During the traditional lull that follows the end-of-year festivities with regard to news from the world of endurance racing, the LeMansLive team has been out following the Dakar in South America.

During our travels in Argentina and Chile, we came across a number of personalities from the endurance world, including Vanina Ickx who was on the event driving Volkswagen VIPs and Luc Alphand who conformed that his race team has been closed down, although he is busy working on other projects. Meanwhile, Jean-Luc Blanchemain went off in a spectacular way at the wheel of his MD Rallye buggy!

But what’s new in endurance racing per se? Well, Peugeot has announced that it will be revealing its new prototype and details of its programme on the Champs-Elysées, Paris, on February 3, while Rebellion will be running an LMP1 Toyota in the ILMC and two in the LMS, most probably on Michelin tyres. RML and Strakka Racing will continue to contest the LMP2 class in the Le Mans Series with a Honda V6-engined HPD ARX-01d. The LMS will also see AFCorse enter an LMP2 Lola-BMW prototype in addition to two Ferrari F458s and an F430.

In the USA, it appears increasingly likely that the 2011 ALMS will start without either Drayson Racing or the 2010 champs Highcroft Racing, but Cytosport has confirmed that it will run a Lola-Aston Martin prototype. The situation is looking quite rosy in GT with the presence of Porsche, Ferrari, Corvette, BMW, Panoz and Lamborghini. The pre-season winter test at Sebring is scheduled for February 9-10, although Porsche plans to lap at the Florida venue at the end of January.

Michelin, Peugeot, Rebellion