June 13, 2011
Le Mans 24 Hours Recap and Reults
There were scary moments, there were funny moments, there was the 24 hours. An amazing race with amazing drivers. It was the day that counted, it was perform or go home, it was race day at Le Mans. Nothing is final until Sunday afternoon at 3:00 PM in Le Mans, France when the car crosses the finish line. Not my picture, forgot where I got it from, but it is a good shot.
June 10, 2011
Le Mans 24 hours Night Qualifying Final
The race this weekend seems to be full of drama and amazing racing. A lot happened in the final session, and this weekend promises to be full of awesome racing. The picture comes from Wikipedia.
June 9, 2011
Le Mans 24 hours Day Qualifying
There was never an uninteresting moment for today's afternoon qualifying session. The cat and mouse games continued between Audi and Peugeot, but that isn't all the drama that happened.
June 8, 2011
Le Mans 24 hours Night Qualifying
I will jump straight to the point. Nothing is final until Sunday when the top three stand on the podium. I have added a track map, thanks to Wikipedia.
P1 was just as interesting as I thought. Though not as quick as I was planning, but there is still time for them to go quicker unless it rains. Sarrazin pulled out a 3:27.033, a lap that is roughly nine tenths quicker than the Audi's. The number two Audi is followed by the number one Audi. Both have lap times just hundredths off each other, in fourth right now is the number three Audi. The next car that is not a diesel is the Pescarolo Judd in 8th.
In P2, it was more underwhelming than I thought. The cars did 3:40's in the session, and at the end, the provisional pole car from Strakka Racing crashed at the Dunlop curves. No word yet on if the car is a write off, or is repairable. I seem to remember a P2 car crashing there abouts in qualifying in recent history.
For GTE-Pro, the BMW's were quickest early on, jumping out early by a second. The number 56 BMW currently has provisional pole for the class. Trailling by half a second is the Ferrari 458 from AF Corse, followed by the number 55 BMW. I honestly expected the BMW's to be quicker based upon their straight line speed at Sebring earlier in the year. In the next couple of days there should be some speed trap information published to compare the top GTE-Pro cars with. Following them is the duet of Corvettes from Pratt and Miller, the 74 and 73 respectively.
In the amateur category, the Porsche 997 from Labre Competition is out in front, over another 997 from the Flying Lizards. The Aston Martin provisionally in third was involved in an incident with the number 1 Audi at Mulsanne corner so the car will have to be repaired. Though based off of the images shown, it seemed to be in decent shape, and got the better end of the incident. The Doran Ford GT, an American Le Mans Series regular, is struggling as well citing engine or electrical issues.
Other Notes
The number 1 Audi in the hands of Romain Dumas, had a pretty significant impact with the Aston Martin Vantage from Gulf AMR Middle East. Qualifying was temporarily red flagged while crews worked to move both of the stricken cars from the racing surface. The Aston seemed to have the better end, but both cars went into parc ferme directly after the incident. Neither team said much more than that they will try to fix the car. I hope the mechanics, especially the Audi mechanics, prepared for a long night because they will definitely be working overtime to get both of these cars back into shape. Video below from 780 Motorsports.
There were a few cars that spun, and one of the Felbamayr cars was towed off the track at Mulsanne Corner. The factory P1 Aston Martins spent more time in the garage than on track. The JMB reportedly had gearbox issues and limped back to the pits. At one point Adrian Fernandez, driving the 009 Aston Martin AMR-ONE, stopped on the Mulsanne and had trouble restarting the engine forcing the Mexican to return to the pits for inpsection. Both cars still reported some type of oil circulation issue. This just proves that the car should not have come out of development after eight months.
In the final minutes of the session the Strakka Racing ARX-01 HPD, crashed heavily in the first turn and the remaining time in the session was red flagged.
There is a hybrid being fielded by a Swiss team by the name of Hope Racing. I think it is worthy to note that a hybrid, is having less issues right now than the Aston Martin P1 cars.
See the entire provisional qualifying list here for today's session.
Still lots of time for cars to get faster, and weather could play a large part in qualifying tomorrow. If it rains for tomorrows qualifying session, the order should stay roughly the same.
P1 was just as interesting as I thought. Though not as quick as I was planning, but there is still time for them to go quicker unless it rains. Sarrazin pulled out a 3:27.033, a lap that is roughly nine tenths quicker than the Audi's. The number two Audi is followed by the number one Audi. Both have lap times just hundredths off each other, in fourth right now is the number three Audi. The next car that is not a diesel is the Pescarolo Judd in 8th.
In P2, it was more underwhelming than I thought. The cars did 3:40's in the session, and at the end, the provisional pole car from Strakka Racing crashed at the Dunlop curves. No word yet on if the car is a write off, or is repairable. I seem to remember a P2 car crashing there abouts in qualifying in recent history.
For GTE-Pro, the BMW's were quickest early on, jumping out early by a second. The number 56 BMW currently has provisional pole for the class. Trailling by half a second is the Ferrari 458 from AF Corse, followed by the number 55 BMW. I honestly expected the BMW's to be quicker based upon their straight line speed at Sebring earlier in the year. In the next couple of days there should be some speed trap information published to compare the top GTE-Pro cars with. Following them is the duet of Corvettes from Pratt and Miller, the 74 and 73 respectively.
In the amateur category, the Porsche 997 from Labre Competition is out in front, over another 997 from the Flying Lizards. The Aston Martin provisionally in third was involved in an incident with the number 1 Audi at Mulsanne corner so the car will have to be repaired. Though based off of the images shown, it seemed to be in decent shape, and got the better end of the incident. The Doran Ford GT, an American Le Mans Series regular, is struggling as well citing engine or electrical issues.
Other Notes
The number 1 Audi in the hands of Romain Dumas, had a pretty significant impact with the Aston Martin Vantage from Gulf AMR Middle East. Qualifying was temporarily red flagged while crews worked to move both of the stricken cars from the racing surface. The Aston seemed to have the better end, but both cars went into parc ferme directly after the incident. Neither team said much more than that they will try to fix the car. I hope the mechanics, especially the Audi mechanics, prepared for a long night because they will definitely be working overtime to get both of these cars back into shape. Video below from 780 Motorsports.
There were a few cars that spun, and one of the Felbamayr cars was towed off the track at Mulsanne Corner. The factory P1 Aston Martins spent more time in the garage than on track. The JMB reportedly had gearbox issues and limped back to the pits. At one point Adrian Fernandez, driving the 009 Aston Martin AMR-ONE, stopped on the Mulsanne and had trouble restarting the engine forcing the Mexican to return to the pits for inpsection. Both cars still reported some type of oil circulation issue. This just proves that the car should not have come out of development after eight months.
In the final minutes of the session the Strakka Racing ARX-01 HPD, crashed heavily in the first turn and the remaining time in the session was red flagged.
There is a hybrid being fielded by a Swiss team by the name of Hope Racing. I think it is worthy to note that a hybrid, is having less issues right now than the Aston Martin P1 cars.
See the entire provisional qualifying list here for today's session.
Still lots of time for cars to get faster, and weather could play a large part in qualifying tomorrow. If it rains for tomorrows qualifying session, the order should stay roughly the same.
Le Mans 24 hours practice day thoughts, so far
Well today marks the beginning of what I consider to be the crown jewel of sportscar racing.
Updated at 18:43 6/8/11
Updated at 18:43 6/8/11
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