[WEC Race] 2013 FIA WEC - Round 5 - 6 Hours of COTA

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Acid09

I'm not sure what to make of Toyota's drivers really, I think there would be room for improvement there in the future.

I think the fastest guys on the squad are Sarrazin, Buemi & Lapierre.

Wurz is obviously the development mastermind but he does lack some race pace. Nakajima is the token Japanese guy and I guess we can be glad that Toyota HQ is satisfied with just 1/6 of the driver crew being Japanese.

And then there's Davidson, I still feel like he's not fully clicking with the car yet. I haven't seen a single completely convincing performance from him in the car yet. He's not slow, but he was such a star in the Peugeot and he's just not there yet with Toyota.

It's wishful thinking but I wish Toyota would put together an all-out attack crew for a third car for Le Mans next year. Something like Bourdais, Montagny & Pla... wouldn't that be something?

Each driver seems to be strong in areas. Like I said before, Davidson was the fastest at LeMans, and at Brazil. Buemi was fast here. Nakajima last year was just as quick as either in the #7, and fastest at Fuji. Read Toyota's pr, Davidson had the least running in the dry. Thats why he was only in for one stint. Ironic though his stint was the longest fuel run, but indicative of his lack of real practice and slower pace? Audi had the same situation, Duval and McNish seemed superior, but TK isn't a slouch by any means.

[ATLFalconsFAN]

Originally Posted by EricS

My first WEC race. Whats with the lack of merchandise for sale from the wec teams? Was hoping to refresh my wardrobe with some toyota, rebellion, and/or lotus gear. but there was nothing, even from audi. Is it like this for the europe rounds too? What about at le mans?

There is a lot of team merchandise at Le Mans. I too was disappointed with the lack of merchandise choices. Too bad I wasn't able to meet up with you (I remember you from the previous ALMS forum), maybe next year!

[ATLFalconsFAN]

Originally Posted by Simmi

Awesome stuff. COTA is the real deal I think.

Oh yes, it most certainly is! Walked the entire circuit today. Between the layout of the track and the facilities in place it truly is world class and a circuit capable of amazing action!

[MyNameIsNigel]

As regards Ant's performance, he made it clear during an interview that he had very little dry running on this new track prior to the race and that it took him 10 laps or so to find his marks. Unfortunately for him, the first part of his stint came at a time when super-fast Duval was sitting in the #2.

Sarrazin did a really good double stint.

Buemi's performance early in the race was great. He was very aggressive (sometimes at the limit). His last stint was less impressive however. Can anybody recall what happened on lap 142 when he did a 1:58.763 and lost 10 seconds to TK ?

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by MyNameIsNigel

Buemi's performance early in the race was great. He was very aggressive (sometimes at the limit). His last stint was less impressive however. Can anybody recall what happened on lap 142 when he did a 1:58.763 and lost 10 seconds to TK ?

He had a spin in that lap.

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by TF110

Each driver seems to be strong in areas. Like I said before, Davidson was the fastest at LeMans, and at Brazil. Buemi was fast here. Nakajima last year was just as quick as either in the #7, and fastest at Fuji. Read Toyota's pr, Davidson had the least running in the dry. Thats why he was only in for one stint. Ironic though his stint was the longest fuel run, but indicative of his lack of real practice and slower pace?

I am not convinced by this "lack of dry running" excuse of Davidson. Before qualifying he did more dry laps than Buemi:

• Davidson: 22 (collective test) + 13 (free practice 3) = 35
• Buemi: 26 (collective test) + 6 (free practice 3) = 32
• Sarrazin: 41 (collective test) + 6 (free practice 3) = 47

Yes, in qualifying Buemi did another 6 laps and Sarrazin 4 laps. So in total Buemi did do more dry lap than Davidson, but not that much.

[MyNameIsNigel]

Originally Posted by gwyllion

He had a spin in that lap.

Thanks for the info.

