|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
22 Feb 2011, 12:44 (Ref:2835159) | #951 | |
Veteran
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 8,738
|
Similarly Andre Lotterer was picked up by Jo Hausner when he was at Kolles.
Maybe Capello wants to be replaced by a fellow Italian when he retires at the end of the year |
|
|
22 Feb 2011, 12:45 (Ref:2835160) | #952 | ||
Veteran
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 6,270
|
|||
__________________
When in doubt? C4. |
22 Feb 2011, 13:08 (Ref:2835171) | #953 | |
Racer
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 406
|
||
|
22 Feb 2011, 13:26 (Ref:2835180) | #954 | ||
Veteran
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,923
|
I wonder where that leaves Martin--I don't really follow DTM, so is he retiring or doing something else within Audi or has he left Audi or has gone to another Audi team?
Promoting Rocky to the Abt team to be Ekstrom's teammate is probably a consolation prize/payback from Audi Sport as Audi couldn't get a deal worked out for him in the ILMC, just as being part of the LM driving squad last year was a payback for Rocky always being saddled with a year old car in DTM the past couple of years. I think that being with the top Audi DTM team this year and being part of the LM winning team last year was probably to make up for Audi's plans not always working out with Rocky. Either way, I think that Audi or Peugeot will be spoiled for choice, especially for Audi for a driver to replace Dindo after he retires after LM. Maybe Rocky will run for Audi in the ILMC (or maybe the ALMS if there are plans for that, which is at best uncertian) next year, or this new guy if he's fast. He has GT car experience, and it seems that Dindo has been tutoring him as well. |
||
|
22 Feb 2011, 13:30 (Ref:2835183) | #955 | |||
Veteran
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,923
|
Quote:
More recently, Audi had gained Ben T and Lotterer, who have a lot of open wheel experience, but also a lot of GT and prototype experience. It seems that Audi in recent times have been trying to get drivers with a wide base of racing experience who are fairly young. |
|||
|
22 Feb 2011, 13:43 (Ref:2835192) | #956 | ||
Racer
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 406
|
Quote:
DTM and ILMC have race date clashes so drivers cannot do all of both. |
||
|
22 Feb 2011, 14:50 (Ref:2835220) | #957 | |||
Veteran
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 8,738
|
Quote:
It was clear when Audi's endurance driver line up was announce,d that Rockenfeller could not do a full ILMC because of clashing DTM races. Quote:
|
|||
|
22 Feb 2011, 14:58 (Ref:2835222) | #958 | |
Racer
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 406
|
||
|
22 Feb 2011, 18:47 (Ref:2835301) | #959 | |||
Veteran
Join Date: Oct 2001
Posts: 2,056
|
Quote:
I don't think driving Endurance cars for a manufacturer such as Peugoet is a 'sideways step' to a Single-Seater career at all! And I include F1...as these Prototypes such as the 908 are every single bit as high-tech as an F1 car! The term 'Endurance' used to suggest driving 9 Tenths, to 'Endure'! Today's manufacturer team LMP cars are driven '10 Tenths' for the entire race distance! Manufacturer teams only want drivers who have had top level careers, especially F1, as they are used to hi-tech feed back with engineers, no coincidence that Wurz, Gene and Davidson were all F1 development/Test drivers...but they must also have had some Endurance experience, which in my book, makes 'these' drivers superior to dedicated 'single-seater drivers inc F1...ABSOLOUTLY NO WAY a 'Sideways step'!!! |
|||
|
22 Feb 2011, 18:57 (Ref:2835305) | #960 | ||
Veteran
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 3,793
|
A sideways step doesn't imply a step back, it implies a move to a parallel quality of program. I think that's a pretty fair, maybe even generous, assessment of the relationship between a sportscar career as a top-line factory pilot and an F1 career. Both allow you to drive excellent cars, but the opportunity for media exposure and outright earnings is surely higher in F1. This may be traded off with the fact that most drivers find the sportscar racing environment more fun to work in, from what they seem to be willing to say.
|
||
|
22 Feb 2011, 22:27 (Ref:2835376) | #961 | |
Veteran
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 9,044
|
Yeah that's what I meant cmk. Basically drivers ending up not where they intended and ending up excelling. I have a lot of the Le Mans annuals and so many of the bio's for drivers in LMP1 over the past decade or so are basically the same.
Which does figure because it is a lot easier to start out in single seater competition after karting. There are so many more options and obviously you aim for F1. But anyway this is obviously OT in the extreme. |
|
|
22 Feb 2011, 22:53 (Ref:2835386) | #962 | |||
Veteran
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 6,654
|
Quote:
|
|||
__________________
Hvil i Fred Allan. (Rest in Peace Allan) |
23 Feb 2011, 05:38 (Ref:2835458) | #963 | |
Veteran
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 1,623
|
Just an interesting thought but i guarantee you Lotterer and Treluyer are begging Audi to sign on Loic Duval. The problem is Loic Duval drives for Oreca. If that pairing could come together (Lotterer,Treluyer,Duval). It would rival any other team.
