2011 Endurance Racing Thread

How about some old-ish footage of the R18 at Sebring...

 
2011 ALMS Event 2 Long Beach Results:

Tequila Patr?n American Le Mans Series at Long Beach
Long Beach street circuit, Long Beach, Calif.

1. (2) Lucas Luhr, Monte Carlo; Klaus Graf, Dornham; AMR/ Lola Coupe B08 62 (1, LMP1), 83.
2. (1) Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Guy Smith, Bracken, Yorkshire; Lola B09 86/Mazda (2, LMP1), 83.
3. (3) Ricardo Gonzalez, Monterrey; Gunnar Jeannette, Salt Lake City, UT; Oreca FLM09 (1, LMPC), 81.
4. (4) Tomy Drissi, Los Angeles, CA; Kyle Marcelli, Barrie, ON; Oreca FLM09 (2, LMPC), 81.
5. (7) Joey Hand, Sacramento, CA; Dirk Mueller, Monte Carlo; BMW M3 GT (1, GT), 81.
6. (8) Oliver Gavin, Yardley Hastings; Jan Magnussen, Roskilde; Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 (2, GT), 81.
7. (28) Toni Vilander, Kankaanpaa; Jaime Melo, Milan; Ferrari F458 Italia (3, GT), 81.
8. (11) Wolf Henzler, Nuertingen; Bryan Sellers, Braselton, GA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (4, GT), 80.
9. (6) Eric Lux, Jacksonville, FL; Elton Julian, Santa Monica, CA; Oreca FLM09 (3, LMPC), 80.
10. (15) Tommy Milner, Leesburg, VA; Olivier Beretta, Monte Carlo; Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 (5, GT), 80.
11. (17) Jon Bennett, Fort Mill, SC; Frankie Montecalvo, Highlands, NJ; Oreca FLM09 (4, LMPC), 79.
12. (16) Bruno Junqueira, Brazil; Cristiano da Matta, Belo, Horizonte; Jaguar XKR (6, GT), 79.
13. (9) Bill Auberlen, Redondo Beach, CA; Dirk Werner, Kissenbr?ck; BMW M3 GT (7, GT), 79.
14. (26) Seth Neiman, San Francisco, CA; Darren Law, Phoenix, AZ; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (8, GT), 78.
15. (19) Tim Pappas, Boston, MA; Jeroen Bleekemolen, Monte Carlo, ; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (1, GTC), 77.
16. (13) Ed Brown, Las Vegas, NV; Guy Cosmo, West Palm Beach, FL; Ferrari F458 Italia (9, GT), 77.
17. (20) Bill Sweedler, Westport, CT; Leh Keen, Dublin, GA; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (2, GTC), 77.
18. (5) Miles Maroney, Topanga, CA; Alex Figge, Denver, CO; Oreca FLM09 (5, LMPC), 77.
19. (23) John Potter, Salt Lake City, UT; Craig Stanton, Long Beach, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (3, GTC), 76.
20. (21) Dominik Schwager, Eisenhofen; Nicky Pastorelli, Rijswijk; Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 (10, GT), 75.
21. (27) Scott Blackett, Avon, CO; Nick Ham, Evergreen, CO; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (4, GTC), 71.
22. (12) Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Scott Sharp, Jupiter, FL; Ferrari F458 Italia (11, GT), 70.
23. (25) Brendan Gaughan, Las Vegas, NV; Dion von Moltke, Coral Gables, FL; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (5, GTC), 70.
24. (14) Sascha Maassen, Lontzen; Bryce Miller, Summit, NJ; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (12, GT), 68.
25. (29) Scott Tucker, Leawood, KS; Christophe Bouchut, Paris; Lola Honda (13, LMP2), 45.
26. (22) Duncan Ende, Los Angeles, CA; Spencer Pumpelly, Mason Neck, VA; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (6, GTC), 36.
27. (10) Patrick Long, Bellaire, FL; Joerg Bergmeister, Langenfield; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (14, GT), 31.
28. (18) Paul Gentilozzi, Grand Ledge, MI; PJ Jones, Torrance, CA; Jaguar XKR (15, GT), 2.
29. (24) Bret Curtis, Valencia, CA; James Sofronas, Newport Beach, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (7, GTC), 2.
30. (30) Luis Diaz, Mexico City; Scott Tucker, Leawood, KS; Lola Honda (8, LMP2), 0.
31. (31) Jarrett Boon, Phoenix, AZ; Anthony Nicolosi, Palm Beach, FL; Oreca FLM09 (6, LMPC), 0
 
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First round of the Blancpain Endurance Series (basically enduros for GT3 and GT4) starting at Monza today in about 20 minutes' time, streamed live online on the GT1 website. 3-hour race as far as I'm aware.
 
We've seen the new Pug's warpaint, now it's time to see the new Audi's warpaint.

