***Official Le Mans 24 Hours Thread***

I don't really know. It was back when the Audi's first arrived. The ACO like to try and be at the forefront of technological development, so when the diesel rules were first imposed they were designed with a bit of an advantage in it to entice people in (I don't know the full details, but the results were the diesels could go faster and pit less).
Audi took the bait and ran with it, and then dominated. A lot of the big petrol names, like Pescarolo, called for them to be put into a separate class, even threatening to pull out of Le Mans racing if they weren't. There have been calls for parity and for the diesels to be slowed but nothing has been done. It seems that diesels being up the front and keeping Audi happy is more important to the ACO than the long term future of P1.

Our last hope lies with Toyota. If they can't take the fight to Audi then P1 will be dead in a couple of years. Its already pointless for any independent teams to try and compete with the factory diesels.
 
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I don't think Toyota have the experience if anything else. A few years ago Peugeot could have beaten Audi but made a schoolboy error early in the race in their pitting and damaged a car, then pretty much lost the race off the back of it. Toyota have even less experience and unknown technology, so I don't have high hopes for them.

There is no race in LMP1 this year. It's just the conventional Audis vs. the hybrid Audis. The good news is all the other classes look set to provide some pretty damn good racing, like the years of Aston vs. Corvette in GT1. I don't remember watching much of LMP1 back then either :D
 
yeah, I fear that Toyota have just been out of the LeMans game for too long, and while I think they may still be competitive, they just won't be at the level of the seasoned Audi team. Still, looking forward to hear dat glorious petrol V8 sound.
 
Has anyone seen any lap times from the Delta Wing from any of its testing? They have been testing at a number of tracks but I can't seem to find any sort of idea as to how fast its going (or not going).
 
Toyota unveil their livery:

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Not enough red for my liking.
 
The DeltaWings fastest is 3:47.900, mixing it with the second half of the LMP2 cars.

Not quite where they were aiming for (they wanted to be between P1 and P2 times), but still very impressive.
 
If the Deltawing can stay out of the garage, it could achieve a top 10 finish…

The revolutionary Nissan DeltaWing completed its first running on the famous 8.5 mile Circuit de la Sarthe today – the home of the upcoming 80th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Invited to compete under the Automobile Club de l'Ouest’s “Garage 56” classification that showcases new and innovative technology, the Nissan DeltaWing completed 54 laps with drivers Michael Krumm, Satoshi Motoyama and Marino Franchitti at the wheel.

The team enjoyed a virtually trouble-free day and completed every lap but one on a single set of Michelin slick tires. A sole lap on wet tires during a brief rain shower was the only time the team switched tires all day.

Motoyama completed the fastest lap of the day at 3 minutes, 47.980 seconds. The Nissan DeltaWing technical, team led by concept originator Ben Bowlby, believe they are comfortably within reach of their target pace of 3 minutes, 45 seconds as requested by race officials.
Click to expand...
53 laps on one set of tyres!

http://www.lemans.org/en/races/test...tawing-enjoys-a-successful-test-day_7299.html
 
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