Le-Mans 24hrs 2014

[Rob]

I just hate diesels mate. Nobody will ever change my mind about it not having place in motorsport.

Think Audi have bought diesel technology to the front, no-one said it could be done and look what they have done and won.

[Kyss4k]

Think Audi have bought diesel technology to the front, no-one said it could be done and look what they have done and won.

They have won because of the rules were advantageous for it in the first few years. But that's not my point. Diesel has no place in racing car from my point of view. Not only it has awful sound (or no sound at all this year), it smells like **** as well. It should have stayed in trucks and stove. I feel the same about pure electric racing cars. It takes a too much excitement from racing, when talking about fan's senses (sound, sent for example). But that's my view.

[abbottcostello]

Well done AF Corse!

Same sentiment as you Rob on Webber, really wanted him & the Porsche Team to do well since Porsche is my second choice after Ferrari (& the one I can afford)! As always there were so many good back stories could probably enjoy results however things turned out.
Gotta agree on Audi, remember all the skeptics. Saw this at Watkins Glen - last years vintage race, up close & personal - still a stunning piece of work Audi at Glen.jpgAudi Record.jpg

I'll say it too , Thanks Rob for all the Race coverage, outstanding job! There's no stars in the smilies, so 5 thumbs up is my rating!

[DIEK]

[Nova]

Yaza..Ferrari wins Lemans!!!!! I was hoping theyed get both classes, but well done to Aston.
Ferrari WINS Lemans

[fratelliferrari]

Very nice video thank you!

[Senna4Ever]

It was great to follow the 24 hours along
Many ups and downs ... and still I didn't had a real favourite (except Ferrari in the GTE series) it was also kind of emotional ... Great fight between the different concepts and producers. Next year might get even more exciting with more producers to come into LMP1 (if I understand correctly)

That was just a sweet taste of motorsports ...

At least I want to honour also Marc Gene ... he did a real great job out of the box ... pull my hat ...

[Nero Horse]

Le Mans, 15 June – Yesterday, Scuderia Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso waved off the field for the start of the race and his presence seems to have brought Ferrari some good luck. The number 51 458 Italia GT2 won the LMGTE Pro category in the Le Mans 24 Hours, so that the Italian national anthem was played again in France.
Italy’s Gimmi Bruni and Giancarlo Fisichella, along with the Finn Toni Vilander, driving for the Amato Ferrari-run AF Corse team, repeated their 2012 achievement, outclassing the opposition despite a few difficult moments.
This was Ferrari's 24th class win, to go with nine outright victories. Having started from pole in the class, Bruni dominated the early hours, but then, in wet conditions when two downpours hit the Sarthe circuit, the car struggled and had to give best to Chevrolet and Porsche. The Ferrari men didn’t lose heart and once the track dried out, began an amazing climb up the order.
The Ferrari 458 beat off prestigious names such as Chevrolet, Aston Martin and Porsche, companies that are also rivals in the marketplace. The win owed a lot to the quality of the drivers but also to the exceptional reliability of the cars. The winning car had not the slightest problem. In second place, but almost two laps down, was the number 73 Chevrolet of Garcia-Magnussen-Taylor, with third, almost three laps down going to the Porsche of Holzer-Makowiecki-Lietz.
Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo was very pleased. “This is a very important victory in an amazing race,” he said. “This result is extremely satisfying and is a just reward for all the hard work from everyone in the team and my congratulations go to them. We dominated the race with a car that was able to outclass some very strong opponents and everyone at Ferrari can be very proud of that.” The Maranello marque and AF Corse also finished on the podium in the LMGTE Am class. In car 61, Italians Marco Cioci and Mirko Venturi and the Argentinian Luis Perez-Companc, finished third, behind the winning 95 Aston Martin of Danes Kristian Poulsen, Nicki Thiim and David Hansson and the 88 Porsche of Ried-Bachler-Al Qubaisi.
The overall win went to Audi, with victory going to the number 2 car of France’s Benoit Treluyer, Switzerland’s Marcel Fassler and Germany’s Andre Lotterer ahead of the number 1 car of Denmark’s Tom Kristensen, Brazil’s Lucas di Grassi and Spaniard and Scuderia Ferrari test driver Marc Gene.


http://corseclienti.ferrari.com/2014...mans-24-hours/

[Rob]

The AF Corse Ferrari #51 won the “24 Hour of Le Mans” with Bruni, Fisichella and Bruni.

Third place for Perez Companc, Cioci and Venturi in the 458 #61

LE MANS, June 15th – Gianmaria Bruni, Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella won the “24 Hour of Le Mans”, LMGTE Pro category. In their Ferrari #51, lined up for AF Corse – the only one Italian team in the endurance race par excellence – the three drivers repeated their 2012 achievement, outclassing the opposition in the La Sarthe’s circuit.

Starting from pole position, Bruni, Vilander and Fisichella fought from the very beginning for the top positions. During the night, the AF Corse Ferrari #51 moved into a solid lead maintaining it from then on. At the end of the race, the were nearly two laps ahead of the second place finisher, Corvette #73. The great day was completed by the third podium position in the LMGTE Am category thanks to Luis Perez Companc, Marco Cioci and Mirko Venturi in their AF Corse Ferrari #61. The competition was tight and they proved to have a very fast and constant pace.

