Audi's 13th victory at Le Mans was a battle of sportscar racing's most advanced machinery yet, but it produced a classic that was reminiscent of a bygone era. GARY WATKINS explains how it all unfolded
A new high-tech era dawned with the 82nd running of the Le Mans 24 Hours at the weekend, yet this year's race had a decidedly old-school feel.
This was a Le Mans where each and every factory LMP1 car encountered problems, where there were fightbacks galore and where the order continually reshuffled. And out of it all, Audi came through to notch up victory number 13 in the great race.
Andre Lotterer, Marcel Fassler and Benoit Treluyer scored a third victory in four years aboard the #2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro because they, of all the factory entries, encountered fewest problems. Or rather wasted least time sitting in the pits.
But their victory was far from a case of last man standing. In between problems, they drove flat out around the 8.47-mile Circuit de la Sarthe, which was the case for the six Audi drivers of the two R18s that made it beyond the second hour.
Toyota and Porsche fought for pole, and led the field away for the start © LAT |
The Audi turbodiesel hybrid, as expected, didn't have the pace of Toyota's TS040 HYBRID in the early stages, but during the night the winning car and the eventual second-placed R18 shared by Tom Kristensen, Lucas di Grassi and late stand-in Marc Gene were pretty much on a par with the Japanese machine leading the race in the hands of Alex Wurz, Kazuki Nakajima and Stephane Sarrazin.
Sometimes the Audi was quicker and sometimes the Toyota was quicker. The net advantage was in the Japanese car's favour, though that had a lot to do with a safety car period in the seventh hour that extended the lead for the #7 Toyota from just over a minute to nearly two.
The big question was whether the Toyota out front was going flat out.
Wurz was insistent that he and his team-mates weren't: "Once we realised that we had the base, we decided during the night not to take any risks in traffic. When I had clean laps, I was still the fastest car on track."
Toyota Motorsport technical director Pascal Vasselon explained that the leading TS040 encountered tyre warm-up issues during the night, which was the reason for this strategy.
Audi wasn't so sure.
"I think they were pushing flat-out," said Gene. "It made no sense if they weren't because Le Mans is all about opening up a lap advantage. At the beginning, they were quicker, but as the track rubbered-in it was pretty even."
The plan at Toyota was to start pushing once track temperatures began to increase after dawn, but the leading car didn't quite see sunrise: it stopped out on the circuit with an electrical glitch in the 14th hour.
With the second TS040 shared by Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi and Nicolas Lapierre languishing 11 laps down in sixth place after a second-hour shunt that had put the #3 Audi out of the race, Toyota's challenge was effectively over.
The failure was a freak one: the car encountered an issue with the wiring loom of one of its scrutineering systems, and the team was aware of it and had just called in Nakajima.
Leading Toyota didn't quite make it through the night © LAT |
"We knew what it was, we had called Kazuki in, the mechanics were ready to change it and it would have taken two or three minutes to solve - it would have been a really quick pitstop," explained Vasselon.
"But unfortunately the loom melted before the car could get back to the pits.
"We cannot say it was bad luck, because a problem is a problem. The bad luck was that we couldn't get the car back to the pits."
The end of Toyota's challenge left the winning Audi two laps clear of the second-place Porsche 919 Hybrid shared by Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley, and a further lap ahead of its sister car. Kristensen and co had been delayed in hour 13, first by a fuel injector problem and then by a puncture.
Kristensen, di Grassi and Gene, who joined the line-up after Loic Duval was ruled out of the race in the wake of his dramatic accident in practice, all put in impressive times as they strove to make up the lost time. That had brought them up to second place by the time Fassler came into the pits with engine problems.
The turbocharger on Audi #2 was eventually changed after one failed attempt to fix the problem, with the total loss of 23 minutes. That set the #1 car of Kristensen on course for Le Mans victory number 10 until a repeat of the turbo issue brought him into the pits four hours later.
