Road to Le Mans : Larbre Competition

Aux 24 Heures du Mans 2015, Michelin est partenaire de 20 teams que nous présentons jusqu’au début de la semaine mancelle. Larbre Competition participe cette année à ses 20emes 24 Heures du Mans et a signé deux doublés de catégorie.

Larbre Competition est l’équipe la plus assidue de la course mancelle au départ des 24 Heures du Mans 2015 puisqu’elle a participé à près d’un quart des 82 éditions organisées !

Le team, basé au Vigeant, a été créé il y a 27 ans par Jack Leconte, passionné de sport automobile et ancien pilote amateur qui compte lui-même 5 participations au Mans entre 1993 et 1997. Larbre Competition, qui doit son appellation au partenaire des premières heures (Transports Larbre, une société alors dirigée par Jack Leconte), s’est d’abord engagé avec succès en Porsche Turbo Cup.

En 1993, le team s’est installé sur le circuit du Val de Vienne et a signé un doublé en GT pour sa première participation 24 Heures du Mans. Equipe privée, Larbre Competition s’est régulièrement confronté avec succès à des teams d’usine.

En près de trois décennies, le team Larbre Competition a gagné et a été titré dans toutes les séries où il s’est engagé - Porsche Carrera Cup, GT FFSA, FIA GT (titres 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005), ELMS, Asian Le Mans Series, ILMC, FIA WEC (champion du monde LM GTE Am 2012).

Larbre Competition a fait rouler de grands pilotes – Bouchut, Lamy, Duez, Collard, Ortelli, Jarier, Comas… - et a fait triompher des voitures bien différentes, comme des Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Saleen, Viper, Corvette…

L’an passé, c’est en catégorie LM P2 (Morgan-Judd) que Larbre Competition était présent au Mans, son premier engagement en prototype.

Cette année, le team français est de retour dans sa catégorie de prédilection LM GTE Am avec une Corvette C7.R fiable et performante. L’immense expérience du team dirigé à la baguette par Jack Leconte, et de son équipage homogène en font un sérieux candidat à la victoire.

We’ll be counting down the days to the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours by presenting each of Michelin’s 20 partner teams at this year’s race. Larbre Compétition is taking part in the great French race for the 20th time this year and its past record includes two one-two class successes.

Of all the teams on this year’s entry list, Larbre Compétition is the one that has contested the race the highest number of times – 19, almost a quarter of the 82 Le Mans 24 Hours organised to date!

The Le Vigeant-based team was founded 27 years ago by Jack Leconte, a former driver who himself raced at Le Mans from 1993 to 1997. Its name – Larbre Compétition – comes from the haulage company (Transports Larbre) which was owned at the time by Leconte when he was a successful Porsche Turbo Cup participant.

In 1993, it moved to France’s Val de Vienne circuit and celebrated its Le Mans debut with a one-two finish in the GT class. Indeed, although a privateer, it has often been a match for the discipline’s factory outfits.

Over a period of three decades, Larbre Compétition has won titles in all the competitions it has entered, from the Porsche Carrera Cup, GT FFSA and FIA GT (titles in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2005), to the ELMS, Asian Le Mans Series, ILMC and FIA WEC (LM GTE Am champion in 2012).

It has also employed numerous talented drivers – including Bouchut, Lamy, Duez, Collard, Ortelli, Jarier and Comas – and has won with several car makes (Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Saleen, Viper, Corvette, etc.).

In 2014, the team ran a prototype at Le Mans (LM P2 Morgan-Judd) for the very first time.

This year, it has returned to its usual hunting ground, i.e. the LM GTE Am class, with a reliable and competitive Corvette C7.R. With Jack Leconte at the helm, Larbre Compétition is hugely experienced operation and a tight-run ship which, thanks to its balanced driver line-up, has a real chance of victory.

Voiture engagée aux 24 Heures du Mans 2015

Corvette C7.R N°50 – LM GTE Am : Gianluca Roda / Paolo Ruberti / Kristian Poulsen

Palmarès aux 24 Heures du Mans

1993 : 1^er & 2^e C4 : Gouhier/Barth/Dupuy (Porsche 911 Carrera RSR) et Pareja/Leconte/de Toisy (Porsche 911 Carrera RSR)

1994 : 1^er GT2 : Pareja/Dupuy/Palau (Porsche 911 Carrera RSR)

1996 : 6^e GT2 : Goueslard/Ahrle/Bourdais (Porsche 911 GT2)

1998 : 9^e GT2 : Goueslard/Chereau/Yver (Porsche 911 GT2)

