2010 24 Hours of LeMans.............

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Battle for LMP1 Continues on at LeMans

Post by mlittle » Mon Jun 14, 2010 1:30 pm

Approaching the halfway mark, the 24 Hours of Le Mans shaped up as a classic match of speed versus endurance. The faster Peugeot Sport entries suffered two technical failures in the first ten hours -- one permanent -- while the slower Audi Sport cars continued to lurk behind the two leading Peugeots.

The No. 2 Peugeot Sport Indy and the No. 4 ORECA Peugeot were in a lap by themselves after consistently getting one more lap for each tank of fuel and consistently turning laps one to two seconds quicker than the Audis.

Although there have been problems, the Audis have been a model of consistency if not speed. But luck has not been on their side. Tom Kristensen's spin into the gravel trap dropped the No. 7 three laps down -- but only because a wounded BMW was in his path in the high-speed Porsche Curves.

The No. 9 Audi -- fastest in qualifying among the factory R15's -- was held up when a side-mounted mirror was knocked off when a TV cameraman was hit as the car exited the pits. The cameraman -- yet to be identified -- went to the track's medical center. The No. 9 Audi had to eventually spend additional time in the pits to replace the mirror.

Peugeot had its first misadventure near the ten-hour mark, when the No. 1 908 went off course at the Dunlop Bridge after contact with a GT car. Driver Anthony Davidson continued unimpeded. The car had already lost 14 minutes with an alternator change.

Given that the three Audis followed in third through fifth position, the decision by Peugeot Sport to include a fourth entry from ORECA in its arsenal looked like a a very wise decision given the team's strategy of pushing the pace.

IndyCar veteran Marco Andretti had a tough baptism in his first Le Mans. His Rebellion Racing team suffered problems in practice and qualifying with its Lola-Rebellion chassis. In the race, cooling problems necessitated a long stop to replenish the cooling fluids. With Andretti behind the wheel, the problem with cooling fluids continued and he went off course twice, once damaging the rear wing. The LMP1 class entry shared with Nicholas Prost and Neel Jani languished in 25th position over-all.
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Hour 12 Standings

