Tag Archives: Audi

Rolex 24 At Daytona

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The Rolex 24 at Daytona kicks off the 2013 sports car racing season tomorrow at 12:30 PM Pacific Time.  Begun in 1962 as the 3 hour Daytona Continental and expanded in 1966 to its current 24 hour format, the Rolex 24 has been a premier international sports car race since its very beginning.

Rolex 24 Class Structure

The Rolex 24 is part of the Grand-Am series and runs to its class structure.  Historically, Grand-Am has had two classes: DP (Daytona Prototype), a prototype class and GT (Grand Touring), a production sports car based class.  This year, beginning with the Rolex  24, Grand-Am has added the GX class to accommodate cars and manufacturers that do not fit neatly into either DP or GT.  For the Rolex 24, the GX class has entries that include the Porsche Cayman and the diesel-powered Mazda6.

SoCal Racers At Rolex 24

At this year’s Rolex 24, Southern California is represented by following racers:

Driver Class # Car Team
Charlie Kimbal DP 01 BMW/Riley Chip Ganassi/Felix Sabates
Alex Gurney DP 99 Corvette DP GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing
Boris Said GT 31 Corvette Marsh Racing
Boris Said GT 94 BMW M3 Turner Motorsport
Alex Figge GT 51 Audi R8 APR Motorsport LTD UK
Jim Michaelian GT 68 Porsche GT3 TRG
Patrick Long GT 73 Porsche GT3 Park Place Motorsports
Kelly Collins GT 80 Porsche GT3 TruSpeed Motorsports
Bill Auberlen GT 93 BMW M3 Turner Motorsport
Joel Miller GX 00 Mazda6 GX Visit Florida Racing/Speedsource/Yellow Dragon Motorsports

 Rolex 24 – Race Day

Weather should be fantastic for the race weekend – sunny and low to mid 70s at Green Flag with no chance of precipitation thru Sunday.  More info, including spotters guide and live timing, can be found here.

POST RACE UPDATE

2013 Rolex 24 DP Results

What a race!  Both DP and GT races weren’t decided until the final minutes of the contest. The #01 BMW Riley of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, driven by Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas, Juan Pablo Montoya, Charlie Kimball, & Scott Dixon took the checkered flag of the 2013 Rolex 24 after an extremely strong – well frankly, dominating – performance over 709 laps.  The Ganassi/Sabates BMW Rileys had been untouchable in open racing; the multiple cautions throughout the race kept it close.  I’m sure there will be lots of discussion about balance of performance and the BMWs in the following days and weeks.

2013 Rolex 24 GT Results

A Ganassi DP winning the Rolex 24 is nothing new or unexpected.  The performance of the Audi R8s in the GT race was both.  If not for the Rum Bum Racing Audi running out of gas on the final lap, Audi would have swept the GT podium at Daytona.  As it was, the #24 Audi R8 of Alex Job Racing, driven by Filipe Albuquerque, Oliver Jarvis, Edoardo Montara, & Dion von Moltke took the top spot on the podium with 678 laps on the books.  At one point in the final few laps, any of the top three Audi R8s looked like they could have won the race – it was truly a nip and tuck finish.

2013 Rolex 24 GX Results

The new GX class was a tale of two cars: the Porsche Cayman and the Mazda 6.  All three Mazdas dropped out early in the race due to problems with their new Skyactiv diesel engines; the last Mazda running, the #70 Speedsource car, dropped out after 51 laps leaving the GX race as a contest between the three Caymans.  The #16 Napleton Racing Cayman driven by David Donohue, Shane Lewis, Nelson Canache, & Jim Norman took the   checkered flag after 635 laps looking nearly as pristine as when in started the race 24 hours prior.

Final Thoughts

The Rolex 24 at Daytona was an exciting start to the 2013 sports car racing season, especially in the GT class where Audi, Porsche, and Ferrari all looked strong.  In the DP class, the domination of the BMW Rileys could portend some balance of performance issues that need to be addressed.  In the GX class, hopefully Mazda will sort out the engine issues and be joined by more makes to give the Porsche Caymans a challenge.

The Speed broadcast we not one of their best.  Network coverage broke away during the night to show race reruns, reality shows, and infomercials.  They also interrupted close racing in the last hour for commercial after commercial.  I really was not interested in buying a pancake maker with 30 minutes to go in a close Rolex 24 race!  On the positive side, the crew at Radio Le Mans did a fantastic job with a streaming audio broadcast throughout the race – notably a great call throughout the night with Rooftopray providing the video.

Of the SoCal racers, Charlie Kimball takes a watch home as part of the winning Ganassi/Sabates team.  Better luck for the rest of the year for our hometown guys.

Le Mans – Final

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With about 2:45 to go in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Audi #2 and #3 both crashed in separate incidents.  The #2, driven by Allan McNish was in the lead at the time, and it crashed into the barriers when McNish attempted a pretty aggressive maneuver in the Porsche Curves.  McNish’s crash promoted Audi #1 into the lead.  Astonishingly, the Audi team was able to get the #2 back on the track so fast, they only went  down one lap, so they were still in second place and still in the race – albeit with a long shot at this point.  The Audi team was able to get the #3 back on track in short order as well.  Simply amazing that the Audi teams could repair both of those cars simultaneously so quickly.

