ORECA team reveals 2008 driver lineup

Olivier Panis, Nicolas Lapierre, Stéphane Ortelli and Soheil Ayari pose with the Courage-ORECA LC70 Judd

Team ORECA revealed Sunday its driver line-up for the 2008 Le Mans Series season. Former Formula One veteran Olivier Panis will join GP2 racer Nicolas Lapierre with team regulars Stephane Ortelli and Soheil Ayari behind the wheel of two Courage-Oreca Judds in the LMP1 category. The quartet of drivers will also spearhead the French team's efforts at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.

For 2008, the car will be powered by the V10 5.5 liters Judd GV engine, a logical choice for the Oreca Matmut Team, as its main priority is the absolute reliability required for the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Hugues de CHAUNAC explains : "We enjoy the best possible relationship with John Judd and Engine Developments since many years. It has to be remembered that it is with ORECA, and bearing the Mazda name back in 1992, that the 3.5 liters Judd GV-10 – a true racing engine coming from F1 – has crossed for the first time the finish line at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (4th place). With our LM-P1 Dallara-Oreca in 2002, the 4 liters evolution of this same engine did never cause us any concern regarding its reliability. It is therefore a natural decision for us to continue our successful collaboration with Engine Developments and John Judd Sr and Jr, now that their V10 engine, enlarged to 5.5 liters for the LM-P1 category, is globally recognized as the best current gasoline engine in endurance racing."

Apart from the engine, many changes are currently being made on the car since ORECA has bought out COURAGE. The design teams from the two companies have been gathered together and located in Signes, near the race team. Despite the increase of staff and some valuable new recruitment, the work load is enormous and the engineers are on short nights since already several weeks…