Post by mlittle » Mon Jun 14, 2010 1:31 pm

1. 2 LMP1 N.Minassian, S.Sarrazin, F.Montagny Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 HDi FAP 182 182 laps 14
2. 4 LMP1 O.Panis, N.Lapierre, L.Duval Team ORECA-Matmut Peugeot 908 HDi FAP 182 +1:27.748 14
3. 9 LMP1 M.Rockenfeller, T.Bernhard, R.Dumas Audi Sport North America Audi R15 TDI 181 -1 lap 14
4. 8 LMP1 A.Lotterer, M.Fassler, B.Treluyer Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R15 TDI 181 +57.453 14
5. 7 LMP1 T.Kristensen, R.Capello, A.McNish Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R15 TDI 180 -2 laps 14
6. 1 LMP1 A.Wurz, M.Gene, A.Davidson Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 HDi FAP 179 -3 laps 14
7. 007 LMP1 H.Primat, S.Mucke, A.Fernandez Aston Martin Racing Lola B09/60 Aston Martin 178 -4 laps 14
8. 009 LMP1 D.Turner, J.Barazi, S.Hancock Aston Martin Racing Lola B09/60 Aston Martin 177 -5 laps 14
9. 15 LMP1 C.Bakkerud, O.Jarvis, C.Albers Team Kolles Audi R10 TDI 174 -8 laps 14
10. 6 LMP1 S.Ayari, D.Andre, A.Meyrick AIM Team ORECA-Matmut Oreca 01-AIM 173 -9 laps 15
11. 008 LMP1 P.Ragues, V.Ickx, F.Mailleux Signature Plus Lola B09/60 Aston Martin 172 -10 laps 14
12. 42 LMP2 N.Leventis, D.Watts, J.Kane Strakka Racing HPD ARX.01 170 -12 laps 12
13. 26 LMP2 D.Brabham, M.Franchitti, M.Werner Highcroft Racing HPD ARX.01 167 -15 laps 13
14. 14 LMP1 C.Bouchut, S.Tucker, M.Rodrigues Team Kolles Audi R10 TDI 165 -17 laps 14
15. 35 LMP2 M.Lahaye, G.Moreau, J.Charouz OAK Racing Pescarolo 01 Judd 165 +59.963 13
16. 40 LMP2 M.Amaral, O.Pla, W.Hughes Quifel-ASM Team Ginetta Zytek 09S 165 +1:39.568 13
17. 25 LMP2 M.Newton, T.Erdos, A.Wallace RML Lola B08/80 HPD 163 -19 laps 13
18. 64 LMGT2 O.Gavin, O.Beretta, E.Collard Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 157 -25 laps 11
19. 41 LMP2 K.Ojjeh, T.Greaves, G.Chandalon Team Bruichladdich Ginetta Zytek 09S 156 -26 laps 15
20. 63 LMGT2 J.Magnussen, J.O'Connell, A.Garcia Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 156 +2:50.375 11
21. 77 LMGT2 M.Lieb, R.Lietz, W.Hentzler Team Felbermayr Proton Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 156 +3:28.504 10
22. 12 LMP1 N.Prost, N.Jani, M.Andretti Rebellion Racing Lola B10/60 Rebellion 155 -27 laps 15
23. 76 LMGT2 R.Narac, P.Pilet, P.Long IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 155 +17.534 10
24. 89 LMGT2 D.Farnbacher, A.Simonsen, L.Keen Hankook Team Farnbacher Ferrari F430 GT 154 -28 laps 10
25. 95 LMGT2 G.Fisichella, J.Alesi, T.Vilander AF Corse Ferrari F430 GT 154 +11.215 10
26. 78 LMGT2 J.Muller, A.Farfus, U.Alzen BMW Team Schnitzer BMW M3 GT2 154 +3:02.749 11
27. 50 LMGT1 R.Berville, J.Canal, G.Gardel Larbre Competition Saleen S7R 154 +3:14.807 12
28. 97 LMGT2 M.Holzer, R.Westbrook, T.Scheider BMS Scuderia Italia Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 153 -29 laps 12
29. 73 LMGT1 J.Jousse, X.Maassen, P.Goueslard Luc Alphand Aventures Chevrolet Corvette C6.R 152 -30 laps 10
30. 39 LMP2 J.de Pourtales, H.Noda, J.Kennard KSM Lola B08/47 Judd 151 -31 laps 11
31. 24 LMP2 J.Nicolet, R.Hein, J-F.Yvon OAK Racing Pescarolo 01 Judd 151 +39.898 11
32. 37 LMP2 P.Salini, S.Salini, T.Gommendy WR / Salini WR Zytek 150 -32 laps 14
33. 11 LMP1 P.Drayson, J.Cocker, E.Pirro Drayson Racing Lola B10/60 Aston Martin 148 -34 laps 15
34. 75 LMGT2 P.Van Splunteren, N.Hommerson, L.Machiels Prospeed Competition Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 148 +2:46.683 11
35. 88 LMGT2 H.Felbermayr Sr, H.Felbermayr Jr, M.Konopka Team Felbermayr Proton Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 146 -36 laps 11
36. 60 LMGT1 T.Mutsch, R.Grosjean, J.Hirschi Matech Competition Ford GT Matech 144 -38 laps 11
37. 28 LMP2 M.Rostan, R.Meichtry, P.Bruneau Race Performance AG Radical SR9 Judd 142 -40 laps 12
38. 72 LMGT1 S.Gregoire, J.Policand, D.Hart Luc Alphand Aventures Chevrolet Corvette C6.R 142 +2:15.376 12
39. 83 LMGT2 T.Krohn, N.Jonsson, E.van de Poele Risi Competizione Ferrari F430 GT 142 +2:25.517 10
40. 52 LMGT1 C.Nygaard, T.Enge, P.Kox Young Driver AMR Aston Martin DBR9 142 +2:34.008 10
41. 85 LMGT2 T.Coronel, P.Dumbreck, J.Bleekemoelen Spyker Squadron Spyker C8 Laviolette 132 -50 laps 11
42. 69 LMGT1 A.Yogo, K.Yamanishi, H.Iiri JLOC Lamborghini Murcielago 115 -67 laps 11

