[LM24 Race] Le Mans 2024 - Race Thread

[v8supes]

Very delighted for the Isotta team, they didnt catch fire

[SpikerJack]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Well, that was very enjoyable on a number of levels and for different reasons for me in particular. It's strange, I didn't get about so much as usual last year as it was just too bally hot and this year I didn't get about so much for other reasons which some will now be aware of. For the first time since 1987 I broke my 'golden rule' by getting some solid kip during the night and boy did I benefit for that today. My 37th Le Mans and for all of those 'levels' and 'reasons' without doubt one of my very best.

I saw you live on Eurosport at about 10 am

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

But why weren't you at the meeting????? Even I got to the meeting!!

I was disappointed not to. 3 generations!


Sent from Le Mans

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by v8supes

Very delighted for the Isotta team, they didnt catch fire

That was brilliant. They made it to the end were ridiculously close.


Sent from Le Mans

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Adam43

Sorry again for not going the hourly update.


Sent from Le Mans

This ruined the race for me. Worse than race control and bop combined.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by joeb

This ruined the race for me. Worse than race control and bop combined.

I’m sorry, but it is a fair point. Better than all the other reasons I’ve heard why the race was tainted.

Still roll on 2025. Unless I come back.


Sent from Le Mans

[Steve McQ]

My ups & downs from the race, which was thrilling at the beginning and the end, but with some obvious and heavy downsides.


UPS :
- We did not here too much of BOP this week and I feel that the addition of the "double trigger" was more than welcome. I was very sceptical (to say the least) but it seems to be working quite well. Alleluia ! A proof that sometimes manufacturers can hav good ideas for the sport.
- The opening two hours were absolutely great. We could see all cars were in the mix (well almost all of them) and involved in three separate gigantic dogfights.
- The end of the race was the same, even if after Lopez mistakes it was clear that only a slow zone or a mistake by the supersonic Nielsen could rob Ferrari the win.
- Driving standards were very poor in 2023, this year they were excellent with not that many silly crashes under SZ or under the rain. I was afraid of many of the new GT3 guys, but probably driving a car with ultra-developped TC and ABS is making the race safer for everybody.
- Lamborghini and IFM finishing the race with no driver error or reliability issue. Lambo even finished in front of both the news 9X8, sending them back to the drawing board ?
- Radio Le Mans : great coverage once again, I was so happy to listen to a rejuvenated Paul Truswell this year.



DOWNS :
- Obviously safety cars and race control. Inconsistency in penalties is a thing, the use of all safety procedures at the disposal of the race director is another. Current SC procedure is still pure ****, unfair and too long. After thits first outing for barrier repairs, it 30 minutes to restart the race when the repair was effectively over. And of course, the applies to the lengthy rain safety car period. It was already too long, but adding 30 minutes more to green flag... it was atrocious. When the Aston flipped and Indy, RLM put on air a recorded Mark Rushbrook interview, even them were fed up with commentating nothing ! And let's not talk about the fact that the race only started when the SC went back to the pits for the last time. Hence any risk efforts made beforehand did end up to nothing. With such a good BoP, Toyota n°7 should have run a hell of an attack race to get back to the front, they did it running quietly waiting for the SC. Finally, their qualy penalty was completely useless.
- Result is : the race is one of the 3 shortest contested since 1959. Where the hell is the Grand Prix of Endurance gone ?
- TV direction : we could see almost nothing from P2 et and GT3 fights, onboard camera where once again atrocious freezing all the time like last year, and cuts happening at exactly the wrong time.
- Alpine : apparently the work done on the Mecachrome engine was not good. Even Vanwall could survive longer. Not running more than a normal WEC race makes me think they did throw in a last minute evolution. Maybe Bruno Famin came up with a Peugeot 908 HDi FAP titanium connecting rods ?
- André Lotterer sidelined after 3h30 hours of driving. It might be his last competitive drive at Le Mans
- Peugeot : almost a new car, but that is not an excuse for a program finally beaten fair and square by the not less new but more privately funded Lambo.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by SpikerJack

I saw you live on Eurosport at about 10 am

Yeah, I'll have to try and find that. I had two people send me messages after they saw it!

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Steve McQ

- André Lotterer sidelined after 3h30 hours of driving. It might be his last competitive drive at Le Mans

This surprised me when it was reported. It seemed utterly bizarre. Does anyone know any more regarding the reasons?

[joeb]

Originally Posted by v8supes

Very delighted for the Isotta team, they didnt catch fire

I was happy for them too, not just on the reliability side of things but good driving by the young pair of drivers. I don't recall seeing them off anywhere, or getting in the way. They let the faster cars through when needed.

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

This surprised me when it was reported. It seemed utterly bizarre. Does anyone know any more regarding the reasons?

Illness possibly? The same happened to Vanthoor at Bathurst this year; Guven ended up doing most of Vanthoor's stints.

It is noticeable though that Lotterer is not on the pace of Estre & Vanthoor. Time will tell when Porsche decide to make changes.

[Matador]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Jota beause McLaren should do a lmdh.
But serious, at this moment I would go for Jota because they have more experience in top class.

