Audi diesel dominates Le Mans
Mission accomplished. The #8 Audi R10 of Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner fulfilled Audi's ambition of fielding the first non-gasoline-powered winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In the process the trio set a record for the distance travelled by the winning car, narrowly beating the previous record set by an Audi R8. Despite a lengthy pit stop to replace the faulty fuel injection system, the pole-sitting #7 Audi of Kristensen, Capello and McNish managed a third-place finish in LMP1. The two Audi's bracketed the local fan-favorite Pescarolo team, whose C60 Judd-powered entry driven by Eric Helary, F1 driver Franck Montagny and WRC legend Sebastien Loeb trailed the winning Audi by four laps.
The Corvette squad continued their winning ways at Le Mans, with the #64 entry of Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Jan Magnussen winning GT1, five laps ahead of the second place Aston Martin, and a remarkable fourth in the overall classification. The Aston Martins were clearly faster than the Corvettes throughout the race, but a clutch failure Sunday morning dropped the leading Aston Martin to second place. The second car for both the Corvette and Aston Martin teams were delayed repairing crash damage, handing the final step on the GT1 podium to the privateer C5R Corvette of Alphand, Goueslard and Policand, a result that should elevate team owner Luc Alphand (ex-downhill ski racer, winner of this year's Dakar Rally) to near god-like status in his native France.
The GT2 class offered up the first non-Porsche win in quite a while, with the Team LNT Panoz Esperante of Kimber-Smith, Dean and Tomlinson overtaking the class-leading Porsche in the last half-hour when the Porsche limped to the pits with a broken gear-shift. The Porsche finished second, only minutes behind the Panoz, with the Ferrari F430GT of legendary Scottish team Ecurie Ecosse rounding out the podium.
A record race crowd of 235,000 enjoyed the race, while millions more worldwide followed it on TV.
Photo courtesy Audi Motorsports
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
GT1 was a great race... 9:24PM (6/18/2006)
Having watched 16 hours of coverage and listened to a couple more on the web, I wish to correct the statement about the Astons.
The Astons were not clearly faster than the Corvettes. It really was neck and neck, most laps, the difference between the two was under 3 seconds. And it varied either way. And the pit sequences were nearly identical too.
The Corvettes took the lead early on when the 007 Aston broke their oil pan going over a bump into the pitlane at the first safety car period. Then the 009 retook the lead from the 64 Corvette when a prototype car forced the 64 Corvette off the track. Finally, the 64 Corvette got the lead back when the 009 broke.
By then, the 007 had broken a lot too, but not as much as the 63 Corvette, which Johnny O' Connell stuffed into the wall early on. The clutch then went early in the 2nd day, and a bearing in the gearbox went about noon on the 2nd day.
Basically, both the Astons and the Corvettes were blazingly fast, and nearly matched. The car that won GT1 did so because it spent the least time broken in the pits. This is the same as in GT2 where the winning LNT Panoz spent the least time in the pits of any car in the entire race.
And the performance of the Alphand C5R in GT1 was incredible. He deserves to be able to run a C6R at Le Mans and in LMES. I wonder if GM will give him the chance?
All in all, it was a very good race, except in LMP1. The R10 was superior to any car out there. Clearly a lot of it is Audi's excellence in engineering race cars. But another large portion was that the race rules made it possible for the Audi to be both blazingly fast and yet have long pit intervals (15 laps, 2 more than the 13 of the Pescarolo-Judd) at the same time.
Audi saved about 4 pit stops over the time of the race, which led directly to them making one more lap than the modern record (made by an R8 before the ACO neutered it). 4 pit stops is about 4 minutes, 4 minutes is more than one lap.
Frankly, the ACO should reduce the size of the tank in the Diesels to level the playing field. The Diesels will only get better over time (just like the gas cars) anyway, so it makes no sense for them to already have a huge advantage.
This however is unlikely given that the next company to make a Diesel is a French one (Peugeot) and will likely give their engines to Henri Pescarolo (a deserving French racing hero). Thus the ACO would be hurting a French engine manufacturer in a French car, and probably a French driver too, since Sebastien Loeb drives for Pescarolo.
