Audi has a message for Porsche....

[Lanval]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3u_14CXSDg

[Bleyseng]

Nice video! I was at the Porsche Museum a couple of years ago, amazing place and it's filled with cool cars.

[airkooledchris]

While the German giants battle it out this year, I have a feeling Toyota is going to run away with the lead from the drop of the green. If they can make it all 24H without a mistake, I think it's their time to get back on the top step of the podium.


The real neck/neck battles are going to be in LMP2 and GTE-AM this year though.

[Amskeptic]

While the German giants battle it out this year, I have a feeling Toyota is going to run away with the lead from the drop of the green. If they can make it all 24H without a mistake, I think it's their time to get back on the top step of the podium.


The real neck/neck battles are going to be in LMP2 and GTE-AM this year though.

Toyota can build engines if they focus. I don't know about their chassis depth or brake engineering except in my ancient '92 lardmobile . . . and it ain't much.

[Xelmon]

Toyota can build engines if they focus. I don't know about their chassis depth or brake engineering except in my ancient '92 lardmobile . . . and it ain't much.

Toyota has shown time and again that they can make ridiculously good sports cars. For the most part market and these cars do not meet due to cost, eg. the Lexus LFA and the LMP1 TS030.

The most recent - and current - mass market sports car they have made is the FRS / BRZ / FT86 collab, depending on if it's a Scion, Subaru, or Toyota (in Japan). Toyota came up with the idea. Using a Subaru flat-4 engine Toyo made the the be-all-end-all 2+2, RWD, 6-speed manual, liftback chassis car. Car reviewers rant and rave how good it is, Jalops and hoons have wet-dreams with these cars.

Of course, that's at the cost of more or less giving up the rear seats as it's roughly the size of a Miata. It's also 26K new, about the price of the much bigger Camry, or for that matter, a fairly cherried out VW. =\

[airkooledchris]

My friends and I managed to make it through the full 24 hours again this year. It was so exciting this year, start to finish, that the hardest part was waking up in time to catch the green flag. (5:45AM local time) - which was only difficult because we were up until 1:45AM the previous night setting up all of the monitors and computers to track everything during the event.

Here is our setup:



And on to what happened, copied from dailysportscar:




After 24 hours of up and down racing, it was Audi who once again finished on the top step of the podium to win Le Mans for a 13th time, in what turned out to be an epic clash with all three factory LMP1 teams in the running for the win. The #2 Audi of Marcel Fässler, Andre Lotterer, and Benoit Treluyer eventually took the win for the German marque, ahead of the sister #2 Audi and the #8 Toyota which was recovering from a shunt in the heavy rain during the opening hours.

It seemed that Toyota were going to control the race, with the #7 TS040 holding the lead from the beginning and being out front for the first half of the race; but, at 5am, and with a lead of just over two minutes, Kazuki Nakajima stopped at Arnage with an electrical issue which could not be resolved in situ.

Audi’s #2 entry inherited the lead because of this, but it’s time out front would be short lived in the early hours of Sunday morning, as the team were forced to change the turbo charger which would cost them over 20 minutes.

The #1 R18 then took over, with the #20 Porsche 919 Hybrid sitting second. Tom Kristensen’s signature night-stint consolidated their lead, but trouble would once again strike the leader with under four hours left, as the Dane stopped going down the Mulsanne Straight with yet another turbo issue for the Audi crew. He nursed it back to the pits, where the team replaced the turbo charger in just 17 minutes and got the car back out – but it ended his hopes for a tenth victory at La Sarthe.

Porsche’s then held the upper hand, but the Stuttgart-based squad couldn’t hold on. Lotterer was on a mission in the #2 Audi and consistently lapping around five seconds quicker than the #20 Porsche of Timo Bernhard and Mark Webber, in what turned out to be an Iron Man performance: five straight stints for the German star.

Just as the #2 got past the leading Porsche 919, it all came crashing down for the #20 crew as Webber slowed out on track with an as-yet unconfirmed issue; the car being retired shortly after the Australian got it back to the pits. This handed second place to the #1 Audi and third to the #8 Toyota. The #2 was then able to cruise to the line and take the historic win.

The other classes were equally entertaining.

Jota Sport took their first win in LMP2, with boss Simon Dolan, Harry Tincknell and Oliver Turvey who was drafted in to replace the Audi-bound Marc Gene.

The #35 G-Drive Ligier led much of the race, but a fractured brake disc and an insurmountable power issue caused the new chassis to lose ground in the closing stages. Hugely impressive efforts behind the wheel from Alex Brundle, Jann Mardenborough and Mark Schulzhitskiy would ultimately result only in fifth place.

The trio tussled with the Thiriet by TDS Ligier and the Signatech Alpine throughout and both of these cars would profit as the G-Drive coupe faded, creating a tight contest in the closing stages. The Thiriet car would eventually finish second, with the Alpine third.

GTE-Pro was won by the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 of Gianmaria Bruni, Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander, which turned out to be the only Pro entry that ran the entire race without any major problems. Corvette came close, as did Aston Martin – Bruni and Bruno Senna putting on an epic show on Sunday morning – but a series of issues prevented both teams from reaching the top spot.

It was not all doom and gloom, however, for Aston Martin Racing, as the #95 all-Danish entered Vantage of David Heinemeier-Hansson, Nicki Thiim and Kristian Poulsen took a dominant victory in the GTE-Am class – a fitting tribute to the late Allan Simonsen, one year on. Proton Competition’s #88 Porsche and the #61 AF Corse Ferrari gave the Danes a run for their money, but the Vantage was too strong.