Independent teams' financial struggles are nothing new
After my rant about those who complain about the rise of so-called 'pay drivers' without a feasible suggestion of how to do things differently, I actually decided to look back in time to see if F1's current situation - where seven of the teams are financially insecure - is anything new. It's not.
F1 is coming out of a boom era of money being spent on the sport. In early 2008, just before the world went bust, there were 11 teams. Five were majority owned and funded by car manufacturers. Then there was McLaren (part owned at the time by Mercedes). Another two teams were funded by Red Bull. These eight teams all had drivers who brought no sponsorship.
Force India were contesting their first season, and as well as the investment of their owner Vijay Mallya, they had a driver in Adrian Sutil who brought some sponsorship to the team. Williams had Kazuki Nakajima, who brought with him Toyota engines.
That leaves Super Aguri. For the 2007 and 2008 seasons they had Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson as drivers, neither with any personal sponsorship as such. The team had support from Honda for running Sato, but still went bust after four races.
So, to clarify, out of ten financially secure teams, six had car manufacturers as shareholders, two were funded by Dietrich Mateschitz and two had help from drivers who brought money to the team.
In 2007, Spyker used Sutil and the sponsored Cristijan Albers, before his money ran out and they replaced him with full-blown pay driver Sakon Yamamoto. Then they sold to Mallya. Spyker themselves had bought out Midland, who in 2006 used Albers and Tiago Monteiro, both with sponsorship.
Midland had bought Jordan. Jordan had been able to use two unfunded drivers for a period (e.g. Frentzen and Trulli in 2000) thanks to cigarette sponsorship. Once this ran out, Sato appeared in 2002 with help from Honda engines. Narain Karthikeyan and Montiero were then used in 2005, their last season.
2005 was also the last season for plucky backmarkers Minardi before selling to Mateschitz. They had a history of using signing drivers based on the money they brought (e.g. Alex Yoong), even if they also had drivers like Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber when they could (just about) afford it.
The manufacturer boom started in 2002, when Toyota and Renault came in. As well as them there were Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes, BMW-Williams and Jaguar.
Sauber seemed to manage without any sponsored drivers for a period between 2001 and 2005 (when they were bought by BMW) but they did enjoy strong sponsorship from Petronas (who badged their Ferrari engines) and Red Bull. Thanks to their cigarette company owners, BAR went without sponsored drivers from their arrival in 1999 until becoming Honda for 2006.
Jordan, as we said, had Honda-supported Sato alongside Fisichella, and Minardi had the aforementioned Yoong alongside Webber. Arrows had Red Bull-backed Enrique Bernoldi in addition to a major title sponsor in Orange, but they still went bust.
The mid-to-late 1990s tells a similar story for independent teams. Larrousse, Pacific, Simtek and Forti all came and went, despite plentiful use of proper pay drivers. Ligier became Prost, who collapsed at the end of 2001 after the loss of money brought by Peugeot and a cigarette company. Tyrrell was sold to become BAR.
In essence, in the past 20 years, no team has survived for long without the involvement of a car manufacturer, a cigarette company, Red Bull, or drivers who have brought sponsorship.
F1 is coming out of a boom era of money being spent on the sport. In early 2008, just before the world went bust, there were 11 teams. Five were majority owned and funded by car manufacturers. Then there was McLaren (part owned at the time by Mercedes). Another two teams were funded by Red Bull. These eight teams all had drivers who brought no sponsorship.
Force India were contesting their first season, and as well as the investment of their owner Vijay Mallya, they had a driver in Adrian Sutil who brought some sponsorship to the team. Williams had Kazuki Nakajima, who brought with him Toyota engines.
That leaves Super Aguri. For the 2007 and 2008 seasons they had Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson as drivers, neither with any personal sponsorship as such. The team had support from Honda for running Sato, but still went bust after four races.
So, to clarify, out of ten financially secure teams, six had car manufacturers as shareholders, two were funded by Dietrich Mateschitz and two had help from drivers who brought money to the team.
In 2007, Spyker used Sutil and the sponsored Cristijan Albers, before his money ran out and they replaced him with full-blown pay driver Sakon Yamamoto. Then they sold to Mallya. Spyker themselves had bought out Midland, who in 2006 used Albers and Tiago Monteiro, both with sponsorship.
Midland had bought Jordan. Jordan had been able to use two unfunded drivers for a period (e.g. Frentzen and Trulli in 2000) thanks to cigarette sponsorship. Once this ran out, Sato appeared in 2002 with help from Honda engines. Narain Karthikeyan and Montiero were then used in 2005, their last season.
2005 was also the last season for plucky backmarkers Minardi before selling to Mateschitz. They had a history of using signing drivers based on the money they brought (e.g. Alex Yoong), even if they also had drivers like Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber when they could (just about) afford it.
The manufacturer boom started in 2002, when Toyota and Renault came in. As well as them there were Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes, BMW-Williams and Jaguar.
Sauber seemed to manage without any sponsored drivers for a period between 2001 and 2005 (when they were bought by BMW) but they did enjoy strong sponsorship from Petronas (who badged their Ferrari engines) and Red Bull. Thanks to their cigarette company owners, BAR went without sponsored drivers from their arrival in 1999 until becoming Honda for 2006.
