March 5th, 2010

It’s almost time! The 2010 Le Mans Series Championship will be kicking off on 9th, 10th, and 11th April, at the Paul Ricard Circuit in Le Castellet (France), with Andrea and Giacomo Piccini from Sansepolcro, Italy at the wheel of the same car for the first time.

It had been anticipated at the end of 2009, and it is now official: the two Tuscans, who had achieved two 2nd places in the 6-hour races at Misano Adriatico (with BMW) and at Vallelunga (with Lola) will finally be driving together for the entire season, in what is considered the new prototype world championship, which was widely popular also in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Ferdinando Geri will complete the trio that will be driving the #30 Judd-powered Lola B09 Coupé. Along with Luca Canni Ferrari, Geri heads up the Scuderia Racing Box team, which will be once again competing in the Lmp2 category with two cars, the second of which is the #29, driven by Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Marco Cioci, and Luca Pirri.

The Piccini-Piccini-Geri trio had already made its début last November, in the Vallelunga 6-hour race, reaching first place after a long, 9-position recoup.

Also of great importance for the 2010 season is the new technical partnership with Pirelli, who will therefore be the official tyre supplier, and that after many years has decided to return to endurance prototype racing.

The test sessions which took place at Le Castellet on 7th and 8th March provided excellent indications with regards to Geri as well, who will be making his all-time début in the Le Mans Series. The trio is therefore competitive, however the Lmp2 category presents some fierce competition, starting from the Ginetta Zytek, last year’s winner, following on with the Lola Rml, and last but not least the Acura: Honda’s luxury brand on the U.S. market  no doubt the main competitors, considering their outstanding performance levels, which they demonstrated during the Paul Ricard test session.

Once again this year the Le Mans Series Championship will consist of five races: following the starting race on 11th April at Le Castellet, on 9th May the championship will transfer to Spa Francorchamps, then on 18th July to Portugal at Algarve, on 22nd August to the Hungaroring in Budapest, and on 12th September the closing session will take place at Silverstone, in the UK. One difference with respect to 2009 will be that the Le Castellet and the Budapest races will last 8 hours, while the others will all be 6-hour races.

With regards to the rest of the season, participation in the Le Mans 24-hour race is yet to be confirmed, while Andrea Piccini is already in contact with Audi for the Nurburgring and Spa 24-hour races, and Giacomo will most likely be taking part in the “open” GT races.

Furthermore, the 2010 Le Mans Series Championship will see the participation of several well-known names of Italian and worldwide motorsport: although they will not be direct rivals of the Piccini brothers, as they will be competing in the Lmp1 category, former F1 champion Nigel Mansell, along with his two sons, will be racing with the Ginetta Zytek, and Jean Alesi, Giancarlo Fisichella and Nicola Larini will form the driver line-up of the Ferrari F430, which will compete in the GT2 category.

Translation by DIANE RUGGIERI.....Thx!