[LM24 Race] 2018 Le Mans 24 Hours Race Thread

[Spyderman]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Interesting! And it appears that Jan and the 63 were the only GTE Pro sub 3:50- 3:49.448, a full 1/2 a second quicker than the next on lap 296. I assume this is in the dark, but obviously with a clear track.

Lap 296... I assume early morning.

[Lola]

In 5-10 years time we will look back at the names on the winners trophy and see 2018 Toyota.
Who will even think at this time it was hollow or not, History will have them down as winners.

You can only beat whats out there in front of you. Toyota deserved this due to the appalling luck in the past and they put their neck on the line and had a go.

[kvenom]

Seems Toyota and Porsche mechanics got into a fight post-race, which security had to break up.

[Peter Mallett]

I dunno. I've only ever seen two races all through. "All" means with available streaming. Last year and this year. I confess to a certain amount of cynicism with the two Toyotas but then I effectively shut them out and watched the other cars.
It was a great victory for the Toyota team. If nothing else they beat the circuit. But for me, as last year the GTE Pro class was where the cut and thrust was.

Overall I teally.enjoyed it to the extent I may forego my own racing exploits and attend next year.

[chillibowl]

sorry if this has been asked and answered already...

in terms of distance/laps covered/fastest laps etc how did the Toyota's compare to past winners? or is that an irrelevant question given changes to the track over time?

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

sorry if this has been asked and answered already...

in terms of distance/laps covered/fastest laps etc how did the Toyota's compare to past winners? or is that an irrelevant question given changes to the track over time?

#8 had the fast lap of the race on lap 5 at 3:17.658 (Buemi) and that's 3 secs off Kamui's lap record and only 0.2 behind Andre Lotterer's race lap record of 3:17.475 from 2015 in the R-18 e-tron quatro. Kaz had the fast lap of the week at 3:15.377 in practice / quali 3.

They did 388 laps; record is from 2010 at 397 for Audi R15+

[chillibowl]

thanks fields

[EffectiveSprinkles]

I feel sadly that the distance record will never be broken again. The organizers are too trigger happy with the slow zones and safety cars. The vast majority of slow zones could have been handled with double waved yellows and the safety cars should have been FCY.

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Interesting! And it appears that Jan and the 63 were the only GTE Pro sub 3:50- 3:49.448, a full 1/2 a second quicker than the next on lap 296. I assume this is in the dark, but obviously with a clear track.

It was at dawn. Jan was on point this year and the quickest of the three.

[airbusA346]

Originally Posted by kvenom

Seems Toyota and Porsche mechanics got into a fight post-race, which security had to break up.

Source??

Originally Posted by EffectiveSprinkles

I feel sadly that the distance record will never be broken again. The organizers are too trigger happy with the slow zones and safety cars. The vast majority of slow zones could have been handled with double waved yellows and the safety cars should have been FCY.

And then people would moan that the SC was destroying the race. Like loads were when the winning Porsche in Pro gained it's time.

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by EffectiveSprinkles

I feel sadly that the distance record will never be broken again. The organizers are too trigger happy with the slow zones and safety cars. The vast majority of slow zones could have been handled with double waved yellows and the safety cars should have been FCY.

Those extended slow zones don't help too. I get the logic in a sense. But when you've got an issue at Tertre Rouge, and they are still trundling all the way down to the first chicane on the Mulsanne it sort of defeats the point to me.

Interesting comments here on the GT side and safety car/slow zones - http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/g...ty-car-impact/

[EffectiveSprinkles]

I don't think that's a very valid complaint. You want a BoP formula and that's what you get. When cars are made by regulation to only go as fast as each other you will either get nose to tail racing or insurmountable gaps. Safety cars and slow zones or not.

[Akrapovic]

“In the end the race was less spectacular. You cannot invent anything, you cannot do any strategy. You must do a stop every 14 laps… It was very frustrating.

That's the real issue here. The time could've been made up with clever strategy calls and what not, but everyone is locked into 14 laps, and taking tyres at a stop is a no-brainer now. So you cannot make up the time and get yourself in position to take advantage of the next SC.

