The 2008 Le Mans Series was the fifth season of ACO's

Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

. It was a series for

Le Mans Prototype A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were cr ...

and Grand Touring style cars broken into 4 classes: LMP1, LMP2, GT1, and GT2. It ran from 6 April to 14 September 2008 with five rounds taking place.

Schedule

The 2008 schedule remained largely unchanged from that of 2007, except for

Circuit de Catalunya The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya () is a motorsport race track in Montmeló, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. With long straights and a variety of corners, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is seen as an all-rounder circuit. The track has ...

replacing

Circuit de Valencia Circuit Ricardo Tormo, also known as ''Circuit de Valencia'' and officially named ''Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo'', is a motorsport race track located in Cheste (Valencian Community, Spain) and built in 1999. The track is n ...

for the Spanish round. A large gap was built into the schedule between May and August to better allow teams to prepare for and recover from the

2008 24 Hours of Le Mans The 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 76th Grand Prix of Endurance, taking place on 14–15 June 2008 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France, organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The test day was on June 1. The race was atte ...

. An additional race was announced at a later date, with a 1000 km event in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

. This event however would not replace the Mil Milhas Brasil round, but was instead to be a stand-alone event as a precursor to a new

Asian Le Mans Series The Asian Le Mans Series is an Asian sports car racing endurance series created by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and based in Asia. It is the successor to the defunct Japan Le Mans Challenge which folded in 2007 after its second season. ...

planned for 2009. Points for the Le Mans Series would not be awarded but class winners would gain automatic entry to the

2009 24 Hours of Le Mans The 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: 24 Heures du Mans 2009) was the 77th Grand Prix of Endurance, an endurance racing (motorsport), endurance auto racing, auto race run over 24 hours. It took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France, ...

. The race was cancelled and was later rescheduled be held on 8 November 2009, because of conflicts with the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

schedule.

Season results

Overall winners in bold.

Teams Championships

Points were awarded to the top eight finishers in the order of 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. Unlike the

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The American Le Mans' h ...

, where teams with multiple entries scored the points of their highest finishing entry in each race, teams with multiple entries did not have their cars combined and each entry number was scored separately in the championship. Cars which failed to complete 70% of the winner's distance were not awarded points. The top two finishers in each team championship earned automatic entry to the

LMP1 Standings

LMP2 Standings

GT1 Standings

GT2 Standings

Drivers Championships

Points were awarded to the top 8 finishers in the order of 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. Drivers who did not drive for at least 45 minutes do not receive points.

LMP1 Standings

LMP2 Standings

GT1 Standings

GT2 Standings

Confirmed entries

LMP1

Oreca ORECA (Organisation Exploitation Compétition Automobiles) is a French racing team and race car constructor, founded in 1973 and run by Hugues de Chaunac, former team manager of F1 team AGS. Oreca has had success in many areas of motorsport. ...

purchased

Courage Compétition Courage Compétition was a racing team and chassis constructor company now owned by Oreca, based in Le Mans, France near the Circuit de la Sarthe. It was founded by Yves Courage, a French race driver who ran hillclimbs before founding the compa ...

on 14 September 2007. Oreca ran two Oreca-Courage LC70s in 2008, with Judd engines replacing AER units.

Olivier Panis Olivier Panis (; born 2 September 1966) is a French former racing driver. Panis raced in Formula One for ten seasons, earning his first and only win at the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix for the Ligier team. He is the father of racing driver Auréli ...

was one of the team's drivers. *

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. ...

announced their intentions to run in the LMS in 2008, pending a marketing agreement for the series which Audi finds favorable. The two-car team was run by

Joest Racing Joest Racing is a sports car racing team that was established in 1978 by former Porsche works racer Reinhold Joest. Their headquarters are in Wald-Michelbach, Germany. Early years As a combined driver/team owner, Reinhold Joest first began t ...

. * Epsilon Euskadi planned to enter two EE1 coupes in the 2008 season. *

Creation Autosportif Creation Autosportif, Ltd. was a sports car racing team based in Oxford, England. It was founded in 2003 by Ian Bickerton and Mike Jankowski and has raced in the FIA GT Championship, FFSA GT Championship, American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Endur ...

was due to switch to new AIM-built engines in 2008, while also running two cars. * On 10 January 2008,

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated wi ...

announced that it would be moving into the LMP1 category. Using the same engine as the GT1-class DBR9, the prototype was a

Lola B08/60 The Lola B08/60 is a Le Mans Prototype built by Lola Cars International. It is the first closed-cockpit sports prototype built by Lola since the 1992 T92/10. It started competition in 2008, with Aston Martin being among the first customers fo ...

coupe.

Charouz Racing System Charouz Racing System (CHRS, also was known as Lotus in World Series Formula V8 3.5) is a racing team from Czech Republic, created in 1985 by . History In the 1980s, Charouz participated in the European Championship of Circuit Races' 1600&nbs ...

ran the car with assistance from

Prodrive Prodrive is a British motorsport and advanced engineering group based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. It designs, constructs and races cars for companies and teams such as Aston Martin, Bahrain Raid Xtreme and Team X44. Its advanced technolo ...

