More than 25 drivers with formula one experience will be on the grid at this weekend’s 80th running of the fabled 24 hour Le Mans race.
Near the front, in the premier LMP1 prototype class, will be Allan McNish and Marc Gene, driving for Audi. Scot McNish raced in F1 with Toyota in 2002, while Gene drove for Minardi and is still a Ferrari test driver. Toyota has since left F1 and for 2012 has entered Le Mans, and the Japanese marque’s number 8 entry is a grand prix-superteam featuring Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri), Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso) and one-off 1999 Minardi driver Stephane Sarrazin.
It emerged last month that the Italian outfit, who pulled out of GP2 due to financial problems, has lodged an application to be F1′s thirteenth team in 2011. According to the Italian source Italiaracing, Durango boss Ivone Pinton has confirmed he is in talks with Toyota. 
Bruno Corbe is indeed the new Chief Engineer of the team. 47 years-old, from France, Corbe is a very experienced engineer with an impressive curriculum vitae: he was track engineer at Prost Grand Prix in F.1 for 4 seasons, and worked in the same role in GP2 at ART and DAMS helping the teams to achieve great results. 
As teams prepare to send their cars to Bahrain this week, the hopeful Stefan GP has suddenly taken a more conciliatory tone. After issuing recent media statements that criticised rival teams and the FIA in broken English, the Serbian outfit issued a final note on Sunday. 
He predicts that the Serbian outfit could be the best new team this year, if they get an entry of course. Jacques Villeneuve has said that Stefan GP could be a ‘great opportunity’ for F1 2010, assuming they do get the okay to compete in the sport. 
Karun Chandhok has refused to confirm reports he has been signed by the hopeful Serbian team Stefan GP. The Swiss magazine Motorsport Aktuell this week said Chandhok, a 26-year-old GP2 driver from India, will be Kazuki Nakajima’s teammate if the outfit is granted an official team entry. 
Bernie Ecclestone is pushing for Stefan GP to receive an entry to race this season, and sees Ralf Schumacher as an ideal driver for the team. 
Although not a feature of the ‘silly season’ until now, Kazuki Nakajima may in 2010 extend his formula one career into a third full season.