But how much faster or slower was the R15's ideal fastest lap during the race?
I doubt that the factory cars(same specification basically as the Oreca car and basically the same spec areo and chassis wise as '09) would be much faster, just as the Joest cars generally weren't much faster than Champion's cars in the ALMS. Over a flying lap, yes, but put the same guy in both cars, and the overall laptimes will be about the same at this stage though a minimum of development.
It seems that Peugeot may not be slipping Oreca equipment that's clearly inferior to the factory cars(like with Pescarolo last year) if they want Oreca to feature well in the LMS races with the big factory teams(Spa and Silverstone, to name two), but if they don't have all the 2010 parts, it would've showed, and I don't think that the Pug's are all that reliable, certinaly not much more so than the R15 or R10-aside from overheating problems at LM, the only reliabilty issues that the R15 had was a CV joint scare at Sebring during practice-and that was just a scare-and a similar issue with a rear shock/damper at PLM-also during testing. Since the R15's debut, one 908 blew a gearbox at Sebring and had cooling fan issues, and one almost didn't make the start due to hydraulic problems. At LM, one car sustained a broken suspension or a wheel bearing while leading, and the cars that finished 1-2 had brake and clutch problems. And it seems that the 908s have a tendancy to crack tubs-which caused scares at Sebring both in '09 and '10. And then there's Oreca's engine failure during testing, which if it's a 2010 engine, might be cause for concern for the factory team unless they know it was a freak deal.
It seems that Audi may bring the best-and worst-out of the 908. And it just seems to still be a tempermental car in reliablity(especially the hydraulics) and to drive(stiff springing). I think that Spa may favor the Audis as far as handling and braking, but the factory Pugs might still have the speed edge, but with the Oreca car being slower in a straightline(with LM bodywork, albeit with a detuned engine), that might be an issue with the set up on the Oreca car or a real issue(maybe it's time that Peugeot got rid of the high downforce diveplanes that the still run on their LM bodywork to reduce drag
)