, with drivers

Tomáš Enge Tomáš Enge (; born 11 September 1976) is a Czech former professional racing driver who has competed in many classes of motorsport, including three races in Formula One. He has twice been sanctioned professionally for drug offences. Career Born ...

Jan Charouz Jan Charouz (born 17 July 1987) is a Czech motor racing driver. He won the 2009 Le Mans Series season and 2006 F3000 International Masters season, as well as taking fourth place in the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2010 he was the Renault Formula ...

, and

Stefan Mücke Stefan Mücke (born 22 November 1981) is a German professional racing driver. Racing career Born in Berlin, Mücke started his racing career in 1998, when he won the Formula BMW ADAC series, with his father's Mücke Motorsport team, also making ...

. * Swiss Spirit, now under the control of Phoenix Racing, planned a return for their

-powered Lola.

LMP2

* Caspar Elgaard and John Nielsen formed Team Essex, running a Porsche RS Spyder in 2008. * Van Merksteijn (VM) Motorsport entered an RS Spyder in the series, driven by Dutchmen

Jeroen Bleekemolen Jeroen Bleekemolen (born 23 October 1981 in Heemstede) is a Dutch professional racing driver. In the Chrysler Viper GTS-R he drove in the FIA GT Championship, with great success. He competed in the very competitive German Formula Three Champion ...

, Peter van Merksteijn Sr. and

Jos Verstappen Johannes Franciscus Verstappen (; born 4 March 1972) is a former (Formula One) racing driver. Verstappen was the German Formula Three champion and Masters of Formula Three winner in 1993. In Formula 1, Verstappen raced for seven different te ...

. * Swiss Horag Racing competed with an RS Spyder, with regular drivers Fredy Lienhard and

Didier Theys Didier Theys (born 19 October 1956) is a Belgian sports car driver. He is a two-time overall winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona (1998 and 2002); a winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring (1998); the Sports Racing Prototype driver champion of the Grand- ...

. * Welter Racing returned to the series with an all-new prototype. The WR was powered by a

Zytek Gibson Technology is an automotive and motorsport company based at Repton, Derbyshire, England. It was founded by Bill Gibson as "Zytek Engineering" in 1981. In 1981 Gibson founded the "Zytech Group" with two main divisions: Zytek Automotive, ...

V8 for the first time. * On 23 October 2007,

Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo Sport was a motorsport team based in Le Mans, France and founded in February 2000 by French racing driver Henri Pescarolo and his friend and partner, French publisher François Granet. They raced in the Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours ...

merged with Saulnier Sport to form Pescarolo Automobiles. Besides Pescarolo Sport's two-car LMP1 effort, Pescarolo Automobiles also had an LMP2 team run by Saulnier. * Embassy Racing constructed their own cars in 2008, known as the ''Embassy WF01''. The cars will be powered by

engines, and

Warren Hughes Warren Hughes (born 19 January 1969) is a racing driver from Newcastle, England. He has raced in a variety of different series, most notably the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), the FIA GT1 World Championship, the Le Mans Series, ...

, Jonny Kane and Joey Foster were to be drivers. * Speed Racing Team and Sebah Automotive planned a joint campaign with a new

Lola Lola may refer to: Places * Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama * Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States * Lola Prefecture, Guinea * Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture * Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands People * Lola ...

B08/80 under the Speedy Racing Team Sebah banner. * Racing Box moved to LMP2 with the purchase of a Lucchini- Judd.

GT1

Larbre Compétition Larbre Compétition is a French auto racing team founded in 1988 by Jack Leconte. Based at the Circuit du Val de Vienne in Le Vigeant, Larbre has had considerable success in the Porsche Carrera Cup, French GT Championship, and international ...

were no longer be a factory-backed

squad, instead moving to a pair of

-supported

Saleen S7 Saleen Automotive, Inc., commonly known as Saleen (/səˈliːn/), is an American manufacturer of specialty high-performance sports cars and high-performance automotive parts. Saleen is headquartered in Corona, California, US. On June 26, 2013 Sal ...

-Rs.

GT2

Spyker Spyker or Spijker was a Dutch carriage, automobile and aircraft manufacturer, started in 1880 by blacksmiths Jacobus and Hendrik-Jan Spijker. Originally located in Hilversum, the company relocated to Trompenburg, Amsterdam in 1898. Notable produ ...

built new coupes (Laviolettes) for the GT2 class, both for their own team as well as replacements for the Speedy Racing Team.

References

External links

Le Mans Series

Mariantic
- Le Mans Series 2008 News
Endurance-Info
(French)
Planetlemans.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:2008 Le Mans Series Season European Le Mans Series seasons

European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the ...