Le-Mans 24hrs 2014

[Nero Horse]

Does our #51 car still have a chance to get back on top or are we out of contention for the 1st place already?

[Rob]

Ferrari Races ‏@FerrariRaces 1m
#FerrariLeMans14: #71 Ferrari driven by Rigon, Calado and Beretta is now offical retirement for technical problems

[Rob]

Does our #51 car still have a chance to get back on top or are we out of contention for the 1st place already?

no way out of contention yet.

[Nero Horse]

no way out of contention yet.

How long is the gap between our #51 car to the leading car in GTE Pro? Sorry that I'm asking but I'm currently watching Le Mans with one eye and World Cup game with the other eye lol.

[Ste]

How long is the gap between our #51 car to the leading car in GTE Pro? Sorry that I'm asking but I'm currently watching Le Mans with one eye and World Cup game with the other eye lol.

34 seconds.

[Ste]

Gap is increasing though. Around 36s now.

[Nero Horse]

34 seconds.

Thanks.

[fratelliferrari]

Ferrari Races ‏@FerrariRaces 1m
#FerrariLeMans14: #71 Ferrari driven by Rigon, Calado and Beretta is now offical retirement for technical problems

That's so sad! Keep up #51! Forza AF Corse!

[Ste]

Both Porsches pitted. We are up to second in GTe Pro. Gap to the leader down from 42s to 36s.

[Rob]

TOYOTA RACING: LE MANS 24 HOURS UPDATE 1
Saturday 14 June 2014

TS040 HYBRID #7 (Alex Wurz, Stéphane Sarrazin, Kazuki Nakajima)
Grid: 1st
Alex lined up for the 82nd Le Mans 24 Hours from pole position and held the advantage. Consistently lapping faster than all other cars, the #7 was able to build a 30-second lead either side of a scheduled fuel stop. As Alex prepared to pit for a second time, around 90 minutes into the race, heavy rain soaked the track, prompting a switch to hybrid intermediate tyres. But the track was too wet for racing and the safety car came out for around 50 minutes. That green flag period lasted only around 15 minutes, with more rain prompting another safety car. The team chose to bring the #7 into the pits and switch to wet tyres, with Stéphane taking over.

Alex Wurz: “At the start everything was fine and under control; the car was running well. The balance was pretty good and I was able to pull away from the cars behind and extend our lead. Then it started raining and it was extremely difficult to survive out there. I had really a lot of aquaplaning on the straight. Thankfully the car stayed straight and I could stay on track. From the road safety training I do, I know that in these situations you have to drop the clutch in order stay straight and that’s what I did.”

TS040 HYBRID #8 (Anthony Davidson, Nicolas Lapierre, Sébastien Buemi)
Grid: 3rd
Nicolas held third at the start but soon overtook the #14 Porsche for second. That did not last though, as a minor trip through the gravel cost a position and prompted an exciting scrap with the #2 and #3 Audis. But the heavy rain had a drastic effect on the #8, which was involved in a multi-car accident in very poor visibility on an extremely slippery track. Nicolas brought the car back to the pits where team members immediately began to replace the front and rear bodywork as well as the suspension assembly at the front left corner. Efficient work from the team saw repairs completed within 50 minutes so Sébastien could return to the track, eight laps down.

Nicolas Lapierre: “I came on to the back straight before the Michelin chicane. There was very heavy rain and then I saw some cars very slow, none had a rain light on. They were very slow and I tried to brake. I’m not sure if the GT car hit me first or not. I don’t know really what happened. Then I went against the wall on the right side and a GT car took everyone out. That’s all I can remember from the crash. Honestly there was nothing I could see and nothing I could do.”

[Rob]

4 hours: Ferrari in trouble in the rain

Le Mans, June 14 - is being the fourth hour of the race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and two storms that have hit the Sarthe circuit are affecting the race of the Ferrari. The 458 GT2 Italy, in fact, most of the competitors struggling to get heat into the tires wet and this caused him to lose control of the charts in both categories.
In the class LMGTE Pro the # 51 of "Gimmi" Bruni, Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander, with the world champion at the wheel, was able to hold the top spot for the entire first hour of the race, but after the first time slipped behind the Chevrolet # 74 of Jan Magnussen. Following another storm is then finished behind even the Porsche # 91 and # 92. Now the steering wheel is Vilander that, with the track back now dry, is catching up on opponents and is located at 34 seconds from the category leader. Seventh position for the 458 GT2 Racing RAM, a more than two minutes behind the leader, withdrew the # 71 Rigon-Kaffer-Beretta.
In the class LMGTE Am's departure had been encouraging, with Sam Bird fast enough to be able to protect their backs on Bruni, keeping at a distance the # 74 Chevrolet. The problems, even in this case, have arrived along with the rain. In the flood that has been unleashed Bird did not see the yellow flags and ended up centering the Toyota Frenchman Nicolas Lapierre and the Audi Italy's Marco Bonanomi two LMP1 cars. Ferrari # 81 and the Audi # 3 were therefore forced to retire while Toyota has resumed but it is very lingered. Leading the way is the Aston Martin # 98 of Nygaard-Lamy-Dalla Lana who has a ten-second gap on the Porsche # 77 Dempsey-Long and Foster-21 on the # 53 Ferrari team RAM Racing Mowlem-Patterson -Hamilton. It is driven by the latter, and he, with a dry track, is catching up on rivals. Fourth in the # 72 (SMP Racing) Bertolini-Shaitar-Basov. In front of the race the Toyota # 7 of Stephane Sarrazin, Alexander Wurz and Kazuki Nakajima driving 33 seconds ahead sull'Audi # 2 Benoit Treluyer, Andre Lotterer and Marcel Fassler. Next update at 23.

