Le Mans 24 Hours - Wrapping That One Up - Part One LMP1

The 80th Le Mans 24 Hours wasn’t predicted to be a classic – but it turned out to be very much better than many a cynic would have predicted.

In LMP1 the credit for that goes to Audi, for allowing their four crews to race throughout, to Toyota, for giving us a real race for very much longer than most predicted, to Rebellion for one of the most convincing runs that the team has ever produced and to Strakka for a mightily impressive fight back drive after their very early problems.

Audi’s split strategy, fielding a pair each of e-tron quattro hybrids and pure diesel Ultras was both ambitious and sensible – They got the result they wanted in several regards – a win, a win for the hybrid, a clean sweep of the podium and whilst the lae race incident for McNish robbed the team of the prospect of a 9th win for Kristensen, and a fourth for Capello (which would have made him the oldest ever winner of the 24 Hours) the team and brand PR will be grinding out plenty of well deserved activation of their new collateral based on yet another successful translation of unconventional technology onto the race track. 

There’s no doubt at all that this was very far from the least troubled run ever from Audi, the speed with which the team recovered from a several significant incidents (at least one for each and every car!) though shows once again just how world class the Audi operation, and their engineering, has become during more than a decade of success - They are a very tough nut indeed to crack and the presence of a quartet of R18s made that all the more difficult this time around.

There was still drama aplenty though, the TV pictures and the tone of the track commentator’s voice all too often signalling that an R18 was off the road, whether it was Dumas at the first chicane tearing off the wrecked front bodywork with the energy that only a truly angry Frenchman can muster, Gene at the same spot, McNish at the Porsche Curves or Fassler (ditto)

The fact that Toyota stepped up to the plate is something that all of us should be grateful for.  The fact that they did so as convincingly as they did is something that the FIA WEC should be getting down on bended knee and thanking the gods for!

The TS030s were very fast and, for a remarkably long time bearing in mind their relative newness and lack of testing and development, reliable too.

They showed once and for all that the gulf between diesel and petrol when factory budgets are introduced into the equation, is not nearly as wide as some had opined.

They managed too a trick that nobody else did, sounding stunning at full chat with the new V8 singing, and being utterly silent when running on electric power in the pitlane.
 
The headlines post race will inevitably focus on the accident to Ant Davidson but that ill serves the strength that the Toyotas showed.  They were trimmed out and twitchy through the turns but they were Audi fast and they led the race briefly before misfortune interrupted.

They might have dropped away from the charging R18s at the start but they were close enough to get onto terms when the Audis faltered just a little.

There was more than a hint of impatience shown in Nakajima’s Porsche Curves move in the #7 TS030  that eliminated the Nissan DeltaWing, as the Japanese star tried to get back on the tail of the leader, but the incident that accounted for the #8 car just before the 5 hour mark has to be blamed entirely on Pierguiseppe Perazzini, the Italian lucky not to have been hurt in a sickening collision, Davidson sadly wasn’t so lucky, but it showed at least that the Toyota is safe as well as very, very fast – Get well soon Anthony, your team did themselves proud, and gave Audi reason to doubt that Le mans 2013 will be as straightforward as 2012!  

Toyota’s attack faded straight after Nakajima’s brush with the DeltaWing and ended with the eventual engine problem that eliminated the #7 car at around the halfway mark.
 
Rebellion Racing by contrast produced an almost fault-free run from their #12 Lola Toyota, something that all too often hasn’t been the case – And the mix of that reliability, great pit work and some stunning pace from all three drivers, but particularly Heidfeld and Jani was a real tonic for all Lola fans.

Heidfeld is reported to have been a revelation to the team, with stunning technical feedback that can only have been a bonus to an increasingly strong backroom team.

The scene in the team garage post race was one of the moments of the weekend for this writer – a mix of long serving team personnel and others standing happy but highly emotional as they reflected on the achievement – The car’s designer, Julian Sole, was part of the Rebellion set-up for the week after leaving his beloved Lola in the first tranche of redundancies - His face said it all as we shook hands – pleased but rueful.  Might this be the last Lola LMP1 ever?

