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Originally Posted by rcarr
Everyone tries to argue me down about the BMWs speed but in all reality, they were not as quick as the Mercedes or the Toyotas. The roof made a big difference in terms of speed.
http://www.mulsannescorner.com/trap.htm |
That's why the open cars were allowed to run wider tires if i am not wrong. They lost some times on the straight, but was able to get that back later in the lap.
They controlled that race right from the start. Kristensen laid back at the first stint while Brundle and Schneider were going crazy up front. Then Tom started to catch them, and after some good laps after the Mercedes and Toyotas pitted (BMW had much better fuel economy), Tom was able to hand the car over to Muller in the lead. The car was up in front with the Boutsen Toyota, while the Mercedes and the Brundle car hit problems. Then Boutsen crashed, and BMW had it in the bag.
I don't think it is fair at all to say BMW won because of attrition. That could be said about the 98 Porsche GT1. But the 99 BMW was a very worthy winner of the strongest Le Mans in recent years. And that makes it underrated.