The Oreca 01 is a Le Mans Prototype built by

Oreca ORECA (Organisation Exploitation Compétition Automobiles) is a French auto racing, racing team and race car constructor, founded in 1973 and run by Hugues de Chaunac, former team manager of F1 team Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives, AGS. Or ...

Racing in 2009. It replaced the

Courage Courage (also called bravery, valour ( British and Commonwealth English), or valor (American English)) is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Valor is courage or bravery, especially in ...

LC70 raced previously by Oreca. It is powered by an engine from Japanese engine company AIM Power. It is a tuned Judd engine that develops 650

bhp BHP Group Limited, founded as the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, is an Australian multinational mining and metals corporation. BHP was established in August 1885 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. As of 2024, BHP was the world� ...

/485 kW at 8000

rpm Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

Racing

2009

Team

Matmut-AIM debuted two Oreca 01's at the

2009 1000 km of Spa The 2009 1000 km of Spa was the second round of the 2009 Le Mans Series season. It occurred at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, on May 10, 2009. Several teams tested at Spa before the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Le Mans, i ...

, the second round of the

2009 Le Mans Series season The 2009 Le Mans Series was the sixth season of Automobile Club de l'Ouest's Le Mans Series. It was contested over five events between 5 April and 13 September 2009. Aston Martin Racing trio Jan Charouz, Tomáš Enge and Stefan Mücke finished ev ...

. It started off well with the #10 car qualifying fourth place. Unfortunately,

Bruno Senna Bruno Senna Lalli (; born 15 October 1983) is a Brazilian former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . In endurance racing, Senna won the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMP2 class with Rebellion. Born and raised ...

, driving the #10 car had a huge crash after completing 129 of the race winners 143 laps. The accident damage looked identical to the other #10 driver

Stéphane Ortelli Stéphane Ortelli (born 30 March 1970) is a Monaco, Monégasque professional racing driver with three world championship titles. He has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in with Allan McNish and Laurent Aïello and the Spa 24 Hours in 2003 ...

's crash at the

2008 1000 km of Monza The 2008 1000 km of Monza was the second round of the 2008 Le Mans Series season. It took place at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Italy, on 27 April 2008. This event was the last. Monégasque driver Stéphane Ortelli was injured in an inci ...

which put him out of the running for the

2008 24 Hours of Le Mans The 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 76th Grand Prix of Endurance, taking place on 14–15 June 2008 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France, organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The test day was on June 1. The race was atten ...

. Luckily, the #11 car did finish, in fourth place getting five points. At the

2009 24 Hours of Le Mans The 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans () was the 77th Grand Prix of Endurance, an endurance racing (motorsport), endurance auto racing, auto race run over 24 hours. It took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France, and was organised by the Aut ...

, the #11 car finished 5th. The #10 did not finish, dropping out after 219 laps.

2010

A single Oreca 01 was entered in the

2010 24 Hours of Le Mans The 78th 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: 78''e 24 Heures du Mans'') was a non-championship 24-hour Endurance racing (motorsport), automobile endurance race for teams of three drivers each fielding Le Mans Prototype (LMP) and Grand tourer, Grand T ...

alongside a

Peugeot 908 HDi FAP The Peugeot 908 HDi FAP is a sports prototype racing car built by the French automobile manufacturer Peugeot to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, starting in 2007 and eventually winning in 2009. This effort, in development sinc ...

, qualifying with a time of 3:29.506, putting it in 10th place. Despite the Lola-Aston Martins being favoured to win the "petrol" P1 class all 3 of them as well as all 4 Peugeots suffered reliability issues, the Oreca 01 was able to take an impressive 4th place overall, highest petrol-fuel finisher and behind only the 3 factory Audis.

2011

2011 saw the Oreca 01 raced by Swiss team

Hope Racing Morand Racing is an auto racing team founded by former racing driver Benoît Morand and based in the Swiss town of Marly, Fribourg. The team traces its origins to 2000 when Morand founded PoleVision Racing which competed in numerous open-wheel se ...

as a

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two diff ...

-powered vehicle at

Le Mans Le Mans (; ) is a Communes of France, city in Northwestern France on the Sarthe (river), Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the Provinces of France, province of Maine (province), Maine, it is now the capital of ...

, using the

KERS A kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) is an automotive system for recovering a moving vehicle's kinetic energy under braking. The recovered energy is stored in a reservoir (for example a flywheel or high voltage batteries) for later use under ...

system featured in

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

and powered by a

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

-based 2 litre engine. The engine is significantly smaller than the AIM ( Judd) V10 engine used before in the 01 as there were changes made to the regulations for the 2011 season. The Oreca 01 did not finish, retiring after 115 laps.

Competition history

Complete Le Mans Series results

(key) Races in bold indicates

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

. Races in ''italics'' indicates fastest lap. * Points were scored with the

LC70E

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

(key) Races in bold indicates

. Races in ''italics'' indicates fastest lap.

Complete American Le Mans Series results

(key) Races in bold indicates

. Races in ''italics'' indicates fastest lap.

References

External links

{{Commons category
Technical Specs
Le Mans Prototypes 24 Hours of Le Mans race cars Sports prototypes