DNF 3 LMP1 S.Bourdais, P.Lamy, S.Pagenaud Peugeot Sport Total Peugeot 908 HDi FAP
DNF 5 LMP1 N.Mansell, G.Mansell, L.Mansell Beechdean Mansell Ginetta Zytek
DNF 13 LMP1 A.Belicchi, J-C.Boullion, G.Smith Rebellion Racing Lola B10/60 Rebellion
DNF 19 LMP1 M.Lewis, B.Willman, T.Burgess Autocon Motorsports Lola B06/10 AER
DNF 29 LMP2 L.Pirri, M.Cioci, P.Perazzini Racing Box Lola B09/80 Judd
DNF 38 LMP2 J.Schell, F.Da Rocha, D.Zollinger Pegasus Racing Norma Judd
DNF 61 LMGT1 N.Gachnang, R.Frey, C.Allemann Matech Competition Ford GT Matech
DNF 70 LMGT1 E.de Doncker, B.Leinders, M.Palttala Marc VDS Racing Ford GT Matech
DNF 79 LMGT2 A.Priaulx, D.Muller, D.Werner BMW Team Schnitzer BMW M3 GT2
DNF 80 LMGT2 S.Neiman, D.Law, J.Bergmeister Flying Lizard Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
DNF 81 LMGT2 P.Gentilozzi, R.Dalziel, M.Goossens Jaguar RSR Jaguar XKRS
DNF 82 LMGT2 J.Melo, G.Bruni, P.Kaffer Risi Competizione Ferrari F430 GT
DNF 92 LMGT2 R.Bell, T.Sugden, B.Miller JMW Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage
DNF 96 LMGT2 L.Perez Companc, M.Russo, M.Salo AF Corse Ferrari F430 GT
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Audi On the Move at LeMans

Post by mlittle » Mon Jun 14, 2010 1:32 pm

Image

-----With half of the 24 hours of Le Mans completed, Audi continues its climb to the top. While the Peugeots have been the faster cars all week long, the reliability of the Audis seem to be of a higher value.

After the No. 3 Peugeot retired very early in the race with a suspension failure and the No. 1 Peugeot lost a lot of time while changing the alternator, just before the halfway mark the No. 4 Peugeot 908 also had to be pushed into the Team Oreca pitbox for extensive repairs. The right rear suspension had to be replaced, which caused the car to lose 13 minutes on the leading No. 2 Peugeot.

The problems with the No. 4 was good news for the Audi team. While the R15 Plus is missing the outright speed to threaten Peugeot, the car has proved in the first half of the race to be very reliable. None of the three R15's have encountered any major technical difficulties, and are slowly climbing to the podium, while the Peugeots drop away, one by one.

Just before the No. 4 Peugeot would enter the pit for repairs, Team Oreca also had to do vast repairs to its second car, the No. 6 Oreca 01. Remarkably also this car also had a failure on the right rear of the car -- in this case the right rear axle had to be replaced, which dropped the car out of the top 10.

In LMP2 the gap between the Strakka and Highcroft cars grew with one lap when Marino Franchitti got a puncture in the first sector of the track. Highcroft lost a couple of minutes due to this puncture, but the gap with the in third place running no. 35 OAK Racing car was large enough to stay in second place.

The GT1-leading No. 60 Ford GT and No. 72 Corvette both suffered technical difficulties, which gave the lead surprisingly to the No. 50 Labre Competition Saleen. Corvette still leads the GT2 class with their No. 64 and 63 cars, while Team Felbermayr-Proton was on the final podium position at the halfway mark.
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Peugeot Leads As Dawn Breaks Over La Sarthe

Post by mlittle » Mon Jun 14, 2010 1:33 pm

When the first sunlight of the new day hits the la Sarthe circuit in Le Mans, France Peugeot still had a comfortable lead after 14 of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The No. 2 Peugeot has stretched its advantage on the No. 9 and 8 Audis, who are fighting for the second position in the race, to 1,5 lap. With Nicolas Minassian in the car, the No. 2 Peugeot has been able to set very quick lap times, while the car has been working without any problems.

