[LM24] Le Mans 2014

[Mr Pink]

Originally Posted by Richard T

Next year I plan to go to LM for the second time to watch Nissans comeback and a 4-way battle for outright victory. Hope to see some of you there!

RT

I'm planning on making my first trip and I'm already excited!

[TheNo1F1Fan]

Well, I'm not going to be there in next year.

[rwintle]

Congratulations to the winners (and everyone who finished).

Thanks to all of you for the updates and banter.

Sounds like it was a classic. Guess I'll have to wait for the ACO's summary video to be released, since there was no sensible way to watch it here.

[Martin90]

Quick recap on p1 performance bearing in mind not all cars made it to the finish.

Car	#1 Audi	#2 Audi	#3 Audi	#7 Toyota	#8 Toyota	#14 Porsche	#20 Porsche
Laps	376	379	25	219	374	348	346
Fastest lap	3:24.393	3:22.567	3:24.274	3:23.112	3:23.117	3:24.899	3:25.532
Fastest 25 laps (avg)	3:25.669	3:24.656	3:34.638	3:24.965	3:25.087	3:26.330	3:27.561
Fastest 50 laps (avg)	3:26.288	3:24.852	NA	3:25.190	3:25.244	3:26.490	3:27.776
Fastest 100 laps (avg)	3:26.963	3:26.150	NA	3:26.772	3:26.323	3:27.601	3:29.204
Sub 3:30 laps	209	224	17	133	233	167	69
Sub 3:27 laps	42	75	11	53	70	21	6
Sub 3:25 laps	5	14	4	10	9	1	0

[Articus]

Originally Posted by Richard T

This race really had it all with close fights in all classes, especially LMP2 and GTE Pro, I couldn't believe my eyes when I woke up at 4am this morning and the leaders in GT Pro was still neck and neck

RT

Yep GTE was an absolute classic! The speed of those Aston Martins was breathtaking. Bruni vs Senna was mouthwatering.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1z...2014-duel_auto
Mythical endurance racing.

[deggis]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Quite possibly but neither Porsche had stopped on the track, they were in the pits.

I didn't mean that.

[deggis]

Originally Posted by trahsub

Would the ACO have a problem granting 12 slots to the big teams, if theoretically Audi, Porsche, Toyota, and Nissan all wanted to run three cars?

If they did have a problem, one could almost start making theories about bias since the 3rd car has to do with winning chances so much. I think the better question is that when is ACO going to address the elephant in the room called separate GT-Am class?

In 1998-1999 heydays 3-car attempt was pretty much a standard.

[chernaudi]

This race was pretty epic and not the crash-fest I feared based on 2013 and practice this year. I'm reminded of the song "Breath of Life" by Florence and the Machine for some reason thinking about this year's race.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by deggis

I didn't mean that.

What did you mean?

[deggis]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

What did you mean?

That the rule consists of two things, only other one concerned Porsche.

Supplementary regs:

e) The last lap in a time inferior to 6 minutes, except in
case of "force majeure" at Stewards’ discretion. It is forbidden
to stop on the track waiting for the presentation of the
chequered flag.

[Articus]

Is that a new rule. Also it says they can't stop "on track". Nothing about pitting.

[deggis]

Originally Posted by Articus

Is that a new rule. Also it says they can't stop "on track". Nothing about pitting.

Why does that matter if the last lap is >6 mins? In fact it was 1½ hours.

I think they got cought by the start finish line being in wrong place in this case. And maybe they even knew it, but the added TV time was worth it (+psychological benefit): no average viewer will check later whether the car was classified or not.

[Articus]

Originally Posted by deggis

Why does that matter if the last lap is >6 mins? In fact it was 1½ hours.

I think they got cought by the start finish line being in wrong place in this case. And maybe they even knew it, but the added TV time was worth it (+psychological benefit): no average viewer will check later whether the car was classified or not.

and the non-average viewer knows the rule is pointless so? Win-Win

[FxL]

Originally Posted by Martin90

Quick recap on p1 performance bearing in mind not all cars made it to the finish.

Thanks, very informative!

