The 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup was the second and final Season running of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's (ACO) Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, an international auto racing championship for manufacturers and teams. The Cup featured endurance races from the American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Series, and a stand-alone event in Zhuhai, China. Championships were held for Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1), Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance – Professional (LMGTE Pro) and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance – Amateur (LMGTE Am) category cars.
Schedule On 29 November 2010, the ACO announced an initial 2011 calendar with seven events, expanding from just three in 2010. The most notable new addition was the 24 Hours of Le Mans which returned as a round of a championship series for the first time since the final World Sportscar Championship season in 1992. Double points were awarded for the event at Le Mans. The Sebring and Road Atlanta rounds were held in conjunction with the American Le Mans Series, while the Spa, Imola, and Silverstone rounds were shared with the Le Mans Series. Zhuhai was solely a round of the ILMC.
Rnd Race Circuit Location Date 1 12 Hours of Sebring Sebring International Raceway Sebring, Florida 19 March 2 1000 km of Spa-Francorchamps Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Stavelot 7 May 3 24 Hours of Le Mans Circuit de la Sarthe Le Mans 11–12 June 4 6 Hours of Imola Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari Imola 3 July 5 6 Hours of Silverstone Silverstone Circuit Silverstone 11 September 6 Petit Le Mans Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia 1 October 7 6 Hours of Zhuhai Zhuhai International Circuit Zhuhai 13 November
Entries Team Car Engine Tyre Drivers Rounds LMP1 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R15 TDI plus (only Rd #1)Audi R18 TDI Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo Diesel V10Audi TDI 3.7 L Turbo Diesel V6 1 Timo Bernhard All Romain Dumas 1–3, 6 Mike Rockenfeller 1–3 Marcel Fässler 4–7 2 Rinaldo Capello 1, 6 Tom Kristensen 1, 4–7 Allan McNish 1, 4–7 André Lotterer 2–3 Benoît Tréluyer 2–3 Marcel Fässler 2–3 Audi Sport North America Audi R18 TDI Audi TDI 3.7 L Turbo Diesel V6 3 Rinaldo Capello 2–3 Tom Kristensen 2–3 Allan McNish 2–3 Hope Racing Oreca 01 Swiss HyTech 2.0 L Turbo I4 Hybrid 5 Steve Zacchia 3 Jan Lammers 3 Casper Elgaard 3 Peugeot Sport Total Peugeot 908 Peugeot HDi 3.7 L Turbo Diesel V8 7 Alexander Wurz 1–3 Marc Gené 1–3 Anthony Davidson 1–4, 6–7 Sébastien Bourdais 4–7 Simon Pagenaud 5–6 8 Franck Montagny All Stéphane Sarrazin All Pedro Lamy 1 Nicolas Minassian 2–3 Alexander Wurz 6 Peugeot Sport TotalTeam Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 Peugeot HDi 3.7 L Turbo Diesel V8 9 Sébastien Bourdais 2–3 Pedro Lamy 2–3 Simon Pagenaud 2–3 Team Oreca-Matmut Peugeot 908 HDi FAP Peugeot HDi 5.5 L Turbo Diesel V12 10 Nicolas Lapierre 1–4, 6 Loïc Duval 1–4 Olivier Panis 1–4 Marc Gené 6 Nicolas Minassian 6 Rebellion Racing Lola B10/60 Toyota RV8KLM 3.4 L V8 12 Nicolas Prost All Neel Jani All Jeroen Bleekemolen 1, 3 Andrea Belicchi 6 OAK Racing OAK Pescarolo 01 Judd DB 3.4 L V8 15 Guillaume