I just think Marcel Fassler is not a particulary fast driver. Maybe i'm wrong? anyone else thinking Fassler will get the axe? |
|
|
23 Feb 2011, 09:29 (Ref:2835501) | #964 | ||
Racer
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 406
|
Quote:
|
||
|
23 Feb 2011, 09:32 (Ref:2835503) | #965 | ||
Veteran
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 8,738
|
We might have to wait a bit before Audi will reveal the livery of the R18:
Quote:
|
||
|
23 Feb 2011, 09:56 (Ref:2835510) | #966 | |||
Veteran
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 4,354
|
Quote:
|
|||
|
23 Feb 2011, 10:55 (Ref:2835537) | #967 | |
Registered User
Veteran
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 10,744
|
||
|
23 Feb 2011, 11:19 (Ref:2835543) | #968 | |||
Veteran
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 3,884
|
Quote:
Out-and-out speed is not the number one requirement for an Audi driver, they want consistency and endurance. While TK is very quick, he's not a Minassian or a Davidson. Fassler crashes too much, and if he gets the axe, it would probably be for that reason. |
|||
|
23 Feb 2011, 12:10 (Ref:2835571) | #969 | ||
Racer
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 406
|
Quote:
When did Fassler crash though? |
||
|
23 Feb 2011, 13:07 (Ref:2835609) | #970 | ||
Veteran
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,923
|
Fassler had a minor off at LM in the middle of the night on cold tires. He also had to take to the grass to avoid a gentleman driver crewed LMPC car at PLM, but saved the car.
Lotterer spun on the pace lap at Spa on the wet section of the track on cold tires, nudged the tire wall at Arnage trying to pass a slower car, and took to the grass in the Esses at PLM and broke the nose off the car--something that Dindo and TK did earlier in the week, and Dindo did it for the same reason that Andre did--to avoid a slower car or avoid causing an accident. I'd fault Audi Sport designers there--no reason why the front diffuser had to pop of the cars that easily, considering how bullet proof the R8 and R10 were. Lets hope that they got the R18 right in that area, since it's alleged that Audi went "back to the future" and looked at the R8 for influence on the R18's design. And it has to be remembered that Oreca has close ties to Audi as well, as Oreca is an offical dealer for the Audi R8 LMS GT3 car. If Hughes and Oreca feel like Peugeot is giving them the shaft, Audi will welcome them with open arms. But hiring Duval might not be so simple, and it's for the same reason why Ben T. and Andre aren't full time Audi drivers--all three have contracts with the Japanese big three (Ben with Nissan, Andre with Toyota and Duval with Honda), and just as Rocky can't run the ILMC because of too many DTM date clashes, Ben and Andre can't run a full season with Audi because of Super GT date clashes and Loic can't do a full run with Oreca for the same reason. Of course, when their contracts expire, they might want to return to Europe full time and race there or maybe America with Audi and Oreca/Peugeot. And with the Audi paint scheme announcment rumor, does that mean that Audi will have their paint/decal guys working on spare bodypanels overnight after qualifying, or will they just bring a crapload of decaled and painted panels hidden away somewhere? Obvioulsy means that the R15s run at Sebring will even run the 2010 paint scheme more than likely, unless Audi runs them in bare carbon. And would the ACO have to approve this plan if Audi actually wants to pull it off? Last edited by chernaudi; 23 Feb 2011 at 13:16. |
||
|
23 Feb 2011, 13:54 (Ref:2835628) | #971 | |
Veteran
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 12,028
|
P&M did the livery swap in the Vettes to go to the white car for a race (think it was Mosport for Fellows), but I'm not sure how the ACO will feel with a bare carbon car on scrutineering day. Although if they actually cared what fans want, they might find a lot of people like the bare carbon look.
|
|
|
23 Feb 2011, 14:37 (Ref:2835661) | #972 | ||
Veteran
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 8,738
|
Quote:
All the spare parts of the R15 have already been painted. I don't think that they will remove the paint or repaint them in other scheme for just one race. |
||
|
23 Feb 2011, 14:59 (Ref:2835674) | #973 | |
Registered User
Veteran
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 10,744
|
||
|
23 Feb 2011, 15:55 (Ref:2835710) | #974 | ||
Veteran
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 2,348
|
Quote:
Especially if Audi make it clear that they'll race in the full livery. |
||
|
23 Feb 2011, 16:38 (Ref:2835735) | #975 | ||
Veteran
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 3,834
|
I susect they will run painted all weekend, and there will be a media 'reveal' on th e grid at Spa...
I couldn't be lucky enough to see it in bare carbon, could I??? |
||
__________________
Tim Yorath Ecurie Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch Fan of "the sacred monster Christophe Bouchut"... |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
[WEC] Porsche Prototype Discussion | Simmi | North American Racing | 9284 | 18 Sep 2024 14:24 |
[WEC] Toyota LMP1 Discussion | Gingers4Justice | ACO Regulated Series | 6771 | 18 Aug 2020 09:37 |
Nissan LMP1 Discussion | Gingers4Justice | Sportscar & GT Racing | 5568 | 17 Feb 2016 23:22 |
How about a LMP1 Pro & LMP1 Privateer class | Holt | Sportscar & GT Racing | 35 | 6 Jun 2012 13:44 |
[LM24 Race] Audi LMP1 Poster all art deco'd. | blackohio | ACO Regulated Series | 2 | 27 Oct 2011 06:30 |