77th 24 HR of Le Mans *Spoiler*

I;m trying to find that massive Pescarolo crash on youtube ( missed that part ), but i only managed to find the Audi crashes.. Anybody happen to know any link?

 

Kudos to Ferrari for a 1-2-3-4 and particularly to Risi for a second straight class win and a 1-3 here.

Kudos also to Lamborghini and Spyker for making the top 5 in their classes.

Kudos to Aston Martin for persevering to finish 4th in P1 on their first try, and 3rd in GT1 against the might of Corvette.

And kudos to Peugeot for acheiving their goal in grand style, and for not forcing the winning team to yield to the all-French team. (And to Sebastien Bourdais for making some amends for his dreadful F1 season thus far. His post-race "beignets" show that his U.S. experience can come in handy at times!)

 

There was no camera footage until after, I think. Thats why they got so confused where it was.

 

I may be mistaken, but to my recollection the Lambo didn't do much these 24 hours.

 

Congratulations ,Rick and the team for finishing the 24 Hrs. I was glad to see they made maximum exposure by running just behind the winning cars for the last lap, nice marketing move Guys

 

If I'm not mistaken Ferrari finished: 1-2-3-4-6-7-8-9-10-17 of the 17 cars entered (all makes) in GT2. Nine of the top ten cars in GT2 were Ferraris! Porsche were astonishingly uncompetitive/unreliable after years of dominating the class...

Best,
Tom

Forza Ferrari!

 

Does anyone know why the Pesca Pug actually crashed? He had just come out of the pits on fresh tires!

 

I don't think a camera caught it.

 

The Spyker finished 5th in GT2

 

Here is the pit accident:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruPGsSPKz54

 

Typical French style driving...

 

Which would explain why this is Corvette Racing's last GT1 race. They debut in GT2 at Mid-Ohio in August, I believe.

Jimmy

 

With about 10 min to go Peugeot #9 was became very slow and was white flagged for a portion of the ciruit until passed by the winner. Three pugs crossed the finish line together. Astons paired did same thing as did the Risi cars.

Got to catch tgv - just chatted on platform with Mika, Ron Fellows, johnny o'Connell. More later.

 

Haha

Actually, they didn't come last in their class. A corvette had DNF'd before they did.
So they were 2nd last in class.

Guess he meant the DBR9 A-M. Third in GT1.

Audi lined up for a formation finish too.

 

I know, it's a Ferrari forum....

but here's Doug Fehan, Corvette Racing manager explaining Corvette's move to GT2 later this year and the overall changes to GT racing for 2010. It's very interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ENeohY0_eQ

Jimmy

 

Yes, in europe there's already the Murcielago alongside the new Ford GT1 and the NISMO-developed Nissan GT-R for GT1.
They're competing in the FIA series but the idea is to standardise GT categories on both sides of the pond.

 

The Lambo only did a lap or two. This is not the first time they have come to this race only to do the same thing. One of Luc Alphand's Vettes was second. It was quite emotional with the yellow one. With about 15 min to go Johnny came in to pit lane, car was pushed into garage where they had a closing ceremony, then car came back out for finish. Johnny came across finish line with Luc's car and then did a burnout - much applause as it was the end of an era. They will be in GT2 at Mid-Ohio.

I for one will be interested in seeing what Audi will do. I hope they compete in the remaining three LMS races.

Paul Drayson didn't finish but in an interview he was totally delighted and was most happy as he was permitted to race since he only has one eye. Kolles was dramatically improved since we first saw them in April in Barcelona. Two drivers completing the team's first 24h is definitely commendable. With the win today, Risi has an auto invite for 2010.

Carol

Hindu was saying 235,000 plus fans there.

 

That's very cool for the Vette's, and amazing for Drayson. Grats to him for what he's accomplished.

 

Wow Porsche lost the plot in this one.....well done Ferrari!

 

In P1 I was hoping they would pull it off.....yep, best looking/sounding car there....

 

Wasn't really the battle to the line I had expected,
Last hours felt like everyone had accepted the outcome or was it just that Audi had run out of nose sections? haha
How many times did they switch? Felt like at least a dozen.

 

Over the years this is how most 24 hr races work out. We have just been treated to some close ones lately. Last years LeMans and this years Daytona come to mind.

 

Why do the Frenchies call it du and we call it le? Aren't le and du French words?

 

It is a matter of grammer.

the town is called Le Mans, but in french when you say ´the 24 hours of le mans´ you say ´les 24 heurs de (´de´ means ´of´) Le Mans´, ´de and Le´ get pulled together to ´du´. So, you end up with ´les 24 heurs du Mans´.

 

I was delighted to see Peugeot win the race.
That should clip Audi's wings a bit and bring them down to earth: it is easy to win when you do not have serious competitors to deal with.
I would be even more pleased to see Ferrari work cars return to Le Mans.