Behind the leader two interesting fights have developed after the half-way mark. The No. 9 and 8 Audis have already for hours have been challenging for the second position, with the gap staying at only a couple of seconds. Also, the No. 1 Peugeot and the No. 7 Audi, who both earlier in the race had lost 12 minutes for repairs, found each other on the track fighting for fourth spot. The Peugeot was clearly the faster car and it wouldn't take long before the French car builder had won the battle.

Right after the half-way mark, the field was reduced again by 3 cars. Neel Jani had to park his Rebellion Racing car with gearbox problems, which brought also an end to the race of fan favorite Marco Andretti. Another P1 retirement was the No. 14 car Christijan Albers, Manuel Rogrigues and Scott Tucker, after Rodrigues went off course at the exit of the Porsche curves and damaged the Audi R10 beyond repairs.

The engine in the No. 60 Ford GT, which led the race in GT1 during the first five hours, failed after almost 13 hours of racing, which brought also an early end to the race of Thomas Mutsch, Romain Grosjean and Jonathan Hirschi. Also in LM P1, GT 1 and GT2 there wouldn't be any big changes in the ranking, with as result that the No. 42 HPD, the No. 50 Saleen and the No. 64 Corvette were still in the lead.
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Peugeot Falters, Audi Takes To the Front

Post by mlittle » Mon Jun 14, 2010 1:35 pm

Image

----In a surprising turn of events, Audi has taken the overall lead in the 78th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans after the No. 2 Peugeot had to retire at 7am (just past the end of the 16th hour). While Franck Montagny had a comfortable lead with the No. 2 Peugeot, all of a sudden flames came out of the exhausts, indicating that the engine was at the end of its lifetime.

A deeply disappointed Montagny, whose dream just went up in smoke, had to park his car on the exit of Tertre Rouge, while trying to find a way to get the car back to the pit. However, the only possible way was not via the race track, but on the back of a truck.

"I don't know what happened with the engine," Montagny commented. "It goes always right, but exactly today it goes wrong. I don't know what to say ..."

For Peugeot, the No. 2 car was the best hope left to repeat last year's victory, after technical trouble had already struck all three other Peugeots, causing them to lose a lot of positions or retire. The only remaining Team Peugeot Total car is now the No. 1 car, which is two laps down on the leading Audi, but there is still a long way to go to the finish.

"I don't think we can do it," Peugeot Sport director Olivier Quesnel said. "If course we are going to push as hard as we can with the No. 1 car, but I don't think it will work."

All the technical problems at Peugeot have helped Audi to a position that goes even beyond Audi's own dreams before the race. The German car maker is now leading the race 1-2, with the No. 9 car in front of the No. 8 car. The only remaining Team Peugeot Total car is currently in third position, trying to close the gap with the Audis, while the No. 7 Audi is running in fourth place.

At the same moment as the problems that ended the race for the No. 2 Peugeot, also the GT2 ranking was turned upside down. The second-placed No. 64 Corvette, driven by Antonio Garcia, had to be parked on the Mulsanne straight, with smoke coming from under the hood. The Corvette's retirement allowed the Felbermayr move up to second place in the GT2 class, while the AF Corse Ferrari jumped onto the provisional podium with a third position.

Strakka Racing is still leading the P2 class, while the only remaining Corvette Racing car (No. 64) is still on top of the GT2 leader board.
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Davidson's Actions Raise Hackles

Post by mlittle » Mon Jun 14, 2010 1:36 pm

The 78th edition of the Le Mans 24 Hour continued to be a contest of speed versus consistency and endurance, but the roles were reversed as the race entered its final six hours.

Instead of leading and pushing the pace, Peugeot Sport's final remaining hope versus the three-car Audi armada was a matter of catching the leaders. After an alternator problem set back the No. 2 Peugeot 14 minutes early in the evening, by the 18th hour drivers Alexander Wurz, Marc Gene and Anthony Davidson had brought the car back to within one lap of the leading Audi R15 driven by Romain Dumas.

If Davidson and his co-drivers are able to continue to maintain a pace of two seconds a lap faster than the leading Audi -- which would be consistent with the Peugeot speed from the start of the race -- just enough laps remained in the final six hours to get back to the front.

