[LM24 Race] 2018 Le Mans 24 Hours Race Thread

[joeb]

It is finally race week for the 86th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. I feel like there are still a lot of questions at the sharp end of the field that won't have answers until Sunday afternoon. Will Toyota finally get their victory? Will any of the other privateers be able to keep up with Toyota on pace, and if so, will they have the reliability? Rebellion looked pretty good at the Test Day, but will that pace translate to the race? Last year we nearly saw an LMP2 overall victory. If the P1 cars have issues we can expect at least a couple of LMP2's to have trouble free runs and be in the top 5, if not higher.

LMP2 features 20 cars, 3 Dallaras, 8 Ligiers, and 9 Orecas. The Orecas have had the pace thus far, but there are some good driver lineups (and teams) in the Ligiers that could still be in the hunt Sunday morning.

The GT Pro class will be tightly contested between Porsche (4 cars), Ferrari (3 cars), Corvette (2 cars), Aston Martin (2 cars), Ford (4 cars), BMW joining the party with a pair of factory cars. Hopefully the BOP is about right and we get the show we have grown accustomed to in this class. In the AM class we get a mix of Porsche and Ferrari machines with a couple Astons to boot. The AM class is always good for a longshot podium result, so hopefully this year is the same.

I hope everyone has a great Le Mans week, the on track action is sure not to disappoint!


Schedule

Entry List

Circuit Maps

Radio Le Mans

Spotter Guide

Fantasy Racing Challenge

Annual Le Mans Prediction Thread

I'm not including a weather link because it will be perfect!

Other Links (such as t&s will be forthcoming)

The Racing Line T&S

FIA T&S

[JHamilton]

Forza Corvette. Bowties baby.

[fieldodreams79]

Hope to catch some of everything. Work in the field during all quali sessions and the wife's fam is coming for the whole weekend. *sigh*

And yeah, Bowties.

[Aysedasi]

Big thanks from me for this Joe.

[Deleted]

In the scrutineering just now, the French-English translator doing American accent from the request of United Autosport guys was pretty funny gotta admit

The timetable's running rather late but that's typical here

[JoeW04]

I think we'll get a different kind of race at the front compared to the last 10 years or so, however Rebellion may go for it right from the start and put the pressure on Toyota. What would really throw the cat amongst the pigeons is if Toyota have an issue that costs it 10 mins or so then we'll see how fast they can really go

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by JoeW04

I think we'll get a different kind of race at the front compared to the last 10 years or so, however Rebellion may go for it right from the start and put the pressure on Toyota. What would really throw the cat amongst the pigeons is if Toyota have an issue that costs it 10 mins or so then we'll see how fast they can really go

I don't think mere 10 min delay is going to cost them a place over 24 hours. Paul Truswell may say that but I think Gemma Hatton's prediction of IIRC 4 lap advantage is much more realistic than roughly 2 laps. Even 4 laps is probably too little, especially looking at Spa where Toyotas kept screwing up and the other car even came from the back of the grid, yet still dominated the rest.

Anyway I think they'll blow it again on both cars anyway so the pace or pit cycles don't really matter. If they had run the third car again as they should've I'd said differently but here the chances are more against them than not

[Deleted]

On the RLM preview for LMP1, as well as on twitter, Hindy seemed extremely bitter about Alonso and headlines made of him. Especially when it came to him not talking to their pitlane reporter at the end of test day, in the name of Formula 1 arrogance or something. I mean yes some of it was tongue in cheek and he did made some admissions but for those listening to the station during the week just heads up that ranting is likely to feature heavily...

edit. Dragonspeed's Hedman looks like he'd rather be anywhere else than on that stage lol

[Japanese Samurai]

For tear-off-film fans
Choices of tear-off-film by LMP teams. @Kota Sera blog
http://serakota.blog.so-net.ne.jp/2018-06-11

[JoeW04]

Originally Posted by Chiana

On the RLM preview for LMP1, as well as on twitter, Hindy seemed extremely bitter about Alonso and headlines made of him. Especially when it came to him not talking to their pitlane reporter at the end of test day, in the name of Formula 1 arrogance or something. I mean yes some of it was tongue in cheek and he did made some admissions but for those listening to the station during the week just heads up that ranting is likely to feature heavily...

edit. Dragonspeed's Hedman looks like he'd rather be anywhere else than on that stage lol

He was the same when Nico Hulkenberg won literally 5 minutes after the chequered flag "Nico Hulkenberg wins Le Mans is what will be written in the media" gets a bit tedious

[Nick Woodbury]

Aston hoping for BoP Breaks.