So bet on Diesels winning for the forseeable future, even if they didn't develop their Diesels rapidly (and I think they will).
The R10 has to be a disappointment on one perspective. It's heavy, only saved by a change in the regulations. It also failed to finish its first race at Sebring and the #7 car had to have massive engine repairs at Le Mans. Compare this to the R8s, which have never had engine problems in any of their 77 races. If they make it through the Lime Rock ALMS race, they'll have a perfect record of no engine-related breakdowns over their 6 years of running.
I found it funny that the commentators often referred to Audi as having won every Le Mans in the century, correctly classifiying the thinly-disguised R8 which won as a Bentley in 2003.
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Mike from Scarborough 9:39PM (6/18/2006)
Good for Audi.Next year Peugot will make it intresting.If Mercedes returns with a CDI race car that would be even better.
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Talis 9:52PM (6/18/2006)
Diddo, good for Audi! Once again the Corvette team wins by a HUGE margin. When are the French going to learn you just can't beat the Americans? 24 hours at Le Mans, the Tour de France.... when will it end!
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mooseman 10:45PM (6/18/2006)
The Panoz looked good and stout. Only 20 pits for the GTLM, thats pretty damn excellent, andthe lowest i nthe whole race, IIRC.
IIRC, the Panoz runs a 5.0L version of the Ford Mod motor, built by Elan. I wish Ford would pull out of NASCAR and put more effort into the ALS, Rolex, Grand-Am and Le Mans. You aren't gonna convince people your vehicles are world class unless you run them agaisnt the standard bearers.
GM has done an excellent job of that with the Vette andit is paying off. Corvette has a lot more respect as a true sports car now that when the C4 was around.
Kudos to GM and Panoz.
As for the Audi, amazing tech. I hope to see more. Maybe they can even start a protoype class that would be specific to alternative fuel vehicles.
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chewy 10:46PM (6/18/2006)
Great, the Audis were great, the number 7 had some problems, but nothing extraordinary for a first year car. The fuel efficency was oustanding, 25% above the nearest rival, that was 4-5 seconds slower a lap. I think that the Pegout will have plenty of problems next year, they themselves have said that their realistic chances to win are in 08. But the Pegout will still add more interest and competition for the Audi. All of the naysayers have been silenced. BTW, Aston Martin, Corvette's competitro, is not French, it is British.
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Tired Watcher 11:25PM (6/18/2006)
Again, great effort by Audi. Too bad Kristensen had the bad luck car. But speaking of bad luck, it seems that the Audi, Prescarolo, GM, and Aston Martin had a bad luck car. One did well while the other had problems.
Another great effort was from the Spykers. I believe the 86 car was 3rd in LMGT2 until a valve failed in the morning time.
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Tired Watcher 11:28PM (6/18/2006)
Also the Audi R10 and the Aston Martin DBR9 will join the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). That's great news! New technology and great competition heading our way!
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USAFMech 12:04AM (6/19/2006)
"In the process the trio set a record for the distance travelled by the winning car, narrowly beating the previous record set by an Audi R8."
The R10 did the most laps, but IIRC, the Porsche 917 went farther. The course was longer then.
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USAFMech 12:23AM (6/19/2006)
"In the process the trio set a record for the distance travelled by the winning car, narrowly beating the previous record set by an Audi R8."
IIRC, the Porsche 917 went farther on fewer laps. The course was longer then.
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asurroca 12:49AM (6/19/2006)
Phenomenal. It's beginning to look like Audi could win LeMans with a lawn mower if they had to. This is a huge win for diesel fans. Now, all we need is the trickle-down effect. Perhaps they should celebrate with something like an RS4 TDI ;)
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chewy 1:02AM (6/19/2006)
The Porsche ran on a much much faster course, after it had the record the Porsche Curves were installed to make the course slower. Chicanes were put in on the Mulsanne straight. If the Audi ran the same course, it would have traveled several hundred of miles more. I think that Audi can beat the overall distance record next year. Also, the new diesel Audis did have problems, but not more than any firs year car does. Also limiting the tank of the diesel car is the stupidest idea ever. They did that to the previous R8, which already had fuel eficiency that was superior. Limiting eficiency is very stupid.