Final Le Mans Results:

LMP1:

  1. Audi Sport Team Joest, Audi #1 – Lotterer/Fassler/Treluyer
  2. Audi Sport Team Joest, Audi #2 – McNish/Capello/Kristensen
  3. Audi Sport North America, Audi #4 – Jarvis/Bonanomi/Rockenfeller

LMP2:

  1. Starworks Motorsport, HPD #44 – Potolicchio/Dalziel/K-Smith
  2. Thiriet By TDS Racing, Oreca #46 – Thiriet/Beche/Tinseau
  3. Pecom Racing, Oreca #49 – Perez Companc/Kaffer/Ayari

GTE-Pro:

  1. AF Corse, Ferrari #51 – Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander
  2. Luxury Racing, Ferrari #59 – Makowiecki/Melo/Farnbacher
  3. Aston Martin Racing, Aston Martin #97 – Mucke/Fernandez/Turner

GTE-Am:

  1. Larbre Competition, Corvette #50 – Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy
  2. IMSA Performance Matmut, Porsche #67 – Pons/Armindo/Narac
  3. Krohn Racing, Ferrari #57 – Krohn/Johnsson/Rugolo
For those who have a Speed2 subscription, you can view race highlights here.

Le Mans at 15 Hours

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Well, unfortunately, the battle between Audi and Toyota was short lived: the #8 Toyota was taken out by a Ferrari GTE-Am car – bringing out an extended safety car period for barrier repairs – and on the first lap of the ensuing green, the #7 Toyota tangled with the Delta Wing car.  The #7 sustained damage that seemed to bring on an endlessly cascading series of troubles until the team threw in the towel.  Audis are currently running 1-2-3 overall and in LMP1: the #1 and #2 R18 e-trons first and second and the #4 R18 ultra third.

In LMP2, the #44 Starworks Motorsport HPD ARX 03b has a one lap lead over the #49 Oreca 03 Nissan of Pecom Racing.

In GTE-Pro, the Ferrari, Corvette, Aston Martin, Porsche battle has become Ferrari v. Aston Martin, as both Flying Lizard and Team Felbermayr-Proton are gone and the Corvettes are down to a single car that’s seven laps back.  The #51 AF Corse Ferrari is currently in the lead, the #59 Luxury Racing Ferrari is second, and the #97 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 is third.

In GTE-Am, there is a tight battle ongoing between the #50 Larbre Competition Corvette and the #67 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche.

Le Mans: Pre-Race

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Several interesting stories will be played out in the 24 Hours of Le Mans beginning 5:30 AM PT tomorrow:

LMP1 – Audi v. Toyota.  The top three qualifying places are three different cars – two from Audi and one from Toyota.  First of all, Toyota managed to qualify their brand new LMP1 TS030 Hybrid third on the grid at Le Mans within a year of launching the program.  That alone is a fabulous achievement.  The Toyota TS030 is a 3.4L V8 normally-aspirated petrol-powered hybrid prototype.  The electric energy is stored in a massive capacitor which powers electric motors.  Audi put its new R-18 e-tron quattro on pole with a lap time of 3:23.787 (driven by the same team that won last year’s race: Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer.)  The R-18 e-tron quattro is a 3.7L V6 turbo diesel hybrid prototype.  The Audi stores its energy in an electric flywheel accumulator.  So it’s Toyota v. Audi, petrol v. diesel, capacitor v. flywheel, massive underdog v. overwhelming favorite.  A surprisingly nice story to replace the expected Audi v. Peugeot rematch that was dashed when Peugeot pulled out of the sport. Second on the grid is the Audi R-18 ultra, a car that is outwardly very similar to the 2011 Le Mans winner.  The R-18 ultra is the latest version of the Audi turbo diesel LMP1 car.  Spots four thru six on the grid are another Toyota TS030 Hybrid splitting another Audi R-18 e-tron and an R-18 ultra.  I really hope the Toyotas demonstrate some remarkable reliability in their very first 24 hour race to make it interesting to the end.

Delta Wing Nissan – The experimental Delta Wing Nissan qualified about 19 seconds slower than the pole sitting Audi at 3:42.612, putting it about 2/3 of the way thru the LMP2 cars.  The Delta Wing is being run by the experienced and successful Highcroft Racing outfit, and it will be very interesting to see how it fares.  Although I cannot say that I am excited by its looks in the least, opinions on the Delta Wing have been favorable for the most part.  I can understand how the Delta Wing could set a fast qualifying time, but I am eager to see how it does in real racing conditions.

GTE – once again, the GTE classes look to be outstanding, competitive battles.  In GTE-Pro, the top three qualifiers are the Luxury Racing Ferrari 458 Italia, the Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage V8, and the Corvette Racing Corvette C6 ZR1.  SoCal’s Patrick Long’s Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 RSR is seventh on the GTE-Pro grid.  The Flying Lizard’s other Porsche 911 RSR car was the fastest GTE-Am qualifier.  The Prospeed Competition Porsche 911 RSR is second, and the Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage V8 is third on the GTE-Am grid.  So it’s Ferrari, Aston Martin, Corvette, and Porsche set to battle it out in the GTE classes.

Weather – Rain is forecast for Saturday, which adds another dimension to this grueling event.  Man v. Nature.

Le Mans!

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Just two days until one of my top ‘bucket list’ events – the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  It’s right up there with Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, and the Indy 500.  Unfortunately Peugeot pulled out of sports car racing months ago, so the awaited re-re-match of Audi v Peugeot won’t happen, but it will be interesting to see how Toyota fares.

The GTE battles should be awesome once again.  Corvette, Aston Martin, Ferrari, and Porsche all have competitive cars and teams.

For those looking to get up to speed on the pre-race situation – including class and team previews – head on over to Radio Le Mans  and listen to some of their excellent podcasts.  Also, the differences in driver classifications and how this relates to the GTE-Am and GTE-Pre classes can be a bit confusing.  The folks at Radio Le Mans have posted a very clear and concise driver classification table here.