Air Temp: 10.2C
Track Temp: 11.2
Humidity: 86%
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| Tom Kristensen sports odd headgear during driver autograph session |
The weather is overcast, cool, breezy and a bit dreary. In other words just like it normally is for a UK bank Holiday weekend.. but it isn’t raining.. yet. The humidity looks quite high. There is a suggestion that we will see rain about midway through the race and then again at the end which always tends to spice things up a bit. Tactics play such a huge part in Endurance Racing, more so of course over 24 hours, even so the odd grid position here and there can often be resolved by the use of various clever strategies during the race. This will be first time Porsche have had to work this out while Audi and Toyota will have stacks of historical data to help them. If previous races are anything to go by the opening drivers clearly don’t grasp the concept that this will be a six hour ‘endurance’ race rather than a sprint and they will set out at a ferocious lick for the first 30 mins or so and then settle down. This makes for great TV.. or are we being cynical? These races are won, as often or not, by the team that spends the least time in the pits which is an intriguing prospect since we don’t know how far these things will go to the gallon or the ‘Joule’!
2 1 LMP1 DI GRASSI, DUVAL, KRISTENSEN Audi R18 e-tron quattro M 1'42.779
3 14 LMP1 DUMAS, JANI, LIEB Porsche 919 Hybrid M 1'43.087
4 2 LMP1 FÄSSLER, LOTTERER, TRÉLUYER Audi R18 e-tron quattro M 1'43.137
5 8 LMP1 DAVIDSON, LAPIERRE, BUEMI Toyota TS 040 - Hybrid M 1'43.189
6 20 LMP1 BERNHARD, WEBBER, HARTLEY Porsche 919 Hybrid M 1'43.226
7 13 LMP1 KRAIHAMER, BELICCHI, LEIMER Lola B12/60 - Toyota M 1'44.285
8 12 LMP1 PROST, HEIDFELD, BECHE Lola B12/60 - Toyota M 1'44.392
9 26 LMP2 RUSINOV, PLA, CANAL Morgan - Nissan D 1'49.156
10 47 LMP2 HOWSON, BRADLEY, MATSUDA Oreca 03 - Nissan D 1'49.439
11 37 LMP2 LADYGIN, SHAITAR, LADYGIN Oreca 03 - Nissan M 1'51.236
12 27 LMP2 ZLOBIN, MINASSIAN, MEDIANI Oreca 03 - Nissan M 1'51.514
13 51 LMGTE Pro BRUNI, Toni VILANDER, Ferrari F458 Italia M 1'59.125
14 91 LMGTE Pro PILET, BERGMEISTER, TANDY Porsche 911 RSR M 1'59.380
15 92 LMGTE Pro HOLZER, MAKOWIECKI, LIETZ Porsche 911 RSR M 1'59.717
16 71 LMGTE Pro RIGON, James CALADO, Ferrari F458 Italia M 1'59.841
17 81 LMGTE Am WYATT, RUGOLO, BIRD Ferrari F458 Italia M 1'59.932
18 97 LMGTE Pro TURNER, MÜCKE, Aston Martin Vantage V8 M 1'59.954
19 52 LMGTE Pro GRIFFIN, PARENTE, Ferrari F458 Italia M 2'00.216
20 98 LMGTE Am DALLA LANA, LAMY, NYGAARD A/M Vantage V8 M 2'00.923
21 61 LMGTE Am PEREZ-COMPANC, CIOCI, VENTURI Ferrari F458 Italia M 2'00.971
22 95 LMGTE Am POULSEN, HEINEMEIR HANSSON, THIIM A/M Vantage V8 M 2'00.982
23 99 LMGTE Pro MACDOWALL, O'YOUNG, REES A/M Vantage V8 M 2'01.122
24 75 LMGTE Am PERRODO, COLLARD, VAXIVIÈRE Porsche 911 GT3 RSR M 2'01.886
25 88 LMGTE Am RIED, BACHLER, AL QUBAISI Porsche 911 RSR M 2'01.917
26 53 LMGTE Am MOWLEM, PATTERSON, COLLINS Ferrari F458 Italia M 2'01.953
27 90 LMGTE Am POTOLICCHIO, RODA, RUBERTI Ferrari F458 Italia M 2'01.982
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| Toyota #8 gets prepared for the starting grid. |
Looking at that lot there are not too many surprises. Certainly Toyota will be pleased with their pole position and maybe Audi are relieved that their current, relatively ‘old tech’ car is still on the pace. Porsche we imagine will be happy with the second row. We obviously don’t know the team tactics but Webber’s come back was sensible and modest and maybe that car is in the ‘long haul’ while the other one is maybe doing the ‘tortoise and hare’ bit by pushing the Audis and Toyotas a wee bit harder than they would like. In the non-hybrid league it is basically Rebellion.v.Rebellion… so maybe a Rebellion will take LMP1 L honours if one of them finishes!
LM P2 is hard to predict. Certainly Pla was a good bit quicker than his team mates and everybody else so our money would be on them for a win.
In the LM GT Pro it looks like a straight fight between the Porsches, now with their ‘quick engines’ and the lone Ferrari. It seems that the Aston Martins are off the pace but it is a long race.
In LM GT Am the #81 AF Corse Ferrari is a quick as most of the ‘Pro’ cars and it is up against the Aston Martin #98 who is three palces behind the Ferrari. Predictions? Audi in LMP1, LMP2 #26 G-Drive, GT Pro one of the Porsches , probably #91. GT Am we reckon the #81 Ferrari has a well balanced set of drivers.
We have been way off the mark in the past and this could be no exception!
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