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

And I do also believe that Toyota did prove that often now, the weak bit's not the car, but the biological being at it's controls. I knew that Toyota would be pushing it with Seb trying to get him to do essentially almost 2 in a half stints, and Seb's body just gave out on him. Sad to see, and it kept Toyota from having any chance of challenging the #2 Audi at the end.

The late change from Buemi to Sarrazin had nothing to do with driver fatigue!

Toyota acknowlegded their defeat when they saw that McNish did not change tyres on his last stop.

A final fuel-only stop for McNish with less than 40 minutes to go sealed the win for the trio, as the Sebastien Buemi relinquished controls of the Toyota in the final half-hour to Sarrazin, knowing their race was lost if the Audi had not taken tires.

“The objective was to fight as hard as possible because we didn’t know if they were going to change the tires or not,” Buemi said. “If they would have changed the tires, I would have stayed in the car because we would have been much closer and had the possibility to fight for the victory.”

source: http://sportscar365.com/wec/audi-hol...-wins-at-cota/

[chernaudi]

But what was with Buemi limping getting out of the Toyota? And what was with the decision to make a driver change and not take tires? Strange move IMO.

And in honesty, I sort of don't think that Audi thought that they could double stint successfully until Toyota sort of pushed them into pursuing that as a possible advantage. They tired that at Sao Paulo and had a hard time with it. But during Ben's triple in the #1 Audi, that was ended with a double stint, and Fassler did a double stint late, and both times there wasn't as much drop off as they thought it seemed.

That's probably the determining factor in McNish's last run being a double stint for both tires and driver. That doesn't bode well for Toyota, since, especially in the first half of the race, even they had trouble with that due do fall off in stint 2. It seems that what Toyota can do, Audi can also now do when it comes to tire stints.

Cooler temps in Fuji and possibly China will help both Audi and Toyota in that regard, though China's surface is more abrasive than Fuji. And I don't know that as far as climate that Bahrain will throw at everyone in late Nov--hopefully cooler than in Sept of last year.

[Simmi]

Throwing a second full-time Toyota into the mix plus a couple of Porsches is just mouth-watering.

If we can get this excited about a three-car race, what will we be like next year!

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

And in honesty, I sort of don't think that Audi thought that they could double stint successfully until Toyota sort of pushed them into pursuing that as a possible advantage. They tired that at Sao Paulo and had a hard time with it. But during Ben's triple in the #1 Audi, that was ended with a double stint, and Fassler did a double stint late, and both times there wasn't as much drop off as they thought it seemed.

You should give Audi more credit. Audi had waiting for the track to get rubbered in before switching to double stints.

“We knew very quickly their pace and strategy advantages were going to give us a hard time,” McNish said. “It was clear we needed an advantage and clear if we could double stint at the end, when the circuit had the most grip, it was going to help us, which is what we did.”

source: http://sportscar365.com/wec/audi-hol...-wins-at-cota/

I assume that this strategic decision was made before the start of the race.

Of course the safety car at the beginning of the race helped them a bit. McNish only needed to do 24 + 18 = 42 laps on the same tyres. Without the safety car, the race would have be 3 laps longer.

[MyNameIsNigel]

IMHO it was pretty evident that Audi would take the "risk" of double-stinting the tires for the last part of the race. Considering that Audi had to stop before Toyota, it would have been foolish to put new tires on considering that the Audi only had a 35 sec advantage over the Toyota which could have opted to do a fuel-only stop had Audi changed the tires.

However, as chernaudi said, it is somewhat strange that Toyota did not change the tires as well when Sarrazin took the wheel.

[chernaudi]

Sort of OT aside from a similarity that I found, but as an extra FYI, Barhain's Nov date may have weather similar to Austin, or, most likely, somewhat cooler.

myweather2.com has a motorsport weather database section, and high temps for late Nov are between 22-28 degrees C/72-82 degrees F with high humidity.

In other words, what we saw in Austin with Audi and Toyota strategy may work there if weather is similar. Austin may've been a good rehearsal for the rest of the season depending on how pace works out between Audi and Toyota.

