc Lieb Richard Lietz	Results
3	Algarve	No. 4 Team Oreca Matmut	No. 25 RML	No. 44 DAMS	No. 50 Larbre Compétition	No. 96 AF Corse	Results
3	Algarve	Olivier Panis Nicolas Lapierre Stéphane Sarrazin	Mike Newton Thomas Erdos Ben Collins	Jody Firth Warren Hughes	Gabriele Gardel Patrice Goueslard Fernando Rees	Gianmaria Bruni Jaime Melo	Results
4	Hungaroring	No. 5 Beechdean Mansell	No. 42 Strakka Racing	No. 43 DAMS	No. 50 Larbre Compétition	No. 77 Team Felbermayr-Proton	Results
4	Hungaroring	Greg Mansell Leo Mansell	Nick Leventis Danny Watts Jonny Kane	Andrea Barlesi Alessandro Cicognani Gary Chalandon	Gabriele Gardel Patrice Goueslard Fernando Rees	Marc Lieb Richard Lietz	Results
5	Silverstone	No. 1 Team Peugeot Total	No. 42 Strakka Racing	No. 44 DAMS	No. 50 Larbre Compétition	No. 96 AF Corse	Results
5	Silverstone	Nicolas Minassian Anthony Davidson	Danny Watts Jonny Kane Nick Leventis	Jody Firth Warren Hughes	Gabriele Gardel Patrice Goueslard Fernando Rees	Gianmaria Bruni Jaime Melo	Results

Championship Standings

Points were awarded to all race finishers, with unclassified entries failing to complete 70% of the race distance or entries failing to reach the finish not earning championship points. One bonus point was awarded for winning pole position (denoted by bold), and a further bonus was awarded for the entry which sets the fastest race lap (denoted by italics). Entries which changed an engine prior to the required two race minimum were penalized two points, with a four-point penalty for every subsequent engine change.

Points were allocated in one of two ways, dependent on race length.

Points System^[6]
Race Distance	Position												Pole Position	Fastest Lap
Race Distance	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th And Lower	Pole Position	Fastest Lap
1000 km	15	13	11	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1	1	1
Over 1500 km	30	26	22	18	16	14	12	10	8	6	4	2	1	2

Teams Championships

The top two finishers in the LMP1, LMP2 and GT2 championships earned automatic entry to the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans, provided that the team was running for the full season. Partial season entries (teams that run on a part-time basis, e.g. race-by-race) were not eligible for automatic entries for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

GT1 championships were not awarded any automatic entries as the GT1 category was phased out by the end of the year (see New 2011 regulations section).

LMP1 Standings

With one victory over the season, Team Oreca Matmut won the LMP1 teams title.

Pos	No.	Team	Chassis	Engine	Rnd 1	Rnd 2	Rnd 3	Rnd 4	Rnd 5	Total
1	4	Team Oreca Matmut	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	Peugeot HDi 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	4	Ret	1	4	2	63
2	008	Signature Plus	Lola-Aston Martin B09/60	Aston Martin 6.0 L V12	6	8	3	3	6	55
3	12	Rebellion Racing	Lola B10/60	Rebellion 5.5 L V10	7	Ret	2	2	5	53
4	7	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R15 TDI plus	Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V10 (Diesel)	1	3			Ret	45
5	13	Rebellion Racing	Lola B10/60	Rebellion 5.5 L V10	3	6	4	Ret	10	44
6	009	Aston Martin Racing	Lola-Aston Martin B09/60	Aston Martin 6.0 L V12	2				4	38
7	5	Beechdean Mansell	Ginetta-Zytek GZ09SB	Zytek ZJ458 4.5 L V8	8			1	7	34
8	1	Team Peugeot Total	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	Peugeot HDi 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel)		4			1	27
9	8	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R15 TDI plus	Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V10 (Diesel)		8			3	21
10	3	Team Peugeot Total	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	Peugeot HDi 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel)		1				18
11	6	AIM Team Oreca Matmut	Oreca 01	AIM YS5.5 5.5 L V10	5					17
12	2	Team Peugeot Total	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	Peugeot HDi 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel)		2				15
13	9	Audi Sport North America	Audi R15 TDI plus	Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V10 (Diesel)		5				10
14	11	Drayson Racing	Lola B09/60	Judd GV5.5 S2 5.5 L V10					8	7
15	20	Team LNT	Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S	Zytek ZJ458 4.5 L V8					9	6
-	007	Aston Martin Racing	Lola-Aston Martin B09/60	Aston Martin 6.0 L V12					NC	0

LMP2 Standings

RML, and drivers Thomas Erdos and Mike Newton, won their respective LMP2 class championships.

