LM GTE Am

LE MANS, France — The sun danced around the Circuit du La Sarthe this afternoon brightening a day that at time was threatened by showers. It shined brightest on the Audi team as it posted the top four times again — it did the same thing at the test day last Sunday.

This time is was the No. 1 Audi of Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer, and Benoit Treluyer that took top time. Lotterer did the honors on lap 14 of his 15 laps young the course in 3:25.163 in the Audi R18 e-tron. The second e-tron car had the number two time with Tom Kristensen doing the honors with a lap that was 1331 second slower. The two e-tron cars were followed closely by the two Audi R18 Ultras to sweep qualifying. The No 3 Audi was their and the No 4 was fourth.

However, the Toyota team was not that far off the pace in fifth and sixth place with the best time of the two entries  from Toyota 3.258 seconds off the pace. However, it was Toyota that showed its pedigree in turning the fastest speed in the first session of 332.1 kph. That was three kph faster than Audi’s best effort that was turned in by the No. 4 R18 Ultra with Marco Bonanomi dialing up the fast Audi time.

The Batmobile Delta Car, which is entered as an experimental car had a time that is competitive with the LMP2 cars. Top time for the LMP2 cars went to the Starworks Motorsport Honda-powered team driven by Thomas Kimber-Smith with a time 3:39.656. The Delta Wing, with the same power plant toured the course with a best time of 3:43.576.

In the GT classes the Aston Martin Advantage turned turned the tables on the LM GTEPro field with top time. the first session. Darren Turner did the honors for the  Vantage team and pitched a time of 3.57.036. The Ferarri 458 Italia of Luxury  Racing had the second fastest time by a little more that four tenths of a second while the Vette of Corvette Racing turned the third fastest time, another two tenths behind. In LM GTEAm the Vantage again proved itself with a top time that was also faster than several of the GTPro cars. Allan Simonsen turned a 3:57.753 for top honors, a time that was faster than the majority of Pro cars.

LE MANS, France — The fight is on — as the Audi team knew it would be.

Although the team from Ingolstadt had the three fastest times during the Sunday test session at Circuit de la Sarthe, their main competition, the Toyota TS030 LMP1 hybrid, which is a new entry to the World Endurance Championship, showed that in its first year it will be a formable competitor, turning the fourth and fifth fastest times of the two sessions. The fastest Toyota was about a second and a quarter slower than the fastest Audi, in its first chance to run at the storied track. There is conjecture that the Toyota team was not showing everything that they had on its first session in Le Mans.

Top time of the day went to Audi’s Allan McNish who toured the nearly 8.5 mile long course in 3m 25.927 seconds in the Audi R18 e-tron quattro. Former Peugeot driver Alexander Wurtz had top time for the Toyota team with a 3m 27.204 lap but even McNish was impressed with how fast the Toyotas were out of the box at Le Mans noting, “The Toyotas amazed me. At top speed they were really much quicker than us!”

McNish, while runnning in the second session also was a casualty of the famed Tertre Rouge corner as he slipped onto the grass and spun 360 degrees before impacting into the barricade ending the test session for the team. Fortunately this was after his teammates, Dindo Capellos and Tom Kristensen had had put in their seat time and after McNish has turned the top time of the day.

“Dindo (Capello) already felt very comfortable in the new car and Tom (Kristensen) further improved balance. That meant I took over a car that was set up well for the areas of the track that have new tarmac. As always, grip was low on the dirty track at the beginning of the test day. I drove fast and consistent lap times. Unfortunately, toward the end while entering Tertre Rouge I briefly touched the grass, spun 360 degrees and touched the guard rails,” he said of the shunt.

The No. 21 Honda HPD was the speediest of the LMP1 cars with ‘classic’ petrol engines, with Danny Watts at the wheel. Watts’ time 3m34.243 seconds was well off the times set by the Diesel Hybrids and the Toyota Hybrids.
LMP2 saw Oak Racing dominate both test sessions as Olivier Pla did the honors in the No. 35 Morgan-Judd with a time 3m41.291 seconds. Nissan Delta Wing, albeit non-classified also treated race fans to its first laps at Le Mans. The futuristic car will run in the 24 Hours of Le Mans under the banner of the 56th Pit Box, but will not be classified. The Scotsman Marino Franchitti, who set a time of 3m47.980, was thrilled. “It was a perfect demonstration,” he explained. “No mechanical problems, easy to drive. It was very encouraging for the race and we know in which direction to go in order to gain performance.”
In the GTE Pro category the 458 Ferrari with Frederic Makowieckiat the wheel turned top time of the day — but just by a whisker over the No. 74 Corvette with Olivier Gavin at the wheel. Makowieckiat was .102 of a second faster around the track than the Vette. In the GTE AM category Allan Simonsen driving an Aston Martin Vantage V8 pushed the car around the track in 3:59.938 which was fastest of the day for the GTE AMs and a middle of the pack time for the GTE Pros.

3:00PM Le Mans, France – The Audi R18 driven by Benoit Treluyer, Andre Lotterer, and Marcel Fassler has won the most prestigious endurance race there is, by a mere 13.854 seconds over the #9 Peugeot 908 driven by Simon Pagenaud. Both #2 Audi R18 and #9 Peugeot 908 pitted for their final fueling at the same time with about half an hour to go into the race, from then out it was a drag race to the end. The winning team covered 355 laps during the 24 hours, or 4,838km. In the last 24 hours, the teams driving at Le Mans have driven roughly 400km more than the entire F1 racing season. The Audi R18 used 42% less fuel for racing the 24 Hours of Le Mans than a team uses in the whole F1 season! As of this win, Audi has won more 24 Hours of Le Mans than Ferrari!

Final Results:

2:00 PM Le Mans, France – With an hour to go, the #2 Audi R18 TDI driven by Andre Lotterer is in the lead, but the second place Peugeot 908 HDI is only 22 seconds behind after 23 hours of racing. The race could still go to either manufacturer. The Audi team has gone for more speed overall, with the sacrifice of fuel economy, while the Peugeot teams have targeted 12 laps for each stint sacrificing the overall speed they have historically had. Current Running results are: