The Le Mans 24 hour is underway!

Ferry_vO

Ferry_vO

Retired SOH Administrator
Two hybrid Audi's, two regular diesels versus two hybrid Toyota's. No Peugeot this year. The Deltawing car is there too, but running out of competition.

Rain expected this afternoon!
 
Five hour update: the Deltawing had trouble and is running in the back of the field, one of the Diesel Audi's crashed out at the first chicane but continued without it's nose. Toyota #7 leads but the #8 just got knocked out of the race by a slower Ferrari 458. Big somersault and a hard crash into the barrier.
 
The second Toyota crashed into the Deltawing and is now in the box for repairs. The Deltawing in AWOL. Audi now 1-2-3.
 
About fifteen hours to go, the last Toyota is spending more time in the pit than on the track so Audi look already set for their eleventh victory in the last thirteen races.
 
We get miserable coverage of le Mans, perhaps 1/2 hour on ESPN tonight.
I wouldn't even have known it started if you hadn't posted!
Thank heaven for Youtube...
Here's McNish in 2011 ...de ja vu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drDEcQrpuBU&feature=related
Miracle it didn't go over the tyre wall and flatten everyone there.

Sign of the times: they have "Hybrid Activation" zones!
 
Three hours to go, Audi leads 1-2-3-4 with both hybrid diesels swapping for the lead. Looks like Tom Kristensen could take his 9th (!!) Le Mans victory and Audi the first Hybrid car win.
 
And within a few minutes two Audi's without a nose after crashing into the barriers... One Hybrid and one 'old' Diesel.
 
Audi scores a 1-2-3 and 5, with both E-tron Hybrids the first of the four R18's.

The team of André Lotterer, Marcel Fässler and Benoît Tréluyer wins for the second time in a row, ahead of Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Dindo Capello. They could have won but a crash by McNish cost them two laps. In third Oliver Jarvis, Marco Bonanomi and Mike Rockenfeller, ahead of the first petrol car driven by Nick Heidfeld, Nicolas Prost and Neel Jani. The last Audi was driven by Marc Gené, Romain Dumas and Loïc Duval.

The other classes:
LMP2: Starworks Motorsport, Enzo Potolicchio, Ryan Dalziel and Tom Kimber-Smith
GTE Pro: Giancarlo Fisichella, Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander in a Ferrari 458.
GTE Am: Pedro Lamy, Patrick Bornhauser and Julien Canal in a Corvette.

Some interesting stats:
378 laps by the winners

5151.8 km distance covered by the winners

33 pit stops for the winning car

21 retirements
12th victory for a car with race number 1

11th victory for Audi (00, 01, 02, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 10, 11, 12) (In 2003 Bentley won, in 2009 Peugeot)

8th victory for a pole position car (In 80 races!)

8th victory for a team that won the previous year

7th victory for a diesel powered car

3:24.180 : The fastest lap of the race by Marc Gené (In the 'old' Diesel R18)

3rd consecutive podium for Lotterer-Tréluyer-Fässler

3rd consecutive class win for Julien Canal (GTE Am)

2nd consecutive victory for Lotterer-Tréluyer-Fässler

1st victory for a hybrid powered car

1st victory for a car with non-permanent 4 wheel drive.
 
I mean *there would be heck to pay* if it were to beat the Audi's!

Should've let it run at it's potential.....
 
It was never designed to beat the Audi's.

Still impressive that it was right in the middle of the LMP2 prototype field but with only a 1.6 liter engine. 3:42 is a very good time! The LMP2 cars can run up to a 5 liter atmospheric V8 or a 3.2 liter V6 turbo, twice the capacity of the Deltawing's engine.
 
F1 is good for other stuff, too

Trivia I came across:
"It was also a good weekend for Ferrari’s F1 rivals Williams, whose Hybrid Power division saw their technology help the Audi R18 e-tron Quattro piloted by Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler make history by becoming the first hybrid-powered vehicle to take outright victory at Le Mans."​
 
Ferry_vO said:
It was never designed to beat the Audi's.
.
Click to expand...

I didn't say this.
But some have theorized that had the car been allowed to reach its potential (rather than being de-tuned by the sanctioning body), it would have easily beat the Audis....:mixedsmi:
 
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