[WEC Race] 2015 WEC Round 4 - 6 Hours of Nurburgring: 28

[TF110]

How is the track ruined in sector 1? Its the same track with some extra pavement. It still has more gravel and grass than most circuits the wec visits, if not all. I feel if runoff gives you a gain in lap time then its wrong, but aside from that its the norm (at these tracks) whether we like it or not.

[Deleted]

S1 - at least the first part of it - is sterile and easily track limit inducing like all the other G1 tracks in the world, and the first corner is sanitized just like La Source. But most of all it's the new slow, useless "Mercedes-arena" / Omega section, or whatever it is called that N24 entirely straightforward skippes, that serves no purpose whatsoever. I wish they'd follow the model of ADAC there and avoid it entirely

But I really don't like to drag it down because I really like the rest of the track, obviously it doesn't hold up to Nordschleife, but it's good. Which can't be said of many other revamped tracks

[chernaudi]

It should be noted that it was one of the "high downforce" Porsches that produced the highest speed trap recording so far this weekend at 317km/h.

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Chiana

S1 - at least the first part of it - is sterile and easily track limit inducing like all the other G1 tracks in the world, and the first corner is sanitized just like La Source. But most of all it's the new slow, useless "Mercedes-arena" / Omega section, or whatever it is called that N24 entirely straightforward skippes, that serves no purpose whatsoever. I wish they'd follow the model of ADAC there and avoid it entirely

But I really don't like to drag it down because I really like the rest of the track, obviously it doesn't hold up to Nordschleife, but it's good. Which can't be said of many other revamped tracks

Theres no gain by running over the track limits except the exit of turn 4. But that compromises your car with the curbing to the outside, plus the preferred line is the inside of the right hander. At least with the mercedes arena you dont get a bottleneck going into a tiny chicane like you do by skipping it. Im indifferent on turn 1-4, it has a passing opportunity to it imo.

[TheMightyM]

Looks like the privateer LMP-1 teams didn’t suddenly figured it out over the long summer break. Best times in Free Practice 2:

Fastest LMP1-H: 1:37.862 (#7 Audi Sport Team Joest)
Slowest LMP-1H: 1:40.845 (#1 Toyota Racing)
Rebellion #12: 1:44.105
Rebellion #13: 1:44.943
Bykolles #4: 1:45.035
Fastest LMP2: 1:46.299 (#26 G-Drive Racing)
Slowest LMP2: 1:48.839 (#30 Extreme Speed Motorsports)

Ouch.

[TF110]

I wonder how long the stints will be. Audi only ran 22 laps, but Im sure theyll go further. Porsche did a 30 lap stint and Toyota did 33! I know the Audi has a slightly shorter stint on average, but 22 vs 30 vs 33 is too skewed.

[deggis]

https://streamup.com/redditWEC

without chat: https://streamup.com/redditWEC/embeds/video

[Akrapovic]

Official stream quality is all over the place again. Changing between hi and low resolution and terrible stuttery frame rate.

[Victor_RO]

Full Porsche formation at the front of the field for the fifth time in a row. Including their three-car entries at Spa and Le Mans. O.o

[airbusA346]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

Full Porsche formation at the front of the field for the fifth time in a row. Including their three-car entries at Spa and Le Mans. O.o

And Tandy on pole in P2.

[Akrapovic]

Man that EoT is awful. How can anyone beat those diesels!

Great stuff by Porsche again.

[Spyderman]

I'm always glad to be proved wrong when Porsche win, however, we still have the race to go through. I'll celebrate on Sunday ....if they win.

[Deleted]

And if they do win, EoT is fine, if not it automatically means EoT is crap?

I'm not surpised by the result. Should be good scrap between the two. Toyota maybe podium if one of them blows up.

