[LM24 Race] The 76th edition of the 24hrs of Le Mans - RACE THREAD

[chewymonster]

Audi ftw

[broadrun96]

One more year of big diesels or......?

[broadrun96]

Will Pug jump on the new tech "loophole" and bring a hybrid to LM next year to be out in front and unequalized?

[Ultimo]

Congratulatoins to Audi and Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen, and Rinaldo Capello.

[Tom87]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Will Pug jump on the new tech "loophole" and bring a hybrid to LM next year to be out in front and unequalized?

I think you may be right, although with the performance this year you have to ask how they didnt win!

Congratulations to Audi, who would have thought it?

[The359]

Hooray, Aston Martin and Gulf!

[joeb]

Congrats Risi!

so close for the vettes again!

[Dario911]

Greatful AUDI! The greatest win of all! R10 TDI on top, again!
Another greatful job for Porsche and its RS Spyder, the better in their class, a real winning car! Congratulations to the Aston Martin, always the best in GT1!
In GT2, I'm sorry for Porsche's decision to give the race to Ferraris!
911 were all faster than Ferraris, but like the worse of the fool, they've decided to throw out each other!
However, congratulations to the Risi. But remember, Porsche is still the best. You've had the fortune from your side, this time!

[FIRE]

Congrats to #2 Audi, #34 Van Merksteijn Porsche, #009 Aston Martin, #82 Risi Ferrari and all other cars who finished.

Great race!

[Burnsie]

A great race, thoroughly enjoyed it! Hopefully Dave Richards and Aston Martin will bring an LMP1 to Le Mans next year...

[Garp]

Congrats, to Lamborghini for finishing

[viperada]

What a great race! It was close all the way to the end.

[Ferrari333SP]

The Lamborghini finished!! Yeah!!!!!!!!!

[supermario21]

It was well worth staying up all night. But I was impressed with the reliability of the Lola Aston. Besides its accidents in the first hour and a half the car ran solidly.

[broadrun96]

Was hoping for a better result for the Lola coupes, P1 and P2, but maybe next year

[Garp]

Still a good debut though, for the Lola coupes

[Garp]

As for Spyker what a shame.
They had the last change in my opinion.

[Bullett]

Well done Aston Martin! Beat the Vette's again!!!

[Ted bennett]

It seemed to me that very slick pit work from Audi throughout made the difference. Driver changes in the pug just took too long, they need to sort that cockpit out better.

[Tom87]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Was hoping for a better result for the Lola coupes, P1 and P2, but maybe next year

P2 Coupe did ok I thought - ran in the leading group for a long time. As for the P1 Lola, without the accident it would have been #1 Petrol for sure, perhaps even ahead of a Diesel or two.

[broadrun96]

Kinda agree with Hindy, maybe best race in long time, hope PLM can be as good and I can find a way to get there.

[slotcarnews]

Corvette has got to get some competition in the ALMS clearly...they can't even beat a team (that by their own admission) can't afford to come to race in the US?!?

It's time for the ALMS parade that is GT1 to get real.

[CTD]

Woho Tom K Won! WOO!

[CTD]

Take that Audi #1!

[cmk]

Because of my relatively young age of 23 and the limitations of when Speedvision started up, I have only been watching Le Mans live since 2001, but that was categorically the best race I have seen. An absolute cracker.

The overall battle was a stormer almost the whole way through. Despite the raw pace advantage of Peugeot, Audi #2 was very impressively driven in the early stages, particularly Allan McNish in his opening quadruple stint. Perhaps the proficiency of the Audi squad in traffic relative to much of the Peugeot squad helped there. When it started to rain, it immediately was apparent to those following the test day that Audi had a shot, and they took it - TK masterful in the dark and the damp. McNish was the perfect person to take that car through the greasy horror show of a drizzly Le Mans dawn. Slick stuff from a team that won on its merits as a team more than on its (admittedly faultless) car.

Or we could just look to Dr. Ulrich and McNish hugging each other with tears in their eyes to say that, for all the years of Ingolstadt juggernaut, Audi #2 was definitely the feel-good winner.

P2 was Porsche perfection. Stuttgart has put a lot of effort into this car and it's been developed by top-class pilots. Wonderful performance. The #34 had a good performance from Van Merksteijn as well as the pros, he's come a long way. Saulnier Pescarolo comes good on its LMS promise, where it always seems to make up places in the race.

GT1 was a precision dogfight of 2-factory quality, so a great effort by Prodrive. The policy of working on race pace came good for Aston Martin despite the 007's hiccup. Top stuff from all 12 factory pilots. If this is a GT1 swansong, well, it will have gone out on top.

GT2 was the story of Porsche eats itself. We knew the gentleman driver + pro combo would blunt their assault, but I did not think it would be taken so literally. The Ferrari brigade had depth and the fact that all 3 tyre manufacturers performed exceptionally well this year should not be overlooked. Great consistent run by Risi - they deserve the monkey off the back at the big one. I woke up to the death of Virgo - absolutely heartbreaking, what a run from a team who proved they are among the best GT teams in the world on Dunlops, no less.

All in all, it had the makings of a classic Le Mans and it provided. Wish I could have been there, this would have been a perfect year for it. It will be interesting to see what next year brings, but if Audi come out with a new P1 weapon, we must wonder whether Peugeot missed their shot. It was a great performance from the French operation, which probably had a top shot at the win if things had stayed dry. I should take nothing away from the Lion's performance, but it was not quite enough.

Finally, while Speed is nice for seeing cars on track live and decent with interviews, a huge debt of gratitude is owed to Radio Le Mans for providing the best picture of the race. Thanks to all the guys and particularly to Paul Truswell for his keen insight around the clock. Great to have him back after the health scare - thanks Paul! (Insert prohibited DSC plug here as well!)