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by deggis

Why does that matter if the last lap is >6 mins? In fact it was 1½ hours.

I think they got cought by the start finish line being in wrong place in this case. And maybe they even knew it, but the added TV time was worth it (+psychological benefit): no average viewer will check later whether the car was classified or not.

It was the start finish line, in relation to their pit box, which seems a weird way of determining things.

[Lagunaseca_4life]

Just went over the results and noticed the jota sport ended up winning lmp2, for some reason I though it was a oak liger that own.I guess something happened while I took a nap and hadn't paid attention.good result for them either way and a great win for jota.

Also the 79 finished fifth in GTE-PRO! That is great a great result for them especially bleekmolem and McNeil pulling 14 and 10 hours! Old school Le Mans drive right there.

[Articus]

just thinking again.

For Audi to win it, After all the drama with the #1 car early in the week. And the cruel way the #3 car went out in the race. They deserved it.

In GTE

For AF Corse, Gimmia Bruni, and Amato Ferari to get the win after all the carnage and crash damage with every other AF Corse Ferrari and James Calado's big off. This makes up everything to him.

In GTE-AM For the 95 Aston Martin to get that win after last year's devastating circumstances.


The victors this year feel so right!

[Articus]

Originally Posted by Lagunaseca_4life

Just went over the results and noticed the jota sport ended up winning lmp2, for some reason I though it was a oak liger that own.I guess something happened while I took a nap and hadn't paid attention.good result for them either way and a great win for jota.

Also the 79 finished fifth in GTE-PRO! That is great a great result for them especially bleekmolem and McNeil pulling 14 and 10 hours! Old school Le Mans drive right there.

Yep.

And on the subject of Jota. Think of what that's going to do to help sell the cause of the closed coupe Zytek LMP2. and Ligier still grabbed headlines despite not winning. Every class winner this year has a story. Every top 5 car in class was a winner. This was a proper endurance week not just race.

[manthey]

congrats to the audi squad

can someone confirm that 4 years ago lmp1 ran Porsche-corner 40 km/h faster than 2014? pole by Peugeot was 3.19

this afternoon Dindo Capello told that Loic duval went off @267km/h, I heard a number like 40km/h lower than in 2010

[sweetchuk]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

It was the start finish line, in relation to their pit box, which seems a weird way of determining things.

The ACO isn't without some unfortunate history at Le Mans in relation to completely befuddled decisions .... in 1966, when Ford swept it 1-2-3 with the GT40 MkII's, they wanted a formation finish with McLaren & Miles tying over the finish line - it was for publicity purposes for Ford, but what better way to rub ole Enzo's face in it from their perspective, eh?

Anyway, the ACO somehow determined that if that happened, McLaren would be declared the winner as he had started about 6 - 8 metres back from Miles on the start grid, and therefore had covered a slightly greater distance in the 24 hours .....

Ford's response of getting ready for more battles with the ACO over this were averted when Ken Miles backed off and let McLaren sail slightly past him over the finish line - Miles wanted no part of a staged finish even though his integrity robbed him of a certain Le Mans win, which is a shame as he would've been the first (and to this day, probably the only) driver to have snagged the triple crown of Daytona, Sebring & LeMans endurance races in the same year.

So yes, the ACO isn't without head-scratching decision making at the finish of Le Mans - I'm sure I could dig out some other examples of their 'unique rationale' at the end of the race, or during it, but too tired now.

Great race, enjoyable, Porsche did a super job and shows much promise to get back to the earlier glory days of the 956/962's and the immortal 917's.

