LM P2

This year the modifications made to LM P2 affect safety. The seats in the open P2s must be extractable. As for the LM P1s red rain lights must be installed at the rear of the cars (fixed for LM P1s) and flickering for the LM P2s.

As closed cars cost more to build than open ones the maximum sales price has been increased to 450 000 euros (385 000 euros for open prototypes).
With 20 cars LM P2 is again the largest category in the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours. Almost all the entrants are potential winners so a no-holds-barred scrap for victory looks on the cards.

British team Jota Sport will be back to defend its 2014 title although not with a Zytek Z11SN. This year the squad will run a Gibson 015S as Zytek Engineering has become Gibson Technology. In fact, it’s an evolution of last year’s winning chassis and not a new car.

But Jota will have its work cut out as it will be up against rivals like G-Drive, Thiriet by TDS Racing, Murphy Prototypes, Signatech Alpine, KCMG, Team SARD Morand (alliance between SARD Racing Team and Morand Racing) and SMP Racing, plus well-armed newcomers Krohn Racing, which has moved up from LM GTE Am to LM P2 with a Judd-engined Ligier, and Ibanez Racing. Strakka Racing is back giving its Dome S103-Nissan its Le Mans debut.

A wide variety of cars

The 20 cars in LM P2 represent teams from 10 different nationalities. And there’s no way it can be called a single-make formula! Ten different chassis will do battle including three brand-new ones, as well as evolutions of several well-known constructors (the Gibson 015S and the Morgan Evo).
Ligier is the favourite in LM P2 with five JS P2s followed by three Morgans, all of which have been developed by Onroak Automotive.

Oreca is next up with four cars to which the ex-Oreca Alpine A450B can be added. The teams will use four different engines: Nissan with 15 has the lion’s share from Honda (2) and SARD (2), which will power the Morand Racing entries which has joined forces with the Japanese squad.

Krohn Racing has installed a Judd engine in its Ligier JS P2.

Three new cars: BR, HPD and Oreca

This year several new cars will make their debut in the LM P2 category. SMP Racing has had a brand-new chassis designed for its own use by the BR Engineering Company. Two of the first-ever Russian LM P2s called the BR01s have been entered with Nissan engines.

Designated the Oreca 05, the new closed prototype built by the French constructor will take over from the well-known 03 of the previous years. Two teams have opted for this choice: Thiriet by TDS Racing and Chinese squad KCMG Racing. Both cars will rely on Nissan power. Two of the 2014 Oreca 03Rs have also been entered.

Honda Performance Development is making its Le Mans comeback this year with two new ARX-04bs entered by ambitious American team, Extreme Speed Motorsports. These cars will obviously use Honda engines.

LM P reserves

On the joint LM P LM GTE reserve list there are three reserves in LM P2: the second cars of KCMG (Oreca-Nissan), Ibanez Racing (Oreca Nissan) and Portuguese entrant Algarve Pro Racing (Ligier JS P2-Nissan).