Le-Mans 24hrs 2013

[Rob]

Leena

[Rob]

[Rob]

ASTON MARTIN: MEET THE TEAM AT LE MANS

Event: The Aston Martin 24 Hours of Le Mans ‘Meet the Team’ Media Event
Date: Thursday 20 June 2013
Time: 1530hrs
Location: Aston Martin Paddock Hospitality Unit

Aston Martin is inviting all media pass holders at the 90th 24 Hours of Le Mans to meet its drivers and key personnel at 1530hrs on Thursday 20 June in the Aston Martin Racing paddock hospitality unit.

Aston Martin Chairman David Richards, Aston Martin Racing Team Principal John Gaw and Chief GT Engineer Dan Sayers will be present, alongside all 15 Aston Martin Racing drivers:

#99 Bruno Senna (BR), Fred Makowiecki (FR) and Rob Bell (GB)
#98 Pedro Lamy (PT), Paul Dalla Lana (CN) and Bill Auberlen (USA)

#97 Darren Turner (GB), Stefan Mücke (D) and Peter Dumbreck (GB)


#96 Jamie Campbell-Walter (GB), Stuart Hall (GB) and Roald Goethe (D)
#95 Allan Simonsen (DN), Kristian Poulsen (DN) and Christoffer Nygaard (DN)



[Rob]

ASTON MARTIN LE MANS FASTEST IN FIRST QUALIFYING SESSION

Le Mans, 20 June 2013 - Aston Martin Racing topped both the timing tables in the first qualifying session of the 24 Hours of Le Mans last night. The # 99 GTE Vantage, driven by Frenchman Frederic Makowiecki, put in a 3:55.658 to go fastest overall and, in the GTE Am class, the # 95 was the quickest of the nighttime session.

Despite the extra ballast Given to all five of the Vantage Gtes Following solid performances in the official Le Mans test session 10 days ago, each of the cars pushed hard to record fast times.

With little under an hour remaining, the session was red-flagged two to an irreparable damage to barrier Caused by an incident.

Aston Martin Racing Team Principal John Gaw comments: "The team finally got out on track for the first running of a busy week and going fastest in both GT classes is certainly a good way to start our Le Mans campaign. The four-hour practice session earlier in the day allowed us to get the cars well prepared and our drivers put in some solid laps in the qualifying session despite the disruptions Caused by red flags and the mixed conditions on track. The plan is to keep pushing and get the best possible results for all of our qualifying cars as well as setting them up to make them easy to drive in the race. "

The five Aston Martin Vantage Gtes will next head out onto the track at 1900hrs today for the second qualifying session of the week.

GTE Pro cars:

# 97 Darren Turner (GB), Stefan Mücke (D) and Peter Dumbreck (GB)

# 98 Pedro Lamy (PT), Paul Dalla Lana (CN) and Bill Auberlen (USA)

# 99 Bruno Senna (BR) , Fred Makowiecki (FR) and Rob Bell (GB)

GTE Am cars:

# 95 Allan Simonsen (DN), Kristian Poulsen (DN) and Christoffer Nygaard (DN)

# 96 Jamie Campbell-Walter (GB), Stuart Hall (GB) and Roald Goethe (D)

The 90th Edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans starts on June 22 at 15:00 hrs CET. Follow the team's progress at www.astonmartin.com / racing on Facebook www.facebook.com / astonmartinracing and on Twitter using @ AMR_Official

- ENDS -

[Rob]

Was a big crash for Tracy last night. Strange sessions as 2 red flags...

NEW KROHN RACING
The Ferrari crashed car can not be repaired, but ...
Crashed yesterday, the Krohn Racing Ferrari can not be repaired for the race ... But the U.S. team did not give up the 24 Hours of Le Mans!

Last night, Tracy Krohn suffered a spectacular crash in the downhill leading to the "S" of the Forest. If the American got away unscathed, his green Ferrari can not be repaired for the race. One solution: find another car and get a special dispensation to sell. This is the goal that is set Krohn Racing mechanics, which are in possession of a Ferrari 458 Italia shipped in emergency Mans by team Team Black. This car is usually initiated by International GT Open with the number 27.

Krohn Racing mechanics are busy right now to put in ACO configuration, after which they will seek the gratitude of scrutineers. The changes to be made concern including air intake flanges, headlights (yellow in Le Mans GTE), the bucket seat. Also, the doors must be drilled to accommodate the lights indicating the position of the cars in the top three in the category. The American team hopes to be able to send the car running tonight, Niclas Jönsson and Maurizio Mediani to perform five rounds of mandatory testing night.

