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. 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. 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. The 1000 km of Silverstone was also part of the inaugural Le Mans Intercontinental Cup for LMP1s, 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; 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
Teams and drivers
Season results Overall winner in bold. Rnd. Circuit LMP1 Winning Team LMP2 Winning Team FLM Winning Team GT1 Winning Team GT2 Winning Team Results LMP1 Winning Drivers LMP2 Winning Drivers FLM Winning Drivers GT1 Winning Drivers GT2 Winning Drivers 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 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 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 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 3 Algarve No. 4 Team Oreca Matmut No. 25 RML No. 44 DAMS No. 50 Larbre Compétition No. 96 AF Corse Results 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 4 Hungaroring No. 5 Beechdean Mansell No. 42 Strakka Racing No. 43 DAMS No. 50 Larbre Compétition No. 77 Team Felbermayr-Proton Results 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 5 Silverstone No. 1 Team Peugeot Total No. 42 Strakka Racing No. 44 DAMS No. 50 Larbre Compétition No. 96 AF Corse Results Nicolas Minassian Anthony Davidson Danny Watts Jonny Kane Nick Leventis Jody Firth Warren Hughes Gabriele Gardel Patrice Goueslard Fernando Rees Gianmaria Bruni Jaime Melo
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 Race Distance Position Pole Position Fastest Lap 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th And Lower 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
Pos No. Team Chassis Engine LEC SPA ALG HUN SIL 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 AM04 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 52 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 AM04 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 AM04 6.0 L V12 NC 0
LMP2 Standings
Pos No. Team Chassis Engine LEC SPA ALG HUN SIL 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 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 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 LS3 6.3 L V8.
Pos No. Team LEC SPA ALG HUN SIL 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 LEC SPA ALG HUN SIL Total 1 50 Larbre Compétition Saleen S7-R Ford Windsor 7.0 L V8 1 4 1 1 1 97 2 66 Atlas FX-Team FS Saleen S7-R Ford Windsor 7.0 L V8 6 2 Ret 25 3 70 Marc VDS Racing Team Ford GT1 Ford Cammer 5.3 L V8 1 18 4 60 Matech Competition Ford GT1 Ford Cammer 5.3 L V8 2 15 5 61 Matech Competition Ford GT1 Ford Cammer 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 AM04 6.0 L V12 Ret 0
GT2 Standings