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bob 1:35AM (6/19/2006)
they limit the tank on the audis and didnt allow a full rear end change like audi did a couple of years back(they were able to do a full rear end change of the shocks, trans and etc in 3 min) cuz the french havent won anything in so long ( same w/ tour de france). So they change the rules to attempt to win but it doesnt work the Americans and Germans just keepin on beating them at everything.
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Carlos 3:53AM (6/19/2006)
Right after Mazda killed everyone with a rotary, they banned that kind of engine, so I expect them to kill diesels as well. Unless they have special feelings for Audi, which is likely.
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amp 9:40AM (6/19/2006)
What a great race, one of the more memorable ones in recent years. We knew the R10 would be nearly unstoppable, but kudos to Pescarolo team for keeping the heat on. I believe they finished four laps down, which would have put them in a position to win if the #8 car faltered.
I can’t say that I really paid attention to the LMP2 class. They seem to be the forgotten child of Le Mans racing. I’m sure it would have been a different story if the Porsche Spyders had shown up.
What another fantastic race between the Corvette’s and the DB9’s. Once again, the Corvette’s reliability won the race for them. When I went to bed after the 13th hour the #64 was trailing the #009 car, but was still on the same lap. Lo and behold, when I wake up the ‘vette had taken a four/five lap lead while I slumbered. I don’t know what is more impressive, their fourth overall at Le Mans, or their two podium spots at Sebring. On a related note, tt’s good to hear that the DB9’s will finish out the ALMS season.
The GT2 class didn’t fail to excite either. The epic comeback of the Panoz provided some excitement in the final hours. Well, I guess it was more of the tragic implosion of the #83 Porsche than the Panoz’s comeback, but still, if you can manage to have only 20 pit stops during the race, you’re going to put yourself in a position to win. A great win for the Panoz boys after their thrilling win at Sebring.
This is truly a great time to be a road racing fan. If only those following NASCAR knew what they were missing.
Did anyone happen to catch the end of the Champ Car race on Sunday? After Allmendinger took the checkered flag, they cut to an in-car audio feed of him whooping and hollering. He sounded absolutely ecstatic. The funniest part came when it congratulated his crew on an awesome race. It went something like this, “you guys are f**k…” Oops, guess someone in the production booth wasn’t quick enough on the draw. I wonder if any FCC fines will come of this.
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GT1 was a great race... 11:55AM (6/19/2006)
chewy:
Limiting the size of the fuel tank on the Diesels isn't absurd. Everything is limited at Le Mans. The size of the fuel tank, the speed at which you can fill it (they have a fuel-flow restrictor!), the size of the engine, intake restriction, min weight of the car, etc.
They set the rules to try to equalize things. So if they want gas cars to be competitive in LMP1 (or GTP, since they're going to closed top cars) they would need to remove at least one lap from the Diesel fuel interval. There's nothing really wrong with a LMP1 car being able to go 15 laps on a tank, but no gas car with that performance can. And there is no manufacturer of Diesel race engines which sells their engines. The only engines are the werks Audi and soon the (surely) werks Peugeot. That means that there can be no non-werks cars that are competitive for the overall win. I would submit that is a bad thing. Going by what ACO has has for the last 10 years, I think they would think it is a bad thing too.
The big counter is the French Factor. If one of those two teams is run by Pescarolo, they might just leave it that way. They would love to see a French team win, especially Pescarolo. This is evidenced by how they let the French-run GT2 pole car replace their entire chassis (which is against the rules) between qualification and the race.
If it were my decision, I'd reduce the Diesel tank slightly, get them down to 14 laps so non-werks cars can compete with them a little. I might even reduce it down to 13 (the interval the Judds were getting), especially if I felt the Diesel folks were about to improved their efficiency enough that they might just earn that 1 lap back in the next year. It's not like this would ruin the competitiveness of the Diesels like reducing their intake restrictors so they are no longer 50% larger than the gas engine restrictors would.
