61 replies to this topic

[_R_]

This weekend

Peugeot has lodged a protest against the front bodywork design of the Audi R15 TDI on the eve of practice for the Le Mans 24 Hours.

The French squad claims that elements of the front bodywork constitute illegal aerodynamic devices, and is calling for a rules clarification.

"It would indeed seem that two features of the Audi R15 - in the configuration in which it was shown at technical scrutineering for the 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours on June 8 - do not comply with Article 3.6.2 of the current technical regulations: the flap which links the two front wings; the appendages fixed to the inner surface of the front wings," said a Peugeot statement.

"These appendages and this flap effectively form part of the bodywork and their sole purpose is to generate downforce. These bodywork parts are considered to be aerodynamic elements. Since they do not appear on the list of aerodynamic elements authorised by Article 3.6.2, they are consequently not permitted."

Peugeot team boss Olivier Quesnel says his company initially raised the issue following the first meeting of its 908 HDi FAP and the Audi R15 TDI at the Sebring 12 Hours in March - and that it will take the matter to the FIA if the Le Mans stewards do not rule in its favour.

"Our protest dossier was already ready at the time, but the Automobile Club de l'Ouest made assurances that it would take the necessary steps ahead of the Le Mans 24 Hours," Quesnel said.

"I insist on the fact that our approach is constructive and not aggressive. It seeks to clarify what is an unclear situation with a view to obtaining clear, precise regulations in order to prepare for the future. All competitors need stable, firm regulations that apply to everyone, with a strong regulatory body capable of taking decisions.

"We intend to take this matter to its conclusion, not with the intention of weakening endurance racing but of making it stronger. Should our protest not be upheld by the sporting stewards, we will lodge an appeal with motorsport's supreme governing body, the FIA."

Also... if you missed it the first time around, Truth in 24 will be airing again this weekend I believe on friday night...

[Redliner]

I'll be racing myself this weekend so I'll have to catch the highlight reel

[_R_]

Free Practice 1 (so far, 4 hours remaining)

Reigning Le Mans 24 Hours victors Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello are leading the way for Audi after two hours of today's free practice session.

The #1 Audi R15 has set a best time so far of 3:30.708, just half a tenth quicker than the German manufacturer's #2 car of Mike Rockenfeller, Marco Werner and Lucas Luhr.

The closest of the Peugeots is less than half a second behind the lead Audi, with the #9 car of Alexander Wurz, David Brabham and Marc Gene lapping in 3:31.102.

The Pescarolo-run customer Peugeot 908 of Jean-Christophe Boullion, Simon Pagenaud and Benoit Treluyer is currently fourth overall after a spell at the top of the timesheet earlier in the session.

All three of the Lola Aston Martins have now posted times in the session, the quickest of which is the #008 car of Darren Turner, Anthony Davidson and Jos Verstappen at a 3:35.996.

The Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder is the quickest LMP2 car so far, while the #63 factory Corvette and the #77 Felbermayer Porsche lead the GT1 and GT2 times respectively.

A dry line had begun to emerge on the circuit after an hour's running, but steady rain has been falling over the pits and first part of the lap since around 19:30 local time, forcing everyone to switch to intermediate tyres. The session will run until midnight local time.

Incidents so far include Jean de Pourtales crashing the #39 KSM Lola-Mazda into the wall at the Ford chicance, Alex Muller having a trip over the gravel at the Dunlop Curves in the Jetalliance Aston Martin and the Japanese Lamborghini Murcielago stopping on its out lap, seemingly with a mechanical problem.

Pos Drivers Car Time
LMP1
1. #1 McNish/Kristensen/Capello Audi R15 3:30.708
2. #2 Rockenfeller/Werner/Luhr Audi R15 3:30.762
3. #9 Wurz/Brabham/Gene Peugeot 908 3:31.102
4. #17 Boullion/Pagenaud/Treluyer Peugeot 908 3:33.028
5. #8 Sarrazin/Montagny/Bourdais Peugeot 908 3:33.426
6. #3 Bernhard/Dumas/Premat Audi R15 3:34.716
7. #16 Tinseau/Barbosa/Jouanny Pescarolo 3:35.868
8. #008 Turner/Davidson/Verstappen Lola Aston Martin 3:35.996
9. #007 Mucke/Enge/Charouz Lola Aston Martin 3:36.732
10. #7 Minassian/Lamy/Klien Peugeot 908 3:37.980

LMP2
1. #31 Collard/Elgaard/Poulsen Porsche 3:46.426
2. #5 Ara/Kunimoto/Maassen Porsche 3:48.096
3. #40 Smith/Pla/Amaral Ginetta Zytek 3:56.200

GT1
1. #63 Magnussen/O'Connell/Garcia Corvette 3:57.876
2. #64 Gavin/Beretta/Fassler Corvette 3:59.586
3. #66 Muller/Lichtner-Hoyer/Gruber Aston Martin 4:06.606

GT2
1. #77 Lieb/Lietz/Henzler Porsche 4:08.304
2. #82 Salo/Melo/Kaffer Ferrari 4:10.980
3. #85 Coronel/Bleekemolen/Janis Spyker 4:13.196

[MrHahn]

Is JV racing for Peugeot this time around?


I hope this race is as agonizing as last years for Peugeot fans.

[MrHahn]

Oh by the way down here they're showing something like 8 hours of the race live - so I'm totally in on this mofo

[_R_]

Oh by the way down here they're showing something like 8 hours of the race live - so I'm totally in on this mofo

i think we're getting a good 18 hours of coverage live? I think we miss a good chunk of the night portion live...