Jordan, as we said, had Honda-supported Sato alongside Fisichella, and Minardi had the aforementioned Yoong alongside Webber. Arrows had Red Bull-backed Enrique Bernoldi in addition to a major title sponsor in Orange, but they still went bust.
The mid-to-late 1990s tells a similar story for independent teams. Larrousse, Pacific, Simtek and Forti all came and went, despite plentiful use of proper pay drivers. Ligier became Prost, who collapsed at the end of 2001 after the loss of money brought by Peugeot and a cigarette company. Tyrrell was sold to become BAR.
In essence, in the past 20 years, no team has survived for long without the involvement of a car manufacturer, a cigarette company, Red Bull, or drivers who have brought sponsorship.
You do it better
The news that Sergey Sirotkin could race for Sauber next year has been met with widespread disapproval.
Having the view that he would be stepping up too soon for his own good is a very fair one. Having the view that he isn't good enough, even though you only heard about him for the first time a few hours ago, is just plain wrong. Having followed Sirotkin for the past two years, I tackled these issues earlier here.
With Sirotkin's father one of the new investors in Sauber, some have categorised them along with the Chiltons as nepotism and something unacceptable in F1.
In the case of Marussia, and fellow 'new' boys Caterham, the argument has been made before by some that F1 would be better off without them and their 'pay drivers'. Yeah, never mind all the people employed in Banbury and Leafield...
But the new Russian investment comes at Sauber, the popular, independent team. The money that helps Sirotkin into the team secures their immediate future. A team that reportedly had a budget shortfall just to see out the season.
Do the people upset at the rise of 'pay drivers' want to see Sauber fall? Williams crumble? No, of course they don't.
Yet here they are, complaining about the side-effect of the very money that secures these teams, whether it's from Russia, Mexico, Venezuela or Reigate. And the only suggestion of how they would do things differently? Have a more deserving driver.
I'd love to see a deserving driver like Robin Frijns get an F1 seat. But without his own sponsorship, there's no way of making it happen. This isn't teams being greedy, this is just the teams ensuring their safety.
Take away the Mexican brands only there because Esteban Gutierrez is, and Sauber have virtually no sponsors. And it can't be for a lack of trying. No other team from Lotus down to Marussia boasts a big-money sponsor that isn't tied to one of their drivers.
Does F1 need to look in the mirror and ask why it cannot attract sponsors in any other way? It probably does.
But in the meantime, having the likes of Sirotkin are a small price to pay for the security of the F1 teams.
So put up with it, or do it better yourself.
Having the view that he would be stepping up too soon for his own good is a very fair one. Having the view that he isn't good enough, even though you only heard about him for the first time a few hours ago, is just plain wrong. Having followed Sirotkin for the past two years, I tackled these issues earlier here.
With Sirotkin's father one of the new investors in Sauber, some have categorised them along with the Chiltons as nepotism and something unacceptable in F1.
In the case of Marussia, and fellow 'new' boys Caterham, the argument has been made before by some that F1 would be better off without them and their 'pay drivers'. Yeah, never mind all the people employed in Banbury and Leafield...
But the new Russian investment comes at Sauber, the popular, independent team. The money that helps Sirotkin into the team secures their immediate future. A team that reportedly had a budget shortfall just to see out the season.
Do the people upset at the rise of 'pay drivers' want to see Sauber fall? Williams crumble? No, of course they don't.
Yet here they are, complaining about the side-effect of the very money that secures these teams, whether it's from Russia, Mexico, Venezuela or Reigate. And the only suggestion of how they would do things differently? Have a more deserving driver.
I'd love to see a deserving driver like Robin Frijns get an F1 seat. But without his own sponsorship, there's no way of making it happen. This isn't teams being greedy, this is just the teams ensuring their safety.
Take away the Mexican brands only there because Esteban Gutierrez is, and Sauber have virtually no sponsors. And it can't be for a lack of trying. No other team from Lotus down to Marussia boasts a big-money sponsor that isn't tied to one of their drivers.
Does F1 need to look in the mirror and ask why it cannot attract sponsors in any other way? It probably does.
But in the meantime, having the likes of Sirotkin are a small price to pay for the security of the F1 teams.
So put up with it, or do it better yourself.
2013 Le Mans grid guide
I've spent more time than I should have done studying this year's Le Mans 24 Hours field, so I might as well put my thoughts in writing...
Andy Blackmore's Spotter Guide is the perfect companion for the race and has almost all the information you need.
The driver trio of Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler in the #1 have been the men to beat for the past couple of years and start as the favourites again. They've had Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish rattled, the veterans making some big errors in their attempts to keep up. Dindo Capello's retirement has opened up a space in the #2 for Loic Duval, who is just as fast as the #1 drivers and should help keep the car on the pace without having to go over the limit. Car #3 doesn't have a bad driver line-up either. Marc Gene made some mistakes last year, but Lucas Di Grassi and Oliver Jarvis are also quick - the former setting the quickest time of the Audi drivers in qualifying for his sportscar debut in Sao Paulo alongside Kristensen and McNish last year.
