We might hope after last year's BOP debacle which allowed Ford to take 25 kilos off of the GTs and added 25 kilos to the Ferraris after the pre-race test that they've learned their lesson(s). The hope would be that since the Ferraris and Aston Martins are the only teams running to the spirit of the rules in GTE, that they'll emerge as winners and AF Corse will come loaded for bear this time and lot have the equipment let downs that ended their race(s) early last year. BHW
Will this lead to a change of BoP for the main race in June? AF Corse Ferraris Dominate GTE-Pro at Spa - Sportscar365 Aston and Porsche were slow
Haha good question! It should not (officially) as ACO and FIA implemented the Auto BoP for WEC 2017 but without the LM Race. LM will be balanced based on datas from last year race, FIA test Ladoux and IMSA races. So ACO wants to avoid sandbagging in the two opening rounds Silverstone and Spa. Auto BoP was set for the two first rounds and performance will not be considered for the LM BoP as ACO says.... as mentioned, officially. Ford dominated in Silverstone, Ferrari at Spa. Lets see in 6 weeks...
I was listening to the commentary on the FIA WEC broadcast and they alluded to ACO review of Ferrari's before Le Mans. If they end up benefiting Ford GTs once again I suspect there would be an uproar from Ferrari itself and certainly the Tifosi. There is still a farcical backdrop to Ford GTs which are NOT truly in production (homologation) per GT rules. I think Porsche have also stepped out of bounds moving the engine towards a mid configuration which is not per current street configuration. ACO- let Ferrari 488s be competitive in GTM LM/Pro. It would positively impact attendance and support for Le Mans. Audi already walked away and nobody really cares about Porsche vs. Toyota; they're not classic rivals and exist in difference motor car spaces.
The manufacturer that invests the most in the ACO has the biggest influence... Let's see what happens with BMW, new big sponsor for ACO This happened in 2002: Dome Judd was "too?" fast during qualifying, beating some Audis Jan Lammers may have set a highly competitive time in the Racing for Holland Dome-Judd, but was disqualified after a fuel sample was analyzed. The cause? It appears that the fuel tank did not get properly cleaned after the previous race, where a slightly different fuel was used. COMPLETE BOLLOX by ACO I know there might have been a few drops in the tanks, but a few drops cause no advantage in 100-120L of ACO fuel.. Why were they so mysterious when fuel samples were taken from Audi at Le Mans 2015, security everywhere, no pics could be taken in the pits at the Audi pit wall. Toyota didn't know what the ACO was doing.
Speak for yourself...I still care. Some of my friends still care. And it has nothing to do with any "rivalry". You felt no emotion about the race last year? :Shrug: It's top of the heap auto racing and it's Le Mans. If it were only some old Beetles racing Le Cars we'd still be anticipating Le 24.
Le Mans has lost it's prestige, and the culprit is the ACO itself. They are a corrupt organiser that runs the WEC. LMP1 is down to 2 manufacturers. INow they have reduced LMP2 to a specs series, and they badly administer the BOP in GTE too.
I hear you. But, what racing series is booming??? This topic is surfacing on numerous boards. They're all going to BoP of one sort or another. IMSA used to have much bigger attendance. NASCAR used to sell out every seat, now the few shots the cameras accidentally get of the stands, they're half empty. Again, look at the stands for Indycar. Is the love of the automobile dying? I think so. Not me per se, but as I mentioned elsewhere, I don't see folks hangin' out around someone working on their car like in the past. Do you? That, to me, is a sure sign. Siiiggghhhh.....
On this first weekend of May, the 6H of SPA-Francorchamps were the opportunity for Vaillante REBELLION to get ready for the much anticipated 24H of Le Mans that will take place on June 17 and 18. The team was able to test the two Oreca 07 and achieve an encouraging performance for the rest of the season. On the Belgian circuit, often considered as the most beautiful in the world, Bruno Senna, Nicolas Prost and Julien Canal (# 31) took the second place on the podium. They were closely followed by Nelson Piquet Junior, David Heinemeier Hansson and Mathias Beche (#13), who finished in fourth position. At 2:30 pm, under a sunny yet cloudy sky, the two Oreca 07 #13 and #31 respectively kicked off in fifth and ninth positions for a six-hour battle. After 45 minutes of racing, a fierce fight for the first spot was already taking place between Nelson Panciatici at the wheel of the #35 Alpine Signatech, and Bruno Senna on the #31. Ten minutes later, the same #35 collided with Oliver Jarvis (DC Racing) and allowed Oreca 07 #31 to take the lead of the race. After a promising start, Bruno Senna then left his place to Julien Canal, who also fought to keep the first place against Alex Lynn (G-Drive Racing). After a pit-stop, the #31 restart in third position with a better lap at 02: 07.046. At the wheel of #13, Nelson Piquet Junior was in seventh place during the first two hours before making a pit-stop and leaving David Heinemeier Hansson in ninth position and a better lap at 02: 06.963. During the race, a first yellow flag was rased to slow down the pace because of the loss of a piece of carbon from the Porsche 911 #86, prohibiting drivers from overtaking each others until the total evacuation of the car. Then, Nicolas Prost, following Julien Canal at the wheel of the #31, received a 10-second penalty for causing a collision with a Porsche GT, making him falling from first to second place A second yellow flag was raised an hour later, after four hours, because of the exit of François Perrodo (TDS Racing), but without any impact for the two Vaillante REBELLION, who were able to keep their fourth and second places all the way until the end of the race, despite a rain shower just a few minutes before the finish. On the one hand, Bruno Senna, at the wheel of the #31, finished the race in the same way he started it and eventually grabbed the second spot behind Alex Lynn from G-Drive Racing. On the other hand, Nelson Piquet Junior, at the wheel