[Rob]

Just started quali, it raining, well just stopped but really really wet.

[Rob]

Karun Chandhok and Murphy Prototypes after qualifying at the La Sarthe
Chandhok's team Murphy Prototypes set a time of 3:44.538 to provisionally qualify in 17th place overall, and 9th in their category

June 20, 2013, Le Mans, France: Indian racing driver Karun Chandhok and his team Murphy Prototypes finished the first day of practice and qualifying at the La Sarthe circuit in the build up to the Le Mans 24 hours. Chandhok's team Murphy Prototypes set a time of 3:44.538 to provisionally qualify in 17th place overall, and 9th in their category. The trio of Brendon Hartley, Mark Patterson and Karun Chandhok will drive the iconic Le Mans 24 hours race in the LMP2 Nissan V8-powered Oreca 03 with Murphy Prototypes. The opening qualifying session finished early due to barrier damage at the second Mulsanne chicane, cutting short the session by 55 minutes.
In the first practice session, which was held in the evening, the team were placed in 23rd position with Mark Patterson behind the wheel. The morning was full of of rain and hail storms which meant there was lack of grip in the first practice session. Patterson did the complete practice session before Chandhok took over for the first qualifying practice session. Chandhok focused on setting up the car for the race and did a fastest time of 3:44:538.

#48 Murphy Prototypes Oreca 03-Nissan: Mark Patterson, Karun Chandhok, Brendon Hartley
Photo by: Eric Gilbert
Chandhok, who is supported by JK Tyre and Tag Heuer, was happy with the session but was clear that there was a lot more work to do. He commented, "It was OK, there wasn’t really time for quali laps as we were still on reasonably used tyres. We were still doing race set-up because of the red flags, so we didn’t have time to do anything, neither Brendon nor I did any laps in the daylight. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t do any in the night either because of the red flag. It was pretty crazy how much time we lost, so we just focused on race set-up. We’re not bad, but we’ve got work to do and we’ll do what we have to do.”
Brendon Hartley did not get much running but was optimistic of a good weekend ahead. He said, “I was planning to do the last 45 minutes this evening and get some laps in, but another red flag and they cancelled the session. I think we’re in good shape though, Karun was in P9 and we weren’t really pushing for quali laps at that point, but I’m sure others have a similar story. We’re feeling reasonably confident, I’m not too worried that I haven’t done any laps yet in the dry, I’ve driven this car enough times and I know the circuit, so I hope to be on it straight away.”
Team Principla Greg Murphy felt the LMP2 category will be one of the most closely contested this weekend with nothing to choose from. He commented, “It’s going to be a scrap in LMP2, there are so many teams here that can win this race but we’re here to fight, we’re here to win. So we’ll see. We typically don’t go all out for Qualifying, especially in the toughest 24 hour race in the world, but we’ll to get ourselves into a reasonable position, it won’t be a banzai, but yeah we’d like to move up the grid a bit.”


Karun Chandhok

[Rob]

seeing the #57 458 in the garage, man those guys have one great job. Looking good.

[Rob]

Really surprised at the Vettes lack of speed, seem really along way off the pace. But it 24 hour race so out right speed isnt to important, but helps.

[Rob]

[Rob]

[Rob]

[Rob]

Audi R18 #1 ‏@AudiR18_1 3m
Track conditions improving and drying. Partial sun now

[Rob]

another red flag, crash, barrier repairs again.

[Rob]

Session will not restart.

Audi R18 #1 ‏@AudiR18_1 48s
The final Quali session will take place in 90 minutes at 10pm local. It will last 2 hours. Final grid order will be determined.

[Rob]

Lemansrace.com ‏@Lemansrace 45s
LMP1s still lapping 20 seconds slower than last night in the dry.

[Rob]

Audi R18 #2 ‏@AudiR18_2 2m
Darkness starting to set in, circut is still wet from 1st Chic.to Indy. 2 hours left. times still 25-30 seconds off last night pace

[Rob]

FIA WEC ‏@FIAWEC 14s
1h45m still to go in this session and session times are dropping, but still well off last night's times.

[Nova]

Porsche is in there now too..going to be a really great battle in the GT classes. 458's Porsche Viper Corvette Aston...
This is a race Id go to. Was glad Krone got a 458 put back together, hope it passes scrut.... They will be starting last I think. Going to be one tough race. And where do these Astons get that speed?