Pos	No.	Team	Chassis	Engine	Rnd 1	Rnd 2	Rnd 3	Rnd 4	Rnd 5	Total
1	25	RML	Lola B08/80	HPD AL7R 3.4 L V8	3	2	1	4	4	75
2	42	Strakka Racing	HPD ARX-01C	HPD AL7R 3.4 L V8	1	Ret	Ret	1	1	69
3	24	OAK Racing	Pescarolo 01	Judd DB 3.4 L V8	4	4	4	3	6	53
4	35	OAK Racing	Pescarolo 01	Judd DB 3.4 L V8	2	3	Ret	7	3	52
5	41	Team Bruichladdich	Ginetta-Zytek GZ09SB/2	Zytek ZG348 3.4 L V8	5	Ret	2	5	8	46
6	40	Quifel ASM Team	Ginetta-Zytek GZ09SB/2	Zytek ZG348 3.4 L V8	Ret	1	Ret	2	2	44
7	30	Racing Box	Lola B09/80	Judd DB 3.4 L V8	6	5		10	5	39
8	36	Pegasus Racing	Courage-Oreca LC75	AER P07 2.0 L Turbo I4	7	6	3	Ret	Ret	34
9	39	KSM Motorsport	Lola B08/47	Judd DB 3.4 L V8	8	Ret			9	17
10	27	Race Performance	Radical SR9	Judd DB 3.4 L V8	Ret	7		9	10	17
11	29	Racing Box	Lola B09/80	Judd DB 3.4 L V8	Ret			6	7	15
12	31	RLR MSport	MG-Lola EX265	AER P07 2.0 L Turbo I4				8	NC	7
-	37	WR / Salini	WR LMP2008	Zytek ZG348 3.4 L V8	Ret					0

FLM Standings

All teams in the Formula Le Mans category utilized the Oreca FLM09 chassis and General Motors 6.3 L V8.

Pos	No.	Team	Rnd 1	Rnd 2	Rnd 3	Rnd 4	Rnd 5	Total
1	43	DAMS	3	Ret	2	1	4	59
2	47	Hope Polevision Racing	4	1	Ret	3	2	57
3	45	Boutsen Energy Racing	Ret	2	3	4	5	41
4	46	JMB Racing	Ret	3	4	2	6	40
5	48	Hope Polevision Racing	2	Ret	Ret		3	39
6	49	Applewood Seven	1	Ret	Ret	Ret		32
7	44	DAMS	Ret		1	Ret	1	31

GT1 Standings

Pos	No.	Team	Chassis	Engine	Rnd 1	Rnd 2	Rnd 3	Rnd 4	Rnd 5	Total
1	50	Larbre Compétition	Saleen S7-R	Ford 7.0 L V8	1	4	1	1	1	97
2	66	Atlas FX-Team FS	Saleen S7-R	Ford 7.0 L V8		6	2	Ret		25
3	70	Marc VDS Racing Team	Ford GT1	Ford 5.3 L V8		1				18
4	60	Matech Competition	Ford GT1	Ford 5.3 L V8		2				15
5	61	Matech Competition	Ford GT1	Ford 5.3 L V8		3				13
6	72	Luc Alphand Aventures	Corvette C6.R	Corvette LS7.R 7.0 L V8		5				10
-	52	Young Driver AMR	Aston Martin DBR9	Aston Martin 6.0 L V12		Ret				0

GT2 Standings

Felbermayr-Proton won the GT2 class title for the second successive season, with drivers Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz.

Pos	No.	Team	Chassis	Engine	Rnd 1	Rnd 2	Rnd 3	Rnd 4	Rnd 5	Total
1	77	Team Felbermayr-Proton	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	1	1	3	1	5	87
2	95	AF Corse	Ferrari F430 GT2	Ferrari 4.0 L V8	3	3	2	4	12	66
3	96	AF Corse	Ferrari F430 GT2	Ferrari 4.0 L V8	Ret	2	1	5	1	59
4	88	Team Felbermayr-Proton	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	2	8	5	7	10	55
5	76	IMSA Performance Matmut	Porsche 997 GT3	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	7	5	10	3	6	47
6	91	CRS Racing	Ferrari F430 GT2	Ferrari 4.0 L V8	Ret	6	8	2	4	40
7	94	AF Corse	Ferrari F430 GT2	Ferrari 4.0 L V8	5	11	6	8	9	38
8	85	Spyker Squadron	Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2-R	Audi 4.0 L V8	8	7	9	9	7	38
9	90	CRS Racing	Ferrari F430 GT2	Ferrari 4.0 L V8	4	15	11	12	13	33
10	92	JMW Motorsport	Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2	Aston Martin 4.5 L V8	Ret	NC	4	6	3	30
11	78	BMW Team Schnitzer	BMW M3 GT2	BMW 4.0 L V8	6	12			8	26
12	75	Prospeed Competition	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	Ret	9	Ret	Ret	2	19
13	79	BMW Team Schnitzer	BMW M3 GT2	BMW 4.0 L V8		4				18
14	89	Hankook Team Farnbacher	Ferrari F430 GT2	Ferrari 4.0 L V8	Ret	10	7	10	Ret	17
15	86	Team Felbermayr-Proton	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6				11		4
16	99	Gulf Team First	Lamborghini Gallardo LP560	Lamborghini 5.2 L V10					11	4
17	98	Prospeed Competition	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6		13				3
18	93	JWA Racing	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6		14				3