That promoted the Porsche into the lead, though the pace of the car was such that a 17th victory for the Stuttgart marque was never really on the cards. Lotterer was routinely five seconds a lap quicker than Bernhard aboard the 919 and moved ahead in the 22nd hour.
Porsche never looked like a potential winner. The 919 Hybrid, which had missed out on pole in Romain Dumas's hands by just three tenths of a second, wasn't on the pace of the Toyota or the Audi in the race.
Webber's #20 Porsche 919 was on course for a podium before engine failure © LAT |
Both cars were afflicted by problems that slowed them from the beginning: the #20 had a handling imbalance, while the #14 entry, in which Dumas was joined by Neel Jani and Marc Lieb, had a braking issue.
Porsche still looked on course for what would have been an impressive podium on its first year back at the sharp end of the Le Mans grid since 1998 when Webber encountered engine problems and had to bring the car back to the pits on electrical power. It was a bitter disappointment.
"We stated before the event that we wanted to get to the finish and that a podium was unrealistic," said Porsche LMP1 technical director Alex Hitzinger. "I know we said all this, but to get so close to a podium and then all that to come true, is all very disappointing."
Porsche did get one of its cars to the finish, of sorts. The #14 919, which had twice been delayed with fuel pressure problems, took the chequered flag after more than an hour in the pits undergoing gearbox repairs and completed enough laps to be listed as 11th in the final results sheet.
It was actually not classified, because the last lap was longer than the six minutes allowed under the race rules. In truth it wasn't, it was just that the car had crossed the timing beam at the start of the lap when it had pitted in the 23rd hour and was credited with a 1h26m lap.
The #20 Porsche's retirement allowed the delayed TS040 to take the final podium spot, though it was no compensation to Toyota.
"I've come here eight times and seven times I have led with the potential to win," said Wurz. "I've only won it twice, so I know the feeling, but it gets harder to take each year."
Vasselon was more succinct: "Don't talk to me about podiums."
Audi's 13th victory at Le Mans was a battle of sportscar racing's most advanced machinery yet, but it produced a classic that was reminiscent of a bygone era. GARY WATKINS explains how it all unfolded
A new high-tech era dawned with the 82nd running of the Le Mans 24 Hours at the weekend, yet this year's race had a decidedly old-school feel.
This was a Le Mans where each and every factory LMP1 car encountered problems, where there were fightbacks galore and where the order continually reshuffled. And out of it all, Audi came through to notch up victory number 13 in the great race.
Andre Lotterer, Marcel Fassler and Benoit Treluyer scored a third victory in four years aboard the #2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro because they, of all the factory entries, encountered fewest problems. Or rather wasted least time sitting in the pits.
But their victory was far from a case of last man standing. In between problems, they drove flat out around the 8.47-mile Circuit de la Sarthe, which was the case for the six Audi drivers of the two R18s that made it beyond the second hour.
Toyota and Porsche fought for pole, and led the field away for the start © LAT |
The Audi turbodiesel hybrid, as expected, didn't have the pace of Toyota's TS040 HYBRID in the early stages, but during the night the winning car and the eventual second-placed R18 shared by Tom Kristensen, Lucas di Grassi and late stand-in Marc Gene were pretty much on a par with the Japanese machine leading the race in the hands of Alex Wurz, Kazuki Nakajima and Stephane Sarrazin.
Sometimes the Audi was quicker and sometimes the Toyota was quicker. The net advantage was in the Japanese car's favour, though that had a lot to do with a safety car period in the seventh hour that extended the lead for the #7 Toyota from just over a minute to nearly two.
The big question was whether the Toyota out front was going flat out.
Wurz was insistent that he and his team-mates weren't: "Once we realised that we had the base, we decided during the night not to take any risks in traffic. When I had clean laps, I was still the fastest car on track."
Toyota Motorsport technical director Pascal Vasselon explained that the leading TS040 encountered tyre warm-up issues during the night, which was the reason for this strategy.
