The Ligier JS P2 is a racing car designed and built by French manufacturer Onroak Automotive and named in partnership with French former racing driver Guy Ligier. Designed for the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) regulations, it is intended as a second option to Onroak's Morgan LMP2 that has been competing since 2012. As well as being the first closed-cockpit car offered by Onroak, it is also the first car they designed entirely in-house. The JS P2 debuted at the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans, and has been campaigned in the FIA World Endurance Championship, European Le Mans Series, Asian Le Mans Series and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Development Onroak initially planned to develop a car for the Le Mans Prototype 1 category but cancelled these plans to concentrate on the LMP2 category. The design was seen by Onroak as marketable in North America where closed-cockpit designs, which were required for all LMP1 cars, were also prominent choices for LMP2s and Daytona Prototypes in the new United SportsCar Championship. The LMP1 design was therefore evolved into an LMP2 design with measures taken to assure the car met the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's (ACO) cost limitations in LMP2. The car was designed to be able to utilize available LMP2 engines:A flat-plane crankshaft version of a Nissan V8 aluminum DOHC 4-valve engine (VK45). Judd's naturally aspirated HK V8 (BMW S65 Variant), and Honda's HPD V6 double turbo engine; (HR28TT). A high downforce sprint design and a low downforce Le Mans setup are offered for the car.
Naming of the JS P2 came about through an alliance between Onroak and Guy Ligier's partnership of Équipe Ligier and Automobiles Martini. The JS P2 follows Ligier's naming scheme of his cars being named after French racing driver Jo Schlesser (JS). The partnership included Onroak taking over development of Ligier-Martini's Group CN car.
Racing history
The JS P2 began initial testing in March 2014. The debut of the first JS P2s was set for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, where the Ligier name would race for the first time since a Ligier JS2 had finished second overall in . OAK would enter two cars, one backed by Nissan's drivers and engine while the other car featured three Chinese drivers and a Honda powerplant. The third car was purchased by privateers Thiriet by TDS Racing and also used a Nissan engine. The two Nissan JS P2 qualified well, with TDS's car on pole position and the first OAK car in third. All three cars finished the 24 hour endurance with TDS in second and OAK in fifth and seventh places in class.
Following Le Mans TDS Racing campaigned their Ligier in the remainder of the European Le Mans Series, but were unable to finish the three races in which they participated. OAK Racing meanwhile brought their Ligier to the United States for the two remaining rounds of the United SportsCar Championship, where Alex Brundle put the Honda-powered JS P2 on pole position on debut at Circuit of the Americas en route to a second-place finish. The Nissan-powered OAK car moved to the FIA World Endurance Championship where it earned five consecutive pole positions in the five remaining races as well as class victories at Fuji Speedway and Shanghai International Circuit.
In 2015 the American Krohn Racing team purchased a JS P2 for a partial season in the United SportsCar Championship and a full season in the European Le Mans Series, and will be the first team to utilize Judd power in the Ligier. Michael Shank Racing purchased a Honda-powered JS P2 for a full United SportsCar Championship campaign, and won pole position at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. In 2016, Extreme Speed Motorsports entered a JS P2 in the United Sportscar Championship, winning both the 2016 24 Hours of Daytona and the 2016 12 Hours of Sebring, with the JS P2 becoming the first car to defeat a Daytona Prototype at the 24 hours, as well as the team becoming the first to win the so-called "36 Hours of Florida" since 1998.