Drivers Championships

LMP1 Standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Stéphane Sarrazin	78
2	Nicolas Lapierre	63
3	Rinaldo Capello	57
4=	Vanina Ickx	55
4=	Franck Mailleux	55
4=	Pierre Ragues	55
7=	Neel Jani	52
7=	Nicolas Prost	52
9=	Allan McNish	45
10=	Andrea Belicchi	14
10=	Jean-Christophe Boullion	44
12	Olivier Panis	39
13=	Greg Mansell	34
13=	Leo Mansell	34
15=	Adrián Fernández	28
15=	Stefan Mücke	28
15=	Harold Primat	28
18	Anthony Davidson	27
19	Guy Smith	23
20	Timo Bernhard	23
21=	Sébastien Bourdais	18
21=	Simon Pagenaud	18
21=	Pedro Lamy	18

LMP2 Standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1=	Thomas Erdos	75
1=	Mike Newton	75
3=	Jonny Kane	69
3=	Nick Leventis	69
3=	Danny Watts	69
6=	Matthieu Lahaye	53
6=	Jacques Nicolet	53
8=	Richard Hein	52
8=	Guillaume Moreau	52
10=	Thor-Christian Ebbesvik	46
10=	Karim Ojjeh	46
12=	Miguel Amaral	44
12=	Olivier Pla	44

FLM Standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1=	Andrea Barlesi	59
1=	Gary Chalandon	59
3	Steve Zacchia	57
4	Alessandro Cicognani	46
5	Luca Moro	44
6=	Dominik Kraihamer	41
6=	Nicolas de Crem	41

GT1 Standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1=	Gabriele Gardel	97
1=	Patrice Goueslard	97
3	Fernando Rees	64
4	Julien Canal	33
5=	Julien Schroyen	25
5=	Carlo van Dam	25
7=	Bas Leinders	18
7=	Markus Palttala	18

GT2 Standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1=	Marc Lieb	87
1=	Richard Lietz	87
3=	Jean Alesi	66
3=	Giancarlo Fisichella	66
3=	Toni Vilander	66
6=	Martin Ragginger	55
6=	Christian Ried	55
8=	Gianmaria Bruni	50
8=	Jaime Melo	50
10=	Patrick Pilet	47
10=	Raymond Narac	47
12=	Andrew Kirkaldy	40
12=	Tim Mullen	40
14=	Luis Pérez Companc	38
14=	Matías Russo	38
16	Peter Dumbreck	38
17	Patrick Long	35

References

^ "Formula Le Mans to join LMS Field". Autosport. 2009-11-15. Archived from the original on 18 November 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-19.
^ "2010 Provisional Calendar". Le Mans Series. 2009-10-27. Retrieved 2009-10-27.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "2010 Calendar". Le Mans Series. 2009-12-05. Retrieved 2009-12-09.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "The ACO launches the "2010 Le Mans Intercontinental Cup"". Automobile Club de l'Ouest. 2009-12-08. Archived from the original on 2009-07-24. Retrieved 2009-12-09.
^ "2010 Sporting Regulations" (PDF). Le Mans Series. 2009-12-18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-01-06. Retrieved 2010-07-18.
^ "Regulations evolution". Le Mans Series. Automobile Club de l'Ouest. 2009-11-27. Retrieved 2010-04-12.^{[permanent dead link]}

External links

Le Mans Series

[FLM_class-1] "Formula Le Mans to join LMS Field". Autosport. 2009-11-15. Archived from the original on 18 November 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-19.

[Provisional_calendar-2] "2010 Provisional Calendar". Le Mans Series. 2009-10-27. Retrieved 2009-10-27.^{[permanent dead link]}

[Calendar-3] "2010 Calendar". Le Mans Series. 2009-12-05. Retrieved 2009-12-09.^{[permanent dead link]}

[Intercontinental-4] "The ACO launches the "2010 Le Mans Intercontinental Cup"". Automobile Club de l'Ouest. 2009-12-08. Archived from the original on 2009-07-24. Retrieved 2009-12-09.

[Regulations-5] "2010 Sporting Regulations" (PDF). Le Mans Series. 2009-12-18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-01-06. Retrieved 2010-07-18.

[Points-6] "Regulations evolution". Le Mans Series. Automobile Club de l'Ouest. 2009-11-27. Retrieved 2010-04-12.^{[permanent dead link]}

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