2001 : 4^e GT : Chereau/Goueslard/Dumez (Porsche 911 GT3 RS)

2002 : 4^e GTS : Bouchut/Goueslard/Vosse (Viper GTS-R)

2003 : 4^e GTS : Goueslard/Bouchut/Zacchia (Viper GTS-R)

2004 : 5^e GTS : Bouchut/Goueslard/Dupard (Ferrari 550 Maranello)

2005 : 4^e GT1 : Goueslard/Dupard/Vosse (Ferrari 550 Maranello)

2007 : 13^e GT1 : Bornhauser/Berville/Fisken (Aston Martin DBR9)

2008 : 6^e GT1 : Bouchut/Smet/Bornhauser (Saleen S7R)

2010 : 1^er LM GT1 : Berville/Canal/Gardel (Saleen S7R)

2011 : 1^er & 2^e LM GTE Am : Bornhauser/Canal/Gardel (Corvette C6.R) et Bourret/Gibon/Belloc (Porsche 997 GT3)

2012 : 1^er LM GTE Am : Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy (Corvette C6.R)

2013 : 5^e LM GTE Am : Bornhauser/Canal/Taylor (Corvette C6.R)

2014 : 9^e LM P2 : Ragues/Ihara/Taylor (Morgan-Judd)

The coolest concept cars of Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2015

It’s not only coachbuilt classics in the spotlight at Villa d’Este – the glamorous shoreline garden party is also a catwalk paraded by new and unusual design studies. Here are this year’s most exciting examples…

BMW 3.0 CSL Hommage 

On Friday evening, after much anticipation thanks to a teaser image sent out earlier in the week, BMW design chief Karim Habib finally unveiled a dramatic, aggressive ‘Hommage’ to the legendary 3.0 CSL. Despite being met by unanimous approval among the famously style-conscious concours guests, Munich is unlikely to be able to justify a small-series production run.

Lamborghini Asterion LPI 910-4

If you’re thinking you’ve seen this somewhere before, it’s because you have – the Lamborghini Asterion LP910-4 was first shown at the 2014 Paris Motor Show. A plug-in hybrid Gran Turismo coupé, it was given a chance to show off its proportional similarity to the Miura – now highlighted by the ‘Blue Elektra’ paintwork – at Villa d’Este. And the Lake Como backdrop did more for its crisp lines than a Parisian exhibition hall could ever hope to.

Bentley EXP 10 Speed 6

In March this year, Bentley presented a vision of a new, compact, two-seat sports car to the public at the Geneva Motor Show. The response at Villa d’Este echoed the approval in Switzerland: the jury selected the EXP 10 Speed 6 as ‘Best of Show’.

Maserati Mostro by Zagato

Another Lake Como world debut, ‘Mostro’ is Zagato’s latest coachbuilt coupé. Inspired by Frank Costin’s 1957 original ‘Il Mostro’ Maserati 450 S – made famous by Sir Stirling Moss at Le Mans – the butterfly-doored reprise houses a Maserati V8. Only five will be built (to be delivered December 2015, at the end of Maserati’s anniversary year), and all have already been sold.

Touring Berlinetta Lusso

Another concept making an appearance at Villa d’Este after a Geneva debut is Touring’s take on the Ferrari F12: the Berlinetta Lusso. At the Concorso, glistening in the sun and accompanied by its ever-suave stylist Louis de Fabribeckers, the Ferrari simply exuded elegance. Touring remains tight-lipped about the current sales status of the limited-series coupé – but if there’s anywhere you’d want to be to drum up interest in a coachbuilt Ferrari…

Photos: Rémi Dargegen for Classic Driver © 2015

Batmobile returns: 3.0 CSL Hommage set for Villa d’Este

At the 2015 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, BMW will once again use the idyllic backdrop of Lake Como to reveal its latest concept car. This time around it’s a ‘Hommage’ to the 1970s cult icon, the 3.0 CSL…

In recent years, both the M1 supercar and the pre-War 328 have received the ‘Hommage’ treatment, which sees celebrated designs reinterpreted with no ultimate intention of production (although the i8 did inherit many of the reloaded M1’s design cues). BMW can now tick the‘Batmobile’ 3.0 CSL off its list of eligible legends to be reworked – or, at least, it’ll be able to once the covers have been lifted at Lake Como. For now, we’ve just been given this teaser image, which shows impossibly wide arches transforming into a prominent rear wing, of which there will be two. Of course, the other will be roof-mounted in tribute to its forefather, and will apparently be joined by ‘striking air deflectors’. Let’s hope they don’t have to sneak them into Italy in the boot…

Photo: BMW

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