2009 Le Mans/LMS/ALMS Thread

[vikiradTG2007]

It's still 2008, but we're already getting major developments towards what looks to be a very exciting season of endurance racing.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72280

Audi to replace R10 with R15 TDi

By Steven English Friday, November 28th 2008, 15:54 GMT

Audi R10Audi has confirmed that it will replace its R10 TDi sportscar with a new model, the R15, next season.

The R10 was Audi's first turbo-diesel LMP1 car and followed the R8, which won the Le Mans 24 Hours five times in six years between 2000 and 2005.

The R10 won Le Mans in each of the three years since its introduction in 2006, and it will be superseded by the R15 TDi from 2009.

Audi claims the new car will have a smaller, lighter and more efficient TDi engine than the R10, and confirmed that it will be another open-topped car.

It is scheduled to test for the first time later this year, but will not be publicly launched until shortly before its race debut in Sebring 12 Hours in March.

"It was clear to us that we must develop a new car if we wanted to continue to be successful at Le Mans," said Dr Wolfgang Ullrich, Audi's motorsport boss. "The R15 TDi is the result. The step from R10 to R15 is significantly larger than it was from the R8 to the R10."

The marque also confirmed that Audi Sport Team Joest will again run a trio of its prototypes in the Le Mans 24 Hours next year.

So Audi is going all-out for a 2009 challenger before the closed-cockpit LMP1 rules come into play for 2010. It's going to be highly exciting for Le Mans if they get it sorted out in time, but for God's sake, they must NOT win!


As for the other classes... LMP2 will probably remain the domain of the Porsche RS Spyders, GT1 is on its way out, BUT... we're going to have an absolutely monumental year in GT2, with Porsche, Ferrari, Panoz, Corvette, Aston Martin, and now BMW going all-out, and also the rumoured return of Jaguar for late '09/2010 with a GT2 XKR.

Opinions on this?

[NooDle]

ZOMG LOLcakes

I don't see how they can "upgrade" from the R10. I mean it won absolutely everything, including "most awesome".

[vikiradTG2007]

The R15 will definitely be a car designed for a single, gigantic, assault on Le Mans, in an attempt to get a 1-2-3. Open-topped LMP1 cars will be gone from 2010.

So it will be a giant upgrade. And, as 2008 showed, within the space of a development year, you can gain about 6-7 seconds a lap on a track like Le Mans.

[Red_Bull]

Surely it'll be easily modified to be closed top in 2010? I cant see Audi spending so much on a car that'll be illegal in 12 months time. I dont follow Le Mans as much as I should because I adore the cars, but what do you mean by GT1 being "on its way out?"

[vikiradTG2007]

It's on its way out because the GT1 numbers are diminishing drastically. In 2009, the ALMS will abolish it altogether because of a complete lack of entrants, with Corvette modifying its cars to GT2 spec. And Aston might abandon it as well, since they've got the GT2 V8 Vantages to work on now.

[Forstrocker]

Originally Posted by vikiradTG2007

(...) Open-topped LMP1 cars will be gone from 2010. (...)

This part of the new regulations, which will be introduced in 2010 is already outdated. The latest state of affairs is that the new LMP1 regulations will be similar to the current LMP2 regulations combined with hybrid-technology and kinetic energy recovery systems.

2009 is going to be a quite interesting year with the R15. But in my opinion it will stay longer than only 2009 because it is wrong that they must have closed cars in 2010. Audi is going to race le mans with their new LMP1 racecar 2009 & 2010 then they will possibly make room for a new Porsche LMP1 engagement in 2011. Which obviously would be great!
It is also interesting how the Peugots are going to acquit themself against the all new audis.

My 2009 Le Mans ticktets are hopefully going to arrive this week.

[vikiradTG2007]

Originally Posted by Forstrocker

My 2009 Le Mans ticktets are hopefully going to arrive this week.

Enjoy it, snap a lot of photos and make sure to post them here!

[smib]

I am so mad that I haven't been a devout follower of the ALMS, but i really want to start watching it in '09.

[MadCat360]

Originally Posted by vikiradTG2007

BUT... we're going to have an absolutely monumental year in GT2, with Porsche, Ferrari, Panoz, Corvette, Aston Martin, and now BMW going all-out, and also the rumoured return of Jaguar for late '09/2010 with a GT2 XKR.

Don't forget Dodge and Ford...

[stevanford1]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72314

Audi scraps LMS programme

Audi motorsport boss Wolfgang Ullrich has confirmed that the manufacturer will not attempt to defend its Le Mans Series title next season with the new R15 TDi.

Alexandre Premat and Mike Rockenfeller won the LMS title this year in an Audi R10, but Ullrich says in this week's Autosport that the decision not to return was made to save money.

"We will not participate in the LMS," he said. "We all have to face that the economy is moving and everyone has to put something into their pocket to save money.

"The LMS has grown quite significantly but you have to face the fact that to make the best out of less money, there is no choice but to cut parts of the programme."

The Le Mans 24 Hours is, so far, the only confirmed outing for the R15 beyond the American Le Mans Series season-opener, the Sebring 12 Hours, in March.

But Ullrich says a decision about a tenth consecutive full ALMS campaign is still to be made.

"We are still in discussion about the American programme," he said. "There has to be a board decision to do it, but we are all working on it very hard."

Audi stalwarts Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela, who have five Le Mans wins each with the marque, are likely to race Audis again next year despite not having their contracts renewed this season. Both are expected to race the new R8 GT3 car for teams in Europe.