Originally Posted by J Jay

Illness possibly? The same happened to Vanthoor at Bathurst this year; Guven ended up doing most of Vanthoor's stints.

It is noticeable though that Lotterer is not on the pace of Estre & Vanthoor. Time will tell when Porsche decide to make changes.

They might take Andlauer back from Proton.



Andre is still a great set of hands, but yeah. Pace is needed for the 24hr sprint of Le Mans.

[tomcug]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

This surprised me when it was reported. It seemed utterly bizarre. Does anyone know any more regarding the reasons?

No pace compared to the other drivers, both during the day and at night. During night hours Vanthoor ate 25 seconds gap to Buemi in 1 stint, both cars pitted and both stayed on the same tyres and Andre simply couldn't anywhere near replicate that pace right after pit exit so it wasn't tyre degradation thing as stint progressed. Right before pitting Vanthoor was still right on the tail of the 8. Lotterer said himself in an interview before Le Mans that he felt more comfortable in an LMP1, guess the 963 doesn't suit his driving style.

[Guthrie]

Toyota may have had it if Lopez didn't spin. They should've put Kamui in the car. Fair play to Ferrari for winning.

[Oldtony]

Originally Posted by AndreasDavour

Amazingly well done for Isotta Fraschini.

Nicelottamachinery.

[Matador]

Originally Posted by Guthrie

Toyota may have had it if Lopez didn't spin. They should've put Kamui in the car. Fair play to Ferrari for winning.

Honestly I'm not getting the Lopez hate. Yes he spun, but overall his stints were pretty damn good. No one is perfect. for example Kamui binned it and ruined quali for both cars.... sht happens

[Articus]

Originally Posted by Guthrie

Toyota may have had it if Lopez didn't spin. They should've put Kamui in the car. Fair play to Ferrari for winning.

They might have had it if the 51 car didn't spin the #8 car. There's no justice in racing. For Pier Guidi, one day karma will bite him. He is the same driver that punted the 92 Porsche into a spin at the championship deciding season finale in Bahrain a few years ago which allowed Ferrari to take the championship. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJlisbjPg7A

He is a very unsportsmanlike character. They showed him on TV giving a thumbs down to race control's decision to extend the race in Spa for the fans last month.

[Matador]

Originally Posted by Articus

They might have had it if the 51 car didn't spin the #8 car. There's no justice in racing. For Pier Guidi, one day karma will bite him. He is the same driver that punted the 92 Porsche into a spin at the championship deciding season finale in Bahrain a few years ago which allowed Ferrari to take the championship. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJlisbjPg7A

He is a very unsportsmanlike character. They showed him on TV giving a thumbs down to race control's decision to extend the race in Spa for the fans last month.

Truth.


I can promise you guys if the roles were reversed (punt, pit incident, technical infringement, 8 laps to get called in to fix the door, a light not working on the winning car) Ferrari would be launching protests and appeals right now, with Maranello's lawyers pulling 24hr shifts to get a DQ.


Mind you, Toyota's team principal left the number 8 spin as "a racing incident" and maybe that's part of their problem. Not willing to get down in the mud and pull the knife out for the sake of "purity".


Anyway, were ifs and buts candies and nuts then we'd all have a Merry Christmas .

[Matador]

I keep forgetting to say, I vote the 77 Proton for spirit of Le Mans. Also, good job by Akkodis on their debut. Sorry that they lost out on a podium. I wish the dames were able to have a more performant car (note the penalty the #4 Porsche got for hitting them).

[Mike E]

Regarding Lotterer only doing 3h30m, I thought the minimum drive time for everyone was 6 hours?

[rdjones]

Originally Posted by Mike E

Regarding Lotterer only doing 3h30m, I thought the minimum drive time for everyone was 6 hours?

This point was raised on RLM and they said that as the #6 Porsche is a full season WEC entry there is no minimum drive time.

[crooky]

The ACO email this morning says we had 329,000 spectators.

So is that a record if last year was from what I can see 325,000?

[S griffin]

Great event as ever. Certainly continues to grow and hopefully we'll have another big turnout and plenty of top entries next year too.

[Sodemo]

For all I rag on Eurosport for their cheap and often bizarre coverage, they really rolled out the "A" team with the commentary. Ben Edwards, Martin Haven, David Addison. I couldn't pick 3 more worthy and qualified guys to commentate, they are all a class act, so well done in that respect.

[tomcug]

Originally Posted by Matador

Mind you, Toyota's team principal left the number 8 spin as "a racing incident" and maybe that's part of their problem. Not willing to get down in the mud and pull the knife out for the sake of "purity".

In the end it didn't matter. What mattered was race control allowing the 50 to complete well over half a stint with broken door. Had they been called to the pits immediately (as it should have been), they'd have had to do a splash at the end. Instead, as a reward for their technical infringement they got a perfect fuel strategy (they just didn't know at the time that it was perfect). In essence double fixed race, first with BOP that gave Porsches and Caddy absolutely zero chance of fight and no corrections despite obvious signs that Ferraris were sandbagging and later with race control being lenient for the red cars.