[Maelochs]

When Buemi could no longer drive due to severe leg cramps, Sarrazin got back in so the car could finish the race. Toyota didn’t also take tires because even the loss of a few more seconds would have only hurt the car’s chances, (which were entirely in Audi going off or breaking down.)

The team manager told Buemi “Audi didn’t take tires so we have to keep pushing. Tell me if you are okay.” At the time no one but Toyota knew what that meant, but now we can surmise that Toyota knew Buemi was cramping, needed to know if he could finish.

Toyota didn’t think they’d have the pace to catch the Audi even with new tires, so why take the time? Unless McNish made an error or the Audi broke, Toyota was finishing second.

[wewantourdarbyback]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

Those Pyramids are great--people who want to cut corners are free to do so, at their own risk.

Even better, the race director called cars for going over the lines anyway.

That was one of my favourite moments of the race, the call to Toyota "I can bring him in and explain this to him myself if you wish".


Overall a great race, the tactical fight at the front was brilliant.

But what on earth was going on at Oak I will never comprehend, the look of anger on Gonzales face as he was wheeled back into the garage was amusing, given it was his fault.

[bentley speed 8]

Also a surprising podium finish for the Lotus finally, after all the financial and legal chaos with Adess

[helgi]

Originally Posted by Simmi

If we can get this excited about a three-car race, what will we be like next year!

Maybe we became the very first asketh sports car racing fans?

[joeb]

Originally Posted by bentley speed 8

Also a surprising podium finish for the Lotus finally, after all the financial and legal chaos with Adess

Yes, cheers for them! I'm glad to see them getting results so early in this program against all the Orecas and Zytecs that are much more developed. I was worried after the team car dropped out at the start, but this has to make up for it.

[CyberMotor]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

Those Pyramids are great--people who want to cut corners are free to do so, at their own risk.

Even better, the race director called cars for going over the lines anyway.

I hate seeing cars getting torn up, but I like the fact that drivers have to keep it on the track or risk the car, without seriously risking the health and safety of the drivers.

In the case of a driver cutting corners, they are very effective deterrents!

My problem with them is when someone gets pushed into them. A driver might be able to put the squeeze on another car when the other driver is going for an inside pass.

[Starfish Primer]

I like the pyramids, I´m fed up of drivers blatantly ignoring the track limits.

Why was the #97 denied to return to track?

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

When Buemi could no longer drive due to severe leg cramps, Sarrazin got back in so the car could finish the race. Toyota didn’t also take tires because even the loss of a few more seconds would have only hurt the car’s chances, (which were entirely in Audi going off or breaking down.)

The team manager told Buemi “Audi didn’t take tires so we have to keep pushing. Tell me if you are okay.” At the time no one but Toyota knew what that meant, but now we can surmise that Toyota knew Buemi was cramping, needed to know if he could finish.

Toyota didn’t think they’d have the pace to catch the Audi even with new tires, so why take the time? Unless McNish made an error or the Audi broke, Toyota was finishing second.

The broadcasters said he limped from the car. Buemi said he could have stayed in. I think Buemi's word is better than dramatic declarings from radio lm. As for Davidson, he didn't run qualifying, plus he just had another child. I can understand his heart was probably more at home, especially when you have an unexpected early delivery.

[airbusA346]

Endurance Info have put a photo on Facebook showing the #97 Aston with the following message written on the front wing (bodywork):

"What happened to the spirit of Le Mans??"

[TF110]

Haha, they aren't too pleased with the wec's ruling of not letting them back out to run for points. Sad.

[Simmi]

I don't know the full situation or what was said in the garage at the time but I think they have a point.

Ironically the FIA/ACO angering Aston has maybe helped appease Ferrari who were also unhappy campers prior to the race.

[nkoske]

Originally Posted by Simmi

I don't know the full situation or what was said in the garage at the time but I think they have a point.

Ironically the FIA/ACO angering Aston has maybe helped appease Ferrari who were also unhappy campers prior to the race.

Supposedly the top of the shock tower broke. They tried to fix it but the WEC tech people were not happy with the fix.