Toyota have two pretty evenly-matched driver line-ups. It was Nicolas Lapierre that stole the lead of last year's race from Audi. Kazuki Nakajima can go just as quickly but can be error-prone (see last year's collision with the Deltawing), while Alexander Wurz can be trusted to keep it in the right direction and is still very fast. In the second car, Stephane Sarrazin is the pole master at Le Mans, but it's not clear that the Toyota will be quick enough to let him do that. Sebastien Buemi and Anthony Davidson are of course also quick, and if the latter has any sense, he will have added some cautiousness in traffic to his game after his scary shunt last year.
As impressively quick as Rebellion's Lolas are for a privateer effort, they won't be able to keep up with the factory cars. The drivers in their lead car wouldn't look out of place in a factory squad. A1GP champion Neel Jani has been attracting interest from the manufacturers, and Nick Heidfeld was F1's nearly man. Nicolas Prost isn't slow, either. In the other car, Congfu Cheng is likely to hold back Andrea Belicchi and Mathias Beche ever so slightly, but not as much as the third privateer LMP1 challenger of Strakka Racing will be by owner-driver Nick Leventis. His task is to keep it clean and not undo the work of Danny Watts and Johnny Kane.
There are only eight cars in the top class this time around, but LMP1's loss is LMP2's gain, with 22 cars in the secondary class and most of them feature some top pro drivers. Every car requires at least one silver- or bronze-rated 'amateur' driver and the varying quality of these can be the deciding factor when weighing up the driver line-ups.
It's a surprise to see Pierre Ragues, a former single-seater driver who's done this race in a prototype every year since 2008, silver-rated, and he therefore his inclusion makes for a very strong all-French trio in the #36 Signatech Alpine. Nelson Panciatici is a Formula Renault 3.5 podium finisher and Tristan Gommendy a race winner.
The #24 Oak Racing will be a strong contender. GP2 race winner Olivier Pla is one of the most highly-rated drivers in the category, Alex Brundle has looked more at home in his short sportscar career than he ever did in a single-seater and software developer David Heinemeier Hansson is one of the quickest gentleman drivers. The sister #35 car should also be strong, featuring Indycar refugees Bertrand Baguette and Martin Plowman, while Ricardo Gonzalez is pretty good for a gentleman driver - he did the World Series by Nissan in 2003 before taking a break from racing.
Another fast gentleman driver is British entrepreneur Simon Dolan of Jota, and in Oliver Turvey and Lucas Luhr he has perhaps the fastest 'pro' pairing in the class. McLaren F1 tester Turvey has shone since his sportscar debut earlier this year, while Luhr not only has Le Mans class wins and a world title in GTs, but also ALMS prototype titles with Porsche, Audi and most recently with Muscle Milk.
Two more star pros are to be found in Level 5's HPD-Honda in the form of Marino Franchitti and Ryan Briscoe, partnering team boss Scott Tucker. The car is a proven package, winning with another American team Starworks Motorsport last year.
The two Delta-ADR cars are two more contenders. The #25 won the WEC opener at Silverstone, but with Tor Graves joined on that occasion by Antonio Pizzonia and James Walker, who might be missed. Former F1 and Champ Car driver Shinji Nakano does bring plenty of Le Mans experience, Archie Hamilton less so. Achieving his dream of starting Le Mans, 60 years after grandfather Duncan won for Jaguar, has a strong season in the International GT Open behind him but will otherwise be a little in at the deep end. On this occasion the #26, under the G-Drive banner, could be the stronger line-up. Indycar star Mike Conway is obviously fast, and so is John Martin, who put the team on LMP2 pole at Le Mans last year. Roman Rusinov might bring the money to the team, but is a perfectly competent driver.
Another Oreca-Nissan combination to be reckoned with is the Pecom Racing machine. AF Corse run the car and know what they're doing, and have two star drivers. Nicolas Minassian had two overall podiums with Peugeot and Pierre Kaffer is ex-Audi. Former WRC driver and ice cream magnate Luis Perez-Companc has been doing this race for a few years now, the car was third in class last year and won from pole at this year's Spa WEC round, so can win here too.
Brendon Hartley and Karun Chandhok are two more very rapid drivers in an Oreca-Nissan, with Murphy Prototypes. Their gentleman driver is investor Mark Patterson, an experienced sportscar campaigner who should be capable of keeping his car on the pace (though at the time of publishing he's already had two offs in the opening hour of practice).
Thiriet by TDS Racing finished second in last year's race, and are certainly worth watching again this year. Pierre Thiriet brings the money to the team from his father's frozen food company but is quick, as is TDS Blancpain driver Ludovic Badey and they are joined by Maxime Martin, rated as one of the quickest GT drivers and so must be capable in a prototype too.
Greaves Motorsport field two Zytek-Nissans, one in Caterham livery and one in Nissan colours. In the #41, Tom Kimber-Smith is going for a hat-trick of LMP2 wins, and his fourth class win in total, and Caterham F1 reserve Alexander Rossi should form a strong pairing even on his sportscar debut. Fellow American Eric Lux is certainly not to be confused with the Lotus F1 exec best known for being assaulted by Adrian Sutil but also known to do the occasional race. The #42 line-up is led by factory Nissan driver Michael Krumm, original GT Academy star Lucas Ordonez and the gamer-to-racer competition's 2011 graduate, Jann Mardenborough, making his sportscar debut having already shown his talent in F3 this year.