[Rob]

For Immediate Release: Friday, 21st June 2013

Strakka’s 24-hour rebuild ensures Le Mans 24 Hours start

Strakka Racing has completely rebuilt its Honda Performance Development ARX-03c overnight after a heavy crash in qualifying for the Le Mans 24 Hour race – ensuring the only all-British driver line-up of Nick Leventis (London), Danny Watts (Buckingham) and Jonny Kane (Thame) can start the 90th anniversary race tomorrow at 15.00 (CET).

Jonny hit a patch of damp Tarmac under braking for the second chicane on the Mulsanne Straight, which spun the Relentless Energy Drink supported LMP1 car into the crash barriers.

Jonny was uninjured, but the impact destroyed Strakka Racing’s only spare front bodywork panel and engine cover, and leaves the Silverstone-based team with just one spare rear assembly.

However, the team won LMP2 and finished 5th overall in 2010 without sustaining any bodywork damage – and with a competitive car set-up for the race, Strakka Racing is hopeful that it has now exhausted all of its bad luck before this year’s race starts.

It’s been a tough build-up to this year’s 24 Hours, with electrical issues, a lack of dry running and each practice and qualifying session shortened by Red Flags. Even Strakka’s tyre buggy was stolen!

Having qualified 8th, Strakka Racing is one of several teams to receive a grid penalty for qualifying outside the 110% rule – in Strakka’s case, because of its reduced pace owing to its electrical issues. Danny will therefore take the rolling start from the outside of row 18 – 36th on the grid.

But a fantastic team spirit remains, and such troubles are merely part of the challenge of contesting what, to many, is the world’s greatest motor race.

Nick Leventis: “All three drivers have qualified and we believe we have a pretty good car for the race. We’ve been a bit unfortunate with electrical problems and a big impact with a crash barrier, so we haven’t had a chance to show our true pace yet. Qualifying at night for me was tough, because we had major electrical internal current issues. Although I had main headlights, that was about it. I didn’t have any traction-control combined with clutch issues and no dashboard display at all, so it was quite a new and interesting experience for me! But qualifying at Le Mans is always a bit of a bonus – the main objective isn’t to start as high up the grid as we can on Saturday, it’s about being in a strong position at the end of the race on Sunday afternoon. While the build-up has been frustrating, we’re in pretty good shape and we’re confident we can have a good race.”

Danny Watts: “It’s been a hard couple of days for us, what with the changeable weather and electronic problems with the car. We wanted to get a lot of track mileage in to learn a bit more about the car at this track and really dial it in for the race. But because of the poor weather we couldn’t do too much running and then we had a fairly big accident that has destroyed a lot of our spares. We weren’t even going for a fast qualifying time when the accident happened, it was all about getting the car comfortable for the race. The build-up hasn’t gone well, but that makes us all the more determined to have a strong race.”

Jonny Kane: “As soon as I braked for the second chicane on Mulsanne, both right hand wheels locked up on a damp patch and the car turned left so quickly that I couldn’t catch it. It was a pretty hard impact with the barriers and there was a lot of damage. I’m just massively disappointed for the team. We’ve had two hard days at Le Mans, the boys had already been working extremely hard and this was the last thing we needed. With the weather against us in every test and practice session we’ve done this year, it’s certainly not the run up to my tenth Le Mans that I was hoping for. But hopefully all our bad luck is out of the way now and we can have a trouble-free run for the rest of the weekend.”

Dan Walmsley, Strakka Racing Team Manager: “It’s been a challenging build up to this year’s race – everything from electrical problems, a lack of dry running, a major crash and even our pit buggy been stolen! The final qualifying session was all about Jonny doing his mandatory few laps to get the car into the race, which he duly did. We’d identified a small area of the car that we thought we could improve for the race and we had just gone out to evaluate the change on that, towards the end of Qualifying 3, when Jonny lost control of the car at the second chicane. There was a lot of damage, and the guys worked through the night to repair it. Our supply of spare parts has been somewhat depleted, but we’ve still got the team Glitter Ball in the pit garage and while that’s still turning, we’re still racing!”

This year’s Le Mans 24 Hours will be shown in 189 different countries and to a potential TV audience of just over 672 million viewers. British fans can watch the race live on Eurosport, and on the internet with live-streaming on lemans-tv.com, www.24h-lemans.com and www.fiawec.com.

[Rob]

DOUBLE POLE FOR ASTON MARTIN AT LE MANS

Le Mans, 21 June 2013 - Aston Martin Racing has qualified on pole for the 90th 24 Hours of Le Mans with its #99 Vantage GTE, as well as securing pole position in the GTE Am class with the #95 car to continue the team’s 100 per cent pole success rate in the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season.

