There are two reasons we'll likely never know what exactly happened. First, it is not in Audi's interest to share any information if it was a catastrophic failure in the car. Since this was a one time event and not repeated three times, a-la the Mercedes-Benz CLK GTRs taking off in 1999, there likely won't be a public inquiry into the matter. Second, the ACO won't release any of their findings as whenever a car clears a retaining wall and catch fencing, the bean counters with their insurance carriers look for ways to raise their premiums even if this is designated a non-spectating area. As we know from the past, there are CCTV cameras in that area which captured the Courage/Porsche of Mario Andretti going off and the more recent incident where one of the Peugeots took off and flew there as well. Let's just hope it doesn't happen again this year as nothing resonates with the bean counters than cars taking off and flying. Dr. Ullrich's words may have to go down as the official record. BHW
you would think amateur footage would have made its way to YouTube by the end of that day. I suspect Barton is correct, we'll probably never see the accident or know what really happened.
We were lucky to have gotten the still images from the Autosport photographer as that area of the track is designated a non-spectator and non-photo area. The best bet to get video of the shunt would be from that CCTV camera and its highly doubtful the ACO will release that. BHW
On Saturday, Scuderia Ferraris Fernando Alonso waved off the field for the start of the race and his presence seems to have brought Ferrari some good luck. The number 51 458 Italia GT2 won the LMGTE Pro category in the Le Mans 24 Hours, so that the Italian national anthem was played again in France. Italys Gimmi Bruni and Giancarlo Fisichella, along with the Finn Toni Vilander, driving for the Amato Ferrari-run AF Corse team, repeated their 2012 achievement, outclassing the opposition despite a few difficult moments. This was Ferraris 24th class win, to go with nine outright victories. Having started from pole in the class, Bruni dominated the early hours, but then, in wet conditions when two downpours hit the Sarthe circuit, the car struggled and had to give best to Chevrolet and Porsche. The Ferrari men didnt lose heart and once the track dried out, began an amazing climb up the order. The Ferrari 458 beat off prestigious names such as Chevrolet, Aston Martin and Porsche, companies that are also rivals in the marketplace. The win owed a lot to the quality of the drivers but also to the exceptional reliability of the cars. The winning car had not the slightest problem. In second place, but almost two laps down, was the number 73 Chevrolet of Garcia-Magnussen-Taylor, with third, almost three laps down going to the Porsche of Holzer-Makowiecki-Lietz. Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo was very pleased. This is a very important victory in an amazing race, he said. This result is extremely satisfying and is a just reward for all the hard work from everyone in the team and my congratulations go to them. We dominated the race with a car that was able to outclass some very strong opponents and everyone at Ferrari can be very proud of that. The Maranello marque and AF Corse also finished on the podium in the LMGTE Am class. In car 61, Italians Marco Cioci and Mirko Venturi and the Argentinian Luis Perez-Companc, finished third, behind the winning 95 Aston Martin of Danes Kristian Poulsen, Nicki Thiim and David Hansson and the 88 Porsche of Ried-Bachler-Al Qubaisi. The overall win went to Audi, with victory going to the number 2 car of Frances Benoit Treluyer, Switzerlands Marcel Fassler and Germanys Andre Lotterer ahead of the number 1 car of Denmarks Tom Kristensen, Brazils Lucas di Grassi and Spaniard and Scuderia Ferrari test driver Marc Gene. GTE-Pro class 1. Bruni/Vilander/Fisichella (I/SF/I), Ferrari 458 Italia, 339 laps 2. Magnussen/Garcia/Taylor (DK/E/USA), Chevrolet Corvette, 338 3. Holzer/Makowiecki/Lietz (D/F/A), Porsche 911 RSR, 337 4. Gavin/Milner/Westbrook (GB/USA/GB), Chevrolet Corvette, 333 5. Bleekemolen/MacNeil (NL/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 319 6. Turner/Mücke/Senna (GB/D/BRA), Aston Martin Vantage, 310 7. Bergmeister/Pilet/Tandy (D/F/GB), Porsche 911 RSR, 309 GTE-Am class 1. Poulsen/Heinemeier-Hansson/Thiim (DK/DK/DK), Aston Martin, 334 laps 2. Ried/Bachler/Al Qubaisi (D/A/UAE), Porsche 911 RSR, 332 3. Perez-Companc/Cioci/Venturi (RA/I/I), Ferrari 458 Italia, 331 4. Montecalvo/Roda/Ruberti (I/I/I), Ferrari 458 Italia, 330 5. Dempsey/Foster/Long (USA/USA/USA), Porsche 911 RSR, 329 6. Dalla Lana/Lamy/Nygaard (CAN/P/DK), Aston Martin Vantage, 329
like this crash? [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdhsxZrfr50]INSANE Peugeot 908 flying crash at Le Mans - YouTube[/ame] doubtful that we'll get this video from the Audi crash last week.