There are two more of the Oak-built Morgans with good drivers. At Morand Racing, Franck Mailleux is now an experienced campaigner at this level, ex-Formula BMW driver Olivier Lombard is on his third straight Le Mans start and Natacha Gachnang is decent too.
Chinese team KCMG are also debutants, but Matt Howson is a good 'amateur' as a race winner in Formula BMW UK in the middle of the last decade before his money ran dry, Alexandre Imperatori showed his speed dominating the Carrera Cup in Asia and Ho-Pin Tung is also competent with FBMW and F3 titles to his name.
Race Performance are not new to Le Mans but are on paper a more serious proposition than before. Gentleman Michel Frey remains but Ralph Meichtry has made way for promising GP3 star Patric Niederhauser, who goes particularly well in the damp. Joining them for Le Mans is Jeroen Bleekemolen, LMP2 winner in 2009 with Van Merksteijn and a winner in everything from A1 Grand Prix to Porsche Supercup.
The Colin Kolles-run Lotus operation has some strong drivers, but also a new car to the 2014 regs and seem unlikely to fight at the front this year. They're also missing ex-F1 driver Tonio Liuzzi (who has a clashing race in his Superstars Series title bid), replaced in the #31 by Christophe Bouchut. Force India tester James Rossiter is also in that car, but it is hampered by relatively inexperienced amateur Kevin Weeda. The #32 probably has the stronger overall line-up, with former LMS champion Jan Charouz alongside Dominik Kraihamer and Thomas Holzer.
Two more Coupes - in addition to the Lotus entries - come from Lola. The first is run by Status Grand Prix, with Johnny Mowlem as their lead driver. Jonathan Hirschi has a reasonable CV but was dropped by TDS for not being as fast as they expected, while Tony Burgess has plenty of experience in North America as well as a GT podium from Le Mans in 2000.
Andy Blackmore's Spotter Guide is the perfect companion for the race and has almost all the information you need.
The driver trio of Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler in the #1 have been the men to beat for the past couple of years and start as the favourites again. They've had Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish rattled, the veterans making some big errors in their attempts to keep up. Dindo Capello's retirement has opened up a space in the #2 for Loic Duval, who is just as fast as the #1 drivers and should help keep the car on the pace without having to go over the limit. Car #3 doesn't have a bad driver line-up either. Marc Gene made some mistakes last year, but Lucas Di Grassi and Oliver Jarvis are also quick - the former setting the quickest time of the Audi drivers in qualifying for his sportscar debut in Sao Paulo alongside Kristensen and McNish last year.
Toyota have two pretty evenly-matched driver line-ups. It was Nicolas Lapierre that stole the lead of last year's race from Audi. Kazuki Nakajima can go just as quickly but can be error-prone (see last year's collision with the Deltawing), while Alexander Wurz can be trusted to keep it in the right direction and is still very fast. In the second car, Stephane Sarrazin is the pole master at Le Mans, but it's not clear that the Toyota will be quick enough to let him do that. Sebastien Buemi and Anthony Davidson are of course also quick, and if the latter has any sense, he will have added some cautiousness in traffic to his game after his scary shunt last year.
As impressively quick as Rebellion's Lolas are for a privateer effort, they won't be able to keep up with the factory cars. The drivers in their lead car wouldn't look out of place in a factory squad. A1GP champion Neel Jani has been attracting interest from the manufacturers, and Nick Heidfeld was F1's nearly man. Nicolas Prost isn't slow, either. In the other car, Congfu Cheng is likely to hold back Andrea Belicchi and Mathias Beche ever so slightly, but not as much as the third privateer LMP1 challenger of Strakka Racing will be by owner-driver Nick Leventis. His task is to keep it clean and not undo the work of Danny Watts and Johnny Kane.
There are only eight cars in the top class this time around, but LMP1's loss is LMP2's gain, with 22 cars in the secondary class and most of them feature some top pro drivers. Every car requires at least one silver- or bronze-rated 'amateur' driver and the varying quality of these can be the deciding factor when weighing up the driver line-ups.
It's a surprise to see Pierre Ragues, a former single-seater driver who's done this race in a prototype every year since 2008, silver-rated, and he therefore his inclusion makes for a very strong all-French trio in the #36 Signatech Alpine. Nelson Panciatici is a Formula Renault 3.5 podium finisher and Tristan Gommendy a race winner.
The #24 Oak Racing will be a strong contender. GP2 race winner Olivier Pla is one of the most highly-rated drivers in the category, Alex Brundle has looked more at home in his short sportscar career than he ever did in a single-seater and software developer David Heinemeier Hansson is one of the quickest gentleman drivers. The sister #35 car should also be strong, featuring Indycar refugees Bertrand Baguette and Martin Plowman, while Ricardo Gonzalez is pretty good for a gentleman driver - he did the World Series by Nissan in 2003 before taking a break from racing.
