Eight Oreca 03 will participate in the 80th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans: ADR Delta, Boutsen Ginion Racing, Murphy Prototypes, Pecom Racing, Race Performance, Signatech-Nissan (two cars), and Thiriet by TDS Racing. These seven teams will be joined on test day by Sébastien Loeb Racing, Sébastien Loeb driving the prototype car with the idea in mind to participate in the 2013 race.

Some of the teams will re-discover the famous La Sarthe circuit this year. like Signatech-Nissan, pole position and second place in the 2011 running. This year, the French team has entered with two cars: One for Jordan Tresson, Franck Mailleux and Olivier Lombard, the other one driven by Pierre Ragues, Nelson Panciatici and Roman Rusinov. Race Performance (sixth in 2011) now know the cirsuit pretty well. The Oreca 03 with a Judd engine will be driven by Swiss drivers Michel Frey, Ralph Meichtry and Jonathan Hirschi. Pecom Racing has been to Le Mans before, but never with an Oreca chassis. Their drivers are Soheil Ayari, Luis Perez Companc and Pierre Kaffer.

Thiriet (TDS Racing) is the current leader in the European Le Mans Series, having won the 6 Hours of Le Castellet, he is here in Le Mans for the first time. Test day is therefore very important for Pierre Thiriet, Mahias Beche and Christophe Tinseau.The  same applies to Boutsen Ginion Racing, who have been running in Europe for the last two seasons. The Belgian team was fifth in the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship in Spa-Francorchamps, and their drivers for Le Mansare are local man Bastien Brière rookies Jens Petersen and Shinji Nakano.

After second place in the 6 Hours of Spa, ADR Delta is leading the LM P2 class in the World Championship coming second at The 6 Hours of Spa with drivers Tor Graves, John Martin and Robbie Kerr. Murphy Prototypes, who have also been on the podium in Spa, are participating in Le Mans the for the first time. Their drivers are Warren Hughes, Jody Firth and Brendon Hartley. Finally, we have Sébastien Loeb Racing, who are preparing to participate in the 2013 race. Driver Sebastien Loeb has some Le Mans experience is teamed up with Nicolas Marroc et Jean-Karl Vernay.

Alongside the nine ORECA 03 participating in test day, there are also two Formula Le Mans cars running. Test day is meant to give the teams the opportunity to test their cars on the track they are going to use for the 24 hour race, but it also allows drivers coming from different areas of racing to discover this myths that surround this unique circuit. One of these drivers is Fabien Barthez, who usually runs in GT Tour, and who will discover the Le Mans track in the ORECA-FLM09. He is teamed with Denis Caillon and Bruno Bazaud, former French hillclimb champion. The sister car will be driven by Henry Richard and Duncan Ende, of Silicon Tech Dempsey Racing fame in the American Le Mans Series. The third driver on their team is Steven Palette, who has moved up from Peugeot Sport and who recently won the Nürburgring 24 Hours.

(From ORECA press release)

Photo : FRANCORCHAMPS (LIEGE, BELGIQUE), CIRCUIT OF SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, 6 HOURS OF SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS WEC, RACE, MAI 5 2012. The current leader of the LM P2 class in the World Endurance Championship, the team ADR Delta Oreca 03 is at La Sarthe.