The team’s second car ran strongly too, a late race but remarkably rapid clutch change  though demoted the #13 to a rather more lowly finish than it deserved, for most of the race the two cars were circulating less than a lap apart – but what does the future hold here if Lola is no longer there to support the effort?

The HPD teams had very mixed starts to their races, and very mixed finishes.

JRM’s early race form was excellent, David Brabham getting stuck in to one of THE battles of the race with Sebastian Bourdais and Bertrand Baguette for a nose to tail hard dicing 9th place!

After that was settled (in the #22 HPD’s favour) it was time to get down to the heavy lifting and the car ran like clockwork until a puncture for Peter Dumbreck and later clutch trouble for Karun Chandhok saw the car see sawing up and down the top 20 overnight.

With the clutch fixed though the car ran almost faultlessly to the finish, ending the race 6th overall, a better result than almost anyone in the team thought possible in this their first 24 hour encounter.

Strakka by contract had an awful start to their Le Mans, a team member spotting an oil leak on the grid and the team finally getting moving half an hour late after a Gearbox oil seal was replaced.

Thereafter though their progress was spectacular, one of the attacking runs of the race, the mercurial combination of Jonny Kane and Danny Watts with Nick Leventis performing faultlessly in support of the team’s two pro drivers.

The only interruption to the car’s steady progress up through the order was a double quick stop to replace the rear end after a spin into the barrier from Kane with the car progressing to a remarkable 7th place overall.

There was heartbreak though as a growing water pressure issue worsened, the car eventually garaged with just over 3 hours to go and completing the final lap to score a points finish – Still valuable points though in the LMP1 privateers stakes in the WEC. 

Oak Racing by contrast had a relatively quiet run, the early involvement of Baguette in the three car dice was a pleasure to behold but the Oak’s strength was always going to be reliability rather than ultimate pace and when that strong suit deserted the team the challenge was gone – Oak looked strong with all three cars, both in LMP1 and LMP2, the fact that they scored a triple dnf says nothing of the effort and passion with which they mounted their attack.

And you can’t mention passion without thinking about the Pescarolo Team.  Back from the brink again and at le Mans with a very different two car effort.

The Dome Judd looked quick but was in early garage visiting form.  It got a little better for the #17 squad, but only a little.  The pace was there (but not enough) but the consistency and reliability wasn’t. Even the combined talents of Messrs Ara, Minassian and Bourdais couldn’t get and keep the car on the pace.

The car was entrusted to Pescarolo Team for just this race and there are rumours and counter rumours about the plan going forward for the S102.5

For Le Mans though the run was rather truncated,, the car emerging for a final lap, albeit as an unclassified finisher -  It crossed the line to rapturous applause from an appreciative crowd – The Pescarolo name still chimes here.

There was no finish, unclassified or otherwise however for what may yet prove to be the last new car to be built by the team themselves.

The #16 camp the (very) new Pescarolo 03 Judd was proving too steep a hill to climb even for Henri and co.

The 03 was late, very late, courtesy of repeated budget and build issues.

There was precious little time for testing, less time still for development.  The car wasn’t getting anything like enough heat into the tyres, and was in serious trouble when the track temperature dropped – And then there was yet more bad news poured on top after a substantial shunt in practice which saw the car get airborne even loyal Pescarolo servant J-C Bouillon walked away and then, with the team down to two drivers for the race, a blown engine in race morning warm-up was the last thing they needed.

This team though has depths beyond the norm and, despite even official channels indicating that the car was a non starter the car emerged from the garage to get underway after the team, and their Judd engineers, re-engineered a V8 prepped for use as a spare for the Dome, to use in the other car.

It was all in vain sadly, the car never really got going – The car a very early retirement and Stuart Hall never getting behind the wheel in the race.

Is there a way forward for the Roald Goethe owned car?  We’ve asked the questions – and we’re waiting for the answers.

For Henri though this was a bitter blow, and it remains to be seen whether he has a way back from the brink again – As people passionate about the sport we hope he does.  But is not then we hope his memories of the great race focus on the triumphs of races past rather than the tribulations of 2012.