But speed has its price -- as the Peugeot Sport team has discovered in this race already with two retirements and a broken suspension that took the Oreca team's Peugeot out of the front running. In the case of Davidson, he was warned by race officials after going off course during an overtaking maneuver on the Mulsanne straight.

The No. 64 Corvette driven by Emmanuel Collard also paid a price for Formula 1 veteran Davidson's aggression. As the Peugeot dived past the GT2 class leader in the Porsche Curves, the prototype either nudged the Corvette or influenced driver Collard out of the groove enough to send the C6.R spinning backwards into the barrier.

Although the resulting heavy damage did not prevent the Frenchman from trundling back to the nearby pits, a victory in GT2 became doubtful due to the time required for repairs and the likelihood of reduced lap times -- even with a safety car period required to fix the barriers.

The Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, which had been pressing the pace despite being lap down to the Corvette, became the new GT2 class leader. The hustle of the factory driving trio of Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz and Wolf Henzler finally began paying off.

The AF Corse SRL Ferrari moved into second place, two laps behind the leaders with Jean Alesi on board headed into the final six hours. The Hankook Team Farnbacher Ferrari 430 GTC appeared in the top three for the first time after a consistent run by Dominik Farnbacher, Allan Simonsen and Leh Keen.

Having lost time with its third tire puncture of the race, the Highcroft Racing team continued to give chase in the LMP2 category versus the fellow HPD ARX-01c entry of Strakka Racing. Two entries were struggling to maintain momentum in LMP2. The Quifel-ASM Team's Ginetta-Zytken 09S had to repair a left front axle and the KSM Lola-Judd found the gravel trap in the hands of Jean de Pourtales.

In GT1, the "old reliable" Saleen S7R of Labre Competition continued to soldier on in the lead. But it was two laps behind the leading GT2 entry of Felbermayr-Proton and half a lap behind the second-placed GT2 Ferrari of AF Corse.
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Closing Hours Update

Post by mlittle » Mon Jun 14, 2010 1:37 pm

Image


----In a 24 Hours of Le Mans with clear weather and aggressive pacing, the 20th hour included numerous spins, breakdowns and new developments as the final hours approached. The leading No. 9 Audi R15 was able to maintain the gap to the chasing No. 1 Peugeot 908 by virtue of a more favorable pit schedule. Despite occasionally gaining three seconds a lap in the hands of Alexander Wurz, the unscheduled pit stop to repair an alternator in the eighth hour has come back to haunt the No. 1 Peugeot squad.

The 14 minutes lost and the extra stop -- despite Peugeot generally getting 13 laps per tank of fuel to 12 by the Audi -- has left the leading Audi with one less stop for the race. In the final four hours, the No. 1 Peugeot can get to second place and possibly get back into the lead lap, but cannot catch the leading No. 9 Audi R15 shared by Romain Dumas, Timo Bernhard and Mike Rockenfeller unless it experiences a problem. There's an insurance policy for the German team as well.

Audi has the No. 8 R15 in second place -- one minute, 16 seconds behind the leading Audi with Andre Lotterer at the wheel. But that was just before Lotterer missed his braking at Arnage and damaged the nose, allowing Wurz to close in.

The No. 9 Audi lost time in the pits to repair a sideview mirror that was damaged when a camera man working for Speed TV was hit on the pit road at the end of the fourth hour. But Audi elected to make the repair on a regularly scheduled stop and held to its pit schedule.

In other signs of the race's pace and pressure, the 007 Aston Martin had to go into its garage for an unspecified engine problem that dropped it out of the top ten. The sister Lola-Aston Martin of Signature Plus had an off-track excursion at Indianapolis, which damaged bodywork and dropped the car from eighth to tenth before Vanina Ickx took the wheel. Also, the 009 Aston Martin looped at Arnage before continuing.

This development helped put Strakka Racing up to second place in the "fuel category" for LMP1's that are not powered by diesel. After a race-long battle in LMP2, the Highcroft Racing HPD began suffering from cooling problems, which necessitated long stops to replace fluids. By the 20th hour, it had fallen to fourth in class behind the HPD RX-01c of Strakka Racing despite maintaining a similar pace while on the track in the hands of Marino Franchitti.