[Martin90]

Overview of P1 driver performance in case some are interested. I was, so may as well share the result :P

Please keep in mind that drivers were in the cars at different stages of the race and different phases of the track/circumstances and that it is extremely hard to judge their performance based on just these figures. Also, drivers with a higher number of total laps benefit from the way I calculated this. Anyway, here's the result:

Audi

Driver	DI GRASSI	GENÉ	KRISTENSEN	LOTTERER	TRÉLUYER	FÄSSLER	BONANOMI	JARVIS	ALBUQUERQUE
NrLaps	160	105	111	150	125	104	25	NA	NA
Fastest	03:24.393	03:24.554	03:25.530	03:22.567	03:25.655	03:24.800	03:24.274	NA	NA
Sub-3:30	98	62	49	93	62	69	17	NA	NA
Sub-3:28	46	34	16	55	23	48	13	NA	NA
Sub-3:26	8	9	2	20	1	16	8	NA	NA
Sub-3:24	0	0	0	6	0	0	0	NA	NA
Average 30	03:26.479	03:26.690	03:27.730	03:25.197	03:27.278	03:26.077	03:34.638	NA	NA
Average 50	03:27.009	03:27.327	03:28.346	03:25.952	03:27.868	03:26.696	NA	NA	NA
Average 75	03:27.589	03:28.332	03:29.906	03:26.726	03:28.669	03:27.671	NA	NA	NA

Toyota

Driver	WURZ	NAKAJIMA	SARRAZIN	DAVIDSON	LAPIERRE	BUEMI
NrLaps	88	43	88	129	112	133
Fastest	03:23.112	03:24.359	03:23.710	03:24.891	03:23.117	03:24.625
Sub-3:30	48	33	52	88	61	84
Sub-3:28	28	24	31	41	26	55
Sub-3:26	5	2	3	1	4	4
Sub 3:24	4	0	1	0	4	0
Average 30	03:26.313	03:26.865	03:26.518	03:26.547	03:26.700	03:25.708
Average 50	03:27.381	NA	03:27.472	03:27.083	03:27.512	03:26.235
Average 75	03:29.887	NA	03:29.797	03:27.669	03:28.387	03:27.022

Porsche

Driver	LIEB	JANI	DUMAS	HARTLEY	WEBBER	BERNHARD
NrLaps	105	146	97	86	114	146
Fastest	03:26.819	03:24.899	03:27.171	03:26.981	03:28.336	03:25.532
Sub-3:30	54	78	35	26	8	35
Sub-3:28	14	39	5	7	0	8
Sub-3:26	0	1	0	0	0	0
Sub 3:24	0	0	0	0	0	0
Average 30	03:27.853	03:26.505	03:28.716	03:28.853	03:30.111	03:28.384
Average 50	03:28.364	03:27.120	03:29.302	03:29.865	03:30.571	03:29.119
Average 75	03:29.213	03:27.778	03:30.584	03:32.191	03:31.315	03:29.902

[hcl123]

Originally Posted by Martin90

Quick recap on p1 performance bearing in mind not all cars made it to the finish.

wow... by those numbers it seems without doubt, the fastest car on track was an Audi... meaning the victory is not only a mere case of fortune (though is needed), and without funny aeros that might be illegal!? ( the same rear wing on Audi than on Toyota and at least 1 sec less perhaps in this long straight circuits!..) 100 Laps at LaSathre is more than a 6 hours race... perhaps this year WEC is not going to be a walk in the park for Toyota like it seemed even until the first 12 hours (more) at LM... it seems Audi in the last 12 hours has found all the speed and reliability it missed so far... absolute genius work on evolution, or there should be a rule against sandbagging ( like forbidding FIA/ACO touching rules for 2 years lol). Great race, congratulations to all participants for the great show... specially Audi, that seems to have more lives than a cat.

[skycafe]

Originally Posted by Lagunaseca_4life

Also the 79 finished fifth in GTE-PRO! That is great a great result for them especially bleekmolem and McNeil pulling 14 and 10 hours! Old school Le Mans drive right there.

Plus it was the older spec car, and built up before the race after they crashed their race chassis. Great performance by the entire team. These are those stories that happen in the race which make it so fascinating, all down the finishing order.

[outnumbered]

Originally Posted by Martin90

Overview of P1 driver performance in case some are interested. I was, so may as well share the result :P

Interesting. Webber looks by far the slowest Porsche driver.

[deggis]

Originally Posted by hcl123

or there should be a rule against sandbagging ( like forbidding FIA/ACO touching rules for 2 years lol).

Did you really not know that there is, for one year?