Le Mans 2011 Le Mans 24 Hours

Positions at 8 1/2 hours:

1. #2 Audi 123 laps
2. #7 Peugeot 123 laps
3. #9 Peugeot 123 laps
4. #8 Peugeot 122 laps
5. #10 ORECA Peugeot 121 laps
6. #16 Pescarolo-Judd 119 laps
7. #12 Rebellion Lola-Toyota 119 laps
8. #13 Rebellion Lola-Toyota 119 laps
9. #48 ORECA-Nissan 116 laps (LMP2 Leader)
...
19. #74 Chevrolet Corvette 111 laps (GTE-Pro Leader)
20. #59 Luxury Racing Ferrari 110 laps
21. #75 Prospeed Porsche 110 laps
22. #51 AF Corse Ferrari 110 laps
 
Just saw a clip of Rocky's crash............. :o:o:o:o

It has been an almost horrific day for Ingolstadt; Dr. Ullrich was being interviewed on the Eurosport feed and he looked like he'd seen a couple of ghosts, he was that shocked over what happened.........
 
It's 10 years since they lost Michele Alboreto. It's no wonder Dr. Ullrich looks shaken.

I thought it was nice to see Norbert Singer of Porsche (who has seen his fair share of tragedy over the years) go down and provide a bit of compassion to the Audi guys.
 
Well, the Safety Car is still out. Andre Lotterer has nearly managed 2 hours on a single tank of diesel - very modern. Under green flag conditions it was 40 minutes.
 
Estimating less than 5-10 minutes more under the safety car(according to race control & Speed Channel's coverage).............with 9hrs.,11min. past, here are the top-3 in each class.........

LMP-1[1st]A. Lotterer, #2 Audi Sport Team Joest(Audi R18 TDI), 129 laps(1st overall)
LMP-1[2nd]A. Wurz, #7 Peugeot Sport(Peugeot 908). -1 lap
LMP-1[3rd]F. Montagny, #8 Peugeot Sport(Peugeot 908), -1 lap

LMP-2[1st]A. Premat, #48 Team Oreca Matmut(Oreca 03-Nissan), 121 laps(9th overall)
LMP-2[2nd]O. Lombard, #41 Greaves Motorsport(Zytek-Nissan), -1 lap
LMP-2[3rd]L. Perez-Companc, #30 Pecom Racing(Lola B11/40-Judd BMW), -1 lap

GTE-Pro[1st]O. Gavin, #74 Corvette Racing(Chev. Corvette C-6R), 117 laps(19th overall)
GTE-Pro[2nd]M. Goosens, #75 Prospeed(Porsche 911 RSR), -1 lap
GTE-Pro[3rd]G. Fisichella, #51 AF Corse Italia(Ferrari F458 Italia), -1 lap

GTE-Am[1st]P. Gibon, #70 Larbre Competition(Porsche 911 RSR), 113 laps(31st overall)
GTE-Am[2nd]G. Gardel, #50 Larbre Competition(Chev. Corvette ZR1), -1:35.141 sec
GTE-Am[3rd]N. Jonsson, #57 Krohn Racing(Ferrari F430), -1:49.939 sec
 
Okay........scratch the earlier estimate on when the SC would return to pitlane; Speed Channel now reporting that it should come in around 6:45pm US EDT(12:45am La Sarthe time):o:o:o
 
That'll be over 2hrs of SC running then.

Treluyer in Audi #2 has two safety cars between himself and the Peugeots, so roughly 2/3rds of a lap or roughly 2m20s once they're back up to racing speed. That's a handy advantage given how close it's been on pure pace so far.
 
so guys, having heard some of the comments during the week and now (i've been out gigging tonight) having just seen the rockenfeller crash. are those audi lights too bright and dazzling the other drivers? it does seem as though rockenfeller was flashing but the ferrari still moved over on it. its the only explanation that makes any sense as to why it would still move over on him like that
 
My take on the Rockenfeller crash is that Kauffman probably couldn't judge how far behind the Audi was in the darkness. We'll have to see if he makes any comment, I doubt he will. The headlights certainly seem to be dazzling, but I don't know if it would have made any difference if it was a different prototype. I think it was a pretty brave move by Rocky at a very narrow, very fast part of the track.
 
Also the GT cars much stick to the racing line, and the faster cars have to find there way round toom arguably Rockenfeller should of waited till after the kink to pass.

But i don't thing its clear cut
 
guitargraham said:
so guys, having heard some of the comments during the week and now (i've been out gigging tonight) having just seen the rockenfeller crash. are those audi lights too bright and dazzling the other drivers? it does seem as though rockenfeller was flashing but the ferrari still moved over on it. its the only explanation that makes any sense as to why it would still move over on him like that
Click to expand

That's been a good question across the motorsports world today, most of it centering around that and around the question of whether the era of the "gentleman driver" has passed at LeMans(on both the Eurosport & Speed boradcasts, that's all they seemed to talk about for a while........). After watching the footage for a while, though, it doesn't look as though anyone did anything wrong; Rocky came up behind the Ferrari, flashing the lights to let him know he was approaching.........whoever was in the Ferrari held their line then seemed to drift over a tad bit as Rocky was passing by............I just didn't see anything that would seem to put the fault on whoever was in the Ferrari....... :o:o:o:o:o

Edit: Kauffman was in the #71 AF Corse Ferrari at the time........
 
Galahad said:
If the era of the gentleman driver has passed at Le Mans, we'll have a field of about 10 cars for the 80th running next year.
Click to expand

That's what I was thinking, Galahad, and not just at LeMans; that could well describe most of the teams in endurance racing at the moment........
 
I understand the reaction, but I think it's a knee-jerk one. This is nothing new. All endurance drivers should have (and I think with very few exceptions do have) respect for the other cars in the field, whether they're in a quick car or a slower one. Particularly in a race of 24 hours' duration. Even then, there will be accidents inevitably, and I don't feel comfortable apportioning blame to either party in either incident in this event.

Anyone would think professional drivers never collide with each other.
 
If Audi #2 was the biggest winner from the SC period, Franck Montagny was the second biggest, not having to pit and join the red light brigade has got him up to second position overall, though he will be due for a stop shortly.

That could prove to be a problem for Audi, since I rate the Montagny/Sarrazin/Minassian lineup as Peugeot's fastest (if not 'best').
 
I don't see how any blame can be apportioned. The difference in speed between the various categories is HUGE, making passing a dicey prospect at best. The ones I really do not envy are the Corvettes etc. They have to worry about both passing and being passed. The prototypes only have to worry about passing, and the lesser classes only worry about getting passed. It just seems like a hard-luck year for the Audi team.
 
Having just caught up, it was an absolutely horrific crash.
I don't recall seeing a car so comprehensively destroyed for a long time.

It's almost unbelievable he escaped unhurt.

Bad luck for Audi this year it would seem.
 

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