

One of the things that marks out the 2014 Le Mans 24 Hours was the amount of pit gossip that there was. Usually there are a few quiet whispers, little tit bits, some true, some half true and others downright lies conjured up for various reasons. In this post I’m going to try to navigate my way through what amounted to the loudest game of Chinese whispers ever heard.

Rumour 1. Ferrari is building a LMP1

This was the biggest point of discussion at Le Mans, fuelled by a number of factors but primarily just the fact that some people wanted it to be true. Some in the paddock insisted that the annual ACO Press Conference had been put back by a day to announce the return of a ‘fan favourite’ and ‘a name from the past’. As Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso was to wave the starting flag many interpreted this a sure sign that Ferrari was going to announce its return, some even insisted that senior Ferrari sources had told them that it was the case. This was of course nonsense.



The rumours of a ‘fan favourite’ returning to Le Mans came from Radio Le Mans, which had hoped to announce the return of Chuck Dressing to the commentary team for the race, but that did not come to pass. Many had seen this as related to the rumoured ACO announcement. But it wasn’t yet the rumours merged somehow.

The ACO press conference was delayed by a day so that the WEC renewal contract could be signed in person by Jean Todt who was only attending the track on the Saturday.

So Ferrari was never going to announce anything at Le Mans, but that is not to say that there will not be an announcement in future. Ferrari has openly stated its interest in the LMP1 class, and it seems to fit well with the brand. However Ferrari’s F1 power unit, whilst legal under the LMP1 technical regulations does not produce enough power to compete at Le Mans. Also it is under performing in Grand Prix racing and needs to get that house in order before doing anything else.

It is almost certain that if a Ferrari LMP1 project goes ahead it will not be until at least 2016, and more likely 2017.

But one element of the rumour was kind of correct…

Rumour 2: An old brand returns

One of the rumours in the ‘Ferrari returns’ nonsense was that an old brand from the history of the Le Mans 24 hours was about to return. This one was actually nearly true, but had nothing to do with Ferrari. Frazer Nash had been working in secret on a 2015 Garage 56 project, and a 2016 LMP1 entry, Sergio Rinland was thought to have been the lead designer of the car but for some reason the project stopped in the Spring of 2014. This leaves Le Mans 2015 with apparently no 56th entry.

Rumour 3: Ford



We have been blamed for this one – or rather Racecar Engineering Editor Andrew Cotton has been. At the launch of the Nissan LMP1 project in London, Andrew was asked by Radio Le Mans who he thought could join the LMP1 ranks, in reply he said “Ford and BMW.” Some took this to somehow mean that Ford was definitely doing LMP1 next year and some others even went as far as trying to get a denial from Ford. Not difficult to get considering nobody ever said that Ford was returning! In fact it was all based on a misunderstanding.

However Ford is known to have seriously evaluated a return to Le Mans, its though an LMP2 design was done, but the decision was taken to put the Ecoboost engine in the back of a Daytona Prototype instead. GTE could still be on the cards, Multimatic is thought to have developed a GTE spec Mustang but the project did not progress. Tantalisingly though 2016 is the 50th anniversary of Fords clean sweep of the podium at Le Mans.

Ford is thought to be working on a high level motorsport project with Cosworth but little is known about it.

Rumour 4: Mazda returns



Well if Ford is not returning then how about its close relation Mazda? It seems that this rumour may be true. Mazda runs two diesel engined LMP2 Lola’s in the TUSCC but they were notably absent from Le Mans. This is because the ACO initially decided to allow diesels into LMP2 then did a U-turn and banned them again, leaving Mazda with no class to race in. Director of Motorsport at Mazda North America John Doonan arrived at Le Mans admitting that his intention was for the brand to run a Le Mans Prototype in the 24 hours in 2015 but he did not know which category it would be in.

Rumour 5: Toyota in LMP2



This one seems to have some truth to it.

TMG first discussed doing LMP2 in Racecar Engineering this time last year, the Cologne based motorsport consultancy (which is wholly owned by Toyota) saw the junior prototype class as a potential source of new business. However it seems that a full Toyota LMP2 design is unlikely, however TMG did confirm that it was still looking at offering a LMP2 specification engine to go alongside the LMP1-L specification RV8K engine used by Rebellion.

It is thought the Toyota USA via TRD is also keen for an LMP2 programme of some sort so it can compete with Ford, GM and Honda in TUSCC. This would also allow teams like SARD and TOMS to compete at Le Mans again.

Rumour 6: Toyota would have left WEC if it had won at Le Mans.

This one is probably nonsense. There was a suggestion that Toyota would have pulled out of the WEC at the end of 2014 if it had won Le Mans, to allow it to prepare fully for a return to the WRC in 2017. Fanning the rumour a little was the fact that Toyota quit the WRC years ago stating that ‘it had nothing left to prove’, on the flip side

TMG confirmed that it was already working on a 2015 version of the TS040 on Radio Le Mans.

Rumour 7: Green GT is not dead

This is true. Its not. Will it ever run at Le Mans? we doubt it.

Rumour 8+: LMP2 round up.

There are a huge number of very specific rumours doing the rounds about LMP2 cars at the moment – so here is a round up.

SMP doing a chassis in house, this was confirmed at Le Mans, it will be powered by a Zytek-Nissan.

Bailey LMP2. Sadly it seems that the South African LMP2 project has died, though a car was built and shown at Le Mans no customers willing to pay for the development to bring it up to 2014 specification was found. The car was never homologated and the new rules mean that it must be homologated with an all new chassis. A shame.



Dome S103. The car will be on the grid later this season, it is expected to be highly competitive.

A new Lola. Despite Lola going out of business, Multimatic has a number of the companies former staff and much of its equipment, Julian Sole who designed the Le Mans Prototype has admitted to ‘working on something’.



Wolf LMP2. Italian firm Wolf has been flirting with the top levels of sportscar racing for some time now, initially it announced at Daytona Prototype design, but it never appeared. The company though is actively producing a range of just sub LMP2 sportscars (in fact one of them lapped Spa faster than the WEC LMP2 pole time recently). There has been little discussion of the Wolf LMP2 since the project was announced last year, but it may still happen. Tantalisingly the rendering of the Wolf GB12 LMP2 has a Hyundai logo on the rear wing – that is not a rumour we have heard yet!