In an always-busy GT2 class, after an heroic recovery from the crash of Emmanuel Collard occasioned by the No. 1 Peugeot in the Porsche Curves, the No. 64 Corvette blew its engine and was withdrawn. Prior to that, the team made extensive repairs in 32 minutes to get the C6.R back on track, where it ran highly competitive lap times.

"It backed into the barrier really hard and took the inner frame bumper off, the rear tail, wing, and quarter panels," said team manager Gary Pratt. "The clutch was damaged so we had to install a clutch and bellhousing. We changed the front nose box, and the exhaust was pushed under the rocker panel. Fortunately it didn't tear off the suspension and all four wheels were pointing straight."

Collard explained what happened in the incident that took his car out of the class lead. "I turned to the second left in the Porsche corner and the Peugeot was on the inside," Collard said. "I didn't know he was there, I was focused on my driving. There was no contact, but he was there on the inside and I missed the right line. The car lost grip, and I crashed."

Giancarlo Fisichella was another crash victim, although he went off on an escape road with enough speed to damage the front end of his AF Corse Ferrari enough to drop it from second to fourth in the GT2 class. That left the Felbermayr-Proton Porsche GT3 RSR with a comfortable two-lap lead over the steady Hankook Team Farnbacher Ferrari GTC, which in turn had four laps in hand over the BMS Scuderia Italia Porsche.

It appeared that was not enough time remaining for a comeback bid of the Young Driver AMR Aston Martin in the GT1 classs. With the ever-fast Tomas Enge behind the wheel, the DBR9 was five laps behind the Labre Competition Saleen S7R. Both cars were trailing the GT2 leaders by a considerable margin.
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Peugeot Continues To Falter Late at LeMans

Post by mlittle » Mon Jun 14, 2010 1:38 pm

Image

-----By involuntarily giving Peugeot a shot for the second position, Audi has pushed the final Team Peugeot Total car over the edge. While driving on the limit to carry in the No. 8 Audi, Alexander Wurz asked too much of his car and blew his engine. Forty minutes before the engine failure, Andre Lotterer lost touch with the leading No. 9 Audi when he locked his tires in the Indianapolis corner and went straight into the tire wall. After having visited the pit for a new nose, tires and fuel, the German came only four seconds in front of the No. 1 Peugeot of Wurz back on track.

Very quickly an exciting fight developed, with both cars extremely close to each other. It took Wurz a lap and a half before the former Formula 1 driver was able to pass the Audi driver, after which the Peugeot immediately returned to the pit for fuel and tires.

After his pitstop, Wurz only had one goal -- to close the gap with the No. 8 Audi as fast as possible. With quick lap times, the Peugeot came soon closer to the Audi, until all of a sudden a puff of smoke came out of the right rear of the Peugeot. Soon the car would lose a lot of speed. Wurz barely made it to the pit, where all the emotional Peugeot team could do wah push the oil-leaking car back into the pitbox.

"This can be a very cruel race," Team Peugeot Total boss Hugues de Chaunac said. "You always have to wait until the end. Of course nobody imagined when we were leading the race last night with two cars, the next day we would have nothing. The Peugeot team has worked very hard and we should try to be stronger next year. I'd like to say to Loïc Duval -- Please do everything you can to get at least one Peugeot on the podium!"

In the final part of the race also one Audi could be parked behind the wall, though it wasn't one of the Audi works teams, but the Kolles customer Audi team. Half an hour after Christian Bakkerud had spun his car into the Indianapolis corner gravel trap, Oliver Jarvis had to park the No. 15 with a broken gearbox.

While the Highcroft team expected earlier to be able to complete the race, even though the car was suffering cooling problems, the team hasn't been seen on track. Highcroft drove most of the race in LM P2 class' second position.

"I'm really disappointed to end the day like this," Marino Franchitti said. "We'll probably go out before the end, but we won't be able to do a lot of laps. This was our first Le Mans for Highcroft and we've done a great job, this has been a great education for the team. The biggest disappointment is just that we're taken out by something we can't control."

