The Ligier JS P2 is a

racing car Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

designed and built by French manufacturer

Onroak Automotive Ligier Automotive is a French company which designs, manufacturers, and sells racing cars, specifically sports prototypes for various international series. Onroak was founded in 2012 by Jacques Nicolet who split the design, manufacturing, and sa ...

and named in partnership with French former racing driver Guy Ligier. Designed for the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) regulations, it is intended as a second option to Onroak's

Morgan LMP2 The Pescarolo 01 is the first sports prototype racing car built entirely by French team Pescarolo Sport. It is designed to meet the LMP1 and LMP2 regulations for Le Mans Prototypes in the Le Mans Series as well as at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and ...

that has been competing since 2012. As well as being the first closed-cockpit car offered by Onroak, it is also the first car they designed entirely in-house. The JS P2 debuted at the

2014 24 Hours of Le Mans The 82nd 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 82e 24 Heures du Mans) was an 24-hour automobile endurance racing event for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars held from 11 to 15 June 2014 at the Circuit de la Sarth ...

, and has been campaigned in the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Intercont ...

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 ...

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. ...

and

IMSA The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive direc ...

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...

Development

Onroak initially planned to develop a car for the Le Mans Prototype 1 category but cancelled these plans to concentrate on the LMP2 category. The design was seen by Onroak as marketable in North America where closed-cockpit designs, which were required for all LMP1 cars, were also prominent choices for LMP2s and

Daytona Prototype A Daytona Prototype is a type of sports prototype racing car developed specifically for the Grand American Road Racing Association's Rolex Sports Car Series as their top class of car, which replaced their main prototype racing class, specificall ...

s in the new United SportsCar Championship. The LMP1 design was therefore evolved into an LMP2 design with measures taken to assure the car met the

Automobile Club de l'Ouest The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (English: Automobile Club of the West), sometimes abbreviated to ACO, is the largest automotive group in France. It was founded in 1906 by car building and racing enthusiasts, and is most famous for being the orga ...

's (ACO) cost limitations in LMP2. The car was designed to be able to utilize available LMP2 engines:
A flat-plane crankshaft version of a

Nissan , trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the Nissan, Infiniti, and Datsun bra ...

V8 aluminum

DOHC An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine where the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion cha ...

4-valve engine ( VK45). Judd's

naturally aspirated Naturally may refer to: ;Albums * '' Naturally!'', an album by Nat Adderley * ''Naturally'' (Houston Person album) * ''Naturally'' (J. J. Cale album) * ''Naturally'' (John Pizzarelli album) * ''Naturally'' (Sharon Jones album) * ''Naturally'' ...

HK V8 ( BMW S65 Variant), and

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

's HPD V6 double turbo engine; (HR28TT). A high downforce sprint design and a low downforce Le Mans setup are offered for the car. Naming of the JS P2 came about through an alliance between Onroak and Guy Ligier's partnership of

Équipe Ligier Équipe Ligier () is a motorsport team, best known for its Formula One team that operated from to . The team was founded in 1968 by former French rugby union player Guy Ligier as a sports car manufacturer. Sports car origins After retiring fr ...

and

Automobiles Martini Automobiles Martini is a constructor of Formula racing cars from France, founded by Renato "Tico" Martini in 1965, when Martini and partner Bill Knight founded the Winfield Racing School at the Magny-Cours circuit, in France. Martini's first ca ...

. The JS P2 follows Ligier's naming scheme of his cars being named after French racing driver Jo Schlesser (JS). The partnership included Onroak taking over development of Ligier-Martini's

Group CN Group CN is a category of motorsport, introduced by the FIA in the early nineties for sports car racing. Group CN cars are mainly seen in hillclimbing championships or sports racing series. Group CM is a non-FIA class which is closely related to G ...

car.

Racing history

Greaves Motorsport - Ligier JS P2-Nissan (27726957271)

The JS P2 began initial testing in March 2014. The debut of the first JS P2s was set for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, where the Ligier name would race for the first time since a

Ligier JS2 The Ligier JS2 is a mid-engined sports coupé that was built by Ligier in the French commune of Abrest near Vichy in the department of Allier between 1971 and 1975. Road-going and competition versions were built. Conception and predecessor Gu ...

had finished second overall in . OAK would enter two cars, one backed by Nissan's drivers and engine while the other car featured three Chinese drivers and a Honda powerplant. The third car was purchased by

privateers A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

Thiriet by TDS Racing and also used a Nissan engine. The two Nissan JS P2 qualified well, with TDS's car on pole position and the first OAK car in third. All three cars finished the 24 hour endurance with TDS in second and OAK in fifth and seventh places in class. Following Le Mans TDS Racing campaigned their Ligier in the remainder of the

, but were unable to finish the three races in which they participated. OAK Racing meanwhile brought their Ligier to the United States for the two remaining rounds of the United SportsCar Championship, where

Alex Brundle Alex Brundle (born 7 August 1990) is a British racing driver and broadcaster who currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Inter Europol Competition. He was the 2016 European Le Mans Series champion (LMP3) and is the son of ...

put the Honda-powered JS P2 on pole position on debut at

Circuit of the Americas Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a Grade 1 FIA-specification motor racing track and facilities located within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Austin, Texas, in the United States. The facility is home to the Formula One United States G ...

en route to a second-place finish. The Nissan-powered OAK car moved to the

where it earned five consecutive pole positions in the five remaining races as well as class victories at

Fuji Speedway is a motorsport race track standing in the foothills of Mount Fuji, in Oyama, Suntō District, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It was built in the early 1960s. In the 1980s, Fuji Speedway was used for the FIA World Sportscar Championship and na ...

and

Shanghai International Circuit The Shanghai International Circuit () is a motorsport race track, situated in the Jiading District, Shanghai. The circuit is best known as the venue for the annual Chinese Grand Prix which was hosted from 2004 to 2019 and was scheduled again fr ...

. In 2015 the American

Krohn Racing Krohn Racing is a professional sports car racing team based in Houston, Texas. The team competes in the IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Prototype class, and has competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Intercontinental Le Mans ...

team purchased a JS P2 for a partial season in the United SportsCar Championship and a full season in the European Le Mans Series, and will be the first team to utilize Judd power in the Ligier.

Michael Shank Racing Meyer Shank Racing (formerly Michael Shank Racing) is an American auto racing organization that competes in the IndyCar Series and IMSA SportsCar Championship. History Atlantic Championship Michael Shank as an owner of Michael Shank Racing, he ...

purchased a Honda-powered JS P2 for a full United SportsCar Championship campaign, and won pole position at the

Rolex 24 at Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layout ...

. In 2016,

Extreme Speed Motorsports Extreme Speed Motorsports was an American auto racing team based out of Riviera Beach, Florida. Founded by Scott Sharp and Patrón CEO Ed Brown, the team competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Tudor United SportsCar Championship, a ...

entered a JS P2 in the United Sportscar Championship, winning both the 2016 24 Hours of Daytona and the

2016 12 Hours of Sebring The 64th Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida was an endurance sports car racing event held at Sebring International Raceway near Sebring, Florida from 16 to 19 March 2016. The race was the second round of the 2016 IMSA Sports ...

, with the JS P2 becoming the first car to defeat a

at the 24 hours, as well as the team becoming the first to win the so-called "36 Hours of Florida" since 1998.

References

External links

Onroak Automotive
{{WEC cars 2016 Le Mans Prototypes 24 Hours of Le Mans race cars Ligier racing cars