[WEC Race] 2013 FIA WEC - Round 8 - 6 Hours of Bahrain

[JoestForEver]

Free Practice 2 Results:
1 SARRAZIN S. TOYOTA TS030 - Hybrid M 1:44.516
2 TRLUYER B. AUDI R18 e-tron quattro M 1:44.721
3 WURZ A. 1:44.793
4 KRISTENSEN T. AUDI R18 e-tron quattro 1:44.808
5 BECHE M. LOLA B12/60 Coup M 1:47.323
6 KAFFER P. ORECA 03 - Nissan M 1:51.798
7 GONZALEZ R. MORGAN - Nissan D 1:51.882
Even when they have 'super Ben' behind the wheel, the R18s' pace still cannot prevail the fast Toyota's.

[MyNameIsNigel]

Originally Posted by JoestForEver

NAKAJIMA K. 1:43.192
LOTTERER A. 1:44.617
DUVAL L. 1:45.091
BUEMI S. 1:45.151
PROST N. 1:48.741
-----------------
Free Practice 1 result, how does Nakajima manage to get so fast?

Strange. According to the official timing results of FP1, the fastest time was actually clocked by Alex Wurz. According to these same results, it would appear that Nakajima was pretty much off the pace during FP1, clocking only a fastest time of 1:46.969 in his final attempt.

Originally Posted by JoestForEver

Free Practice 2 Results:
1 SARRAZIN S. TOYOTA TS030 - Hybrid M 1:44.516
2 TRLUYER B. AUDI R18 e-tron quattro M 1:44.721
3 WURZ A. 1:44.793
4 KRISTENSEN T. AUDI R18 e-tron quattro 1:44.808
5 BECHE M. LOLA B12/60 Coup M 1:47.323
6 KAFFER P. ORECA 03 - Nissan M 1:51.798
7 GONZALEZ R. MORGAN - Nissan D 1:51.882
Even when they have 'super Ben' behind the wheel, the R18s' pace still cannot prevail the fast Toyota's.

Like in FP1, the Audis appear to "lose" approximately three tenths in the final sector. I trust that there is more to come (as usual...).

This being said, the 1:43.192 clocked during FP1 by the #7 Toyota was quite impressive...

[JoestForEver]

Originally Posted by MyNameIsNigel

Strange. According to the official timing results of FP1, the fastest time was actually clocked by Alex Wurz. According to these same results, it would appear that Nakajima was pretty much off the pace clocking only a fastest time of 1:46.969 in his final attempt.



Like in FP1, the Audis appear to "lose" approximately three tenths in the final sector. I trust that there is more to come (as usual...).

This being said, the 1:43.192 clocked by the #7 Toyota was quite impressive...

I don't know who was behind the wheel with the fastest lap, because the result I found was directly taken from the live timing page. The only thing it delivered was that the last one in the cockpit is Nakajima. Also I think that fuel economy might affect Toyota this time. Like Shanghai, they may still need a splash and dash as a price paid for such a great pace.

[Beetle]

It sure looks like Toyota has the pace, and Ferrari surely won't be pleased with their usual lack of pace this weekend. It should be a gripping battle through the entire race.

Congrats to Lucas Auer for outperforming Tonio Liuzzi in FP2!

And thanks Andy Blackmore, for all the work you've done this year.

[chernaudi]

Could the reason why Toyota has been closer to Audi on pace the last few rounds be due to the fact that they simply turned up the wick? We saw even at COTA that the Audis would eat the Toyota alive down the straights. But at Fuji and Shanghai, Toyota seemed to be at least able to keep up with Audi down the straights.

I'm not buying 100% that their performance is due solely to finalizing their high downforce stuff at Fuji. Their improved speeds down the straights at these tracks IMO doesn't lie. Torque may give you acceleration, but it's horsepower that gives top speed, and the long straights at Fuji and Shanghai to me suggest that Toyota just opened up the tap on the TS030's engine.

One problem, though, that may result as suggested earlier is how much of a hit has Toyota's fuel mileage advantage taken? Maybe now they're thankful for the 3 liter fuel bump they got before Le Mans.

Also, both Audi and Toyota struggled with double stinting tires at Shanghai, and the '13 TS030 hasn't been as economical on it's tires as it's predecessor. Even though it's a good 25 degrees cooler there than last year, both Audi and Toyota also struggled with double stinting tires there last year. I wonder if the temp drop will help with that.