After a near to flawless race, Strakka Racing is still leading the P2 class, while the No. 50 Labre Competition Salaan has a huge lead in GT 1. The fight for the GT2 also seems to be over with the Felbermayr Porsche having a 3-lap gap with the second running Hankook Team Farnbacher Ferrari.
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Audi 1-2-3 At LeMans

Post by mlittle » Mon Jun 14, 2010 1:42 pm

Image

-----Twenty-four hours ago, if you had bet Audi would have walked away with the sweep of the podium, you would have not only gone against popular belief, but also gone against the odds. Team Peugeot Total came in as race favorites. The four French Lions paced practice, qualified 1-2-3-4, yet not a single 908 HDi-FAP managed to finish the 78th Le Mans 24 Hours. One by one, the Peugeots fell by the wayside. First it was the pole-sitting No. 3 machine of Pedro Lamy, which retired with suspension failure in the second hour. Then came a fiery exit for Franck Montagny at dawn, which handed the lead to the No. 9 Audi R15 plus.

Two more engine failures, both for defending winner Alexander Wurz with two hours to go and another blow-up for the semi-works Team ORECA machine of Loic Duval, put the final nail in the coffin for the French manufacturer.

Audi picked up the pieces with its trio of updated R15 plus machines in the luckiest of circumstances to take the surprise victory in the world’s toughest endurance race.

Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller scored Audi’s third-ever 1-2-3 finish at Le Mans, setting a new distance record of 3,362.19 miles along the way in the relatively trouble-free run for the German factory squad.

"To come here and drive for a factory team like Audi with such a long history of victories - now nine in the last 11 years - is something special to be here as a driver," Bernhard said. "I felt very strong team spirit from the beginning of the weekend. We shared every bit of information and improved the car. It was a combined team effort and we put it all together. All three cars ran perfectly."

The win also marks Rockenfeller's second major endurance victory of 2010, having won the Rolex 24 in January. "I've been on the podium once when I won the GT class, but my dream was always to be here and drive for the overall victory," Rockenfeller said. "When I came to Audi, everyone knows the first year was the worst race of my life. It was a bad start, but the team gave me the trust to come back. I think we can all be proud, all nine drivers. We all didn't believe that we could have all been on the podium in the end. It's a great team effort."

The No. 8 entry of Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer finished one lap behind in second. Surprisingly, Audi's strongest entry, the No. 7 machine of Allan McNish, Dindo Capello and Tom Kristensen came home third after an early-race incident with the No. 79 BMW Art Car of Andy Priaulx that put the Audi in the gravel trap at the Porsche Curves. It was the highest-placed Audi at the time.

Audi crushed its competition, finishing a whopping 28 laps ahead of the fourth-placed Team ORECA Matmut Oreca 01 AIM of Andy Meyrick, Didier Andre and Soheil Ayari, the best of the gasoline-powered prototypes. The Hughues de Chaunac-led squad overcame a late-race starter motor issue to be one of only five finishers in LMP1, as many prototypes were in self-destruct mode in the closing hours.

In addition to the Peugeots, Sam Hancock's No. 009 Lola-Aston Martin blew up with less than an hour to go, while the sister No. 007 AMR entry limped home in sixth overall, behind the LMP2 class-winner. It had appeared to be a class nobody wanted to finish, unless you driving a factory Audi.

After topping the time sheets all week, Strakka Racing turned its pole position into the LMP2 class victory in a dominant performance. Danny Watts, Jonny Kane and Nick Leventis drove their Honda Performance Development ARX-01c to a six-lap win over the second-placed No. 35 OAK Racing Pescarolo Judd in a race that saw 10 of the 12 starters finish.

In years past, the second-tier prototype category was a last-man standing affair, but that wasn’t the case this time around. For Strakka, which scored HPD’s debut Le Mans victory, their ex-Fernandez Racing machine ran trouble-free for 24 hours, also taking top honors in the Michelin Green X Challenge.

"[Highcroft] pushed us to the three-quarter distance and we had to be on our toes all the time," Watts said. "The strategy was perfect. We were able to triple-stint and they weren't, so that gave us a little bit of time. Above all, stay out of trouble. They had a very good driver lineup. We had to stay sharp and consistent and not make any mistakes, and that's exactly what we did."