Moreau All Pierre Ragues All Matthieu Lahaye 1–3, 5–7 24 Jacques Nicolet 1, 3–5, 7 Richard Hein 1, 3–4 Jean-François Yvon 1, 3, 6 Olivier Pla 5–7 Alexandre Prémat 5–7 Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin AMR-One (only rd#3)Lola-Aston Martin B09/60 Aston Martin 2.0 L Turbo I6Aston Martin AM04 6.0 L V12 007 Stefan Mücke 3, 6–7 Christian Klien 3, 5 Darren Turner 3 Adrián Fernández 5–6 Harold Primat 5–7 Andy Meyrick 7 LMP2 Signatech Nissan Oreca 03 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 26 Franck Mailleux All Lucas Ordóñez All Soheil Ayari 1–4 Jean-Karl Vernay 5-7 Level 5 Motorsports Lola B11/80 HPD HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6 33 Scott Tucker 1–4, 6 Christophe Bouchut 1–4, 6 João Barbosa 1–4, 6 OAK Racing OAK Pescarolo 01 Judd-BMW HK 3.6 L V8 35 Patrice Lafargue All Frédéric Da Rocha All Andrea Barlesi 1–4 Jean-François Yvon 5 Jacques Nicolet 6 LMGTE Pro AF Corse Ferrari F430 GTEFerrari 458 Italia GT2 Ferrari F136 GT 4.0 L V8Ferrari F136 4.5 L V8 51 Giancarlo Fisichella All Gianmaria Bruni All Pierre Kaffer 1, 6 Toni Vilander 3 BMW Motorsport BMW M3 GT2 BMW S65B40 4.0 L V8 55 Augusto Farfus All Dirk Werner 1, 3, 6 Bill Auberlen 1, 6 Jörg Müller 2–5, 7 56 Andy Priaulx 1–3, 5–7 Dirk Müller 1, 3, 6 Joey Hand 1, 3, 6 Uwe Alzen 2, 5, 7 Pedro Lamy 4 Dirk Werner 4 Luxury Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 Ferrari F136 4.5 L V8 58 François Jakubowski 2–6 Anthony Beltoise 2–5, 7 Ralph Firman 4, 6–7 Jean-Denis Délétraz 2 Pierre Thiriet 3 Nicolas Marroc 5 David Hallyday 6 Dominik Farnbacher 7 59 Stéphane Ortelli All Frédéric Makowiecki All Jean-Denis Délétraz 1 Jaime Melo 3 Anthony Beltoise 6 Lotus Jetalliance Lotus Evora GTE Toyota (Cosworth) 2GR-FE 4.0 L V6 64 Martin Rich 2–7 Oskar Slingerland 2–4, 6–7 John Hartshorne 3 Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer 4–5 David Heinemeier Hansson 5 Kasper Jensen 6 René Rasmussen 7 65 James Rossiter 2–7 Johnny Mowlem 2–7 Jonathan Hirschi 2–4 Karl Wendlinger 5 David Heinemeier Hansson 6–7 LMGTE Am Larbre Compétition Chevrolet Corvette C6.R Chevrolet LS5.5R 5.5 L V8 50 Patrick Bornhauser All Julien Canal All Gabriele Gardel 1–6 Olivier Beretta 7 Krohn Racing Ferrari F430 GTE Ferrari F136 GT 4.0 L V8 57 Tracy Krohn All Niclas Jönsson All Michele Rugolo All Gulf AMR Middle East Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 Aston Martin AM05 4.5 L V8 60 Fabien Giroix All Roald Goethe All Michael Wainwright 1–6 AF Corse Ferrari F430 GTE Ferrari F136 GT 4.0 L V8 61 Marco Cioci 2–5, 7 Piergiuseppe Perazzini 2–5 Stéphane Lémeret 2, 5 Seán Paul Breslin 3 Rui Águas 6 Justin Bell 6 Robert Kauffman 6 Philip Ma 7 CRS Racing Ferrari F430 GTE Ferrari F136 GT 4.0 L V8 62 Pierre Ehret 1–5, 7 Roger Wills 1–5, 7 Shaun Lynn 1–4 Tim Mullen 5, 7 Raphael Matos 6 Jaime Melo 6 Toni Vilander 6 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3-RSR Porsche M97/74 4.0 L Flat-6 63 Christian Ried 1–4, 6-7 Gianluca Roda 1, 4–5, 7 Richard Lietz 1, 6-7 Niek Hommerson 2 Horst Felbermayr Sr. 3 Patrick Long 4–5 Mark Bullitt 6
Results and standings Race results Note that for each individual races, cars not competing in the Intercontinental Cup may have won their respective class. However, only the highest finishing Cup entrant is listed below.
Overall winners in bold.