[Rob]

ASTON MARTIN LEADS GTE AM AT FOUR-HOUR MARK

Le Mans, 14 June 2014 - After four hours of racing in dramatically changing weather conditions, Aston Martin Racing is leading the GTE Am class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with its #98 V8 Vantage GTE.

Pedro Lamy (PT) started the race at 1500hrs CEST from second place on the grid and began a triple stint that included two heavy rain showers and ever-changing tyre strategies.

“The team did a great job with the tyre choices today,” commented Lamy. “The plan was to do my stint and stay out of trouble as it is a long race. With so much happening on track this wasn’t easy but the engineers and I worked together to make some good decisions and make the most of the pit stops.”

At 18.15, Lamy handed over to team-mate Christoffer Nygaard (DN).

In the GTE Pro class, Darren Turner (GB) started the race from third and managed to keep the #97 Vantage GTE intact, despite incidents happening all around him when the first rain fell. With the safety car deployed to clear the track of debris, the team took the decision to put Stefan Mücke (DE) in earlier than scheduled, but the pit stop and change to wet tyres didn’t quite work in the team’s favour. Bruno Senna (BR) took over on the four our mark and the car is in fifth place.

"This is a long race," commented Turner. "We are staying out of trouble and playing the long game."

The #95 Young Driver V8 Vantage GTE is in fifth place in the pack of 14 GTE Am cars. Nicki Thiim (DN) started the race and currently holds the fastest lap of the GTE Am class. David Heinemeier Hansson (DN) is now behind the wheel.

A new free-to-download Aston Martin Racing iPhone and Android app is now available on the iTunes and Google Play stores. Users can follow the race, get driver and track info and see telemetric data live from the Aston Martin Racing garage.

- ENDS -

[Rob]

#79 pits, blown tyre and small fire in engine bay from the heated rubber.

[Rob]

Audi Sport ‏@Audi__Sport 53s
No.1 pit stop (P3), @LucasdiGrassi out, @marc_gene in, diesel, tires

[Rob]

Audi Sport ‏@Audi__Sport 15s
@marc_gene beginning his first stint in the race

[Rob]

8Star Motorsports ‏@8starmotor 6s
Lap 83: The Safety Car makes another appearance after the KCMG collides with the barrier

[Rob]

Audi Sport ‏@Audi__Sport 32s View translation
No.2 pit stop (P2), @BenoitTreluyer out, Fässler in, diesel, tire

[Rob]

Aston Martin Racing ‏@AMR_Official 5s
The safety car came in and @DarrenTurner007 took the chance to make a move on the P2 Ferrari. He's now just two seconds off the race leader.

[fratelliferrari]

Come on Fisi!

[Rob]

Come on Fisi!

so close.

[fratelliferrari]

Fantastic racing To be honest most of the time more enjoyable than F1 these days!

[Ste]

Come on Fisi! It's nowhere near over yet. Anything can happen.

[AfterLife]

Thanks for lovely photos Rob. But so much fuel usage. It is better to stop LeMans24 and give it's fuel to Formula1 or Le-Mans 2hrs is enough. FIA have to do something about so much fuel usage in LeMans.

[Rob]

Fantastic racing To be honest most of the time more enjoyable than F1 these days!

i know, GT is always close, and exciting. Darren, is on newer tyres than us.

[Rob]

Thanks for lovely photos Rob. But so much fuel usage. It is better to stop LeMans24 and give it's fuel to Formula1 or Le-Mans 2hrs is enough. FIA have to do something about so much fuel usage in LeMans.

They are using 30-35% fuel less than last year. And still driving flat out every lap, with V8s V6s and more power than F1 cars, F1 should look at this and sit up.