[JoestForEver]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

Could the reason why Toyota has been closer to Audi on pace the last few rounds be due to the fact that they simply turned up the wick? We saw even at COTA that the Audis would eat the Toyota alive down the straights. But at Fuji and Shanghai, Toyota seemed to be at least able to keep up with Audi down the straights.

I'm not buying 100% that their performance is due solely to finalizing their high downforce stuff at Fuji. Their improved speeds down the straights at these tracks IMO doesn't lie. Torque may give you acceleration, but it's horsepower that gives top speed, and the long straights at Fuji and Shanghai to me suggest that Toyota just opened up the tap on the TS030's engine.

One problem, though, that may result as suggested earlier is how much of a hit has Toyota's fuel mileage advantage taken? Maybe now they're thankful for the 3 liter fuel bump they got before Le Mans.

Also, both Audi and Toyota struggled with double stinting tires at Shanghai, and the '13 TS030 hasn't been as economical on it's tires as it's predecessor. Even though it's a good 25 degrees cooler there than last year, both Audi and Toyota also struggled with double stinting tires there last year. I wonder if the temp drop will help with that.

I believe the Toyota team is trying to tade mileage with pace, just as they did in Shanghai by probably larger fuel flow or richer fuel mix etc. They did have a different mapping for the hybrid system since Intelagos. Based on this and Nicholas numerous run wide in Shanghai, they must have tweaked the engine to be so thirsty that same pitstops are needed.
As for the tire, more power on the rear axle plus multiple run wide from the unaccustomed driver(simply much more slide and drift) can lead to severe tire wear.

[chernaudi]

I've also noticed that the Toyota has seemed to be harder to handle on the limit than the R18 has been. Audi did have at least one off per car at Shanghai (one to avoid the lime green menace, and the other to avoid an accident), but the Toyotas have seemed all year to be very edgy on the limit, especially the 2013 cars.

Spa can partially be explained by the #7 running in low downforce trim, but the Toyota just doesn't seem as planted as last year's car often was. It seems to be more squirrly and twitchy, and it's tires have been known to go off much quicker.

I think that at COTA when Toyota gambled on double stinting and came up short due to time lost early and Audi adopting a similar strategy late in the event, they realized that they needed to change tactics. Even if it meant reduced fuel economy and tire life. The reality is that it narrows the gap as far as how close they have to be to Audi for them to come out even or ahead. Instead of Audi having to be .5 of a second faster per lap on average, they only maybe have to be .2-.3 of a second faster per lap.

Sounds like a benefit to Audi. But the smaller gap is probably easier for Toyota to manage with performance vs economy. Toyota used that on Audi in '12, and Audi have used that on them with equal or perhaps greater success this year.

[TF110]

Thats contrary to the drivers comments. They state the 2013 is easier to drive than the 2012 car. The fuel economy hasn't changed, they just tweaked the new aero package. In terms of km covered, it was very close from Austin to Fuji (practice) and Shanghai. You have to factor in the charachteristics of the tracks as well. Austin is twisty with ~20 turns Fuji has 13 and Shanghai 16. So just that can account for fuel usage. Then at Bahrain theres 7 hybrid zones, thats definitely advantageous for them.

[chernaudi]

According to T&S, Duval is already in the mid-1:42 range on his first flyer. That's much faster than Toyota's best during FP1, which was about .6 slower. Both times are a ton faster than last year's times, to the tune of 2-3 seconds.

Surprised that FP3 is even happening right now--I'd have though that the fog would've delayed the session, or it burned off pretty fast.

[MyNameIsNigel]

I am looking forward to seeing the sector times. I would expect that a substantial part of Audi's improvement is in the last sector. 1:42.479 is damn fast.

This race is going to be great to watch.

[MyNameIsNigel]

Originally Posted by MyNameIsNigel

I am looking forward to seeing the sector times.

Here they are.

Duval was "hyperfast" in all three sectors. He really is on a different planet...

[TF110]

The same happened in Shanghai. Then come qualifying and the race they were lagging and never matched that fast lap in practice.

[chernaudi]

And Toyota didn't match the 1:43.1 that Nakajima did in FP1, either, not even close.

You do seem to be forgetting that the #1 Audi had a bad set of tires for it's first stint and a puncture that left it over a minute behind for most of the race until the #7 had it's puncture and spin. And Toyota didn't come close to matching their qualifying time in race trim, either.