[nist7]

Originally Posted by Red_Bull

I dont follow Le Mans as much as I should because I adore the cars, but what do you mean by GT1 being "on its way out?"

Originally Posted by vikiradTG2007

It's on its way out because the GT1 numbers are diminishing drastically. In 2009, the ALMS will abolish it altogether because of a complete lack of entrants, with Corvette modifying its cars to GT2 spec. And Aston might abandon it as well, since they've got the GT2 V8 Vantages to work on now.

Well, the reason why there is no one competing in GT1 anymore is because Corvette Racing just destroys any and all competition and the Americans got bored of winning, so they thought they might try to see if they'll lose once in a while by moving over to the GT2 class

Seriously though, it's really unfortunate that GT1 is going bye bye. I'd really love to see some competition against the Corvettes from cars like the 599GTB, the GT-R, the R8, etc.

[MadCat360]

Originally Posted by nist7

Seriously though, it's really unfortunate that GT1 is going bye bye. I'd really love to see some competition against the Corvettes from cars like the 599GTB, the GT-R, the R8, etc.

It's not going bye-bye, there are just no competitors this year, besides at Le Mans.

[vikiradTG2007]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72333

Audi pulls out of ALMS as well

By Steven English Friday, December 5th 2008, 11:43 GMT

Audi has today announced that it will not contest the American Le Mans Series next season with its new R15 TDi.

The German manufacturer had already confirmed that it would not defend its Le Mans Series title in Europe in 2009, citing money saving as the reason.

With no full ALMS campaign either, the R15's only confirmed outings next year will be in the Sebring 12 Hours in March and the Le Mans 24 Hours in June.

Audi motorsport boss Wolfgang Ullrich praised the ALMS - which the marque had competed in for nine seasons - and the Champion team that ran the R8 and R10 in America.

"The decision to withdraw was a very difficult one," he said. "The extraordinary dedication and precision of Team Champion was the key to Audi's victories over the last few years in America.

"We achieved an unprecedented winning series together - since the 2000 season Audi has won the LMP1 title nine times in succession."

The recent announcements mean that Audi's motorsport involvement next season is, at the moment, restricted to the DTM, Sebring and Le Mans, and the customer programme with the new R8 GT3 car.

Does this smell to you like "no Audi in LMP1 after 2009"? It sure does to me.


And I'm guessing that we'll soon see endurance racing restricted back to two classes (LMP and GT). Just hoping that LMP will become sort of a Group C of the late '80s.

[smib]

[Hazardous]

Originally Posted by vikiradTG2007

Does this smell to you like "no Audi in LMP1 after 2009"? It sure does to me.

No.

I don't see why they would come back to Le Mans next year with a brand new car only to leave right afterwards. It would have made much more sense to get out now, as the R10 came to the end of it's competitive life and they could have left as pretty much undefeated champions of Le Mans.

A simple reason for not going to ALMS and LMS could be that they want to concentrate on developing the R15 and only do selected higher profile races (Sebring, Le Mans, Petit Le Mans, maybe Spa).

[Airpoppoff]

what's this bullshit

http://www.nextautos.com/audi-pull-out-alms-2009

[Niklas_Rc]

Originally Posted by Airpoppoff

what's this bullshit

http://www.nextautos.com/audi-pull-out-alms-2009

A bit of financial crisis I suppose?
They are probably cutting some of their interests down in this time like everyone else are doing. Honda and the F1 programme for example.

[Terrible3]

Hey guys, first post! Anyways......

LMP1 (or P1)
Well I was really looking forward to this year since acura were going to be bumping up to challenge audi and perhaps the 908 (if they come to north America). Now that Audi has some competition its backing out for the most part? I don't really understand what audi is doing, they are willing to dev a whole new car and yet not put the money down to race it at most of the ALMS events? I have always been a big fan of Audi since they were one of the few companies willing willing to spend the money on the ALMS. I really miss the days when the R8 was ducking it out with the Panoz roadster and the Cadie.

LMP2 (or P2)
I was pretty impressed with LMP2 this year. It was great seeing the spyders race against the new acuras. On several tracks the smaller LMP2 cars were giving the R10 a run for its money. I am not too sure whats going on in 2009 since penske may be dropping out and I have no idea whats going to happen with acura. Its nice to know that Mazda Lola will be running several cars.

GT1 (formally GT2 or GTS)
Well this class use to be awesome, but after everyone backed out it became boring on the ALMS side. The only reason why the Vetts did so well is due to the fact that they were the only factory backed team. The vipers, S7 and prodive DBS's all spanked the Vetts in their time. I really wish that prodive would compete with their astons over here in the ALMS. Anyways back on topic, I guess the class is dead and I am glad to see that GM moved to the GT2 class since then they would have someone to race against rather than continuing with Audi syndrome. Big props to the vett team for having the guts to drop down to GT2.

GT2 (formally GT3 or GT)
This has been on of the best classes in ALMS for a long time. Sure they are not nearly as quick as the lovely R10 but dam good racing. The battle between the 911 and the 430 this year at mosport was awesome. It has also been as exciting in years past with the 911 facing off with the M3 (before being banned) and more recently the panoz. The fact that there will be the Aston, 911, vett, GT40, 430, panoz and m3 this year makes me so happy. I cant wait for GT2 this year!

[jack_christie]

Pics of the Acura LMP1
http://www.mulsannescorner.com/newsnov08.html

[MadCat360]

Do Acura make their own chassis? Because last year they looked a hell of a lot like Lolas... this year they look like Courages.