The fastest GTE lap time of the three qualifying sessions – 3:54.635 – was set by Frédéric Makowiecki (FR) in the final moments of the third qualifying session, following a close battle with team-mate Stefan Mücke in the #97 machine who took second position. The #99 Vantage GTE, which the Frenchman will compete in for this race with Bruno Senna (BR) and Rob Bell (GB), will start from the front of the grid of 26 GT cars for the legendary 24-hour endurance race.

In the GTE Am class, Allan Simonsen (DN) put the #95 car at the top of the timesheets at the start of qualifying one, a position that the car held right until the end of session three when Simonsen bettered his time to a 3:57.776.

The #96 Vantage GTE Am car driven by Jamie Campbell-Walter clinched third place when the British driver put in a lap of 3:59.805 towards the end of the session.

The #98 Pro car will start from strong position of fifth overall on the grid. Pedro Lamy (PT) set the time in the first qualifying session and thereafter the team focused on maximising driver time in the fragmented sessions.

Aston Martin Racing Team Principal John Gaw comments: “We came here with the aim of qualifying on pole in both classes, so we are pleased to have started off our 24 Hours of Le Mans campaign so positively. The qualifying sessions were a little frustrating because of the rain and red flags meaning little changed position-wise until the final 15 minutes. We did well to firmly secure both pole positions in the dying minutes.

“We all know, however, that in a 24-hour race, starting positions aren’t too important. We need to ensure we continue the reliability that we demonstrated at Silverstone and Spa to get all our cars to the end of the race safely and without issues.”

Makowiecki comments: “It’s a nice feeling because I waited a long time to work with Aston Martin Racing. For me it’s a great pleasure to get a good result for the team. It’s the first step towards winning the race this weekend.”

Simonsen adds: “It was tricky at the start with the changing conditions and it was a typical Le Mans last lap dash. To start the 24 Hours of Le Mans on pole is fantastic. We’re all looking forward to the race."

Qualifying positions:

GTE Pro
1st - Bruno Senna (BR), Fred Makowiecki (FR) and Rob Bell (GB) #99
2nd - Darren Turner (GB), Stefan Mücke (D) and Peter Dumbreck (GB) #97
5th - Pedro Lamy (PT), Paul Dalla Lana (CN) and Bill Auberlen (USA) #98

GTE Am
1st - Allan Simonsen (DN), Kristian Poulsen (DN) and Christoffer Nygaard (DN) #95
3rd - Jamie Campbell-Walter (GB), Stuart Hall (GB) and Roald Goethe (D) #96

The 90th Edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans starts on 22 June at 15:00 hrs CET. Follow the team’s progress at www.astonmartin.com/racing on Facebook www.facebook.com/astonmartinracing and on Twitter using @AMR_Official.



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[Rob]

[Rob]

[Rob]

FRUSTRATIONS AT LE MANS HAMPER QUALIFYING PERFORMANCE FOR GAVIN AND CORVETTE

It has been a frustrating couple of days so far for Oliver Gavin and the Corvette Racing team at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France. The considerable experience within the team has been put to the test as the team has struggled to match the pace of the front-running LMGTE Pro Aston Martins, Ferraris and Porsches.

Olly managed to improve his fastest lap time today, but his best of 3:58.644 in the No.4 Corvette C6R placed him 7th in class – a long way from the pole positions of the past.
Both Corvettes have been struggling to determine the root of a handling problem which has hampered their progress, and the constant interruptions for both red flags and rain showers over the three qualifying sessions haven’t helped.

Olly said tonight: “We’ve never been in this kind of situation before and it makes it really hard for everyone. If you’re at the front and you’ve got a relatively sorted car then it’s not as critical to have that track time but we needed every minute there was available to help us get through our programme of planned changes.

“The fragmentation of the sessions has been frustrating but we’re not making excuses. This is the package we’ve come with but it’s not worked out for us so we’ve just got to work harder. Part of the problem has been that we haven’t run with this particular Michelin tyre before, while our competitors have (at the WEC 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps) and we’re still learning about how to get the best out of it with our car.

“We’re catching up and we’ll spend lots of time tomorrow analysing all the data and seeing where we are. We’ve improved since yesterday and we are confident we’ll have a comfortable car for the race but it’s not been working out for us up until now!”