Another fast gentleman driver is British entrepreneur Simon Dolan of Jota, and in Oliver Turvey and Lucas Luhr he has perhaps the fastest 'pro' pairing in the class. McLaren F1 tester Turvey has shone since his sportscar debut earlier this year, while Luhr not only has Le Mans class wins and a world title in GTs, but also ALMS prototype titles with Porsche, Audi and most recently with Muscle Milk.
Two more star pros are to be found in Level 5's HPD-Honda in the form of Marino Franchitti and Ryan Briscoe, partnering team boss Scott Tucker. The car is a proven package, winning with another American team Starworks Motorsport last year.
The two Delta-ADR cars are two more contenders. The #25 won the WEC opener at Silverstone, but with Tor Graves joined on that occasion by Antonio Pizzonia and James Walker, who might be missed. Former F1 and Champ Car driver Shinji Nakano does bring plenty of Le Mans experience, Archie Hamilton less so. Achieving his dream of starting Le Mans, 60 years after grandfather Duncan won for Jaguar, has a strong season in the International GT Open behind him but will otherwise be a little in at the deep end. On this occasion the #26, under the G-Drive banner, could be the stronger line-up. Indycar star Mike Conway is obviously fast, and so is John Martin, who put the team on LMP2 pole at Le Mans last year. Roman Rusinov might bring the money to the team, but is a perfectly competent driver.
Another Oreca-Nissan combination to be reckoned with is the Pecom Racing machine. AF Corse run the car and know what they're doing, and have two star drivers. Nicolas Minassian had two overall podiums with Peugeot and Pierre Kaffer is ex-Audi. Former WRC driver and ice cream magnate Luis Perez-Companc has been doing this race for a few years now, the car was third in class last year and won from pole at this year's Spa WEC round, so can win here too.
Brendon Hartley and Karun Chandhok are two more very rapid drivers in an Oreca-Nissan, with Murphy Prototypes. Their gentleman driver is investor Mark Patterson, an experienced sportscar campaigner who should be capable of keeping his car on the pace (though at the time of publishing he's already had two offs in the opening hour of practice).
Thiriet by TDS Racing finished second in last year's race, and are certainly worth watching again this year. Pierre Thiriet brings the money to the team from his father's frozen food company but is quick, as is TDS Blancpain driver Ludovic Badey and they are joined by Maxime Martin, rated as one of the quickest GT drivers and so must be capable in a prototype too.
Greaves Motorsport field two Zytek-Nissans, one in Caterham livery and one in Nissan colours. In the #41, Tom Kimber-Smith is going for a hat-trick of LMP2 wins, and his fourth class win in total, and Caterham F1 reserve Alexander Rossi should form a strong pairing even on his sportscar debut. Fellow American Eric Lux is certainly not to be confused with the Lotus F1 exec best known for being assaulted by Adrian Sutil but also known to do the occasional race. The #42 line-up is led by factory Nissan driver Michael Krumm, original GT Academy star Lucas Ordonez and the gamer-to-racer competition's 2011 graduate, Jann Mardenborough, making his sportscar debut having already shown his talent in F3 this year.
There are two more of the Oak-built Morgans with good drivers. At Morand Racing, Franck Mailleux is now an experienced campaigner at this level, ex-Formula BMW driver Olivier Lombard is on his third straight Le Mans start and Natacha Gachnang is decent too.
Chinese team KCMG are also debutants, but Matt Howson is a good 'amateur' as a race winner in Formula BMW UK in the middle of the last decade before his money ran dry, Alexandre Imperatori showed his speed dominating the Carrera Cup in Asia and Ho-Pin Tung is also competent with FBMW and F3 titles to his name.
Race Performance are not new to Le Mans but are on paper a more serious proposition than before. Gentleman Michel Frey remains but Ralph Meichtry has made way for promising GP3 star Patric Niederhauser, who goes particularly well in the damp. Joining them for Le Mans is Jeroen Bleekemolen, LMP2 winner in 2009 with Van Merksteijn and a winner in everything from A1 Grand Prix to Porsche Supercup.
The Colin Kolles-run Lotus operation has some strong drivers, but also a new car to the 2014 regs and seem unlikely to fight at the front this year. They're also missing ex-F1 driver Tonio Liuzzi (who has a clashing race in his Superstars Series title bid), replaced in the #31 by Christophe Bouchut. Force India tester James Rossiter is also in that car, but it is hampered by relatively inexperienced amateur Kevin Weeda. The #32 probably has the stronger overall line-up, with former LMS champion Jan Charouz alongside Dominik Kraihamer and Thomas Holzer.
Two more Coupes - in addition to the Lotus entries - come from Lola. The first is run by Status Grand Prix, with Johnny Mowlem as their lead driver. Jonathan Hirschi has a reasonable CV but was dropped by TDS for not being as fast as they expected, while Tony Burgess has plenty of experience in North America as well as a GT podium from Le Mans in 2000.
Gulf Racing Middle East are a team that have gone through plenty of struggles despite their money, often on the driving front. Team co-owner Fabien Giroix is good, having finished third in the DTM back in 1989 and fifth at Le Mans in 1995 with his own McLaren team. Keiko Ihara is a former grid girl, but the arrival of the experienced Philippe Haezebrouck in place of Giroix's friend Frederic Fatien should help them out a bit.
