2012 24 Hours of Le Mans

[Ferrariman60]

Anthony Davidson has fractures to T11 and T12 vertebrae but is likely to be able to leave hospital later on

Very good news indeed. That was an incredibly scary shunt.

[F1Fan88]

The large center fin (these abominations that we've seen introduced in F1 since a couple of years, as well) is supposed to keep the car on the ground, yet wasn't it exactly what caused the car to go airborne?

[donald29]

Yeah didn't work as intended.

From an aesthetics point of view I really hated them in F1. They looked absolutely awful, made the cars look like moving billboards. Like those lorries that drive round just for the purpose of having an advertisement on the side. 2010 was terrible, was very happy at the start of 2011!

On the Le Mans cars though, I actually think they look pretty good. Not that this is the most important thing.

[Ferrari92]

Audi 1/2/3/5

[donald29]

Pleased to see Nick Heidfeld up there in 4th with Rebellion Racing. Good job by that team.

[Ferrari92]

The rebuilt Ferrari 458 Italia n°51 (AF Corse) won the LM GTE Pro class
Magnificent

[Ferrariman60]

AUDI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can be proud as a Volkswagen driver today.

Also, about those shark fins: I quite like them, and since the Le Mans and American Le Mans series have become the technological forefront of motor racing in recent years, I figure that they have a distinct advantage. Also, it appears that Audi are running some ducting into their rear wing (F-Duct?).

[phil1993]

Results. Former F1 drivers in bold
Pos Car Drivers Class Laps Gap
1. #1 Audi Lotterer/Fassler/Treluyer LMP1 378
2. #2 Audi McNish/Capello/Kristensen LMP1 377 + 1 Lap
3. #4 Audi Jarvis/Bonanomi/Rockenfeller LMP1 375 + 3 Laps
4. #12 Lola Prost/Heidfeld/Jani LMP1 367 + 11 Laps
5. #3 Audi Gene/Dumas/Duval LMP1 366 + 12 Laps
6. #22 HPD Brabham/Dumbreck/Chandhok LMP1 357 + 21 Laps
7. #44 HPD Potolicchio/Dalziel/K-Smith LMP2 354 + 24 Laps
8. #46 Oreca Thiriet/Beche/Tinseau LMP2 353 + 25 Laps
9. #49 Oreca Perez Companc/Kaffer/Ayari LMP2 352 + 26 Laps
10. #26 Oreca Ragues/Panciatici/Rusinov LMP2 351 + 27 Laps
11. #13 Lola Belicchi/Bleekemolen/Primat LMP1 350 + 28 Laps
12. #41 Zytek Zugel/Julian/Gonzalez LMP2 348 + 30 Laps
13. #25 Oreca Martin/Charouz/Graves LMP2 346 + 32 Laps
14. #35 Morgan H Hansson/Leinders/Martin LMP2 341 + 37 Laps
15. #42 Zytek Brundle/Brundle/Ordonez LMP2 340 + 38 Laps
16. #23 Oreca Tresson/Mailleux/Lombard LMP2 340 + 2m47.469s
17. #51 Ferrari Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander GTEP 336 + 42 Laps
18. #59 Ferrari Makowiecki/Melo/Farnbacher GTEP 333 + 45 Laps
19. #97 Aston Mucke/Fernandez/Turner GTEP 332 + 46 Laps
20. #50 Corvette Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy GTEA 329 + 49 Laps
21. #67 Porsche Pons/Armindo/Narac GTEA 328 + 50 Laps
22. #71 Ferrari Bertolini/Beretta/Cioci GTEP 326 + 52 Laps
23. #73 Corvette Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor GTEP 326 + 3m10.910s
24. #45 Oreca Briere/Nakano/Petersen LMP2 325 + 53 Laps
25. #57 Ferrari Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo GTEA 323 + 55 Laps
26. #40 Oreca Frey/Hirschi/Meichtry LMP2 320 + 58 Laps
27. #79 Porsche Neiman/Pumpelly/Pilet GTEA 313 + 65 Laps
28. #70 Corvette Bourret/Gibon/Belloc GTEA 309 + 69 Laps
29. #43 Norma Rosier/Haezebrouck/Thirion LMP2 308 + 70 Laps
30. #21 HPD Leventis/Kane/Watts LMP1 303 + 75 Laps
31. #61 Ferrari Kauffman/Aguas/Vickers GTEA 294 + 84 Laps
32. #83 Ferrari Rodrigues/Illiano/Ferte GTEA 292 + 86 Laps
33. #55 Porsche Daniels/Palttala/Camathias GTEA 290 + 88 Laps
34. #74 Corvette Gavin/Westbrook/Milner GTEP 215 + 163 Laps
35. #17 Dome Minassian/Bourdais/Ara LMP1 202 + 176 Laps
36. #38 Zytek Hancock/Dolan/Kurosawa LMP2 271 Retired
37. #33 HPD Tucker/Bouchut/Diaz LMP2 240 Retired
38. #30 Lola Sims/Buurman/Iannetta LMP2 239 Retired
39. #88 Porsche Ried/Roda/Ruberti GTEA 222 Retired
40. #15 OAK Montagny/Kraihamer/Baguette LMP1 219 Retired
41. #66 Ferrari Walker/Cocker/Wills GTEP 204 Retired
42. #48 Oreca Firth/Hartley/Hughes LMP2 196 Retired
43. #77 Porsche Lietz/Lieb/Henzler GTEP 184 Retired
44. #75 Porsche al Faisal/Curtis/Edwards GTEA 180 Retired
45. #31 Lola Holzer/Schultis/Moro LMP2 155 Retired
46. #58 Ferrari Ehret/Jeannette/Montecalvo GTEA 146 Retired
47. #24 Morgan Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla LMP2 139 Retired
48. #7 Toyota Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima LMP1 134 Retired
49. #80 Porsche Bergmeister/Long/Holzer GTEP 114 Retired
50. #28 Lola Giroix/Badey/Johansson LMP2 92 Retired
51. #8 Toyota Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin LMP1 82 Retired
52. #0 DeltaWing Franchitti/Krumm/Motoyama CDNT 75 Retired
53. #81 Ferrari Perazzini/Cadei/Griffin GTEA 70 Retired
54. #99 Aston Nygaard/Poulsen/Simonsen GTEA 31 Retired
55. #16 Pescarolo Collard/Bouillon/Hall LMP1 20 Retired
56. #29 Lola Ihara/Deletraz/Rostan LMP2 17 Retired

