24 Hours of Le Mans: Peugeot vs. Audi
Peugeot beat Audi to pole position for the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Saturday, June 13. Both teams had spent much of the qualifying sessions working on race setups, but with ten minutes to go in the second session, Stephane Sarrazin took his no..8 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP onto the circuit with orders to grab pole position away from Allan McNish in the no..1 Audi .15 TDI.
Sarrazin threaded his way through slower cars on the 8.5-mile track to record . lap in 3:22.888, just 0.8 seconds quicker than McNish, for an average speed of 149.8 mph. This is the third consecutive pole at Le Mans for the Peugeot , while Audi has won the race overall eight of the last nine years. Both the diesel-powered sports cars are slightly slower around the track this year because of new regulations to make the gasoline-powered cars more competitive. The no..7 Lola Aston-Martin was the quickest of these with . lap of 3:27.704.
Caspar Elgaard drove . Porsche Spyder RS to the pole in the LMP2 class in 3:37.720. The no..63 Chevrolet Corvette ..6. of Jan Magnussen took the pole in the LM GT1 category with . best lap of 3.54.230, while the Porsche GT3 RSR of Flying Lizard Racing'. Jorg Bergmeister took the pole for the GT2 category with ..4:03.202.
Audi '. narrow victory over Peugeot in last year'. race has revived interest in the endurance contest after . decade of dominance by Audi (and Bentley, its subsidiary), and enthusiasm has also been aroused by access through the Internet. Audi offers coverage through its own site (http://www.audir15tdi.com/) as well as sites on Facebook (fb.audir15tdi.com), Twitter (tw.audir15tdi.com), and YouTube (yt.audir15tdi).
If you've not swallowing the Audi Kool-aid, Peugeot Sport offers its own outlet (lemans.peugeot -sport.com/en) as does Corvette Racing (http://www.corvetteracing.com/). The official Le Mans site (http://www.lemans.org/24heuresdumans/pages/accueil_gb.html) is useful as well.
For all the commercial frenzy that has come to surround Le Mans, this race is still about driving. And this interview with Audi R15 TDI driver Romain Dumas from Audi Motorsport Communications provides some unique insight:
You drove for the first time at Le Mans with a diesel prototype in free practice. How did the encounter go?
Romain Dumas: “Everything ran very well, even though the conditions in the rain weren't exactly easy. My first laps were not bad. The goal was obviously to learn the track in this car without making any mistakes, like a spin for example, in the process.”
Which corners are the key to a good lap time?
“Braking for the chicanes on the Hunaudi??res Straight is important – especially in the rain. You can make up time here, but can also make serious mistakes. In the dry the Porsche Curves is one key sector. They are extremely fast, they can make or break your lap time.”
Where are the best overtaking places on this track?
“To answer this question I would again say the braking areas for the chicanes. An ambitious driver can squeeze by on the inside under braking here. Overtaking is therefore very efficient because you lose the least amount of time here.”
The asphalt differs enormously on this combination of temporary and permanent race track. What affect does this have?
“These differences are particularly noticeable when grip level is low, so in the rain. The grip is very good on the permanent Circuit Bugatti, a part of which we use. As soon as you drive out onto the Hunaudi??res Straight it gets much more slippery. In principle you must prepare yourself for the two different situations.”
How do you find the right braking point in the night on this high-speed track where average lap speeds of more than 230 kph are possible?
“That's difficult everywhere. It's particularly difficult to find the ideal braking point for the chicanes on the long straight because you approach at more than 300 kph. The reference points change between day and night. During the day you see the markings, in the dark no more. You have to look for new reference points. On the first laps in the dark it feels as if you are going much quicker! You have to get accustomed to this very quickly at the beginning.”
The TDI engine produces much more torque than a gasoline powered engine. What does this mean at Le Mans?
“With the Audi R15 TDI I can overtake other cars at parts of the track where I was overtaken myself in previous years with a gasoline powered prototype … It is impressive just how fast the car is on the straight. You really have to get used to this. At the same time I have to fundamentally adapt my driving style: The diesel produces almost no noise, its drag torque is completely different than that of a gasoline engine – it's not so easy to adapt to this. Luckily the engineers have developed a sensational traction control. In spite of the massive torque you can easily modulate the power on the exit of the corners. This gives you a lot of confidence.”