For all the quality in the class there are also three more entries in addition to Gulf Middle East that lack a pro driver. Oak owner Jaques Nicolet is the best-rated driver in the team's third Art-car #45 alongside bronze drivers Jean-Marc Merlin and Philippe Mondolot. DKR Engineering sport a BMW-inspired livery but while Olivier Porta had podiums in this class in 2003 and 2004 and Romain Brandela has plenty of French GT experience, Stephane Raffin has very little experience. Finally, Boutsen Ginion are a strong team, but have a particularly weak driver line-up. Thomas Dagoneau and Matt Downs have a bit of LMPC experience from last year's ELMS and ALMS respectively, but Rodin Younessi has struggled badly in the Blancpain Endurance Series this year.
Moving onto GTE Pro, which sees a battle for victory between factory teams from Ferrari, Corvette, Porsche and Aston Martin.
Giancarlo Fisichella and Gianmaria Bruni won for AF Corse last year. This year they are joined in the #51 by fellow Italian Matteo Malucelli, who isn't as big a name but is well respected in GT circles. Toni Vilander moves across to the sister #71 car, joined by Olivier Beretta, a two-time GT class winner for Viper and four-time winner for Corvette, and by Sauber F1 refugee Kamui Kobayashi.
As always, Corvette field two strong line-ups. in the #73 Jan Magnussen makes his tenth consecutive start for Corvette and is joined by fellow regular Antonio Garcia and American youngster Jordan Taylor, who made his debut in the car. The #74 has a similar mix of experience and youth. Oliver Gavin has been going to Le Mans with Corvette since 2002, and is joined by fellow Brit Richard Westbrook and American Tommy Milner.
Porsche field a factory team for the first time in a long time, and that means two strong line-ups from their large roster of factory drivers. Back from their loan with Audi, Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas are the first two drivers signed for Porsche's 2014 LMP1 assault, and Bernhard is joined in the #91 by Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Pilet and Dumas in the #92 by Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz. The driver line-ups could hardly be any better, but there are question marks over how good the cars are.
There are no such questions about the pace of the three Aston Martins. In the lead #97, Stefan Mucke and Darren Turner have been driving together for the marque for years, while Peter Dumbreck is an experience and fast GT driver. The #99 is a line-up that is all-new for Aston Martin, but is tantalisingly quick. Bruno Senna has impressed since his slightly surprise signing, Fred Mackowiecki has a reputation as perhaps the quickest GT driver around and Rob Bell - usually a McLaren factory driver - is no slouch either. The #98 is not quite as strong a proposition thanks to the inclusion of 47-year-old amateur Paul Dalla Lana who brings the money for the car from his NorthWest investment firm. He has a strong record though in his short career so far driving BMWs in Grand-Am alongside Bill Auberlen, who joins him here too. Pedro Lamy is as strong as any of the other Aston Martin drivers and has years of Le Mans experience.
Joining the fight this year is Viper, who have apparently shown promise with their new car but such is the strength of the opposition that they are unlikely to challenge in year one. The lead #53 has a strong line-up of Ryan Dalziel, LMP2 winner last year, Dominik Farnbacher and Marc Goosens, making his 12th start. I have to admit I'd never heard of any of the drivers of the #93 before, but Jonathan Bomarito is a regular winner in Grand-Am GTs and series runner-up in Atlantic single-seaters, Tommy Kendall a multiple champion in IMSA GT and Trans-Am in the 80s and 90s and Kuno Wittner a relatively experience GT driver too.
The final car in the class, the Dunlop-liveried JMW Ferrari, has a line-up that would be eligible for GTE Am (where it perhaps would have been the strongest) but will struggle against the all-pro cars. Multiple FIA GT champ Andrea Bertolini is as good as they come, and he is joined by two drivers from the Middle East. Saudi Arabia's Abdulaziz Al Faisal is a Porsche champion and Khaled Al Qubaisi has won the last two Dubai 24 Hours, so both are good drivers and it's good to see them representing their countries, but they're not a match for the quality in this class.
In GTE Am, Aston Martin start as the favourites too, with two cars entered under the factory banner. Every car can have no more than one gold- or silver-rated 'pro' driver, but the #95 Vantage still has a very strong trio of Danes. One of their silver-rated, Kristian Poulsen, is a WTCC Independents champion, while Christopher Nygaard is quick too. The pro, Allan Simonsen is amongst the quickest GT drivers around. The #96 is paid for by German oil man Roald Goethe (the man responsible for this impressive collection of Gulf cars) and although he will hold it back slightly, he has two quick co-drivers in his regular driving partner Stuart Hall and 2000 FIA GT champion Jamie Campbell-Walter.