When you are a near ~5 seconds off of the fastest GTE-Pro times right out of the gate on test day, I struggle to find any sympathy for them. Even still, I have this feeling at the pit of my stomach that AM will somehow be magically competitive and win their class this year ala. Ford 2016.


http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/a...gte-pro-fight/

[XtC24]

I just thought, I hope that the other LMP1s can really catch up with Rebellion, if we assume that Toyotas are not actual contenders.


It may be that only if BR1s and Bykolles can challenge Rebellions we can have a proper race for the win.

[GT6]

Well i am looking forward to a good race both from the LMP's and the GT's, the last few year we have exciting races right up to the end with close racing in most classes, and i see no reason that this year will be any different. i will be there waiting for the excitement to begin tomorrow.

[PascaLM]

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[TF110]

Jenson Button says he expects their car to be in the teens on race pace. 3:19's and 18's possibly. I believe Toyota will not run away with it on pace but probably gap the competition with pit stops. I think it'll be an easy triple stint on the tires, probably quadruple stint. I wonder if teams will try to quintuple stint the tires. That would be 49, 50 laps on one set on tires. If a privateer can do that they will definitely save time on the pits, even if they can refuel at the same time. That's just one less thing to worry about and trip over. If Toyota try to quintuple stint thats a possible 55 laps on tires which may be too much? I'm just guessing. But I think there's still some strategy on the table. Maybe Toyota short fills to do 10 laps like the privateers and saves more time in the pits and less laps on a multiple-stint tire? I'm excited to see what plays out. In GTE I bet all the cars are close even though we have questions on the BOP.

[Juntos]

Originally Posted by Chiana

Hindy seemed extremely bitter about Alonso and headlines made of him.

He is not the first doing it. Typical sportscars journo comment. If you go on condemning, your condemnation shows that somewhere there is a wound, and you are feeling jealous - because without jealousy there can be no condemnation. You condemn people because somehow, somewhere, unconsciously you feel they are enjoying themselves and you have missed.


Sportscars journalists tend to believe that all F1 drivers have big heads ... till the they become sportscars drivers and, all of a sudden, they are the best people in the world and beyond.

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Chiana

On the RLM preview for LMP1, as well as on twitter, Hindy seemed extremely bitter about Alonso and headlines made of him. Especially when it came to him not talking to their pitlane reporter at the end of test day, in the name of Formula 1 arrogance or something. I mean yes some of it was tongue in cheek and he did made some admissions but for those listening to the station during the week just heads up that ranting is likely to feature heavily...

edit. Dragonspeed's Hedman looks like he'd rather be anywhere else than on that stage lol

If you recall, he's always been the one to shoot down F1 and it's gimmicks like DRS or it's lack of passing. What I've seen is that the disdain towards F1 and it's drivers (namely Alonso) has now passed to Toyota because an F1 driver is in their team. It's a double edged sword now. He's brought attention to the WEC and Le Mans but he's being blamed for it because it's focusing mostly on him, and Toyota to a lesser extent. I think this is causing a blowback to these sportscar pundits. It's sad imo. It's not Alonso or Toyota's fault they are in the news more than someone else. It'd be ideal if the coverage for the WEC/LM had more variety but at least it's getting attention from Autosport/Motorsport.com. I'll enjoy the race and it's classes regardless of what RLM thinks. I'm sure a lot will.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by TF110

If you recall, he's always been the one to shoot down F1 and it's gimmicks like DRS or it's lack of passing. What I've seen is that the disdain towards F1 and it's drivers (namely Alonso) has now passed to Toyota because an F1 driver is in their team. It's a double edged sword now. He's brought attention to the WEC and Le Mans but he's being blamed for it because it's focusing mostly on him, and Toyota to a lesser extent. I think this is causing a blowback to these sportscar pundits. It's sad imo. It's not Alonso or Toyota's fault they are in the news more than someone else. It'd be ideal if the coverage for the WEC/LM had more variety but at least it's getting attention from Autosport/Motorsport.com. I'll enjoy the race and it's classes regardless of what RLM thinks. I'm sure a lot will.

