This year marks the 82nd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It is also Porsche’s re-entry into the sport as a factory team after a gap of twenty years.
Audi began its domination of the legendary race in 2007 with the introduction of their R8. The first diesel Le Mans prototype (LMP). Since then, they have never looked back. Improving on that engine over the years, they have become an unstoppable force. In 2012 though, Toyota joined the LMP1 category with their TS030 and tried to give Audi a run for its money. Sadly though this didn’t happen and they treated that and the 2013 edition of the race as development races. Porsche have joined the fray this year with their 919 hybrid car is an impressive machine wand put up an impressive performance with their first pole at the Six Hours of Silverstone and also their first podium.
The first round, six of Silverstone held on the 20th of April was a real stunner, the race was red flagged due to heavy rains, cutting the race short by about 24 minutes. The Toyota TS040 Hybrid of Anthony Davidson, Nicolas Lapierre and Sebastien Buemi finished in first position and that of Alexander Wurz, Stephane Sarrazin, Kazuki Nakajima came in second. The much awaited debut of the innovative Porsche 919 Hybrid was a success. The highly complex LMP1 car of Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber claimed third. The sister car of Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb retired after an hour and fifteen minutes due to technical issues.
Both the Audi R18 e-tron quattros however, failed to finish for the first time since the Petit Le Mans held at Road Atlanta in 2011. The car of Lucas Di Grassi, Loic Duval and Tom Kristensen retired early on in the race and the second car of Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer crashing 47 laps before the end.
This Season, Toyota are taking the fight straight to the Audis. With two wins from two starts, the no. 8 car of Anthony Davidson, Nicolas Lapierre and Sébastien Buemi clinched its second victory of the season and at the same time, capitalising on the lead in the championship standings. The TS040 took the lead from the no. 14 Porsche 919 of Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb after the first hour of hard racing. Their no. 14 car finished in fourth place ahead of the Audis. The other Porsche of Mark Webber, Timo bernhard and Brendon Hartley could only finish in 23rd place. The car was plagued with mechanical troubles and after 50 laps struggled with its pace.
Audi ran three cars this time though remaining largely anonymous. A main problem for all three cars was a lack of straight-line speed. A really quick pit-stop during the second half of the race, the no. 1 car of the defending champions Lucas di Grassi, Loic Duval and Tom Kristensen moved into second place. The no.2 car of Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer and the no. 3 car of Filipe Albuquerque and Marco Bonanomi finished fifth and sixth. In the LMP1-L class, REBELLION Racing ran their new R-One cars. They were the only entrants in the class and the no.12 car of of Nicolas Prost, Mathias Beche and Nick Heidfeld managed to pull out an impressive seventh place while the no 13 car of Dominik Kraihamer, Andrea Belicchi and Fabio Leimer retired after 21 laps due to Mechanical issues. Their car never ran during free practice or free practice but was cleared to race.
Going into this weekend’s race, Toyota have extended their lead with a total of 84 points, Porsche with 36 points and Audi has finally been able to get some points on the board with a total of 28 points. After the qualifying session, the Toyota of Alexander Wurz, Stephane Sarrazin, Kazuki Nakajima started on pole position with the Porsche of Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb started in second. The second row of the grid was occupied by the sister Toyota of Anthony Davidson, Nicolas Lapierre and Sebastien Buemi and the second Porsche of Mark Webber, Timo bernhard and Brendon Hartley. Audi took up the next three places with the new number three car of Filipe Albuquerque, Marco Bonanomi and Oliver Jarvis taking fifth and the number two car of Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer positioned sixth on the grid followed by the number one car of Lucas Di Grassi, Marc Gene and Tom Kristensen.
Carcohol 