Like Aston Martin, AF Corse are also represented in both GT classes, fielding three cars under their own name. The #61 has two very strong drivers in Marco Cioci - part of the team's Pro class line-up last year - and Matt Griffin, so the focus will be on amateur Jack Gerber to stay out of trouble. The Pro in the #55 is Darryl O'Young, whose full-time role might be as a World Touring Car driver but he seems to take part in as many GT races as his schedule will allow, taking in Dubai, Bathurst and Daytona earlier this year. Lorenzo Case is an experienced GT driver and so is surgeon Piergiuseppe Perazzini, unfortunately best known for being collected last year by Davidson. In the #54, Yannick Mallegol and Jean-Marc Bachelier have raced Ferraris together since 2008 and Howard Blank joined them for last year's Blancpain Endurance Series, but all three are bronze-rated gentleman drivers and Le Mans debutants and may struggle.
Another Ferrari run with AF Corse support is that of 8Star, run by Enzo Potolicchio who won LMP2 with Starworks last year. As he showed last year, he is a fast gentleman driver and he's joined by Rui Aguas, whose been driving for AF Corse since 2005 so must do a good job. The choice of Pro in V8 Supercar star Jason Bright seems to be a bit of a random one but this is an overall strong squad.
The final Ferrari in the class is that of Krohn Racing. Owner Tracey Krohn and his regular Pro driving partner Niclas Jonsson return for their eighth straight attempt at Le Mans. Maurizio Mediani is a little-known addition to the line-up, but the Italian has been a test driver for the Ferrari 458.
Larbre Competition bring two Corvettes, looking to score a third straight win in the GTE Am class. Julien Canal, who brings the support of the local McDonalds franchise his father runs, has a remarkable record of three class wins from his three Le Mans starts, all in the past three years with Larbre. Patrick Bornhauser joins him for the third straight year in the #50. Ricky Taylor, the older brother of Jordan and a Corvette factory driver back in 2011, is the pro in the car. The #70 lacks a pro-rated driver, but 20-year-old American Cooper MacNeil should be quick and is the ALMS GTC champion. Hexis Racing boss Philippe Dumas makes a return to racing to take in Le Mans with race regular Manuel Rodrigues, who previously drove in GT series for Hexis.
The rest of the cars in the class are Porsches. IMSA Performance Matmut are regular frontrunners and have two cars this year. Factory driver Wolf Henzler leads the #67 alongside Pascal Gibon, who finished second in the class in 2011 with Larbre, and fellow French gentleman Patrice Milesi, short on experience at this level. The pro in the #76 is former Indy Lights champion and Peugeot 908 reserve Jean-Karl Vernay, last year's French Carrera Cup champion. Team owner Raymond Narac is a handy gentleman driver, with Christophe Bourret - Gibon's team-mate in 2011 - completing the line-up.
Another Porsche factory driver is to be found at Prospeed Competition. Unfortunately for Emmanuel Collard, he is paired up with two bronze-rated drivers with only a handful of top-level races between them, so the car is unlikely to feature. Proton Competition are running two cars, but only one under their own banner. The #88 car lacks a Porsche factory driver, with Paolo Ruberti as its pro. Fellow Italian Gianluca Roda has a strong CV while team boss Christian Ried has plenty of experience at Le Mans. The other car Proton are supporting is the #77 car of US actor Patrick Dempsey. He is alongside his regular driving partner Joe Foster and factory driver Patrick Long, who could drive them forward into podium contention.
Giancarlo Fisichella and Gianmaria Bruni won for AF Corse last year. This year they are joined in the #51 by fellow Italian Matteo Malucelli, who isn't as big a name but is well respected in GT circles. Toni Vilander moves across to the sister #71 car, joined by Olivier Beretta, a two-time GT class winner for Viper and four-time winner for Corvette, and by Sauber F1 refugee Kamui Kobayashi.
As always, Corvette field two strong line-ups. in the #73 Jan Magnussen makes his tenth consecutive start for Corvette and is joined by fellow regular Antonio Garcia and American youngster Jordan Taylor, who made his debut in the car. The #74 has a similar mix of experience and youth. Oliver Gavin has been going to Le Mans with Corvette since 2002, and is joined by fellow Brit Richard Westbrook and American Tommy Milner.
Porsche field a factory team for the first time in a long time, and that means two strong line-ups from their large roster of factory drivers. Back from their loan with Audi, Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas are the first two drivers signed for Porsche's 2014 LMP1 assault, and Bernhard is joined in the #91 by Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Pilet and Dumas in the #92 by Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz. The driver line-ups could hardly be any better, but there are question marks over how good the cars are.
There are no such questions about the pace of the three Aston Martins. In the lead #97, Stefan Mucke and Darren Turner have been driving together for the marque for years, while Peter Dumbreck is an experience and fast GT driver. The #99 is a line-up that is all-new for Aston Martin, but is tantalisingly quick. Bruno Senna has impressed since his slightly surprise signing, Fred Mackowiecki has a reputation as perhaps the quickest GT driver around and Rob Bell - usually a McLaren factory driver - is no slouch either. The #98 is not quite as strong a proposition thanks to the inclusion of 47-year-old amateur Paul Dalla Lana who brings the money for the car from his NorthWest investment firm. He has a strong record though in his short career so far driving BMWs in Grand-Am alongside Bill Auberlen, who joins him here too. Pedro Lamy is as strong as any of the other Aston Martin drivers and has years of Le Mans experience.
