LM24 Le Mans 2005 - Page 4

Karl Kling · 27 Jun 2004, 11:00 (Ref:1017320)

Quote:

Originally posted by Mags
And Lucas has no desire to drive at LM anymore. He won't be there.

What?! Now that's a stupid decision! Is this the end of my favourite driver line up of Luhr-Maassen then? Darn.

Fab · 27 Jun 2004, 13:32 (Ref:1017477)

Quote:

Originally posted by Karl Kling
What?! Now that's a stupid decision! Is this the end of my favourite driver line up of Luhr-Maassen then? Darn.

Johann, check the FIA-GT thread... I'm afraid your hero did a very bad move today at Donington... sorry to hear that he's not interrested by LM anymore, though...

Mags · 27 Jun 2004, 14:15 (Ref:1017540)

Quote:

Originally posted by Karl Kling
What?! Now that's a stupid decision! Is this the end of my favourite driver line up of Luhr-Maassen then? Darn.

Yep... he told me he's won there 3 times and he has nothing left there to proove. He wants to win overall at that OTHER 24 hour race.

But Maassen told me the BMW's are unstoppable at this time, but if anyone can win, it's Lucas. That man is probably the most talented driver I've ever had the pleasure to watch drive, next to Sascha.

And you can still see them clean up in the FIA GT, they should be winning there today at Donington! And they will be together at Laguna Seca later this year.

**FIRE** · 27 Jun 2004, 14:23 (Ref:1017551)

Nothing to proove? Maybe an overal win in a Porsche LMP?

gi_gav · 27 Jun 2004, 14:42 (Ref:1017557)

that's something I've wondered - why haven't Maassen and Luhr stepped up to prototype drives yet?

BSchneiderFan · 27 Jun 2004, 14:47 (Ref:1017561)

Maassen drove the Champion Lola-Porsche at Daytona a few years back, but I think he and Luhr would be high up on Porsche's list if they did return to prototypes.

On a similar note, the following are the drivers I can think of who have ties to Porsche and are essentially 'works' drivers. Have I missed any?

Sascha Maassen
Lucas Luhr
Stephane Ortelli
Emmanuel Collard
Romain Dumas
Marc Lieb
Timo Bernhard
Jorg Bergmeister
Pat Long
Mike Rockenfeller

Mags · 27 Jun 2004, 17:06 (Ref:1017643)

They are Porsche factory drivers, and Porsche don't have that prototype yet...closest they have is the DPs in the Grand Am series, snd they go there and drive them whenever they can.

Tim Northcutt · 28 Jun 2004, 21:25 (Ref:1019422)

Quote:

Originally posted by FIRE
Nothing to proove? Maybe an overal win in a Porsche LMP?

There was a mention of that at Mid-Ohio this past weekend, and one of the execs from Porsche did not rule it out, but said that they haven't decided on whethr or not they would pursue that possibility...

I saw that in an article in the mansfield, Ohio, newspaper, which is close to the Mid-Ohio circuit....

rdjones · 30 Jun 2004, 13:23 (Ref:1021430)

There are a 2 intereseting stories in this weeks Motorsport News. The first being that a group of Asia Business men are looking to run a LMP1 car next drivers from either India or Malaysia.

The other bit of news is that Jason Watt and Alex Zanardi are looking to share a car at Le Mans in the future. I for one hope that this happens.

BSchneiderFan · 2 Jul 2004, 17:17 (Ref:1023900)

Very interesting. Watt has driven a prototype since his accident (the Den Bla Avis Panoz) but Zanardi, so far as I am aware, has not. Would the third driver need to be similarly handicapped, or could an able-bodied driver work around the equipment?

Fab · 5 Jul 2004, 15:44 (Ref:1026860)

FYI : Citroen factory, after its last WRC victory, says in Ouest France that Le Mans is wihtout any interrest for the fame of a car maker, even if it's a wonderful race.

There's only two ways of beeing displayed by the media : WRC and F1.

At least, we can now be sure that we won't have Citroen or Peugeot back soon in sportscars...

Stay were you are, s***ers, I'm going to buy an Audi !

**FIRE** · 5 Jul 2004, 17:09 (Ref:1026954)

Quote:

Originally posted by Fab
FYI : Citroen factory, after its last WRC victory, says in Ouest France that Le Mans is wihtout any interrest for the fame of a car maker, even if it's a wonderful race.

There's only two ways of beeing displayed by the media : WRC and F1.

At least, we can now be sure that we won't have Citroen or Peugeot back soon in sportscars...

