2019 24 Hours of LeMans

provisional entry list....62 car race

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Nice to see United Autosports get a 2nd entry after all.

 

Kassel Racing is an all women's driver team. Posted pics of them in the "Challenge" thread.

 

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/ford-confirms-end-of-factory-gt-program/

 

For a reason that i don't know i won't miss them at all!

 

Davide Rigon: “.. the Italian manufacturer is still too slow in a straight line”

They are!

 

Jenson Button is stepping away and will not run in the 24.

 

Another article suggests that Chip Ganassi will simply continue racing the Ford GTs
even without Ford's official backing.

Have to say, the Ford GTs were impressive at Sebring. Ford GT led GTLM almost
the entire race. The second Ford GT could keep up but was obviously playing
wing man. One of the Corvettes could only hope the Fords ran into trouble. But,
through some miracle the Porsche won even though they had been running in
sixth-seventh-eighth all day. Better to be lucky than good sometimes.

The Ferraris have been fast enough at Le Mans with the 488 GTs but seem to always
be wrong-footed when it comes to cautions. If they were able to exploit their straightline
speed with the turbo V8s to full effect with no BoP, then they'd be in with a chance.

BHW

 

Any information on TV coverage here in the states?

 

Last year, live streaming in the U.S. was impossible. For some reason, the ACO cut us off.

Hopefully, we get a network that doesn't botch it all up the way FOX "Sports" has done in
the past.

BHW

 

Why is the BOP is bringing such limitation to 488s?

 

Rumour has it MotorTrend.... Sounds right as it did last year (previously named Velocity) .
Always a consistent accurate source so keep checking TVRacer.com
'A little concerned, however, as Spa hasn't info posted yet.

P.S. Excerpted from Google search result:
"In addition, all five races received more consistent coverage in the USA with Motor Trend (formerly Velocity) delivering over 60 hours of programming across the five races. Despite a slight decrease in broadcast time and cumulative audience year on year, the channel has a very steady average audience which ultimately results in higher event impressions than during the FOX broadcast period."
https://www.fiawec.com/en/news/wec-enjoys-increased-tv-exposure-at-super-season-halfway-point/6251

As long as it's somebody.......

 

Good question but it seems each year we've had the 488 GT, Ferrari seems to be the odd cars
out at Le Mans.

Ford and Porsche have both been beneficiaries of the BoP notably when Ford was celebrating the
50th Anniversary of their historic win and Porsche was celebrating their 70th Anniversary as a
company.

AF Corse driver James Calado brushes on this in his blog for Sportscar365, mentioning that the
Ferrari's lack of straight-line speed versus the Porsches and Fords make them a fourth place
team at best.

That, and the fact that Ferrari always seems to get shuffled out of the lead group during cautions
when they're on the heels of the Porsches and Fords has hampered their efforts in GTE Pro. Ford
also has had the built-in advantage of a four car team, notably having Westbrook "crash" which
brought out a full course caution just as the lead Ford was being challenged by Ferrari, an action
which the ACO should have doled out a disqualification for the entire Ford team for ruining what
was otherwise a fine race to that point.

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/calado-back-in-the-groove/

BHW

 

This should be good. Customer pays and the kids at the blue oval tell them where and when they can run the crap?? Yea. I think the world is going nuts and this is proof of it!

 

Risi announces blue livery for Ferrari 488 GTE Pro entry at Le Mans

An homage to French Racing Blue. The design features nods to the NART Ferrari
squad that won Le Mans 70 years ago, the Victorian-era chronophotography capture
technique and the prancing horse emblem.

Very groovy.

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/risi-unveils-blue-ferrari-gte-pro-livery-for-24h-le-mans/

BHW
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NART? 1949? Is my recollection that far off....I thought it was founded 1960-ish... late 50s, no?
Ouch! Another senior moment? Siiiigghhhhhhh....


edit: Phew!!! 'Quick Google indicates some of them-there memory cells 'still workin'.

Excerpted from https://www.classicdriver.com/en/article/cars/nart-story-historys-most-prestigious-privateer-team , paragraph five:

"t’s unclear exactly when N.A.R.T. – denoted by a crest featuring the Cavallino Rampante below the Stars and Stripes – was officially formed, though it was most likely after Chinetti received backing from wealthy gentleman drivers George Arents and Jan de Vroom in 1958."

Supported by (ahem, for what it's worth) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Racing_Team :


"The North American Racing Team (NART) was a motorsports racing team active from 1958 to 1982. It was created by businessman Luigi Chinetti to promote the Ferrari marque in United States through success in endurance racing."

 

For shame, for shame ....I had more faith in you than this.

I've known it's so for a number of years now.

 

I think Risi is simply taking liberty with Le Mans history !!!

The NART wasn't formed until 1958, so the 1949 Ferrari win cannot be attributed to it !

The 166MM that won the first post-war 24-H was entered by "The Honorable Peter Mitchell-Thompson".

He was a Scottish nobleman who raced Under the name Lord Selsdon, and participated 4 times at Le Mans..

Luigi Chinetti was his co-driver that year, and he drove for most of the race.

That win literally put Ferrari on the map as a sports cars constructor.

"Give to Ceasar what belongs to Ceasar".

 

BMW to pull out of WEC GTE Pro after Le Mans after only a single season.

Rather surprising news.

http://www.dailysportscar.com/2019/05/22/bmw-team-mtek-pulls-out-of-wec.html

BHW

 

Possible return to racing when hyper car rules are announced? Poor results do sometimes result in a rethink of the situation .

 

There have been rumors of this for a couple months now. Interesting that they will continue in IMSA. With the Ford GT program ending, I wonder where this leaves GTE/GTLM in the future.

 

You mean DPi?

I really do think they just simply built the wrong car for the class.


This quote seems to suggest they aren't interested in WEC regardless or class.

 

Maybe. Do you really think the kids in accounting really know how to run a race car or team? The current fiasco in Indycar would seem to indicate that the people who build and run race cars have a significant reduction in say or outcome.

But then again....I always found design by committee to be quite entertaining!

 

Not sure I understand your comment back to Indycar.

 

Easy solution is to adopt GT3 and remove the driver aids for all pro classes, but this is the ACO we’re talking about so....