THE OTHER AF CORSE FERRARI’s

LMGTE Pro – The Ferrari 458 Italia #71 with Davide Rigon, Olivier Beretta and Pierre Kaffer ( who replaced James Calado due to an accident during the qualifying) had a technical problem and did not finish the race.

LMGTE Am – Near the podium, the 8 Star Motorsports Ferrari 458 Italia #90 (managed by AF Corse). Gianluca Roda, Paolo Ruberti and Franckie Montecalvo took the chequered flag in fourth place. With a bit of luck, they could have had the third step of the podium. The only all Bronze gentlemen drivers combination of Howard Blank, Yannick Mallegol and Jean Marc Bachelier finished the race in 14th position in their AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia #62. A year after their unfortunate accident in the 2013 edition, the expert trio came home to the take the chequered the flag in the world’s most famous motor race. The Ferrari 458 Italia #60 driven by Peter Mann, Lorenzo Casè and Raffaele Giammaria and the Ferrari 458 Italia #81 with Steve Wyatt, Michele Rugolo and Sam Bird were forced to retire due to technical problems.

AF Corse Press Office

grazie mille Riccardo for the press release, and picture, that is my fav picture of #51. As said, please pass on massive congratulaions to all the and crew of #51.

[fratelliferrari]

Many many thanks for the press release Rob! Grazie!

[Nero Horse]

Great win and a great race.

[Nova]

Im so happy..This is simply fanFerraritastic!!!
Its all over my facetube page, looks like people all over the world are celebrating this victory.

[hudson77]

It was great to follow the 24 hours along
Many ups and downs ... and still I didn't had a real favourite (except Ferrari in the GTE series) it was also kind of emotional ... Great fight between the different concepts and producers. Next year might get even more exciting with more producers to come into LMP1 (if I understand correctly)

That was just a sweet taste of motorsports ...

At least I want to honour also Marc Gene ... he did a real great job out of the box ... pull my hat ...

Agreed, was great to watch such a motor racing achievement, this was my first year watching the whole 24hr, I must go next year!!

[AfterLife]

Rob i have a question for you?
LeMans 24hrs race is so complicated.
Do LMP1-H, LMP1-L, LMP2, LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am races happen at the same time and the same track together? or what? please explain with full details if you can. Thank you.
Next questions will come . . .

[The Architect]

While I'm pleased they won in the GTE-Pro category, I found the experience of following the GT cars paled in comparison to the prototypes and ultimately underwhelming. Maybe one day, there'll be a proper Ferrari works team at Le Mans racing prototypes. Until then, I'll continue to back Toyota in the WEC. What an awesome car, despite the DNF.

[Rob]

While I'm pleased they won in the GTE-Pro category, I found the experience of following the GT cars paled in comparison to the prototypes and ultimately underwhelming. Maybe one day, there'll be a proper Ferrari works team at Le Mans racing prototypes. Until then, I'll continue to back Toyota in the WEC. What an awesome car, despite the DNF.

I loved every minute, second of it. And will rest of the WEC season, GTE battles, close hard racing Toyota, were just unlucky, so so close. But i think the WEC is theirs.

[Rob]

Rob i have a question for you?
LeMans 24hrs race is so complicated.
Do LMP1-H, LMP1-L, LMP2, LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am races happen at the same time and the same track together? or what? please explain with full details if you can. Thank you.
Next questions will come . . .

they all race together, on same track, so got 3 races in 1. All LMP1s in same class, despite H and L, classifaction. Its only the WEC that LMP1s race in, ELMs this year they not allowed to race. Costs, mainly. So in ELMS you have LMP2s GTE AMs and GTC, GTE Pro doesnt race in ELMS, cost savings aswell.

[DIEK]

[Rob]

Lenna

THE ENGINEER'S VIEW OF THE 24 HOURS OF LE MANS: LEENA GADE

20/06/2014 - 13h21

Fresh from scoring her third career win at the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans with Audi Sport Team Joest, Leena Gade, the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission’s newest Ambassador, took time out from the victory celebrations to explain how, as number one race engineer on the No.2 R18 e-tron quattro of Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer, she helped guide Audi to its first victory of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship season and why defending her team’s 2013 title has become harder than ever.

Was this year’s Le Mans a particularly tough race?

“Without a doubt, it definitely was – stronger competition, tough new regulations with big penalties for mistakes and a new car. But actually that helps you to focus more and find the areas you need to keep an eye on. I think it also gives you more drive and desire to win the race. It definitely increases the motivation.”

After the accident with car 1, did everyone in the team have to pitch in with the re-build?

“On Wednesday night we always rebuild the cars in preparation for the race, so unfortunately the core crews from cars 2 and 3 were heavily involved in rebuilding their own cars. However, we have a great team of support mechanics and engineers that always back up all three cars, so with a new monocoque in hand, car 1 was rebuilt and all care points for the car completed in good time for rolling it out on Thursday evening.

