With LMP2 not being really a success in the US and be a privateer class, I think Audi is more interested in DP as it can have nearly a factory team to do some nice marketing job for the US market.
Audi is probably not interested in the fact DP may be ok to drive in LM as they are keeping going in LMP1 despite Porsche arrival. On the other hand, LMP1 will no longer contest in the US so they can't advertise their product by saying we won Sebring (example). Advertising by saying we won Le Mans can be quite useless as I don't think there is a lot of american that can tell me where Le Mans is in France (probably lot of french can't as well ). Advertise like we won Daytona + Sebring is probably more efficient by far !
but none were shown on the stream and RLM also speaks of 6 Prototype reserves
here the complete WEC starting list.
LMP1
1 - Audi (Audi R18 e-tron quattro) - Andre Lotterer
2 - Audi (Audi R18 e-tron quattro) - Tom Kristensen
7 - Toyota (Toyota TS030 Hybrid) - Alexander Wurz
8 - Toyota (Toyota TS030 Hybrid) - Anthony Davidson
12 - Rebellion (Lola B12/60 Toyota) - Nicolas Prost
21 - Strakka (HPD ARX-03c) - Nick Leventis
LMP2
24 - Oak (Morgan-Nissan) - Jacques Nicolet
25 - Delta-ADR (Oreca-Nissan) - John Martin
26 - G-Drive (Oreca-Nissan) - Roman Rusinov
28 - Gulf Racing (Lola-Nissan) - Fabien Giroix
29 - Gulf Racing (Lola-Nissan) - Frederic Fatien
30 - HVM-Status (Lola-Judd) - Jonathan Kennard
31 - Lotus (Lotus T128) - Kevin Weeda
32 - Lotus (Lotus T128) - Thomas Holzer
35 - Oak (Morgan-Nissan) - Olivier Pla
41 - Greaves (Zytek-Nissan) - Christian Zugel
44 - Starworks (HPD ARX-03b) - Alex Popow
49 - Pecom (Oreca-Nissan) - Luis Perez Companc
GTE-Pro
51 - AF Corse (Ferrari F458 Italia) - Gianmaria Bruni
71 - AF Corse (Ferrari F458 Italia) - Olivier Beretta
91 - Porsche AG Team Manthey (Porsche 911 RSR) - Marc Lieb
92 - Porsche AG Team Manthey (Porsche 911 RSR) - Jörg Bergmeister
97 - Aston Martin Racing (Aston Martin Vantage) - Darren Turner
99 - Aston Martin Racing (Aston Martin Vantage) - Stefan Mücke
GTE-Am
50 - Larbre (Corvette C6.R) - Patrick Bornhauser
57 - Krohn (Ferrari F458 Italia) - Tracy Krohn
61 - AF Corse (Ferrari F458 Italia) - Jack Gerber
76 - IMSA (Porsche 911 GT3 RSR) - Raymond Narac
81 - 8Star (Ferrari F458 Italia) - Enzo Potolicchio
88 - Proton (Porsche 911 GT3 RSR) - Christian Reid
95 - Aston Martin Racing (Aston Martin Vantage) - Allan Simonsen
96 - Aston Martin Racing (Aston Martin Vantage) - Roald Goethe
Well I completely agree with that, but I'm more about the discussion of getting DP to Le Mans. I'm not really for it at all, but have a feeling that Audi could possibly attract more interest to the car.
I'm just trying to stir discussion, I don't really have an opinion on the matter.
The entry list for the 90th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours
LMP1:
1. Audi Sport Team Joest, Audi R18 e-tron quattro - Lotterer
2. Audi Sport Team Joest, Audi R18 e-tron quattro - Kristensen
3. Audi Sport Team Joest, Audi R18 e-tron quattro - Gene
7. Toyota Racing, Toyota TS030 hybrid - Wurz
8. Toyota Racing, Toyota TS030 hybrid - Davidson
12. Rebellion Racing, Lola B12/60-Toyota - Prost
13. Rebellion Racing, Lola B12/60-Toyota - Jani
21. Strakka Racing, HPD ARX-03c - Leventis
51. AF Corse, Ferrari 458 Italia - Bruni
66. JMW Motorsport, Ferrari 458 Italia - Sugden
71. AF Corse, Ferrari 458 Italia - Beretta
73. Corvette Racing, Corvette C6 ZR-1 - Garcia
74. Corvette Racing, Corvette C6 ZR-1 - Gavin
91. Porsche AG Team Manthey, Porsche 911 RSR - Lieb
92. Porsche AG Team Manthey, Porsche 911 RSR - Bergmeister
93. SRT Motorsports, Viper GTS-R - Goossens
94. SRT Motorsports, Viper GTS-R - Farnbacher
97. Aston Martin Racing, Aston Martin Vantage V8 - Turner
99. Aston Martin Racing, Aston Martin Vantage V8 - Mucke
GTE-AM:
50. Larbre Competition, Corvette C6 ZR-1 - Bornhauser
54. AF Corse, Ferrari 458 Italia - Mallegol
55. AF Corse, Ferrari 458 Italia - Perazzini
57. Krohn Racing, Ferrari 458 Italia - Krohn
61. AF Corse, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR - Gerber
67. IMSA Performance MATMUT, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR - Gibon
70. Larbre Competition, Corvette C6 ZR-1 - Lamy
76. IMSA Performance MATMUT, Porsche 911 - Narac
77. Dempsey Racing-Proton, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR - Dempsey
80. Extreme Speed, Ferrari 458 Italia - Sharp
81. 8 Star Motorsport, Ferrari 458 Italia - Pottolicchio
88. Proton Competition, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR - Ried
95. Aston Martin Racing, Aston Martin Vantage V8 - Simonsen
96. Aston Martin Racing, Aston Martin Vantage V8 - Goethe
Invitational:
56. GreenGT Technologies, GreenGT H2 - Pescatori
Reserves - GTE:
98. Aston Martin Racing, Aston Martin Vantage V8 GTE-Am - Hall
75. Prospeed Competition, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR GTE-Am - Al Faisal
52. RAM Racing, Ferrari 458 Italia GTE-Pro - Mowlem
90. TRG-AMR North America, Aston Martin Vantage V8 GTE-Am - Buckler
COTA/Austin isn't Sebring, but it's still in the States.
Two Toyotas for WEC is actually a surprise because previously unofficially they said 1 car, so looks like the boardroom finally found money for the 2nd car.
sad to see no oddball cars in that grid (no GTE Lotus, no Aston LMP). And while its a pretty healthy LMP2 grid, its almost a complete grid of Nissan SUVs (V8s :shy
Is the new Mazda compound diesel not in this year, or is it just meant to race in ALMS?
First year for the Z4 GTE in the ALMS this year, so they'll be concentrating on that. BMW shelved WEC/ILMC and Le Mans to go do DTM; there were rumours of Marc VDS doing something with WEC/Le Mans, we'll wait and see for next season.
I also found the tyre choices interesting, there's 3 Michelins and a load of undecideds in P2.
0.3 more displacement and one more turbo for an extra 50hp, guess they tuned it for torque
didn't knew Mazda engines were like Lego (apart from the stack-able wankels :razz
but I like the new coupe form, this will greatly help the cars visibilty. The open top one is so low that was almost invisible when driving next to say a 911