Stay were you are, s***ers, I'm going to buy an Audi !

WRC is nice but does it really give a manufacturer "fame"? IMO not. Audi got good publicity with their victories. But of course Citroen is talking for their own church (church = WRC)

Fab · 6 Jul 2004, 05:38 (Ref:1027622)

I forgot to say my respect for WRC and the quality of this championship. Nothing to say against it here, I was just surprised by Citroën comments about sportscars...

kdr · 6 Jul 2004, 09:13 (Ref:1027776)

Quote:

Originally posted by FIRE
WRC is nice but does it really give a manufacturer "fame"? IMO not. Audi got good publicity with their victories. But of course Citroen is talking for their own church (church = WRC)

f1 and wrc give fame to the drivers, sportscars give fame to the cars. imho of course.

Mal · 6 Jul 2004, 10:14 (Ref:1027845)

I think LeMans has done a lot for Audis name, and I have heard Robert Ulrich quoted as saying that he feels they have got better value for the from one race than spending tens of millions more on Formula one. Presumably they feel the same about WRC as they are effectively the creator of modern rallying

pounetbf · 6 Jul 2004, 15:05 (Ref:1028147)

I think basically the Citroen manager is right.

WRC could run in a lot more contries than LMP (Greece, Cyprus, new zealand, turkey, african countries...), and be seen with millions of people without paying and with few travelling.
And TV and media will speak of it each and every race, not only one day (or one week) in the year.

As long as le Mans will be a lone race, WRC will be more efficient to touch millions prople in many differents countries.

Even with a real endurance world championship, with races in south america, north america, africa, china, japan, far east countries, australia , europe... the impact will be lower.

if you want to convince people to purchase you cars, WRC is the best solution (with participation in national championships)

But if you want to develop public relations with local dealers, both for car manufacturers and sponsors, F1 is the top for the fame, but Le Mans give you more (at least in time) for less money

**PascaLM** · 6 Jul 2004, 17:07 (Ref:1028264)

Quote:

Originally posted by Fab
FYI : Citroen factory, after its last WRC victory, says in Ouest France that Le Mans is wihtout any interrest for the fame of a car maker, even if it's a wonderful race.

There's only two ways of beeing displayed by the media : WRC and F1.

This relies on media studies. But it can change within a few years, then they will change their mind.

JAG · 6 Jul 2004, 21:05 (Ref:1028526)

The WRC is better for Citroen, being a manufactuer of average family cars.

Le Mans is for the more sporting manufactuers such as Audi, BMW and the Supercar manufactuers.

However Citroen may become interested in LM when the alternative fueled cars being to appear. This is an area were the WRC and F1 cannot compete.

Fab · 7 Jul 2004, 15:36 (Ref:1029333)

In the last Le Mans Racing issue, the Maserati project is mentionned again for 2005, involving seriously now Hugues de Chaunac (Oreca), Alain Prost and... Jean-Marc Gounon !

On the other hand, the homologation of the MC12 seemed to failed at the FIA council... :confused:

**PascaLM** · 7 Jul 2004, 17:29 (Ref:1029449)

Yes, the homologation is refused ! I read this in AUTOhebdo
First, the car is far to much expensive for the GT philosophy. It has been drawn for the tracks only, it's not a car derivated from a road model (DB9, C6, F575...).
2 - the dimensions have to be corrected to stick the regulations.
The idea of a supercars category has failed, unfortunately.

JAG · 7 Jul 2004, 17:36 (Ref:1029454)

I wouldn't say unfortunately. If it had appeared, we would have said goodbye to the Vette, 575 etc.

Now we could see the Maserati in LMP1/LMGTP.

pounetbf · 8 Jul 2004, 07:35 (Ref:1029898)

And perhaps we will also see a Maserati 3500gt (and why not a GT3 ?)

Cadete · 15 Jul 2004, 15:02 (Ref:1037340)

according to DSC, it is possible that a Porsche LMP1 took it to the track in South Africa.

gwyllion · 15 Jul 2004, 15:19 (Ref:1037351)

Quote:

Originally posted by Cadete
according to DSC, it is possible that a Porsche LMP1 took it to the track in South Africa.

What does the article on DSC say? Just that maybe a Porsche LMP1 was testing a track in South Africa? Do they have pictures...

Cadete · 15 Jul 2004, 15:24 (Ref:1037356)

No pictures, DSC says that they believe a Porsche LMP1 has been testing at a private track in South Africa, recently.

I hope I'm not streching the boundaries of copywright in here, if I am, moderators, feel free to edit my posts and call me to reason

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