[Rob]

Porsche (Pro and Am)

LMGTE Pro
3rd - Romain Dumas/Marc Lieb/Richard Lietz (F/D/A), Porsche 911 RSR #92
7th - Joerg Bergmeister/Timo Bernhard/Patrick Pilet (D/D/F), Porsche 911 RSR #91

LMGTE Am
2nd - Christan Ried/Gianluca Roda/Paolo Ruberti (D/I/I), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR #88
5th - Wolf Henzler/Pascal Gibon/Patrice Milesi (D/F/F), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR #67

6th - Emmanuel Collard/Francois Perrod/Sebastien Crubile (F/F/F), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR #75
7th - Patrick Dempsey/Pat Long/Joe Foster (USA/USA/USA), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR #77
8th - Raymond Narac/Christophe Bourret/Jean-Karl Vernay (F/F/F), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR #76

At its first Le Mans 24 Hours outing, the best Porsche 911 RSR takes up the race on Saturday from the second grid row in the GTE-Pro class. In qualifying for the long distance classic in France, which was held for the first time 90 years ago, Porsche works drivers Romain Dumas (France), Marc Lieb (Germany) and Richard Lietz (Austria) improved their time in the last lap and planted the #92 Porsche 911 RSR on third place. Their factory pilot colleagues Joerg Bergmeister (Germany), Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Patrick Pilet (France) concluded the qualifying in seventh at the wheel of the number 91 vehicle. Both 911 RSR are fielded by Porsche AG Team Manthey.

As the best Porsche in the GTE-Am class, the 911 GT3 RSR of the Proton Competition team in which Christian Ried (Germany) shares driving duties with his Italian teammates Gianluca Roda and Paolo Ruberti, achieved the second quickest time. The 911 fielded by IMSA Performance Matmut with Porsche works driver Wolf Henzler (Germany) as well as Frenchmen Pascal Gibon and Patrice Milesi set the fifth quickest time. At his first Le Mans start with Porsche, Hollywood star Patrick Dempsey (“Grey’s Anatomy”) starts from seventh on the grid with support from Porsche works driver Patrick Long and Joe Foster (all USA).

Wolfgang Hatz, Board Member for Research and Development at Porsche AG: “We are quite pleased with this result. Our aim was to beat Ferrari and we have achieved this. We’re only five-hundredths of a second shy of the first grid row which gives us hope for the race.”

Hartmut Kristen, Porsche Head of Motorsport: “The changing weather conditions and many interruptions made for a pretty exciting qualifying. You could actually forget about a normal programme. Marc’s improvement to third place in the final lap has shown how important it was to push to the end today.”

Joerg Bergmeister (# 91): “My qualifying was quite messed up. I went out on the first set of tyres but got held up by slower cars and had to reduce speed because the yellow flags came out. The same happened with my second set – first traffic, then yellow-flagged. In my third fast lap I went all out and was a bit late on the brakes in the first corner. That was the end of my qualifying. But Marc’s time underlined what would have been possible. This makes me confident for the race.”

Patrick Pilet (# 91): “Our chances look good for the race. For me as a Frenchman Le Mans is the highlight of the year. To win here would be the greatest. We have a good car and we’ll do our utmost in the race.”
Timo Bernhard (# 91): “The conditions were wrong today to learn anything significant about our car. I drove my five mandatory night laps. We could face such mixed conditions in the race, so it was important to see if everything was okay with the car. At the time I was sitting in the car it made no sense to risk too much.”

Marc Lieb (# 92): “I spent about an hour at the wheel and was able to get used to the difficult conditions. The track was almost dry towards the end, only slightly damp in the second chicane. There I had to be careful on the brakes. Our car’s balance is good, not yet perfect, but we have definitely made great progress. That I drove over the finish line three seconds before the end of the session and achieved the third fastest lap time was of course perfect timing. This is also a big motivation for the race. A huge thank you to my team. The boys have worked really hard over the last weeks and months to make our new 911 RSR even better.”

Richard Lietz (# 92): “A good grid position in Le Mans is a matter of prestige, even if it doesn’t play a major role in the race. But when you come with a new car, like us, you naturally want to be as far up the front as possible, so we are delighted with third place. Marc has made it more exciting and drove a great time right when everyone thought it was over.”

Romain Dumas (#92): “In Le Mans the regulations stipulate that all competitors must turn five qualifying laps during the night. Since I didn’t get to drive yesterday, I turned my five laps today. At the time I went out, the track half dry, half wet. That wasn’t much fun.”

Wolf Henzler (#67): “I was on wets, but the track was too dry for that towards the end. I should actually have gone out on slicks, but when the conditions are so difficult and it is night time, you obviously don’t want to take any unnecessary risks.”