Audi wasn't so sure.
"I think they were pushing flat-out," said Gene. "It made no sense if they weren't because Le Mans is all about opening up a lap advantage. At the beginning, they were quicker, but as the track rubbered-in it was pretty even."
The plan at Toyota was to start pushing once track temperatures began to increase after dawn, but the leading car didn't quite see sunrise: it stopped out on the circuit with an electrical glitch in the 14th hour.
With the second TS040 shared by Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi and Nicolas Lapierre languishing 11 laps down in sixth place after a second-hour shunt that had put the #3 Audi out of the race, Toyota's challenge was effectively over.
The failure was a freak one: the car encountered an issue with the wiring loom of one of its scrutineering systems, and the team was aware of it and had just called in Nakajima.
Leading Toyota didn't quite make it through the night © LAT |
"We knew what it was, we had called Kazuki in, the mechanics were ready to change it and it would have taken two or three minutes to solve - it would have been a really quick pitstop," explained Vasselon.
"But unfortunately the loom melted before the car could get back to the pits.
"We cannot say it was bad luck, because a problem is a problem. The bad luck was that we couldn't get the car back to the pits."
The end of Toyota's challenge left the winning Audi two laps clear of the second-place Porsche 919 Hybrid shared by Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley, and a further lap ahead of its sister car. Kristensen and co had been delayed in hour 13, first by a fuel injector problem and then by a puncture.
Kristensen, di Grassi and Gene, who joined the line-up after Loic Duval was ruled out of the race in the wake of his dramatic accident in practice, all put in impressive times as they strove to make up the lost time. That had brought them up to second place by the time Fassler came into the pits with engine problems.
The turbocharger on Audi #2 was eventually changed after one failed attempt to fix the problem, with the total loss of 23 minutes. That set the #1 car of Kristensen on course for Le Mans victory number 10 until a repeat of the turbo issue brought him into the pits four hours later.
That promoted the Porsche into the lead, though the pace of the car was such that a 17th victory for the Stuttgart marque was never really on the cards. Lotterer was routinely five seconds a lap quicker than Bernhard aboard the 919 and moved ahead in the 22nd hour.
Porsche never looked like a potential winner. The 919 Hybrid, which had missed out on pole in Romain Dumas's hands by just three tenths of a second, wasn't on the pace of the Toyota or the Audi in the race.
Webber's #20 Porsche 919 was on course for a podium before engine failure © LAT |
Both cars were afflicted by problems that slowed them from the beginning: the #20 had a handling imbalance, while the #14 entry, in which Dumas was joined by Neel Jani and Marc Lieb, had a braking issue.
Porsche still looked on course for what would have been an impressive podium on its first year back at the sharp end of the Le Mans grid since 1998 when Webber encountered engine problems and had to bring the car back to the pits on electrical power. It was a bitter disappointment.
"We stated before the event that we wanted to get to the finish and that a podium was unrealistic," said Porsche LMP1 technical director Alex Hitzinger. "I know we said all this, but to get so close to a podium and then all that to come true, is all very disappointing."
Porsche did get one of its cars to the finish, of sorts. The #14 919, which had twice been delayed with fuel pressure problems, took the chequered flag after more than an hour in the pits undergoing gearbox repairs and completed enough laps to be listed as 11th in the final results sheet.
It was actually not classified, because the last lap was longer than the six minutes allowed under the race rules. In truth it wasn't, it was just that the car had crossed the timing beam at the start of the lap when it had pitted in the 23rd hour and was credited with a 1h26m lap.
The #20 Porsche's retirement allowed the delayed TS040 to take the final podium spot, though it was no compensation to Toyota.
"I've come here eight times and seven times I have led with the potential to win," said Wurz. "I've only won it twice, so I know the feeling, but it gets harder to take each year."
Vasselon was more succinct: "Don't talk to me about podiums."