[Edi96]

you forgot Perdo Lamy (#50), Olivier Beretta (#71) and Jean-Christophe Boullion (#16)

[phil1993]

you forgot Perdo Lamy (#50), Olivier Beretta (#71) and Jean-Christophe Boullion (#16)

As did Formula One, evidently

[donald29]

Given Capello is retiring Audi will be needing at least one new driver next year. If I were them I'd be on the phone to Nick Heidfeld. He was impressive.

[Ferrari92]

You mean Dindo Capello ??? are you sure ??

[donald29]

Rinaldo Capello, who drove with McNish and Kristensen.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100483

Here it only says very likely to have been his last Le Mans 24, on Eurosport they were speaking about it as a certainty.

[Ferrari92]

Ok thanks for the information

[François]

Sniffpetrol

Audi endurance embarrassment

There was embarrassment for the Audi Le Mans team this week with news that race victor Andre Lotterer had immobilised his winning R18 E-tron diesel hybrid by filling it up with petrol on the way home.

‘After the race Andre asked if he could borrow the car,’ said one high ranking Audi engineer. ‘I think he wanted to catch up with some friends back in Duisburg.’

Team insiders says they sent the German driver on his way and heard no more from him until several hours later when he called to say he was in a service station on the Belgian border waiting for a recovery truck.

‘For sure, this was totally my fault. It was late, I was tired, I made a mistake,’ a sheepish Lotterer said later. ‘And you know these modern diesels are so quiet that you forget they don’t run on petrol,’ he added hopefully.

The team say the stricken R18 has now been taken to the nearest Audi dealer where sources indicate that draining the tank and flushing the fuel system could cost up to 1500 Euros. ‘For sure, this will be coming out of my bonus,’ noted Lotterer glumly. ‘This is doubly annoying for me,’ the endurance racer added. ‘I bet I won’t get back the bag of Haribo I left in the cupholder.’

http://sniffpetrol.com/2012/06/21/audimisfuelling/