Jean-Karl Vernay (#76): “It’s not decisive whether you take up a 24 hour race from fifth, sixth or seventh place. That’s why we didn’t go all out to try and improve our time under such tricky conditions. We’ve added many new parts for the race and will attempt to finish as far up the field as possible.”

Christian Ried (#88): “These conditions made it tough for everyone. You drive out, it starts to rain, you come in, the rain stops – this doesn’t give you the insights you need for the race. Today, it was really just a matter of us all turning our mandatory laps at night.”

[Rob]

The Krohn Racing team completed an extensive rebuild of the No. 57 Ferrari GTE-Am car on Thursday, June 20th in preparation for the 24 Hours of Le Mans after team owner/driver Tracy W. Krohn suffered an accident in Wednesday’s Free Practice.

A Ferrari 458 of the same specifications was located in Italy by Michelotto for lease to Krohn Racing for the 24 Hours of Le Mans after the Krohn chassis was determined to be too damaged for repair. The replacement car had to be stripped and rebuilt to ACO GTE-Am specification and the team did so expertly in exactly nine hours.

Krohn driver Maurizio Mediani, a 24 Hours of Le Mans rookie, had to complete a compulsory five laps in the night, which was fulfilled within the last 30 minutes of the final Qualifying Practice session of the night.

TRACY W. KROHN, Krohn Racing Team Owner/Driver, No. 57 Krohn Racing Ferrari F458 GTE-Am:
“The team did a fantastic job on getting the car together. We were very fortunate that everything came together at the very last minute. We were just getting ready to send the car out when we got a red flag in the session. That was unfortunate. Now we just need to wait to get approval from the Stewards to enter the race.”

DAVID BROWN, Krohn Racing Team Manager/Race Engineer:
“Today was a busy day because last evening we had a very large accident in one of the corners after the Dunlop Bridge, which resulted in terminal damage to the chassis of our Ferrari 458. As a result of that, we had to source another identical specification car. With the help of our colleagues at Michelotto, we were able to secure a rental on an identical car, which, in fact, is in excellent condition from Northern Italy. It was put on a truck last night and driven overnight by a truck driver and mechanic, who were delivered with it. It arrived at 2:15 p.m. and having stripped the parts which we wanted from our existing car by the morning, we then set about converting the car we were leasing into a Krohn racing car. It was a very involved, lengthy and complicated process, particularly, as ever, on the electrical side. However, due to an outstanding effort on the part of the Krohn Racing mechanics and electrical and systems people, along with the help of Michelotto, and the mechanic and truckie from the team who leased the car to us, we managed to get the car on the track in exactly nine hours.

The car ran faultlessly. We still have some work to do tomorrow to finish its preparation for the 24 Hours race, which has particularly challenges over and above a normal six hour race. We’re confident that having built the car that it will be a robust vehicle for the length of the race. We are now awaiting advice from the Stewards in regarding to the race on Saturday.”

[Rob]

Here is nice short video of the Krohn crew building the new car..

[Rob]

AUDI STILL MASTERING ABOUT IT!
The final session of qualifying tests has certainly been busy, but the result at the pole position has not changed.


The Audi R18 e-tron quattro # 2 retains the best time of 3'22'' 349. Loic Duval and sign the first pole of his career at Le Mans. The two sister cars, the No. 1 to the No. 3, followed at a respectable distance (more than one second).

As for Toyota, they tried to approach the German cars but without success. They fail more than four seconds! At private LM P1 cars, the best of them is Lola Coupe Toyota # 12 Rebellion Racing.

Olivier Pla still showed the full extent of his talent by taking pole position in the final minutes with a 3'38'' 621. The driver ahead of Oak Racing Oreca Nissan No. 26 G-drive and Zytek 38 of Jota Sport.

Like its counterpart in LM P2, Fred Makowiecki on his Aston Martin Vantage V8 # 99 scooped the best time of LM GTE Pro at the last minute. Ferrari F458 Italia No. 51 and the second English car, the # 97!

In LM GTE Am, domination also Aston Martin with the No. 95 in 3'57'' 776, before the No. 88 Porsche Proton Competition and Ferrari F 458 Italia # 61 AF Corse.

This Friday, the car will roll no. The day will be marked by the ballad stands (10h) and the Drivers Parade (17h).

Back on track cars the 81 th Le Mans 24 Hours in the warm-up will take place Saturday at 9am!

[Rob]

[Rob]