TBK-Light.com

Good column by Dagys: http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/ ... erstorm/P1

Martin & Alex Brundle at Greaves Motorsport for Le Mans. Awesome.

More information on Dome & LM tomorrow, apparently

source?

In the meantime it's been posted:

http://www.endurance-info.com/version2/ ... -8871.html

Short summary:
Dome are investigating the possibility of returning with the S102 in 2012. Decision will be taken very soon.

https://twitter.com/#!/dsceditor/status ... 5617466368

Not much news there I think, except for Honda... Wonder which way they'll go, whether it'll be factory backing to Strakka and/or Muscle Milk, a factory run ARX-03a, or a coupe design from Wirth. Wonder if Wirth would be able to produce the car with the focus they'll have to give to the ARX-03a, and what involvement Honda would give to Strakka and/or Muscle Milk as a customer.

The Dome bit has been rumoured for a while, with some financial assistance expected from Taki Inoue... The S102 has a whole heck of a lot of potential. Interesting...

Also news that the Audi R8 LMS is likely to receive 'national' GTE homologation, and could well be seen running in the ALMS GT class next year (though obviously not allowed to go to Le Mans, likely per factory directives).

Last thing to consider with these privateer entries is who will be at Le Mans. I know the WEC won't likely have a ton of GT entries but I feel like there's a good chance we'll see 30-35 full season for the WEC, leaving only about 20 entries for Le Mans. If people like Dome want to get to Le Mans but won't enter the full season WEC, those spots fill up quickly. Wonder if we might see them in the WEC next year. Speaking of which, LM and WEC entry lists are out February 4th. Start counting the days...

Seems like sportscar news this season has really ebbed and flowed. No news at all and then suddenly you get a massive slide of big news all at once.

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/ ... gt-return/

At least BMW's confirmed their ALMS return.

_________________
If you screw up while skydiving, you have the rest of your life to figure out how to fix it.

WTF is with the Japanese following each other. Do they really only want to beat each other?

When Honda left, Toyota left a year later. In MOTOGP, Suzuki and Kawasaki also went away just a year after each other. And now that Toyota is returing Honda suddenly got interested again? Strange people (not that I would mind it).

Its a small step to also join the European championship, I guess :-)

Indeed

I guess depends what kind of program this is (if there's a program, it's only a rumor after all). Taking the HPD car and rebranding it again could mean it was something that was put up pretty quickly.

Tokyo Motor Show is next weekend...

Graham Goodwin on last week's Midweek Motorsport suggested that the car would likely be a development of the ARX-03a mostly for data gathering purposes. It's obvious the -03a is going to be a wicked quick car, and it could be very useful for Honda to get some baseline data this season before designing their own car for 2013. It's unlikely this would combine with the Strakka effort in any way, but I can see Honda doing a bit of cherry picking of their Super GT drivers for a one or two car effort at Le Mans.

To be honest, I think this one could well end up at Sebring alongside the Strakka entry. Wirth should have no problems building the extra cars and if Honda's going to have a car badged in their name there (as the ARX-03a certainly will), they'll want to have a presence in the first WEC round, I figure. Time will tell...

Got to love ACO's description of Zolder

(translated from French)
"This track combines several long straights with twisting parts which drivers have to proceed through with greatest carefulness on risk of making a fatal mistake"

Most dangerous and ballsy track ever, really.

ACO descriptions and press releases in general are pretty horrible.

Just noticed that the Zolder event and the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring are in the same weekend. Nice one.

Thanks Marcel ten Caat

Additional news and rumours reaching Dailysportscar.com (seriously, go subscribe there. It's worth it.)

Apparently Honda have approached Benoit Treluyer in recent months. He's a stalwart in the Super GT for them, so if Honda do decide to go ahead for 2012, he could well be a part of that program. Treluyer has said recently that his main goal for 2012 is a season-long WEC drive, and that the offer he accepts will be one that sees him drive for the full year in sportscars.

Six new GTE cars could potentially join the ranks in the future... These include:

Dodge Viper - Rumours of this in the past for an ALMS effort but thus far no progress
Lambda Ford GT - Lambda have committed to 6 cars but so far no news of any takers
Lexus LF-A - Photographs have made the rounds for some time, but so far there's never been a green light from Toyota letting it happen in GTE
Audi R8 - Apparently there is significant pressure on Audi from the customer teams to allow the R8 to go full-GTE spec. I can't see Audi letting their cars at Le Mans in non-factory supported hands, and with them focusing on LMP1 I really can't see this happening.
Lamborghini Gallardo - Another GT3 -> GTE effort apparently, this one better funded with eyes on the WEC next year. This looks likely to happen
Mercedes SLS - This is looking increasingly likely as time goes on, especially with Hakkinen having driven at Zhuhai. However, 2012 would probably not see the car in competition but rather in development before the car being released to competitors in 2013.

Lets just say that Marcel, Greg and me noticed it at the same time
It's also in the same weekend as a round of the Belgian rally championship, about 10km away from Zolder, lol.

Why don't they get any Nissan GTR's in the series? Nissan already seems to have an involvement with LMP2... Maybe because the GTR's are AWD?