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.
