The 2010 8 Hours of Le Castellet (8 Heures du Castellet) was the inaugural round of the 2010 Le Mans Series season. It took place at the Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet, France on 11 April 2010. It was the first Le Mans Series race that is longer than the standard 1,000-km distance the LMS use since the 2007 Mil Milhas Brasil. Audi Sport Team Joest won the race overall in their first use of the Audi R15 TDI in the Le Mans Series, with drivers Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello. Aston Martin Racing and Rebellion Racing completed the overall podium five laps behind the winning Audi. Strakka Racing also brought Honda Performance Development a win on their debut in the LMP2 category, leading the OAK Racing Pescarolo by 33 seconds. Applewood Seven won the Formula Le Mans category, the first event in which this class participated in the Le Mans Series. Team Felbermayr-Proton dominated the GT2 category by finishing in the top two positions, ahead of the first of the AF Corse Ferraris.

Qualifying Qualifying saw Oreca take pole position in their first outing with their new Peugeot 908 HDi FAP, beating the factory Audi R15 TDI by 0.4 seconds. Strakka Racing had a similar story taking LMP2 pole in their first outing with their HPD ARX-01C. They qualified two seconds before the next nearest car, the Quifel Ginetta-Zytek. AF Corse took GT2 pole and DAMS took the first pole position in Le Mans Series history in the new Formula Le Mans class.

Qualifying result Pole position winners in each class are marked in bold.

Pos Class Team Driver Lap Time Grid 1 LMP1 No.4 Team Oreca Matmut Nicolas Lapierre 1:41.195 1 2 LMP1 No.7 Audi Sport Team Joest Rinaldo Capello 1:41.632 2 3 LMP1 No.009 Aston Martin Racing Stefan Mücke 1:42.345 3 4 LMP1 No.6 AIM Team Oreca Matmut Loïc Duval 1:42.685 4 5 LMP1 No.13 Rebellion Racing Jean-Christophe Boullion 1:43.435 5 6 LMP1 No.12 Rebellion Racing Neel Jani 1:44.032 6 7 LMP1 No.5 Beechdean Mansell Greg Mansell 1:44.475 7 8 LMP1 No.008 Signature-Plus Pierre Ragues 1:44.914 8 9 LMP2 No.42 Strakka Racing Danny Watts 1:44.989 9 10 LMP2 No.40 Quifel ASM Team Olivier Pla 1:47.112 10 11 LMP2 No.24 OAK Racing Mathieu Laheye 1:47.474 11 12 LMP2 No.25 RML Thomas Erdos 1:47.491 12 13 LMP2 No.41 Team Bruichladdich Thor-Christian Ebbesvik 1:48.439 13 14 LMP2 No.30 Racing Box Andrea Piccini 1:48.635 14 15 LMP2 No.37 WR / Salini Tristan Gommendy 1:49.567 15 16 LMP2 No.29 Racing Box Marco Cioci 1:49.931 16 17 LMP2 No.39 KSM Hideki Noda 1:50.913 17 18 LMP2 No.27 Race Performance Tyler Dueck 1:52.612 18 19 FLM No.44 DAMS Edoardo Piscopo 1:52.936 19 20 FLM No.48 Hope Polevision Racing Mathias Beche 1:53.090 20 21 LMP2 No.38 Pegasus Racing Julien Schell 1:53.148 21 22 FLM No.49 Applewood Seven David Zollinger 1:53.447 22 23 FLM No.45 Boutsen Energy Racing Dominik Kraihamer 1:53.850 23 24 FLM No.43 DAMS Alessandro Cicognani 1:54.187 24 25 FLM No.47 Hope Polevision Racing Steve Zacchia 1:54.305 25 26 GT1 No.50 Larbre Compétition Gabriele Gardel 1:57.085 25 27 GT2 No.96 AF Corse Gianmaria Bruni 1:57.850 27 28 GT2 No.77 Team Felbermayr-Proton Richard Lietz 1:58.216 28 29 GT2 No.91 CRS Racing Tim Mullen 1:58.475 29 30 GT2 No.95 AF Corse Toni Vilander 1:58.545 30 31 GT2 No.92 JMW Motorsport Rob Bell 1:58.549 31 32 GT2 No.94 AF Corse Matías Russo 1:58.707 32 33 GT2 No.90 CRS Racing Pierre Kaffer 1:59.021 33 34 GT2 No.76 IMSA Performance Matmut Patrick Pilet 1:59.035 34 35 GT2 No.85 Spyker Squadron Jeroen Bleekemolen 1:59.177 35 36 GT2 No.88 Team Felbermayr-Proton Martin Ragginger 1:59.447 36 37 GT2 No.89 Hankook Team Farnbacher Dominik Farnbacher 1:59.480 37 38 GT2 No.75 Prospeed Competition Richard Westbrook 1:59.539 38 39 GT2 No.78 BMW Team Schnitzer Jörg Müller 1:59.593 39 40 FLM No.46 JMB Racing Maurice Basso 2:00.775 40 - LMP2 No.35 OAK Racing No Time 41

Race

Race result Class winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 70% of winner's distance marked as Not Classified (NC).

Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Tyre Laps Engine 1 LMP1 7 Audi Sport Team Joest Allan McNish Rinaldo Capello Audi R15 TDI plus 266 Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V10(Diesel) 2 LMP1 009 Aston Martin Racing Adrian Fernández Harold Primat Stefan Mücke Lola-Aston Martin B09/60 261 Aston Martin AM04 6.0 L V12 3 LMP1 13 Rebellion Racing Andrea Belicchi Jean-Christophe Boullion Guy Smith Lola B10/60 261 Rebellion (Judd) 5.5 L V10 4 LMP1 4 Team Oreca Matmut Olivier Panis Nicolas Lapierre Stéphane Sarrazin Peugeot 908 HDi FAP 258 Peugeot HDi 5.5 L Turbo V12(Diesel) 5 LMP1 6 AIM Team Oreca Matmut Soheil Ayari Loïc Duval Didier André Oreca 01 258 AIM YS5.5 5.5 L V10 6 LMP1 008 Signature-Plus Pierre Ragues Franck Mailleux Vanina Ickx Lola-Aston Martin B09/60 256 Aston Martin AM04 6.0 L V12 7 LMP2 42 Strakka Racing Danny Watts Nick Leventis Jonny Kane HPD ARX-01C 250 HPD AL7R 3.4 L V8 8 LMP2 35 OAK Racing Guillaume Moreau Richard Hein Pescarolo 01 250 Judd DB 3.4 L V8 9 LMP2 25 RML Mike Newton Thomas Erdos Andy Wallace Lola B08/80 249 HPD AL7R 3.4  V8 10 LMP2 24 OAK Racing Jacques Nicolet Matthieu Lahaye Pescarolo 01 249 Judd DB 3.4 L V8 11 LMP1 12 Rebellion Racing Neel Jani Nicolas Prost Lola B10/60 248 Rebellion (Judd) 5.5 L V10 12 LMP2 41 Team Bruichladdich Thor-Christian Ebbesvik Tim Greaves Karim Ojjeh Ginetta-Zytek GZ09SB/2 248 Zytek ZG348 3.4 L V8 13 LMP2 30 Racing Box Andrea Piccini Giacomo Piccini Ferdinando Geri Lola B09/80 246 Judd DB 3.4 L V8 14 LMP1 5 Beechdean Mansell Nigel Mansell Greg Mansell Leo Mansell Ginetta-Zytek GZ09SB 243 Zytek ZJ458 4.5 L V8 15 FLM 49 Applewood Seven Damien Toulemonde David Zollinger Ross Zampatti Oreca FLM09 237 Corvette 6.2 L V8 16 FLM 48 Hope Polevision Racing Mathias Beche Christophe Pillon Vincent Capillaire Oreca FLM09 237 Corvette 6.2 L V8 17 FLM 43 DAMS Alessandro Cicognani Andrea Barlesi Gary Chalandon Oreca FLM09 235 Corvette 6.2 L V8 18 GT2 77 Team Felbermayr-Proton Marc Lieb Richard Lietz Porsche 997 GT3-RSR 233 Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 19 FLM 47 Hope Polevision Racing Steve Zacchia Wolfgang Kaufmann Luca Moro Oreca FLM09 231 Corvette 6.2 L V8 20 GT2 88 Team Felbermayr-Proton Christian Ried Martin Ragginger Patrick Long Porsche 