[fratelliferrari]

i know, GT is always close, and exciting. Darren, is on newer tyres than us.

I was afraid of that yeah. But we can still catch him right?

[Rob]

TOYOTA RACING: LE MANS 24 HOURS UPDATE 2
Saturday 14 June 2014

TS040 HYBRID #7 (Alex Wurz, Stéphane Sarrazin, Kazuki Nakajima)
Grid: 1st
As Stéphane took over the race-leading #7 during the safety car period, switching to wet tyres in the process, he suffered unfortunate timing. The race poised to restart so the car was held at the end of the pit lane, enduring a frustrating wait as the #20 Porsche eventually passed before Stéphane was allowed to rejoin. He immediately set a quick pace and closed on the leader, a pattern which continued when he returned to slick tyres. The two leaders were on different strategies but the picture became clearer at Stéphane’s second pit stop; he rejoined the track without giving up the lead and began to pull away. When he handed over to Kazuki, after around a quarter of the race, the #7 held a healthy advantage over the #2 Audi.

Stéphane Sarrazin: “It was a tough start for me. I did four stints and my first in the wet was really on the edge. When I came out of the pits after the safety car I was behind 20 or so cars and I couldn’t see the track; there was so much water on the straight. I had to take a lot of time to overtake all those cars and avoid any problems. After that the track dried up and it was very good. The car has a good balance so I kept pushing to increase the gap between me and the rest of the field.”

TS040 HYBRID #8 (Anthony Davidson, Nicolas Lapierre, Sébastien Buemi)
Grid: 3rd
Sébastien had taken the #8 back on track on wet tyres, but outside the top 30 and with a tough task to claim a strong result. He was soon setting competitive lap times, which validated the repair work carried out so quickly by the team. As the track dried, he took on slick tyres and started recovering positions, with the #8 drivers having a 16-point lead in the FIA World Endurance Championship to protect. Sébastien gave the car to Anthony having moved inside the top 20.

Sébastien Buemi: “What can I say? It was very disappointing to have the problem so early. There is only one thing to do now which is keep our heads up and push hard until the end. The guys did a great job to repair the car so thanks a lot for their efforts. Because of the damage, it wasn’t possible to get the car back in a perfect condition so we don’t have the ideal set-up but I pushed as hard as I could and we made up a lot of places.”

French and German translations of this press release will be available shortly on www.toyotahybridracing.com, where copyright-free photos are also available for editorial use.

[Rob]

24 HOURS OF LE MANS, RACE BULLETIN 1 – ISSUED AT 21.00


Ram Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GTE #52 Pro
Matt Griffin (IRE)
Alvaro Parente (POR)
Federico Leo (ITA)

Ram Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GTE #53 Am
Johnny Mowlem (GBR)
Mark Patterson (USA)
Archie Hamilton (GBR)

#52 P8 #53 P4

Six-hours into the 24 hours of Le Mans, the #52 Ram Racing Ferrari 458 Italia of Matt Griffin, Alvaro Parente and Federico Leo has endured a challenging start to the race.

Sudden and torrential rain two hours into the race caused concern and caught out experienced drivers through all four classes. Matt Griffin in the #52 was the victim of circumstance when he spun off the track at the Ford chicane and into the gravel but thankfully he could re-join and hand over to Alvaro Parente. At the four-hour mark the gremlins struck, and electrical issues which resulted in a small cockpit fire forced Alvaro first off track where it was extinguished, and then back to the garage where the team worked furiously to resolve the issue. Federico Leo is now behind the wheel for his first stint but 20 laps have been forfeited to the lead group of LMGTE Pro cars.

The #53 Ferrari 458 Italia of Mowlem, Hamilton and Patterson has been running solidly, with no concerns or worries. Johnny triple-stinted from the start of the race, and managed the changeable conditions on track superbly, running as high as second before handing over to the capable Archie Hamilton. Mark Patterson is currently behind the wheel.

Johnny Mowlem: “I made up several positions at the start in the dry. Then, it started raining and I thought I would stay out for one more lap; I gambled a bit to be honest, and it paid off. It was really difficult behind the safety car on slicks; I could not go more than 80 kilometres an hour without it aquaplaning. After the second short, sharp shower and another safety car, I just inched away a little bit. We got up to P2 and it was a good run, but we still have a long way to go.”

Archie Hamilton: “The car feels good and I had a really solid run in P2. I’ve just handed the car over to Mark who has just jumped in for his first run. Johnny did a great job at the start to get us into position. The most challenging part of race so far is managing the traffic. Because of the different classes, there are a lot of cars out there that are catching you so you have to manage the moves and take no risks. I want to finish the race and not go home early like last year!”

[Rob]

[Rob]

I was afraid of that yeah. But we can still catch him right?

yes, we can. We should be good, still.