Joining the fight this year is Viper, who have apparently shown promise with their new car but such is the strength of the opposition that they are unlikely to challenge in year one. The lead #53 has a strong line-up of Ryan Dalziel, LMP2 winner last year, Dominik Farnbacher and Marc Goosens, making his 12th start. I have to admit I'd never heard of any of the drivers of the #93 before, but Jonathan Bomarito is a regular winner in Grand-Am GTs and series runner-up in Atlantic single-seaters, Tommy Kendall a multiple champion in IMSA GT and Trans-Am in the 80s and 90s and Kuno Wittner a relatively experience GT driver too.
The final car in the class, the Dunlop-liveried JMW Ferrari, has a line-up that would be eligible for GTE Am (where it perhaps would have been the strongest) but will struggle against the all-pro cars. Multiple FIA GT champ Andrea Bertolini is as good as they come, and he is joined by two drivers from the Middle East. Saudi Arabia's Abdulaziz Al Faisal is a Porsche champion and Khaled Al Qubaisi has won the last two Dubai 24 Hours, so both are good drivers and it's good to see them representing their countries, but they're not a match for the quality in this class.
In GTE Am, Aston Martin start as the favourites too, with two cars entered under the factory banner. Every car can have no more than one gold- or silver-rated 'pro' driver, but the #95 Vantage still has a very strong trio of Danes. One of their silver-rated, Kristian Poulsen, is a WTCC Independents champion, while Christopher Nygaard is quick too. The pro, Allan Simonsen is amongst the quickest GT drivers around. The #96 is paid for by German oil man Roald Goethe (the man responsible for this impressive collection of Gulf cars) and although he will hold it back slightly, he has two quick co-drivers in his regular driving partner Stuart Hall and 2000 FIA GT champion Jamie Campbell-Walter.
Like Aston Martin, AF Corse are also represented in both GT classes, fielding three cars under their own name. The #61 has two very strong drivers in Marco Cioci - part of the team's Pro class line-up last year - and Matt Griffin, so the focus will be on amateur Jack Gerber to stay out of trouble. The Pro in the #55 is Darryl O'Young, whose full-time role might be as a World Touring Car driver but he seems to take part in as many GT races as his schedule will allow, taking in Dubai, Bathurst and Daytona earlier this year. Lorenzo Case is an experienced GT driver and so is surgeon Piergiuseppe Perazzini, unfortunately best known for being collected last year by Davidson. In the #54, Yannick Mallegol and Jean-Marc Bachelier have raced Ferraris together since 2008 and Howard Blank joined them for last year's Blancpain Endurance Series, but all three are bronze-rated gentleman drivers and Le Mans debutants and may struggle.
Another Ferrari run with AF Corse support is that of 8Star, run by Enzo Potolicchio who won LMP2 with Starworks last year. As he showed last year, he is a fast gentleman driver and he's joined by Rui Aguas, whose been driving for AF Corse since 2005 so must do a good job. The choice of Pro in V8 Supercar star Jason Bright seems to be a bit of a random one but this is an overall strong squad.
The final Ferrari in the class is that of Krohn Racing. Owner Tracey Krohn and his regular Pro driving partner Niclas Jonsson return for their eighth straight attempt at Le Mans. Maurizio Mediani is a little-known addition to the line-up, but the Italian has been a test driver for the Ferrari 458.
Larbre Competition bring two Corvettes, looking to score a third straight win in the GTE Am class. Julien Canal, who brings the support of the local McDonalds franchise his father runs, has a remarkable record of three class wins from his three Le Mans starts, all in the past three years with Larbre. Patrick Bornhauser joins him for the third straight year in the #50. Ricky Taylor, the older brother of Jordan and a Corvette factory driver back in 2011, is the pro in the car. The #70 lacks a pro-rated driver, but 20-year-old American Cooper MacNeil should be quick and is the ALMS GTC champion. Hexis Racing boss Philippe Dumas makes a return to racing to take in Le Mans with race regular Manuel Rodrigues, who previously drove in GT series for Hexis.
The rest of the cars in the class are Porsches. IMSA Performance Matmut are regular frontrunners and have two cars this year. Factory driver Wolf Henzler leads the #67 alongside Pascal Gibon, who finished second in the class in 2011 with Larbre, and fellow French gentleman Patrice Milesi, short on experience at this level. The pro in the #76 is former Indy Lights champion and Peugeot 908 reserve Jean-Karl Vernay, last year's French Carrera Cup champion. Team owner Raymond Narac is a handy gentleman driver, with Christophe Bourret - Gibon's team-mate in 2011 - completing the line-up.
Another Porsche factory driver is to be found at Prospeed Competition. Unfortunately for Emmanuel Collard, he is paired up with two bronze-rated drivers with only a handful of top-level races between them, so the car is unlikely to feature. Proton Competition are running two cars, but only one under their own banner. The #88 car lacks a Porsche factory driver, with Paolo Ruberti as its pro. Fellow Italian Gianluca Roda has a strong CV while team boss Christian Ried has plenty of experience at Le Mans. The other car Proton are supporting is the #77 car of US actor Patrick Dempsey. He is alongside his regular driving partner Joe Foster and factory driver Patrick Long, who could drive them forward into podium contention.
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