Two HPD-engined cars finished on the podium, as the No. 25 RML Lola B08/80 HPD of Tommy Erdos, Mike Newton and Andy Wallace came home third, a further three laps behind the winning Strakka machine. American favorites Highcroft Racing started off strong, running solidly in second through the night, despite two debris-inflicted tire punctures. Marco Werner took the Malaria No More-backed HPD ARX-01c into the lead at the six-hour mark, but water pressure problems parked Werner and co-drivers David Brabham and Marino Franchitti for the majority of the final five hours. The car, however, did venture back out to take the checkered flag.

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Nearly ten years after its debut, the Saleen S7-R went out with a bang, taking the class win in GT1. In the category’s final hurrah at Le Mans, the Larbre Competition machine of Gabriel Gardel, Roland Berville and Julien Canal scored top honors, finishing 13th overall.

The French endurance specialists took the lead following an overnight accident by the No. 60 Matech Competition Ford GT, which had dominated the race up to that point. Matech’s sister machine suffered a fiery exit in the hands of Natacha Gachnang, while the other favorite, the Marc VDS Ford, crashed out in the second hour.

It left the Saleen, which had traditionally been plagued with reliability issues, to take its first Le Mans class victory, in what's the car’s swansong year with the elimination of the category at the end of the year.

"This is a job that started a long time ago," Gardel explained. "About five or six months ago, Jack Leconte decided to put us together. The team did a really good job because they didn't stop working on the car for the past three months. They've been trying to pay attention to every small detail on the car, and this is the thing that probably made the difference for us. We never had a real problem on the car. We kept going. I believe that the direction from Jack and everyone did a good job to land this victory altogether." The No. 72 Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette came home second, with the pole-sitting No. 52 Young Driver AMR Aston Martin rounding out the podium, and the only finishers out of the seven starters.

Like GT1, the the battle for GT2 honors came down to a race of attrition. The No. 77 Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz and Wolf Henzler scored top honors as they watched their rivals fall by the wayside. The German factory-supported squad took over the lead with six and a half hours remaining when the No. 64 Corvette Racing C6.R, which had led much of the night, retired with an apparent engine failure in the 18th hour.

The Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Emmanuel Collard-driven Corvette enjoyed an intense early-race battle with the No. 82 Risi Competizione Ferrari, in pursuit of its third consecutive Le Mans class victory. However, the Houston-based squad dropped out with gear selection issues in the seventh hour, bringing an end to the its six-race win streak in the endurance classics.

Prior to its suspected engine failure, the Corvette had lost over 40 minutes undergoing repairs from an accident allegedly caused by the No. 1 Peugeot of Anthony Davidson, who made an aggressive pass in the Porsche Curves. The heavy impact, which tore up the car’s rear-end, dropped the No. 64 car to fifth and out of contention for the class win. It gave clear sailing for Felbermayr-Proton to pick up the victory in what was a trouble-free race for the defending Le Mans Series champions.

"After two hours, we thought it would be very tough to beat the Ferrari and Corvettes today," Henzler said. "We couldn't go the speed, but we pushed from the beginning and treated it like a sprint race. The only thing we could have done was run our own race and stay out of trouble. Finally we had a car which was very reliable with absolutely no problems. We saw what happened to the other cars, and that's how we won the race."

Hankook Team Farnbacher benefited from a series of retirements and consistent stints put in by Dominik Farnbacher, Allan Simonsen and Leh Keen to finish second, two laps behind the No. 77 machine. GRAND-AM regular Keen was the only American driver to score a podium finish in any class.

It marked the second consecutive runner-up finish for the German Ferrari squad in 24-hour classics, after finishing second overall in last month’s Nurburgring 24 Hours. The No. 97 BMS Scuderia Italia Porsche of Timo Scheider, Richard Westbrook and Marco Holzer completed the podium in third, a further nine laps behind. The Italian squad nursed the car home on five cylinders, without a clutch and with damaged suspension to score their third consecutive podium finish at Le Mans.
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