The SC issue has always existed and we've all moaned about it, but it's never had a larger effect than it did this year. That's purely down to the new pit stop regulations and the mandated stint lengths. If you put every car on an identical strategy, you'll get identical results, and that's what happened.

The FCY doesn't really work at Le Mans. The whole point in the SC is that it creates gaps in the traffic for the marshals to work in. You won't get that from a FCY, so you can't really use it in place of a SC.

Literally, all they need to do is go back to the old pit regulations and get rid of the stint length rules. Then you'll see strategy back in. Yes a SC will still do a split, but time can be made up. Having 1 SC unfairly penalises the other way where fast cars will get brought back.

[Maelochs]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

Literally, all they need to do is go back to the old pit regulations and get rid of the stint length rules. Then you'll see strategy back in.

Not sure if the two subsets ever converge, but I hope someone with a brain who also has clout with FIA reads this and thinks about it ... and acts on it.

[EffectiveSprinkles]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

Literally, all they need to do is go back to the old pit regulations and get rid of the stint length rules. Then you'll see strategy back in.

I agree those need to be put back in asap, but I don't think they would have made a difference anyway in this race. BoP exists to make cars equal on pace. If BoP is perfect, the race is a procession without a single on-track overtake because every car is on exactly the same pace. They got close to that this year and hence this result.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by EffectiveSprinkles

I agree those need to be put back in asap, but I don't think they would have made a difference anyway in this race. BoP exists to make cars equal on pace. If BoP is perfect, the race is a procession without a single on-track overtake because every car is on exactly the same pace. They got close to that this year and hence this result.

It's true, but we've had BoP for a while (last year was even closer) and not had this problem. BoP makes everything equal, but the pit stop regulations meant not only were the cars equal, but the strategies were equal. So you didn't have a car on new tyres versus a car on old tyres. You didn't have a car skip taking tyres on a stop to gain track position etc. That's why it was acceptable before - because the additional variables of shorter versus long pit stops and old tyres versus new tyres created performance variations outside of the BoP.

BoP is definitely an issue, but BoP + mandated strategies is the ultimate killer and that's what we ended up with this year.

This is why the Spa 24 has become so poor as well. Everybody stops at the exact same time, 65 minutes in. Everyone does the same pit stop time and does the same strategy. Absolutely no variation what-so-ever.

[Damian Baldi]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

That's the real issue here. The time could've been made up with clever strategy calls and what not, but everyone is locked into 14 laps, and taking tyres at a stop is a no-brainer now. So you cannot make up the time and get yourself in position to take advantage of the next SC.

Literally, all they need to do is go back to the old pit regulations and get rid of the stint length rules. Then you'll see strategy back in. Yes a SC will still do a split, but time can be made up. Having 1 SC unfairly penalises the other way where fast cars will get brought back.

As you said, those both items really changed how the race is. Beside the EoT, the amount of laps per stints is a stupid rule. It deny any different strategy from the teams with two or more cars, there is no gain in saving fuel, and with the short amount of tyre sets. All this goes totally in the opposite direction of what endurance always was.

[TzeiTzei]

Tbh that was a pretty boring race. LMP1 was decided in the first corner (didn't really care which Toyota wins), LMP2 was a procession after the first stint and GTE was disrupted by the safety car. Well, maybe next year will be better.

[Akrapovic]

Average of each LMP1 drivers top 40 laps.

[GT6]

Well perhaps the toyota result was expected, but i was there and enjoyed the race plenty of close action and surprises.

[tux]

Gdrive #26 LMP2 winners are excluded for an illegal refuelling restrictior.

#28 TDS Oreca also excluded from third place for the same reason

[Hawkwood]

And the #28 TDS as well!

[Damian Baldi]

Originally Posted by tux

Gdrive #26 LMP2 winners are excluded for an illegal refuelling restrictior.

#28 TDS Oreca also excluded for the same reason

wooow

[chernaudi]

Also, the fight that was mentioned somewhere on here between Toyota and Porsche team members was mentioned in the post race notes on SC365 and has a link to an article in a Belgian newspaper.

[Akrapovic]

Rusinov is going to hit the roof.