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18 Apr 2019, 23:42 (Ref:3898480) | #6451 | |
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Well Audi were always good and until Peugeot came along, were the top dog in all series. That all changed and as soon as the Pugs were on the pace, it was a much closer competition. Now it’s all about Toyota, although the GTs have been close too
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19 Apr 2019, 16:46 (Ref:3898600) | #6452 | |
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19 Apr 2019, 16:48 (Ref:3898601) | #6453 | |
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19 Apr 2019, 17:07 (Ref:3898608) | #6454 | |
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Indeed, they have as much chance against Toyota as anyone did against Audi until Peugeot.
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19 Apr 2019, 17:44 (Ref:3898611) | #6455 | |
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Zyteks and Pescarolos beat the R8s in Europe, whilst Zyteks, MGs and Panoz beat them in the US. Whilst Audi dominated, it was possible to beat them - sometimes on pace, sometimes on reliability. The current privateers cannot do that with Toyota. It requires a full disqualification for it to even be an option.
The gap between factory and privateer is larger than ever. |
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19 Apr 2019, 17:52 (Ref:3898613) | #6456 | |
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When? As far as I know there were never any factory R8s in Europe outside of Le Mans.
The biggest difference is that the Toyota as of now is simply completely bulletproof. Just like the Audi days, they need to break before the competition gets a chance. |
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19 Apr 2019, 18:00 (Ref:3898614) | #6457 | |
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There wasn't much of anything outside LM and ALMS, before the launch of LMES in 2004, so your logic doesn't make sense in any case
Also the "hybrid" Pescarolos were sort of able to match the supported privateers in 2005 and factory diesel in 2006, better than the current privateers in any case Anyway, last year was a farce with the horrendous mandated stints & penalties for hybrid and nonhybrid, but this year that should be gone, unless Toyota demands ACO to bring it back before June |
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19 Apr 2019, 18:04 (Ref:3898616) | #6458 | ||
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Quote:
In the Audi days, the Audis did break. Not often, but they did. The Toyota advantage is so massive now that they cal dial it back to 80% and still win by 5 laps, and negating any reliability advantage. As said - You could beat an Audi. It was rare and hard, but it was do-able. You cannot beat a Toyota. It has to be thrown out of the race for that to happen. Disclaimer: I'm not blaming Toyota. They're making the best of the situation, as they should. And as Chiana says, half the issue was the bad rule book with stint lengths and pit stops etc. |
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19 Apr 2019, 18:08 (Ref:3898618) | #6459 | |
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Yes... I will still anyday take "boring" Toyota/Audi/whoever domination and 20 lap win margin over soulless BoP lottery.
In any case, I think the 919 retirement out of the lead on Sunday morning 2017, with 12 lap lead or whatever it was over the first of the LMP2 Orecas, proves that even when in total control and with absolutely no-one pushing you, you can still fail |
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19 Apr 2019, 18:09 (Ref:3898619) | #6460 | ||
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Quote:
Very much so! |
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19 Apr 2019, 19:30 (Ref:3898639) | #6461 | |
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The only time the original model R8 was beaten as a factory car was in pouring rain at the Nurburgring in '00, otherwise it won 13 out of 14 starts from Sebring in March 2000 to Jarama in May 2001. The '01 version was beaten three times and the '02 version once by Panoz, all at ultra tight tracks (Portland, Mid-Ohio, Sears Point, Washington) there's nothing even close to in any non-US prototype championship. In '03 Joest and Champion won 8/9 as non-factory teams with the '02 car, once again losing at Sears Point but to the ex-factory LMP675 Lola. They still beat the Bentleys at Sebring even, although obviously lost at Le Mans.
After that the weird transitional rules that Audi never really did any development for began and everything is a crapshoot, but even as a 100% grandfathered car running under the least favourable equivalency rules with zero development except for the legality end plate boxes since 2002 it still won like 80% of the races. |
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25 Apr 2019, 07:56 (Ref:3899516) | #6462 | ||
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25 Apr 2019, 08:15 (Ref:3899520) | #6463 | |
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I personally would prefer to see Rebellion be a closer to Toyota, that would add to it. But it's unlikely
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25 Apr 2019, 09:03 (Ref:3899528) | #6464 | ||
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Toyota had their clean run last year. Normal service will resume this year with one car retiring because a mechanic left his baguette in the footwell causing the driver's boot to slip off the brake pedal, and the other car finishing 12 laps down on the winner (ByKolles!) after repeated failures of a component the team didn't even know existed.
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25 Apr 2019, 11:19 (Ref:3899549) | #6465 | ||
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Quote:
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25 Apr 2019, 18:12 (Ref:3899605) | #6466 | |
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I think they fixed their 'curse'. I would be surprised if anyone is on the same lap as them in the next two races. We'll see how the new aero does for Rebellion, though. Hope it brings them closer at Spa. They were decently close last year.
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1 May 2019, 08:10 (Ref:3900920) | #6467 | ||
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1 May 2019, 13:30 (Ref:3900993) | #6468 | ||
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The email Toyota Gazoo Racing sent today states:
Brendon will join Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, José MarÃ*a López, Sébastien and Kazuki as a race driver for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing in WEC next season, which begins on 1 September at Silverstone and concludes on 14 June 2020 at Le Mans. The driver line-up of each TS050 HYBRID will be confirmed later. So the other 5 drivers are confirmed for next season. |
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2 May 2019, 10:35 (Ref:3901174) | #6469 | |
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Wonder why they announced it this early? It’s a shame Hartley’s out of F1 before he’s had the chance, but at least he’s joining a good series of those who missed out in F1. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens next season, will it be anymore competitive? Time will tell
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2 May 2019, 17:17 (Ref:3901300) | #6470 | ||
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Quote:
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2 May 2019, 17:22 (Ref:3901302) | #6471 | |||
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Quote:
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280 days...... |
2 May 2019, 17:24 (Ref:3901304) | #6472 | |
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2 May 2019, 18:12 (Ref:3901340) | #6473 | |
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Well that’s probably why. Unless Toro Rosso suddenly call him back of course. But obviously he’s not holding out for it
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2 May 2019, 18:19 (Ref:3901347) | #6474 | |
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Shame he never got the chance in F1, but at least this Toyota drive will be good for him
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2 May 2019, 18:37 (Ref:3901352) | #6475 | ||
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I think we all know it's not going to happen. It would have been interesting to see him in the current car though.
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280 days...... |
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