2011_Le_Mans_DecoR18_3.jpg


First impression is decidedly meh to be honest. Particularly when comparing the car to how it looked in carbon black.
 
vikiradTG2007 said:
First impression is decidedly meh to be honest. Particularly when comparing the car to how it looked in carbon black.
Click to expand...

Slightly unfair comparison. Pretty much all race cars look brilliant in carbon black...

I like the new livery. It's way better than the red-silver one Audi had last year.
 
Well at least now they made up their mind about the color combo, the last livery was just a random bunch of different colors.
 
I like the livery! Le Mans test day was great as well, just incredibly close. Top ten:

Code: 
	Nr.	Team	                          Car	                          Time
1	3	AUDI SPORT NORTH AMERICA	AUDI R18 TDI                   	3:27.687
2	1	AUDI SPORT TEAM JOEST	        AUDI R18 TDI              	3:27.815
3	8	PEUGEOT SPORT TOTAL	        PEUGEOT 908       	        3:27.876
4	2	AUDI SPORT TEAM JOEST     	AUDI R18 TDI                	3:27.878
5	9	TEAM PEUGEOT TOTAL	        PEUGEOT 908               	3:28.304
6	10	TEAM ORECA MATMUT	        PEUGEOT 908 HDI-FAP       	3:31.141
7	7	PEUGEOT SPORT TOTAL   	        PEUGEOT 908             	3:32.860
8	16	PESCAROLO TEAM	                PESCAROLO JUDD                	3:36.583
9	12	REBELLION RACING	       LOLA B 10/60 COUPE-TOYOTA	3:37.809
10	13	REBELLION RACING	        LOLA B 10/60 COUPE-TOYOTA	3:38.716

Some observations:
  • The R18 seems to be easier to drive than the 908, and also seems to have slightly better reliability
  • Lotus did a great job with their new car, so little testing.
  • Aston Martin was very disappointing.
  • The 458 is truly a brilliant car. I doubt anyone can challenge a ferrari in June.
  • LMP2 regs are messed up, LMP1 performance balance doesn't look that bad

Also, Aston Martin will not compete at the Spa 6 hours.
 
To be honest, I'd rather see both Astons get withdrawn from the race. They can't even last up to midnight in their current state. And since the two regular drivers of the second and last LMP reserve have already been confirmed in other cars, that reserve entry has probably been quietly withdrawn, and therefore a withdrawal by both Astons would promote the old Lola-Aston run by Kronos/MarcVDS, and more importantly, the second Doran Ford. :D
 
Yep, agree with you there! First of all I'd love to see those two teams being able to race, but it would also be a shame for Aston Martin if they cannot even run a proper a race, let alone compete at a proper level.
 
Great race again! Still quite a few incidents involving traffic and although that will surely be a lot easier at Le Mans it still may play a more significant role than it did last year. Great run for Peugeot after a disastrous qualification. Very unlucky race for Audi, although they still have some problems to sort. Audi and Peugeot seem to be very close and it's too hard to call who's the faster of the two. Up to Le Mans!

As far as regulations are concerned: LMP2 needs some tweaking, doubt LMP1 will though. I'd prefer the ACO to give an advantage (e.g. bigger restrictor) to the petrols instead of a disadvantage to the diesels (weight penalty) if they're going to make changes.
 
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Very good race, really chuffed about the result, shame about the 9 car's suspension failure though.

Le Mans is going to be insanely close if the relative pace stays the same. Bring it on! :D


EDIT: Video of Bouchut's crash in the Level 5 Lola at Eau Rouge. Scary. Suspension failure in the middle of the compression - brown underpants moment without a doubt.

 
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Is there any information about the LMP1 Astons' pace at the moment ? I'd assume them being a bit slower in pace compared to Audi and Pug but it would be nice to see how they stack up against the front runners before Le Mans rolls up.
 
Loop said:
Is there any information about the LMP1 Astons' pace at the moment ? I'd assume them being a bit slower in pace compared to Audi and Pug but it would be nice to see how they stack up against the front runners before Le Mans rolls up.
Click to expand...

The LMP1 Astons' pace? Pathetic. And I'm not joking. They were about 7 seconds slower than the Pescarolos and Rebellion Lolas at Ricard, they could only manage LMP2-midfield pace at the Le Mans test day before their engines went kablamo... to be brutally honest, this year Aston Martin might turn out to be a waste of two entries.


EDIT:

http://www.lemans.org/wpphpFichiers...011_combined_classification_free_practice.pdf

The only representative time for the Astons at the test day was set by the 007 car. 3:51.568. About 24 seconds off the Audis and Peugeots.
 
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I think I heard somewhere that Audi was using their Le Mans bodywork at Spa, which would not be the optimal choice since you'd need a bit more downforce in Spa. Assuming that Peugeot were using their regular bodywork one would expect that Audi is going to be more competitive come June. It is going to be really close...

I followed the race on the background for the most part, pretty eventful day on the whole. Bring on Le Mans! :D
 
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