The waiting is over. Seven months after the final round of the 2004 Le Mans Endurance Series at Spa- Francorchamps, Belgium, 50 competitors or so return to the panoramic Ardennes circuit for the opening round of the 2005 series, and of these no fewer than 23 are racing in the Le Mans Prototype category. Following the 32-hour test session at the Paul Ricard circuit on April 1-2, a clear pattern has emerged. The Audi R8 which dominated the 2004 series, entered this season by Team Oreca, will be strongly challenged by the ‘hybrid’ cars from Le Mans constructors Yves Courage and Henri Pescarolo, both with Judd 4-litre V10 engines. Since then, the dominant Audi R8s have been given extra penalties by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, more weight and smaller inlet air restrictors, which will inevitably curb the Oreca entry at Spa. Stephane Ortelli and Jean-Marc Gounon will share the Audi Playstation Team Oreca Audi at Spa, possibly relying on the Ingolstadt car’s superb reliability to reach a position on the podium. Audi can also for sure rely on its drivers… The Jim Gainer International Dome S101 HB, another ‘hybrid’ (that is, an older chassis with the latest safety and aerodynamic features), was right on the pace at the Paul Ricard test, with Ryo Michigami as the lead driver, and joins the favourites for Sunday’s 1,000 Kilometre race. The three British built Zytek cars running in the LMP1 class are fast and nimble, the only cars in fact to challenge the Audis seriously last season. Vanina Ickx, daughter of the legendary six-times Le Mans winner Jacky, makes her sportscar debut at the wheel of Martin Short’s Rollcentre Racing Dallara Judd, another candidate for a podium result. Vanina, 30, has wide experience in GT cars but made her first sportscar test in the Dallara at Snetterton last week, and immediately impressed Short: “Outstanding” was his verdict. “First time at Snetterton, first time in a prototype, she was very calm. She looked at the data, went out and found three seconds”, within half a second of the owner. A number of prototypes make their racing debut, among them Pierre Bruneau’s Pilbeam MP93 JPX, the hybrid versions of the Courage C60, the Pescarolo Sport C60 and the Dome S101 HB, and RML’s MG Lola EX264. After a disappointing debut at the Sebring 12-Hours, William Binnie, is a late withdrawal as he could not transfer his Lola B05/40 Nicholson McLaren from the States to compete at Spa. Nevertheless, he will achieve the trans- Atlantic journey to race at Monza, Silverstone, the Nürburgring and Istanbul later in the season. Paul Belmondo has entered three cars for the opening round of the Le Mans Endurance Series, two Courages C65 AER in the LMP2 category and a Chrysler Viper GTS-R in GT1. The Viper will have some tough competition from four Ferrari 550 Maranellos, two from the FIA GT Championship winning BMS Scuderia Italia and one each from the Russian Convers team, and the Czech Menx team. A Ferrari 575 GTC from JMB Racing, two Saleen S7Rs prepared by Graham Nash, and an exciting Porsche 996 Turbo built by A-level Engineering complete the GT1 group. TVR, Ferrari, Spyker and Porsche will battle for honours in the GT2 class. Sebah Automotive, the class champion in 2004, has a new Porsche 911 GT3 RSR to be driven by Danes Lars Erik Nielsen and Thorkild Thyrring, and the Gruppe M Racing Porsche of Tim Sugden and 18-year-old Jonathan Cocker is a strong candidate. So, too, will be the GPC Sport Ferrari 360 of Gabrio Rosa, Luca Drudi and Philipp Peter, and the Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari 360 of Andrew Kirkaldy and Nathan Kinch. Many competitors will regard the Spa 1,000 Kilometres as a demanding test for the 24-Hours of Le Mans in June, among them the Dutch Spyker Squadron team which raced two new Audi V8 powered, open-top GT cars at Sebring and will now take the development a stage further.