Results summary
Complete World Endurance Championship results (key) Races in bold indicates pole position. Races in italics indicates fastest lap. Green background indicates second team entry; eligible only for Drivers' championship points. +Complete FIA World Endurance Championship resultsYearEntrantClassDriversRounds1234567892014 G-Drive RacingLMP2 Roman Rusinov Olivier Pla Julien Canal264-84-84-8SILSPALMSCOA4FUJ1SHA1BHR4SÃORet 137* 2nd* OAK Racing-Team Asia David Cheng Ho-Pin Tung Adderly Fong33333SILSPALMS7COAFUJSHABHRSÃO0NC OAK Racing Alex Brundle Jann Mardenborough Mark Shulzhitskiy35333SILSPALMS5COAFUJSHABHRSÃO0NC Thiriet by TDS Racing Pierre Thiriet Ludovic Badey Tristan Gommendy46333SILSPALMS2COAFUJSHABHRSÃO0NC2015 G-Drive RacingLMP2 Roman Rusinov Julien Canal Sam Bird26AllAllAllSIL 1SPA10LMS3NÜR2COA1FUJ1SHA2BHR11781st Gustavo Yacamán Ricardo González Pipo Derani28AllAllAllSIL2SPA2LMS4NÜR3COA3FUJ3SHARetBHR31343rd Extreme Speed Motorsports Scott Sharp Ryan Dalziel David Heinemeier Hansson302-82-82-8SILSPA9LMS10NÜR6COA4FUJ4SHARetBHR7627th Ed Brown Jon Fogarty Johannes van Overbeek312-82-82-8SILSPA8LMS7NÜR8COARetFUJ7SHA5BHR862*8th* OAK Racing Chris Cumming Kévin Estre Laurens Vanthoor34333SILSPALMSRetNÜRCOAFUJSHABHR0NC Jacques Nicolet Jean-Marc Merlin Erik Maris351-31-31-3SIL5SPA7LMS11NÜRCOAFUJSHABHR349th Krohn Racing Tracy Krohn Niclas Jönsson João Barbosa40333SILSPALMS12NÜRCOAFUJSHABHR0NC2016 SO24! by Lombard RacingLMP2 Vincent Capillaire Erik Maris Jonathan Coleman22333SILSPALMS14NÜRMEXCOAFUJSHABHR0NC Panis-Barthez Compétition Fabien Barthez Timothé Buret Paul-Loup Chatin23333SILSPALMS8NÜRMEXCOAFUJSHABHR0NC Algarve Pro Racing Michael Munemann Chris Hoy Andrea Pizzitola25333SILSPALMS12NÜRMEXCOAFUJSHABHR0NC Extreme Speed Motorsports Scott Sharp Ed Brown Johannes van Overbeek Sean Gelael Antonio Giovinazzi Giedo van der Garde Tom Blomqvist Tom Dillmann301-61-61-67-97-97, 989SIL9SPA7LMS11NÜR8MEX9COA7FUJ4SHA2BHR5785th Pipo Derani Ryan Dalziel Chris Cumming31AllAllAllSIL2SPA2LMS15NÜR3MEX3COA5FUJ5SHA5BHR41164th Krohn Racing Tracy Krohn Niclas Jönsson João Barbosa40333SILSPALMS13NÜRMEXCOAFUJSHABHR0NC Greaves Motorsport Memo Rojas Julien Canal Nathanaël Berthon41333SILSPALMS6NÜRMEXCOAFUJSHABHR0NC RGR Sport by Morand Filipe Albuquerque Bruno Senna Ricardo González43AllAllAllSIL1SPA4LMS10NÜR2MEX1COA2FUJ2SHA3BHR21692nd Michael Shank Racing John Pew Oswaldo Negri Jr. Laurens Vanthoor49333SILSPALMS9NÜRMEXCOAFUJSHABHR0NCSources: * Points were scored with the Morgan LMP2
* Points were scored with the HPD ARX-03b
Complete European Le Mans Series results (key) Races in bold indicates pole position. Races in italics indicates fastest lap. +Complete European Le Mans Series resultsYearEntrantClassDriversRounds1234562014 Thiriet by TDS RacingLMP2 Ludovic Badey Tristan Gommendy Pierre Thiriet46AllAllAllSILIMORBRRetLECRetESTRet35*7th*2015 Algarve Pro RacingLMP2 Michael Munemann Andrea Roda James Winslow253-53-53-5SILIMORBR10LEC8EST71112th Krohn Racing Niclas Jönsson Tracy Krohn Oswaldo Negri Jr. Julien Canal Olivier Pla40AllAll1-234-5SIL4IMO5RBR5LEC5EST8464th2016 SO24! By Lombard RacingLMP2 Vincent Capillaire Jonathan Coleman Olivier Lombard221-21-21-2SIL3IMO11RBRLECSPAEST15.512th Panis Barthez Competition Fabien Barthez Timothé Buret Paul-Loup Chatin23AllAllAllSIL9IMO7RBR7LEC11SPA7EST727.58th Algarve Pro Racing Michael Munemann Parth Ghorpade Chris Hoy Jonathan Hirschi Andrea Pizzitola Andrea Roda251-3, 51-21-23-53-54SIL10IMORetRBR5LEC7SPA9EST199th IDEC Sport Racing Dimitri Enjalbert Patrice Lafargue Paul Lafargue281-2, 4–61-2, 4–61-2, 4–6SIL7IMORetRBRLEC10SPA8EST61910th Krohn Racing Niclas Jönsson Björn Wirdheim Tracy Krohn Olivier Pla40All1-21, 3–52-6SIL4IMO6RBR9LEC8SPA10EST4396th Greaves Motorsport Julien Canal Memo Rojas Kuba Giermaziak Nathanaël Berthon41AllAll1-23-6SIL8IMO8RBR6LEC6SPA4ESTRet367th Team WRT Will Stevens Dries Vanthoor Laurens Vanthoor47555SILIMORBRLECSPA2EST1811thSources: * Points were scored with the Morgan LMP2
Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results (key) Races in bold indicates pole position. Races in italics indicates fastest lap. +Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship resultsYearEntrantClassDriversRounds12345678910112014 OAK RacingP Gustavo Yacamán Alex Brundle Ho-Pin Tung42All10-1111DAYSEBLBHLGADETWGLMOSIMSELKCOA2PET93095th2015 Krohn RacingP Tracy Krohn Niclas Jönsson Olivier Pla Alex Brundle571-21-21-21DAY13SEB6LBHLGADETWGLMOSELKCOAPET4511th Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian Oswaldo Negri Jr. John Pew Matt McMurry A. J. Allmendinger Justin Wilson60AllAll1, 1012DAY5SEB13LBH6LGA3DET2WGL7MOS3ELK4COA4PET92736th2016 Tequila Patrón ESMP Pipo Derani Scott Sharp Johannes van Overbeek Ed Brown21-2, 6, 101-2, 6, 101-2, 6, 101-2DAY1SEB1LBHLGADETWGL9MOSELKCOAPET21289th Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Oswaldo Negri Jr. John Pew Olivier Pla A. J. Allmendinger Katherine Legge60All1-4, 6–101-2, 6, 1015DAY11SEB7LBH7LGA1DET5WGL3MOS6ELK4COA6PET12824thSources: * Points were scored with the Morgan LMP2
Complete Asian Le Mans Series results (key) Races in bold indicates pole position. Races in italics indicates fastest lap. YearEntrantClassDriversRounds12342015-16 Algarve Pro RacingLMP2 Dean Koutsoumidis Michael Munemann James Winslow252-42-42-4FUJSEP I2BUR2SEP II3532nd2016-17 Algarve Pro RacingLMP2 Tacksung Kim Matt McMurry Andrea Roda Mark Patterson Jonathan Hirschi Michael Munemann24All112-423-4ZHU2FUJ4BUR3SEP3603rd Andrea Pizzitola Michael Munemann Nicky Catsburg Andrea Roda Matt McMurry Aidan Read25All1-212-434ZHU3FUJ3BUR2SEP1761st2017-18 ARC BratislavaLMP2 Konstantīns Calko Miroslav Konôpka Rik Breukers Gustavo Yacamán4AllAll1-23ZHU3FUJ4BUR4SEP4513rd Algarve Pro Racing Ate de Jong Dean Koutsoumidis John Graham25AllAll1, 3–4ZHU4FUJ4BURRetSEPRet206th Eurasia Motorsport Alex Au Keiko Ihara Scott Andrews Marko Asmer Yoshiharu Mori Nabil Jeffri Jake Parsons331122,4244ZHU4FUJRetBURSEP3285th BBT Pipo Derani Anthony Liu Davide Rizzo37AllAllAllZHU2FUJ2BUR3SEP2702nd2018-19 Spirit of RaceLMP2 Pipo Derani Côme Ledogar Alexander West81-2, 41-2, 41-2, 4SHA1FUJ6CHASEP5 United Autosports Phil Hanson Paul di Resta22AllAllSHA2FUJ2CHA1SEP2801st Algarve Pro Racing Ate de Jong Harrison Newey Andrea Pizzitola24AllAllAllSHARetFUJ1CHA2SEP1692nd Panis Barthez Competition François Hériau Matthieu Lahaye Jean-Baptiste Lahaye35AllAll1, 3–4SHA6FUJ4CHA3SEP3504th ARC BratislavaLMP2 Am Darren Burke Miroslav Konôpka Kang Ling4AllAllAllSHA2FUJ1CHA1SEP1941st United Autosports Patrick Byrne Guy Cosmo Salih Yoluç23AllAllAllSHA1FUJ2CHA3SEPRet602nd Algarve Pro Racing Anders Fjordbach Chris McMurry Mark Patterson25AllAllAllSHA3FUJ3CHA2SEPRet493rd2019-20 ARC BratislavaLMP2 Am Miro Konôpka Andreas Laskaratos Kang Ling Garnet Patterson41-21-212SHARetBEN3SEPCHA164th Rick Ware Racing Philippe Mulacek Guy Cosmo Anthony Lazzaro252-42-42-4SHADNSBEN2SEPRetCHA1452nd Mark Kvamme Cody Ware Gustas Grinbergas521All2-4SHA2BEN1SEP1CHA2861stSource:
Gallery
References
External links
Onroak Automotive