LeMans...GO AUDI!

When you do that at night - time to be shut down/flagged and Dq'd. There has to be a limit and whats with 3 or 4 rookies in 1 team? Thats bold.

 

looked to me like the 458 closed the door on the Audi, forcing him into the grass.

I'm assuming at that point Rocky was too committed to the corner to lift/brake without spinning the car anyway.

 

The commentators on the feed I was watching were saying that the 458 was on the racing line and that in the pre-race drivers meetings, slower drivers were instructed to stay on the racing line.

 

The Ferrari driver needed to lift and yield. No question. He was being blasted by the lights of the Audi. Not rocket science for this one I dont think and the commentators all seem to be in agreement. As always its hard to tell at night in a video of course.

 

He was fully committed, no question. But it was coming into a corner and he knew the 458 driver would be moving right. He was closing at a very high speed and decided he could get by before that happened, knowing that if he slowed he would lose a lot of time to the Peugeot. Like I said, totally bad timing and nothing anyone could do. The Ferrari driver perhaps could have been more observant, but he was also committed. Really sucks.

 

If true is the Audi at fault? Most commentators are faulting the Ferrari here.

 

Hard to tell, absolutely. Unless you've been in that position, you can't know what it's like to be fully committed and then have to take evasive action. I think the Ferrari driver WAS committed, and slower drivers MUST stay on-line. Racing incident for sure.

 

From some of the replays it does appear to be a racing incident. Too bad for both cars involved. I wonder if a more experienced Ferrari driver would have stayed left a bit longer.

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh2dKvhYYAY[/ame]

 

A new replay shows the Ferrari drifting over and clipping the Audi. I dont think this is Audi at all. The Ferrari could have easily lifted and helped the Audi expedite the pass.

 

Half a second is all it would have taken. The new replay shows the Audi flashing and flashing and the Ferrari just moving on over. Poor headwork.

 

I'm watching it while doing a couple of other things so I may be wrong but I believe I heard that the different classes run different colored headlights. Good idea but one of the drivers interviewed was unaware of it. LeMans is always LeMans I guess.

 

I agree, the 458 was still coming over on the R18 even when they were alongside.

 

Yes, there is a difference with the Prototypes and the GTE classes lights.

 

racing incident - after watching the video many times the Audi turned very hard left just in front of the Ferrari, the Ferrari seemed to the go slightly left but probably reaction to the Audi almost destroying the front of the Ferrari - Audi has said repeatedly there is an issue with the height of the front fenders - makes you wonder if there is something that is amiss with the Audis as in both incidents the cars veered very sharply left....

Carol

GT cars run yellow film on the lights; protos are white

 

Great idea. They should tell the drivers about it.

 

this comment off the audi facebook page and you can't argue with it!

The Ferrari didnt hit the Audi. Rocky had 2 wheels on the grass which at that speed would have easily made him loose control. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8WgSBaegp0&feature=player_embedded[/ame]

Carol

 

2 wheeling is never good. I always did 4 wheeling Sorry to the see the accident. I am an Audi fan. Comes with the territory here in Germany

 

There was a preceding video which showed the Audi flashing the 458, but the 458 moves to the right anyway and the Audi goes off line into the grass and cuts hard left as it reenters the track. The Ferrari did not appear to hit the Audi (the announcers on Speed say that it may have clipped the rear quarter, helping to send it into the armco), but the move to the right definitely caused Rocky to go into the grass.

 

Tiresome to see the race in the dark. Full activity in the pit lanes at midnight is a fantastic sight.

 

In that the Ferrari is still on track it appears that there was no contact. There is also no question that the Ferrari crossed in front of the Audi. Before the crash it was on the left. At the time of the crash it was entirely on the right hand side of the lines.

 

+1
http://www.speedtv.com/corvette

 

No question at all. Rocky was flashing his lights from 1/4 mile back (at least)... Ferrari either wasn't paying attention, or chose to move over on the audi...

Audi had two choices... up the ferrari's tail pipe or dirt track it.

Ferrari should be black flagged.

 

I'd be curious to hear from some of the old hands as to whether or not the quality of the amateur driver is, in fact, better or worse these days.

 

+1