2011 ILMC individual race results Rd. Circuit LMP1 Winners LMP2 Winners LM GTE Pro Winners LM GTE Am Winners 1 Sebring(Report) No. 10 Team Oreca Matmut No. 26 Signatech Nissan No. 56 BMW Motorsport No. 57 Krohn Racing Nicolas Lapierre Loïc Duval Olivier Panis Franck Mailleux Soheil Ayari Lucas Ordóñez Dirk Müller Joey Hand Andy Priaulx Tracy Krohn Niclas Jönsson Michele Rugolo 2 Spa-Francorchamps(Report) No. 7 Peugeot Sport Total No. 26 Signatech Nissan No. 51 AF Corse No. 61 AF Corse Alexander Wurz Anthony Davidson Marc Gené Franck Mailleux Soheil Ayari Lucas Ordóñez Giancarlo Fisichella Gianmaria Bruni Piergiuseppe Perazzini Marco Cioci Stéphane Lémeret 3 Le Mans(Report) No. 2 Audi Sport Team Joest No. 26 Signatech Nissan No. 51 AF Corse No. 50 Larbre Compétition Marcel Fässler André Lotterer Benoît Tréluyer Franck Mailleux Soheil Ayari Lucas Ordóñez Giancarlo Fisichella Gianmaria Bruni Toni Vilander Patrick Bornhauser Julien Canal Gabriele Gardel 4 Imola(Report) No. 7 Peugeot Sport Total No. 26 Signatech Nissan No. 51 AF Corse No. 50 Larbre Compétition Sébastien Bourdais Anthony Davidson Franck Mailleux Soheil Ayari Lucas Ordóñez Giancarlo Fisichella Gianmaria Bruni Patrick Bornhauser Julien Canal Gabriele Gardel 5 Silverstone(Report) No. 7 Peugeot Sport Total No. 35 OAK Racing No. 51 AF Corse No. 63 Proton Competition Sébastien Bourdais Simon Pagenaud Frédéric Da Rocha Patrice Lafargue Jean-François Yvon Giancarlo Fisichella Gianmaria Bruni Patrick Long Gianluca Roda 6 Road Atlanta(Report) No. 8 Peugeot Sport Total No. 33 Level 5 Motorsports No. 51 AF Corse No. 57 Krohn Racing Franck Montagny Stéphane Sarrazin Alexander Wurz Scott Tucker Christophe Bouchut João Barbosa Giancarlo Fisichella Gianmaria Bruni Pierre Kaffer Tracy Krohn Niclas Jönsson Michele Rugolo 7 Zhuhai(Report) No. 7 Peugeot Sport Total No. 26 Signatech Nissan No. 55 BMW Motorsport No. 63 Proton Competition Sébastien Bourdais Anthony Davidson Franck Mailleux Jean-Karl Vernay Lucas Ordóñez Jörg Müller Augusto Farfus Christian Ried Gianluca Roda Richard Lietz
Scoring system The cup's scoring system was revamped for 2011, changing the point structure, how many cars could obtain points, and adding more bonus point opportunities. Each car had the opportunity to score from one to fifteen points for their position within their class plus an additional point for being the fastest qualifier in their class (pole-sitter) and an additional one or two bonus points for meeting special engine use conditions.
Points were awarded to cars based on their final classification within their class for each event, including both ILMC entries and other race entries. Thus, it was possible for first-place (or any other position) points to not be awarded if that position in the race was achieved by a non-ILMC entry. Cars which were not classified per the rules of the event, or which did not complete at least 70% of the distance completed by the winner of their class, received zero points for their finishing position. All cars which were classified, but finished beyond 12th place in their class, received a single point. For manufacturers, points were awarded to the top two finishing cars of each manufacturer in each event, but for teams this was reduced to only their top finisher. Position points were doubled for the 24 Hours of Le Mans event.
Bonus points were expanded in 2011. The pole-sitter bonus was retained, with a single point being awarded for qualifying fastest in class for each event. As with position points, this included all entrants in the event, so the entrant needed to outpace not only all ILMC entries, but all non-ILMC entries in their class as well to obtain the bonus point. 2011 also saw up to two additional bonus points made available to LMGTE manufacturers and teams in the form of an engine bonus. Engines were tightly controlled by the organizers, and their running time was tracked (including practice, qualifying, and race hours). For engines which accumulated 15 or more hours by the end of a race, the entrant would receive a bonus point. A second point was available if the engine reached 30 hours by the end of a race. Cars had to be classified finishers to obtain the engine bonus, but would still get the pole-sitter bonus even if they did not complete the race. Engine bonus points were not awarded for the 24 Hours of Le Mans event.
Point System Points awarded for position Bonus points 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th + Pole Engine 24H Le Mans 30 26 22 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 1 none Other races 15 13 11 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1 1 or 2
Manufacturers' Cups Peugeot and Audi returned to the competition competing for the premier title of LMP1 manufacturer, both bringing new cars. Peugeot was able to continue their success from 2010, winning all but one race and outscoring Audi in every event. Audi was unable to use their new R18 in the first event, and while the new car would be quick enough to win the pole at two events and pick up the make's only win of the season at the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans, it would ultimately prove unable to pace the Peugeots over the balance of the season and Audi was not able to be competitive in the standings as a result.