I am very impressed with the Pratt & Miller (Corvette) and Prodrive (Aston Martin) teams. Both fielded great cars and are well versed in running them. It shouldn't surprise me that either is good at racing, given their histories, but yet the level of these teams is astonishing. It appears to me that these teams are easily the equal of the Joest team and perhaps superior.
It was a little disappointed that Doug Fehan was a bit of a cold fish when the captain of the 3rd place GT1 team (Luc Alphond's C5R team) came over to congratulate him near the end of the race. He could barely be bothered to look at the man. It's disappointing especially because Doug is so good at interviews, to see him being less than genial and happy on camera is shocking.
I was astonished by the Panoz only putting in 20 stops. That's a huge pit interval of at least 18 laps. And the paint job on the Panoz almost made that ugly-duckling look good.
It was a good race this year, I can't say I support going to closed-top vehicles only in the future. I know for years the ACO has been saying they want to get away from the prototypes and to cars that are more familiar to people. They think going to hard-top will do this. As much as I like the 917 and 962, they didn't look anything like a street car and the new ones won't either. When GT1 cars can come in 4th overall, I don't see why they don't just dump all the prototypes and go to production-based cars as the top class. Then they would look like street cars. It would herald a return to the days when you could buy the street version of the winner of Le Mans (with enough money). Who didn't like the GT40 and Ferrari 330s?
amp:
I didn't see the race last weekend, but Champ Car airs on Speed, and the FCC has no sway over cable channel content, at least not yet. They have been attempting to gain control.
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Le Mans 24 Hours 2006 - Overall Results 2:03PM (6/19/2006)
Le Mans 24 Hours 2006 - overall results:
1. Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R10 (Biela/Pirro/Werner): 380 laps (LMP1)
2. Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo-Judd (Montagny/Helary/Loeb): 376 laps (LMP1)
3. Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R10 (Capello/Kristiansen/McNish): 367 laps (LMP1)
4. Corvette Racing Corvette C6-R (Gavin/Beretta/Magnussen): 355 laps (GT1)
5. Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo-Judd (Collard/Minassian/Comas): 352 laps (LMP1)
6. Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin DBR9 (Enge/Turner/Piccini): 350 laps (GT1)
7. Luc Alphand Adventures Corvette C5-R (Policand/Goeslard/Alphand): 346 laps (GT1)
8. RML MG-Lola (Newton/Erdos/Wallace): 343 laps (LMP2)
9. Russian Age Racing Aston Martin DBR9 (Piquet Jnr/Garcia/Brabham): 343 laps (GT1)
10. Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin DBR9 (Sarrazin/Lamy/Ortelli): 342 laps (GT1)
11. ACEMCO Motorsports Saleen S7R (Mowlem/Borcheller/Fittipaldi): 337 laps (GT1)
12. Corvette Racing C6-R (Fellows/O'Connell/Papis): 327 laps (GT1)
13. Binnie Motorsports Lola-Zytek (Terada/Timpany/Binnie): 326 laps (LMP2)
14. Miracle Motorsports Courage-AER (Macaluso/Lally/James): 324 laps (LMP2)
15. Team LNT Panoz Esperante (Tomlinson/Dean/Kimber/Smith): 321 laps (GT2)
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Cosine 2:49PM (6/19/2006)
Why not an unlimited class where the rules really are the same for everyone?
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chewy 6:09PM (6/19/2006)
Cosine, what do you mean. A spec race series kinda like Nascar? The different engines/cars/classes is what makes Le Mans such a great event.
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chewy 6:12PM (6/19/2006)
Cosine, what do you mean. A spec race series kinda like Nascar? The different engines/cars/classes is what makes Le Mans such a great event.
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Cosine 6:45PM (6/19/2006)
lol, no, I mean the exact opposite, why are there any rules at all? Whoever covers the most ground in the time allowed wins, the other rules make it so much less real.
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