Le Mans 24 hours 2009

[modbaraban]

It's fairly interesting so see how many F1 relatives are in thie year's Le Mans:

- Bruno Senna
- Nicolas Prost
- David Brabham

Leo Mansell, Vanina Ickx...

The Pescarolo 908 #17 hit the works 908 #7 while pitting! The Pescarolo car was pulled for immediate repair, while the #7 went out to immediately find out about a rear puncure. The back of the car (aero, turbos, intercooler and possibly exhausts) was destroyed by the tyre during the extremely slow 13km lap.

UPD: LoL! Audi's nose has "opened up" while on the track... now brought to the garage to change the front.

[joseff]

The R15 front end seems to be collecting all sorts of stuff... they check under the nose at practically every pit stop now.

[modbaraban]

Peugeots are sucking rabbits out of the hedges at 200MPH. Audi are collecting them

[dedge]

The R15 front end seems to be collecting all sorts of stuff... they check under the nose at practically every pit stop now.

To my mind, the cooling system is not sufficient, so they are always checking if it is clean or not.

[modbaraban]

Eurosport: all 3 LMP1 Astons are running direct injection.

#2 Audi is officially out after a hard crash in the Porsche curves.

[L.H.D]

The R15 front end seems to be collecting all sorts of stuff... they check under the nose at practically every pit stop now.

They are changing the front because of Areodynamic reasons, they where having problems with understeer on the cars.
Since they don't have, wings or flaps too adjust, they have too change the whole front, too change the areo on the front.

[timbo]

Quite a dramatic race it is. Funny is that I wanted Peugeot to win, but now that Audi seems on back foot I start to feel for them.

PS Bourdais looks quite strong. Makes me wonder whether it is F1 cars that not suit his style and also what other guys in F1 would look like in endurance racing.

[modbaraban]

Some Vids:
Start
Premat Crash (#3)
Peugeot pitlane crash
Jetalliance DBR9 spin
Aston #009 pushes the Oreca out of the track into the wall and out of the race.
Bourdais onboard
Lucas Luhr off and out.


Spyker Squadron vids:
http://vimeo.com/5141337
http://vimeo.com/5138437

[FGD]

What a great race! I'm already planning a weekend in LeMans for next years summer vacation. I'd love to see Ferrari, Toyota, BMW and Mercedes in the mix. Bernie & Max should be ashamed of themselves.

[modbaraban]

What a great race! I'm already planning a weekend in LeMans for next years summer vacation. I'd love to see Ferrari, Toyota, BMW and Mercedes in the mix. Bernie & Max should be ashamed of themselves.

Have you seen Montezemolo's face at 15 00 CET? He looked like he was going to come back in a year

[FGD]

What a great race! I'm already planning a weekend in LeMans for next years summer vacation. I'd love to see Ferrari, Toyota, BMW and Mercedes in the mix. Bernie & Max should be ashamed of themselves.

Have you seen Montezemolo's face at 15 00 CET? He looked like he was going to come back in a year

Yeah, I saw him throw the flag. I'd love to see them back at LeMans but also running a full season in LMS/ALMS along with Mercedes, BMW, Toyota etc.

They ALL should leave Bernie & Max with Campos fighting Williams and Force India over scraps.

[Steven]

Le Mans site: "After the retirement of the #2 Audi R15 TDI, Audi is even more under pressure with the #1 car also coming in for a 2 minute unscheduled pit stop. The #3 car won't be any help, as it has fallen to 44th overall, 42 laps off the leaders. As far as Peugeot is concerned, the #9 car is a solid leader. The #8 car reclaimed second place, but it had to come into the pits for a nose change after Sébastien Bourdais had a incident with #76 LM GT2 Porsche at Mulsanne. The battle is fierce, and the #1 Audi is the only R15 which could claim victory. Peugeot, however, has a numerical advantage, with 3 cars in a winning position. And that's without the #7 Peugeot 908 Hdi FAP which is creeping up the leader board with Nicolas Minassian who has set the fastest lap of the race so far at 22:17."

Looks to me like the R15 TDi is a little bit too fragile in terms of cooling. I really hope that Peugeot #8 will make it. The #7 would be even better but obviously it will be difficult to make up for the 6 laps deficit.

Also, Bruno Senna messed up as the complete left side of his car needed replacement, stopping him for about 30 mins. He was in 13th overall before that stop.

[Saribro]

Aston #009 pushes the Oreca out of the track into the wall and out of the race.

Driver excluded for that. Gonna be a challenge for the rest of the team to handle.

[modbaraban]

Нuge crash for Benoit Treluyer in #17 Pescarolo Peugeot. He was in 4th overall. The car is a write-off. No news about the driver. He's surrounded by medics but remains inside the car for woryingly long minutes...

UPD: He's now being removed from the car. He's conscious and talking to the medics.

[joseff]

My wife doesn't really watch the front... she's pleased "McDreamy" is 41st of 46 though