of the #13, finished fourth behind Ho-Pin Tung (DC Racing). A very encouraging and promising race before the 24H of Le Mans for the two Oreca 07 and the six drivers, who were able to resist against the problems of this race. Reaction Julien Canal (driver #31) "We really worked in synergy between the two cars during the tests. We had a gearbox problem during the qualifying session, so we took the 8th position. Bruno made two first exceptional relays and left me the car in P1, the tires were a little degraded. I managed to keep the first position during my first relay. My goal was fulfilled by remaining in the dynamic of the leaders. We had twice 10 seconds penalties and more than a minute of pit-stop because of the antenna. All these problems brought us to the second place of the podium in spite of a very powerful race. It's very encouraging for the rest of the season!" Reaction - Nicolas Prost (driver #31) "A very good result, a second place is satisfying but à bit deceptive in spite of the incidents that occured. It is encouraging for Le Mans." Reaction - Mathias Beche (driver #13) "The team gave us a very good car, we had the ability to make a big result. We would have dreamed of making a podium unfortunately we finished just off it. Some small gearbox problems cost us a bit of performance throughout the race, otherwise we had a good balance and it is very encouraging before Le Mans. We have the ability to make a good performance at Le Mans, the competition is extremely tight and we will have to be better. Keep pushing!" Reaction - Bart Hayden (team manager) "All the Vaillante Rebellion team are really happy to get a second Podium of the season. It's fantastic to get P2 and P4, with the two cars, it is well deserved after all the hard work of the team. Spa has been a good circuit for us in the past and it kept that relationship with us today. We had fast cars, we ran at the front and had a great battle. Great job by the drivers and all the team." Reaction - David Heinemeier Hansson (driver #13) "Rebellion once again showed that we have the pace to fight for wins with both cars. Our run was marred by some technical difficulties, but the pace was there. Hopefully at Le Mans we will have all the elements aligned at the same time and be there at the end." Results Oreca07 #13 : Nelson Piquet Junior, Mathias Beche, David Heinemeier Hansson Oreca07 #31 : Nicolas Prost, Bruno Senna, Julien Canal Race P1: G-Drive Racing #26 P2: Vaillante REBELLION #31 P3: Jackie Chan DC Racing #38 P4: Vaillante REBELLION #13 Image Unavailable, Please Login
I am talking about the unhealthy way the ACO is administrating the WEC and Le Mans; I don't care about attendance. Attendance means zilch to me; I am interested in good competition under fair rules. BOP isn't a bad solution to bring very different cars to compete on equal terms, but the ACO has used it to give an unfair advantage to its favourite competitor.
Really so sad that after the darkness in f1 rules and tricks since the 2009 in particular, now for the last years the bop was used so badly, never fairly, Ferrari is too kind to respond properly, but I don't trust anymore nor todt fia nor ACO. They are slave to the biggest manufacturers as in F1 and sincerely it is disappointing at extreme that in lmp1 there are only 2 teams, but at least there is no bop there. Maybe AF Corse should think to go lmp1, but needs a lots of money for that.
Finally there will be not Ferrari 458 at Le Mans. JMW Switches to Ferrari 488 GTE for 24H Le Mans. JMW Switches to Ferrari 488 GTE for 24H Le Mans - Sportscar365
Where have you been? Are you a newbie? I have been saying this for at least 8 years. Racing is N-O-T-H-I-N-G like it used to be, and never will be again. Why? Television. In its' heyday not many races were on TV, so the money wasn't there for the teams. Then television got into it hot and heavy - good for us true fans, but bad for racing because advertisers (on cars) wanted their car in victory lane, so the costs to race went thru the roof. IMO Open wheel racing is dying out (F1) or DOA (IRL), but interestingly I see nascar coming back a little bit, but really, the only series I have not seen drop off is the NHRA. And if you want to discuss the dropoff of motorsports, also take a look at boxing - for all intents and purposes it is dead, and it died about the time Mike Tyson started getting beat. The proof? Who is the heavyweight champion? Few know. I don't. And no, don't go look on the internet and post back. Horse racing has taken a huge dive as well, except for the triple crown. PGA Men's viewership was cut in half when Tiger stopped competing.
(1) Here and there, passionately "fan"ing, participating, and "fan"ing again' racing of all sorts since I can remember....so I'd say, late 50s. Auto racing particularly since early 60s (remember as I recall my father calling me to "come see this"...the Indy 500 and they were all roadsters. (2) Uhhhh...no. (3) Wow; not 'ticularly impressed. (I've been for almost 50....see (6) below) (4) You think? One can always hope, however. (5) I disagree. (6) Even as a kid, when Colin renamed Team Lotus ("my" team)to Gold Leaf Team Lotus and dumped the familiar Br racing green for Gold Leaf colors, I had a feeling the sport was gonna change. Little did I know what the evolution of it would turn out to be. I'm not saying tv has naught to do with it but I don't think it's primary. 'Fer instance, very popular F5000 and Can Am came and went prior to major tv coverage of auto racing (ESPN 1979?) The interest in racing is being lost, as are car guys in general. Again, 'can only wish and hope....'not holdin' my breath tho', that's for sure.
I apologize, thanks for not killing me as most would. But I still think TV killed motorsports. If it was not on TV, sponsors would not pump oodles of money into teams if they are not on TV (exposure). If TV didn't make a difference, then cigarettes would still be on racecars, uniforms, and sporting venues' walls and fences. PS - TV didn't MEAN to kill it, it just did. It was good for us fans, to be able to see more racing, it's just that racing today takes more money than talent, you saw that start to take place in the early 80's. Today, you can't drive unless you have or bring money, it wasn't always like that.