997 GT3-RSR 231 Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 21 GT2 95 AF Corse Giancarlo Fisichella Toni Vilander Jean Alesi Ferrari F430 GT2 231 Ferrari 4.0 L V8 22 GT2 90 CRS Racing Phil Quaife Pierre Ehret Pierre Kaffer Ferrari F430 GT2 231 Ferrari 4.0 L V8 23 GT2 94 AF Corse Luís Pérez Companc Matías Russo Ferrari F430 GT2 231 Ferrari 4.0 L V8 24 GT1 50 Larbre Compétition Gabriele Gardel Patrice Goueslard Julien Canal Saleen S7-R 229 Ford 7.0 L V8 25 GT2 78 BMW Team Schnitzer Jörg Müller Dirk Werner BMW M3 GT2 225 BMW 4.0 L V8 26 LMP2 36 Pegasus Racing Julien Schell Frédéric Da Rocha Jean-Christophe Metz Courage LC75 219 AER P07 2.0 L Turbo I4 27 GT2 76 IMSA Performance Matmut Patrick Pilet Raymond Narac Porsche 997 GT3-RSR 219 Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 28 GT2 85 Spyker Squadron Tom Coronel Jeroen Bleekemolen Peter Dumbreck Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2-R 215 Audi 4.0 L V8 29 LMP2 39 KSM Jean de Pourtales Hideki Noda Jonathan Kennard Lola B08/47 188 Judd DB 3.4 L V8 30DNF GT2 89 Hankook Team Farnbacher Dominik Farnbacher Allan Simonsen Ferrari F430 GT2 204 Ferrari 4.0 L V8 31DNF FLM 44 DAMS Dean Stirling Luke Hines Edoardo Piscopo Oreca FLM09 203 Corvette 6.2 L V8 32DNF FLM 46 JMB Racing Peter Kutemann Maurice Basso John Hartshorne Oreca FLM09 203 Corvette 6.2 L V8 33DNF LMP2 40 Quifel ASM Team Miguel Amaral Olivier Pla Warren Hughes Ginetta-Zytek GZ09SB/2 200 Zytek ZG348 3.4 L V8 34DNF FLM 45 Boutsen Energy Racing Nicolas De Crem Dominik Kraihamer Bernard Delhez Oreca FLM09 195 Corvette 6.2 L V8 35DNF LMP2 37 WR / Salini Philippe Salini Stéphane Salini Tristan Gommendy WR LMP2008 168 Zytek ZG348 3.4 L V8 36DNF GT2 96 AF Corse Gianmaria Bruni Jaime Melo Ferrari F430 GT2 152 Ferrari 4.0 L V8 37DNF GT2 91 CRS Racing Andrew Kirkaldy Tim Mullen Ferrari F430 GT2 123 Ferrari 4.0 L V8 38DNF LMP2 29 Racing Box Luca Pirri Marco Cioci Piergiuseppe Perazzini Lola B09/80 116 Judd DB 3.4 L V8 39DNF LMP2 27 Race Performance Michel Frey Ralph Meichtry Tyler Dueck Radical SR9 66 Judd DB 3.4 L V8 40DNF GT2 92 JMW Motorsport Rob Bell Darren Turner Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 65 Aston Martin 4.5 L V8 41DNF GT2 75 Prospeed Competition Marco Holzer Richard Westbrook Porsche 997 GT3-RSR 54 Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6

References

External links Le Mans Series - 8 Heures du Castellet