[TF110]

Audi lost a lot more time in Shanghai, never mentioned practice here. Plus it was Toyota who took pole. Fast laps in practice mean little if you can't convert it to qualifying or the race.

[MyNameIsNigel]

Honestly, let's stop speculating about what the race pace is going to be. It would be more appropriate to discuss this after the race

For the time being, I am just looking at the lap times of FP3 and it's quite obvious that Duval was simply hyperfast right from the word go. It also demonstrates that Audi kept a bit under the foot in FP1 and FP2. I wonder what room for improvement there is on Toyota's side.

The race is going to be an interesting one, probably the most interesting of the season, as all four LMP1s (sorry if I leave Rebellion Racing out of the equation...) will simply go for it. This is the last race of the season and all championship titles in the LMP1 class have been awarded. This race - as far as the LMP1 class is concerned - will be all about winning.

[airbusA346]

Pole for Lieb & Lietz in GTE-Pro.

[Spyderman]

Are my eyes deceiving me, but did Porsche use the "old" cars?

[TF110]

Either that or they changed the bumper.

[airbusA346]

Originally Posted by TF110

Either that or they changed the bumper.

The #92 has got black on the bumper and the #91 is white.

[JoestForEver]

Hopefully Luval learned a lot from TK and Allan for the last two year. He is fast enough in qualifying, but not as decisive overtaking as Allan in the race. Speaking of which, anyone has information about Lucas di Grassi and Marc Gene? Are they dealing with simulators all day besides running #3 at Le mans?

[TF110]

Nice job Toyota 1-2 in qualifying. Mighty fast laps from Wurz. Nakajima followed up by staying in the 1:42's, the only 2nd driver to do both his laps in the 42's.

[wewantourdarbyback]

Both the Audi second drivers were well off their first driver's pace, whereas the seven and eight managed to keep everyone within a much smaller range.

[Gingers4Justice]

I hate the vast majority of Tilke-designed autodromes...but is it just me who thinks that sportscars at Bahrain just really, really works?

[Rennen]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

Could the reason why Toyota has been closer to Audi on pace the last few rounds be due to the fact that they simply turned up the wick? We saw even at COTA that the Audis would eat the Toyota alive down the straights. But at Fuji and Shanghai, Toyota seemed to be at least able to keep up with Audi down the straights.

I'm not buying 100% that their performance is due solely to finalizing their high downforce stuff at Fuji. Their improved speeds down the straights at these tracks IMO doesn't lie. Torque may give you acceleration, but it's horsepower that gives top speed, and the long straights at Fuji and Shanghai to me suggest that Toyota just opened up the tap on the TS030's engine.

One problem, though, that may result as suggested earlier is how much of a hit has Toyota's fuel mileage advantage taken? Maybe now they're thankful for the 3 liter fuel bump they got before Le Mans.

Also, both Audi and Toyota struggled with double stinting tires at Shanghai, and the '13 TS030 hasn't been as economical on it's tires as it's predecessor. Even though it's a good 25 degrees cooler there than last year, both Audi and Toyota also struggled with double stinting tires there last year. I wonder if the temp drop will help with that.

No real 'wick' to 'turn up' (unlike Audi)...but don't underestimate them being able to exit a corner faster with improved aero! Remember TMG are F1 guys, renowened for their Wind Tunnel and aero expertise!
Many attribute speed down the straight with engine power in all forms of motorsports, when it was superior exit speed and traction onto it!

[chernaudi]

The car hasn't changed aero wise since Interlagos--same design. Only change I've seen is the serrations on the dive planes disappeared in Shanghai. Also, explain why at Interlagos and COTA why Toyota were pretty much helpless down the straights, but at Fuji and China, they could match the Audi pace down the straights? Only answer I have is that they cranked up the engine power.

Top speed data doesn't lie. Both Audi and Toyota have made minimal changes since they finalized post-LM development. Chassis the same, suspension the same, aero basically the same. Only reason I can imagine that Toyota have picked up the pace is on the straights, and with some of the offs that Toyota had in Shanghai, I don't believe that they gained much in terms of traction. Only thing I can imagine was the engine guys have been let off the reigns, which also probably shows in Toyota's reduced range in China.

And then there's the tire wear that they had in Shanghai and COTA, where at the latter they lost so much time on track double stinting and at the former they didn't double stint at all until forced to. Neither case worked out for them.