"Having said that, with the shock of what happened, I think everyone else in the team really pulled together to help support the engineers, drivers and mechanics mentally. Le Mans is a race where if you go into it believing it is lost, that is exactly what happens. Any one of our cars this year had a chance to win, so it was really important that we pulled together and backed each other up. That is definitely one of our strong points.”

There were some ups and downs because of turbo issues; was there a moment when you thought the win had slipped away?

“I never stop believing a win is possible until the flag falls, you just can’t let doubt creep into your mind. I was aware we were on the back foot at that point and there was a lot of swearing on my part because I knew then we needed a bit of bad luck for the others to be level again. But I also knew what Marcel, André and Ben needed to do, and could do.”

What does it mean to take your third victory at Le Mans?

“I think it’s still partly sinking in, but it is brilliant. I have to say that when it was announced that Porsche would be coming back, this was one win I really wanted to take. I think it is great for the WEC that three major manufacturers have chosen the series to show off their brands and I hope it continues to grow. It has forced Audi Sport Team Joest to really think outside of the box and push themselves to make sure we are competitive. After all, always being the fastest and on the top of the time sheets means you can become complacent.

"For a few minutes after the race, I couldn’t really see what the big deal with winning the race was, but after being stopped by countless fans for autographs and to hear how good the race was from their perspective, I started to realise just what it meant this year. It will still take a bit of time, but I am so proud of my whole car crew for what they all did, a true team effort.”

Were there any special preparations for this year’s event?

“This year has been much harder than most because the car is new, regulations are much tighter and the penalties bigger, but we still had to deliver a reliable car. There were hard times as always but now that I look back at it I think the hardships we encountered have just made the win that much sweeter. As a team, we’ve had to share the workload much more and be organised enough to be on top of things which has helped us in the long term preparing three competitive cars.”

From FIA Women in Motorsport

[Rob]

Historic result for Rebellion Racing at Le Mans 24 Hours

- 4th place overall in the 2014 Le Mans 24 Hours
- 3rd Top 6 finish in four consecutive years
- Only LMP1-L team to break Factory LMP1-H team domination at 2014 Le Mans 24 Hours
- Team extends its lead in the FIA WEC Trophy for LMP1-L teams



REBELLION Racing repeated their success of 2012 by finishing the 2014 Le Mans 24 Hours in fourth place overall, despite there being seven LMP1-H factory cars (from Audi, Toyota and Porsche) in the race.

The REBELLION R-One Toyota powered car #12, driven by Nick Heidfeld, Nicolas Prost and Mathias Beche avoided any serious mechanical or traffic issues through the 24 Hours endurance race. During the early stages of the race when a heavy downpour hit the Le Mans circuit, the drivers made no mistakes whilst several other competitors crashed.

During the night and early morning some minor problems pushed the car, the mechanics and the engineers to their limits but each little issue was rectified with the minimum amount of time lost. The last hours saw some of the LMP1-H factory cars suffering from mechanical issues, forcing them to stop in their garages for repairs or retirement. The REBELLION R-One Toyota powered #12 overtook the cars that were being repaired and took the chequered flag in fourth place overall under the applause of the crew, their partners and a large number of fans in the grandstands.

The only disappointment for the team in the 2014 Le Mans 24 Hour race was the retirement of the sister REBELLION R-One car, #13 driven by Andrea Belicchi, Dominik Krahaimer and Fabio Leimer. All three drivers drove the car in the race and showed good pace in some tricky driving conditions before the trouble hit. Just before the 6th hour of the race, the car had to be retired when it suffered a powertrain failure.

Fourth place overall is a great success for the Swiss team as the 2014 Le Mans 24 Hours was the first 24 hour race for the REBELLION R-One and only the second race for the car after the 6 Hours of Spa last month. The REBELLION R-One first hit the track for a shakedown less than two month ago, on April 17th. Reaching such a level of reliability is a great achievement for the Team’s mechanics, engineers and Oreca personnel involved in the R-One Programme, rewarding their total dedication and hard work over the last few months. This race result is amazing for a private team racing with a much smaller budget and fewer resources compared to the factory teams, the endurance version of David vs Goliath. In many ways, this fourth place finish in this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours is the call for a "rebellion", maybe the call to some teams who were waiting in the wings thinking of joining the LMP1-L category to add more competition and more challenges to the LMP1 class in general.

The REBELLION Racing team members will now get some rest before being back in their workshop to prepare the R-Ones and equipment for the second part of the season, visiting the USA, Japan, China, Bahrain and Brazil in a three month period. Next race will be the 6 Hours of COTA in Austin, Texas, USA, on the 20th of September.

Bart Hayden, REBELLION Racing Team Manager : "I don’t think we can quite believe this result! In the space of only two months, the first shakedown has taken place and now we have finished in fourth place in the 24 Hours of Le Mans beating three factory cars. The whole team has given their all to prepare the cars and the drivers drove really well to look after the car when needed and to push when we were challenging for positions. We’re all exhausted, but delighted too. It’s a shame that one of our cars had to retire, but I don’t think many people outside of the team were expecting us to finish. Standing on the podium at the end of the race and seeing the huge crowd was an amazing experience, one that I’d like to repeat again next year.”