[J Jay]

I'm not sure why anyone expected anything other than a Porsche pole. It was the wrong one though ... the first race I pick the #17 and the #18 goes and takes my three points away from me

EoT debate aside, the VAG bros look set to provide a good race. We still haven't seen how far the Audis can run and if they will need an extra stop over the Porsches.

[bentley speed 8]

Again a Porsche 1-2, but the race though will be interesting between Audi and Porsche, and its new HD package

[Spyderman]

Originally Posted by Chiana

And if they do win, EoT is fine, if not it automatically means EoT is crap?

No- my opinion has not changed in the slightest over this EoT change. What I will freely admit is that the consequences appear to be less dire than I thought...but we know Audi don't like qualy. We will see what the race brings.

[TF110]

Why should 4mj = 8mj is my opinion. Audi are nearly as fast now, so what happens when Audi goes 6 or 8mj? Will petrol have to go 10? If the 'mj classes' are all equal, there should be no reason to go for higher hybrid classes, unless youre going to run a diesel

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by TF110

Why should 4mj = 8mj is my opinion. Audi are nearly as fast now, so what happens when Audi goes 6 or 8mj? Will petrol have to go 10? If the 'mj classes' are all equal, there should be no reason to go for higher hybrid classes, unless youre going to run a diesel

To encourage different engines and hybrid systems and new manufacturers. If one way was the best way then we'd all have the same engines and systems.

[chernaudi]

Audi onboard of the Nurburbring during practice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBTK3BMkm74

The WEC should post more videos like this in other prototypes and GT cars for variety and with driver commentary, and even just with engine noise.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by TF110

Why should 4mj = 8mj is my opinion. Audi are nearly as fast now, so what happens when Audi goes 6 or 8mj? Will petrol have to go 10? If the 'mj classes' are all equal, there should be no reason to go for higher hybrid classes, unless youre going to run a diesel

If higher ERS class would automatically mean better performance than those lower, there woyld be no incentive for any factory entry to run anything else than 8Mj

[Deleted]

Looking again at the LMP2 times, I was gonna say what the hell happened to Zytek of Strakka suddenly jumping near bottom after conquering everything in testing and practice. But then I remembered that this year the pro-am driver has to put in lap as well in the 6 hour qualis. And Leventis really isn't the top of the proams in the class.

They will probably win plenty of races with the old proven dinosaur, but can't see them challenging the pole until Le Mans next year where you don't have the lamo multi lap systems and driver restrictions in Q. Unless they take part in some other P2 racing somewhere, but they haven't particularly practiced such thing in the past, so probably not

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Chiana

If higher ERS class would automatically mean better performance than those lower, there woyld be no incentive for any factory entry to run anything else than 8Mj

As it should be. That doesnt promote higher ers classes which is what the rule makers wanted. So theyre doing a 180 on their original ideas, or caving into one maker (Audi) because theyre not as fast. This isnt really on topic, but theres a weight penalty with a bigger ers system, not just a diesel engine. Wheres that factor-in in the rules? We could discuss this in the lmp regs thread.

[Deleted]

FIA might just well then say "everyone run 8MJ that's an order". Same effect

[chernaudi]

As for the race, does anyone think that Porsche can back up their qualifying times in the race like Audi have been known to? Audi have been able to get close to their qualifying times in the races this year (all three LM cars ran faster in the race than they did in qualifying) and their speed has tended to have staying power and they've been better on their tires than Porsche has been.

How close does it look like for Porsche to get close to qualifying pace in race trim without abusing their equipment? And I don't think that the higher downforce bodywork will be a huge help for Porsche when it comes to tire wear--their problems seem with tire wear seem to be mechanical rather than aero.

[Articus]

Chris Reinke said it in the interview. Porsche's powertrain concept allows them to be very quick in qualifying. They can run the batteries (charge and discharge) quite hard for a short amount of time. They dial the settings back in software naturally to run the 6 hour race. The Porsche's will slow down to about where the Audi's are right now. I'm interested in seeing these cars near each other on a straight.