2012 FIA WEC/ALMS/ELMS/BES Thread

^and they're out of contention for the championship, they only could miss one race, and already missed sebring...

They can theoretically miss two races, the WEC constructors' championship is best 6 out of 8 scores (only this year, the rule was brought in just in order to make Toyota a full-season entrant).
 
So, I?ve been listening to the Le Mans preview shows on RLM, and I?m not sure yet what to make of this years race. Overall it is fair to assume that Audi is going to win it. It is sad for everyone that Peugeot has dropped out, and so there is no real competition for the overall win. Then again it is going to be interesting to see whether Toyota are going to be as quick (or quicker) as the Audis as they claim. The battle for "LMP1-P" is going to be very hard, and I can?t make out the obvious winner for that one.
It?s nice to see the LMP2 class with such a strong field, and while there are some stronger entries, there is no way to tell who is going to come out on top. Could someone quickly explain the "incident" with Deletraz, there seemed to be quite the controversy surrounding him, but RLM didn?t say much during the preview.
GTE-Pro, the class I was watching Le Mans for in the past years, has a quite a small field of only nine cars. Four 458s, two 911, two Corvettes and one Aston. Despite their great driver line-up, I have the suspicion Aston is not going to be the winning team. The RSR is getting a bit long in the tooth, but can never be neglected. Corvette & Ferrari are equally strong. This is going to be a hard fought class, bit of a shame that there are so few entries.
And GTE-Am, well I simply don?t care. I appreciate what they are doing for the sport, I would probably run as well if I had the money, but the outcome is not going to make or break my sunday.
Looking forward to test day and qualifying, especially for the speed of the Toyotas.
 
It?s nice to see the LMP2 class with such a strong field, and while there are some stronger entries, there is no way to tell who is going to come out on top. Could someone quickly explain the "incident" with Deletraz, there seemed to be quite the controversy surrounding him, but RLM didn?t say much during the preview.

He rather blotted his copybook at Spa, think there were at least three incidents where he impeded leading LMP1 cars either by blocking them or by spinning in front of them. Also, the car in which he's named wasn't even allowed to take the start at Sebring because the drivers didn't have enough track time or speed.
 
why is the number of GT-pro teams so low this year? are any of the AM teams good enought to mix it up with the PRO teams?

Only three AM teams that I can see doing that for most of the race distance: #67 IMSA Matmut Porsche, #88 Felbermayr Porsche and #81 AF Corse Ferrari. And the numbers in GTE-Pro have also been affected by the loss of BMW.
 
I wouldn?t read to much into the times yet, I think they are all still holding back. Interesting interview with Anthony Davidson, he said Toyotas aim is to be the quickest, but apparently aren?t expecting to finish. They are also supposed to be getting two more laps out of a tank of fuel compared to the Audis. Also exciting is to see Sebastion Loebs name on the list, he is taking part in test day but not the race, planning to participate in 2013.
 
I seriously hope that Toyota will be able to keep this kind of speed up in the actual race. It would be nice to see some actual competition for the race victory now that Peugeot has pulled out.
 
It?s going to be interesting to see during qualifying how much sandbagging was actually going on. Both teams claim that the other was not running at full pace yet, and a pole seems much more important this year, marketing wise. If Toyota really are quicker, which they claim, and also can do two more laps per pitstop due to the bigger tank, it is going to be very interesting how Audi is going to react. They can?t just rely on both Toyotas breaking down. Then again, noone is expecting Audi to loose, and neither am I.
 
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