With you on that all the way. Thank you. I was beginning to wonder how Toyota had the sheer affrontery to remain loyal to the WEC and Le Mans when they could have either run off somewhere else or gone off to showboat with no competition somewhere. I'm looking forward to what could be the most intriguing race for years. Yes, the ACO have had to think hard about equivalency but the anti-Alonso stuff that I've seen and heard is bordering on puerile….

[Deleted]

I agree as well

Anyway l think commentary wise I think the WEC feed will be the most neutral option to things like these as they can't really voice too many personal opinions there (safe some safety car rants from Haven I guess lol), thanks to ACO being employer

[Pilgrimage]

Does anyone know how many ex/current F1 drivers are in the field this year?

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Mike E]

It's about 22, I think.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Juntos

He is not the first doing it. Typical sportscars journo comment. If you go on condemning, your condemnation shows that somewhere there is a wound, and you are feeling jealous - because without jealousy there can be no condemnation. You condemn people because somehow, somewhere, unconsciously you feel they are enjoying themselves and you have missed.


Sportscars journalists tend to believe that all F1 drivers have big heads ... till the they become sportscars drivers and, all of a sudden, they are the best people in the world and beyond.

It says more about those making the comments rather than the situation.

It is worse than those who can’t see past F1.

I find it quite tedious. Is there really nothing to say about sportscar?

[Badlands99]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

With you on that all the way. Thank you. I was beginning to wonder how Toyota had the sheer affrontery to remain loyal to the WEC and Le Mans when they could have either run off somewhere else or gone off to showboat with no competition somewhere. I'm looking forward to what could be the most intriguing race for years. Yes, the ACO have had to think hard about equivalency but the anti-Alonso stuff that I've seen and heard is bordering on puerile….

I MUST agree to a certain extent and also think that Toyota should be admired for sticking around after Audi and Porsche decided to do a runner.

However, when Hulkenberg won for Porsche, I didn't hear much of the 'team spirit' from him bearing in mind that the brilliant long night stint by Nick Tandy won them the race and there was not much comment from him regarding the help that Mark Webber gave during the build up. Some (not all) F1 drivers could do with being be a little more humble on occasions and to realize that WEC/Blancpain etc is a lot more about teamwork than just them.

Saying that though, so far, Fred has been top notch - very happy to be part of Toyota, knows how big a challenge it is going to be, that it is not quite a forgone conclusion and very happy to big up his teammates regarding the help that he is getting. The difference with him also is that he is bloody quick in anything that he drives and the consummate professional, so. I say good luck to him and Toyota but I do sometimes understand the negative press that this is getting and just hope that there are not too many of the expected 'Alonso wins Le Mans' headlines without acknowledging the rest of the team.

[kvenom]

JPM is a lot.... pudgier than I remember.

[Rennen]

Originally Posted by Badlands99

I MUST agree to a certain extent and also think that Toyota should be admired for sticking around after Audi and Porsche decided to do a runner.

However, when Hulkenberg won for Porsche, I didn't hear much of the 'team spirit' from him bearing in mind that the brilliant long night stint by Nick Tandy won them the race and there was not much comment from him regarding the help that Mark Webber gave during the build up. Some (not all) F1 drivers could do with being be a little more humble on occasions and to realize that WEC/Blancpain etc is a lot more about teamwork than just them.

Saying that though, so far, Fred has been top notch - very happy to be part of Toyota, knows how big a challenge it is going to be, that it is not quite a forgone conclusion and very happy to big up his teammates regarding the help that he is getting. The difference with him also is that he is bloody quick in anything that he drives and the consummate professional, so. I say good luck to him and Toyota but I do sometimes understand the negative press that this is getting and just hope that there are not too many of the expected 'Alonso wins Le Mans' headlines without acknowledging the rest of the team.

Was he 'top notch' at SPA? he might have been sharing the car that won, but he got the headlines! And at the LM test day he had New tyres for every run to top the time sheets!