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

i think we're getting a good 18 hours of coverage live? I think we miss a good chunk of the night portion live...

dawn is the best time anyways.

[DrDickAction]

i think we're getting a good 18 hours of coverage live? I think we miss a good chunk of the night portion live...

they're not streeming the unaired bits on speedtv.com?

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

they're not streeming the unaired bits on speedtv.com?

8:30 a.m. - Noon - Le Mans 24 Hours on SPEED (Live – The Start)
Noon - 4:30 p.m. - SPEEDtv.com streaming coverage with RadioLemans.com
4:30 p.m. – 10 p.m. - Le Mans 24 Hours on SPEED (Live – Day Into Night)
10:00 p.m. – Midnight - SPEEDtv.com streaming coverage with RadioLemans.com

Sunday, June 14
Midnight – 10:00 a.m. - Le Mans 24 Hours (Live – The Finish)

[DrDickAction]

8:30 a.m. - Noon - Le Mans 24 Hours on SPEED (Live – The Start)
Noon - 4:30 p.m. - SPEEDtv.com streaming coverage with RadioLemans.com
4:30 p.m. – 10 p.m. - Le Mans 24 Hours on SPEED (Live – Day Into Night)
10:00 p.m. – Midnight - SPEEDtv.com streaming coverage with RadioLemans.com

Sunday, June 14
Midnight – 10:00 a.m. - Le Mans 24 Hours (Live – The Finish)

Not gonna get that much done around the house this weekend.

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

pictars people.. please get this pic for me in high res i need a new desktop wallpaper.
http://www.autosport...o.php/id/131007

[_R_]

Not gonna get that much done around the house this weekend.

MotoGP and WRC are also this weekend

[kngrsll]

MotoGP and WRC are also this weekend

and i have so much to do this weekend not that i has a tv anyways

but i will be autoxing sunday!

[Shi]

and i have so much to do this weekend not that i has a tv anyways

but i will be autoxing sunday!

I'll be going to my first ever AutoX on Sunday

[_R_]

Audi struck the first blow at this year's Le Mans 24 Hours by posting the fastest times in the free practice session on Wednesday.

The session was hit by rain just over 60 minutes into the six-hours, so there were no improvements to the front running times for the vast majority of practice. The fastest times were set after each car had completed just a handful of installation laps, before they were forced into wet weather testing for the rest of the evening.

Last year's winning crew of Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello posted the quickest time of the session, but just half a tenth quicker than their team-mates Lucas Luhr, Mike Rockenfeller and Marco Werner in the #2 R15.

The #9 car of Marc Gene, David Brabham and Alexander Wurz was the quickest of the Peugeots but also suffered the brunt of the team's problems, requiring a new clutch mid-way through the session before returning to the pits in a cloud of smoke in the final 10 minutes.

The Pescarolo-run customer Peugeot 908 of Jean-Christophe Boullion, Simon Pagenaud and Benoit Treluyer was the fourth fastest car in the session, outpacing two of the factory cars.

The best of the Lola Aston Martins - the #008 car of Darren Turner, Anthony Davidson and Jos Verstappen - finished the session eighth overall, five seconds off the pace of the lead Audis.

The second Aston Martin Racing car was less than a second behind, while the #009 car was a couple of seconds behind and had to be pushed back to the garage when it ground to a halt while leaving the pits near the end of the session.

The Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder was quickest of the LMP2 cars, 1.5 seconds ahead of its nearest rival, the similar car of Team Goh.

The factory Corvettes led the GT1 class with the #63 car of Jan Magnussen, Johnny O'Connell and Antonio Garcia a couple of seconds faster than the #64 example of Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Marcel Fassler.

GT2 was headed by the Team Felbermayr Porsche of Richard Lietz, Marc Lieb and Wolf Henzler.

looking at the times... is the Acrua LMP1 team not doing the 24 hour? They were making such a big hoopla in the 12 hours of Sebring... but I don't see their names listed in the Practice session times...

[Nacho]

looking at the times... is the Acrua LMP1 team not doing the 24 hour? They were making such a big hoopla in the 12 hours of Sebring... but I don't see their names listed in the Practice session times...

Isn't Acura just running ALMS?

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

Isn't Acura just running ALMS?

I don't think Acura runs outside of ALMS.

[DrDickAction]

that's odd.

I know there's no acura in the EU, but they already have the car, why not just go for it for the few people in the U.S. and China that follow?

[_R_]

Isn't Acura just running ALMS?

ahh... makes sense now... didn't even think about that...

[kngrsll]

I'll be going to my first ever AutoX on Sunday

boring as fuck compared to the 'ring im sure...

[Nacho]

that's odd.

I know there's no acura in the EU, but they already have the car, why not just go for it for the few people in the U.S. and China that follow?

Likely the costs to run the LeMans series vs just the ALMS. Really, even to just run LeMans would be pretty costly, as they'd have to set the operation up to go overseas and operate there, spares, etc.

[Nacho]

boring as fuck compared to the 'ring im sure...

And people notice a bit more if you're banging your lady friend on track.

[_R_]

And people notice a bit more if you're banging your lady friend on track.

some men require larger cones than others when hiding wood at the track

[Redliner]

And people notice a bit more if you're banging your lady friend on track.

Shi, why are you doing an autox? You've already driven on the Ring!

I have a time trial this weekend!!

[MrHahn]

i think we're getting a good 18 hours of coverage live? I think we miss a good chunk of the night portion live...

Sounds like at least you guys get some things live. I'm still watching delayed NBA Finals games