That be it. And, that Peugeot was during the pre-race test at virtually the same spot on the track as Duval's shunt on Wednesday. BHW
it's amazing that the two cars ended up in almost the identical spot. Loic's car was much more heavily damaged because it got the "cheese grater" treatment from the chain link fence, vs. impact with the concrete barriers in the Peugeot.
Among the comments from the various broadcasts at Le Mans Saturday night was about how much darker Le Mans seemed this year, fewer TV lights set up and dark areas around the track. They compared this to another (unnamed) 24 Hour race which they said was "Lit up like a supermarket" to the point where the cars barely need headlights. What could they possibly be referring to? BHW
I gotta say, I was really bummed when they started lighting Daytona (I think they still only use ~50% of the available track lighting). but it's far from dark there, even at 2am.
what years did you race there Jerome? before or after they started using the NASCAR lights? I agree, the back side of Sebring is pitch black at night...the way it should be
When Sebring was in its original 5.2 mile configuration and they ran on the runways, they'd run in pitch black night. Drivers I knew who raced in those days would count the bumps in the runways and they'd then know when to turn. If they'd lose count of the bumps for whatever reason, they could easily get lost out on the airport side and often did. Now, they've got the place lit up like Christmas and from what I understand, the new tenants are adding more lighting in areas such as down the Ullman straight. Not sure if it makes things any better or not but likely all for the TV cameras. BHW
I did the 24 Hour in 2008 and 2009 and the only visibility problem was when they shot the fireworks off at night from the infield lake. The wind blew the smoke across the back straight and it was totally blind driving with ZERO visibility for about two laps until the smoke cleared
The WEC may be missing the boat when it comes to scheduling as the next race is at Austin September 20, over three months between events. I'm no expert but that is a long time. If the WEC is a true World Championship, doesn't that mean they're supposed to compete on every Continent? Why not race at Mount Panorama Bathurst or Phillip's Island in Australia or another European venue like Monza within three or four weeks after Le Mans? BHW
too big of a gap for sure. I think that's part of the reason they're considering the "winter" season (ie 1st race is COTA in September, series goes through the winter and ends at LeMans in June). I don't think that will happen because typically racing budgets are set on a more normal Jan-Dec calendar, but we'll see. IIRC the FIA changed the rules for a "world championship", I think it now includes at least 3 continents, but also must have races in "developing" countries, in their case Bahrain and China.
That's right, I forgot the bit about them considering a winter season. We'll see where that goes as that will definitely screw up Tom Kristensen's off-road endurance bicycle racing schedule. Seems to me all they need to do is fill in some gaps in the season and extend it to 10 or 12 races as this product needs to be in front of the public as much as possible. There was some mention about the WEC racing at Montreal as well. Only three races on the Continent, they could easily do one at Monza or Hockenheimring. Then one in Australia. I play a racing sim and that Bathurst track is crazy, would be perfect for WEC. Oh well, guess we'll pick up the WEC saga again in September. I'm going to make every effort to be out at Austin for sure. BHW
Race promoters need to want the races, before they can happen. Add Brazil to the developing countries list.
Crazy... I saw the 24H Nürburgring live at night and it was crazy. A short periode it rained too, and all we could see from 20-30 meters distance were literally just headlamps and glowing red brake discs. The Le Mans and Nür' night drivers are heroes.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAvN0EzEacU]Leh Keen's Rain Dance - 24 Hours Nürburgring - /DRIVER'S EYE - YouTube[/ame]
I think you're confusing GTE and GT3 specs (easy mistake)....Mercedes, Audi and McLaren have not built GTE spec cars.
No, I know about the classes, but guess I am curious why there aren't GTE equivalents of those cars. I mean, there's a GT3 and a GTE F458, but not the other cars. Maybe a better question is, why aren't there SLS, R8, and MP4-12 GTE cars?