Le Mans, 11 – 12 June 2011
After the usual week long build-up, with all the regular technical
verifications, practice and qualifying sessions, the 79th running of
the race took place over the weekend of 11 – 12 June in front of
249,500 spectators. In qualifying the works Audis just proved to
have the quicker pace, with the # 2 R18 TDI of Fassler / Lotterer /
Treluyer claiming pole position from the sister # 1 car of Bernhard
/ Dumas / Rockenfeller by a mere 0.061sec. Next up were a pair
of works Peugeot 908s, the # 9 example of Lamy / Bourdais /
Pagenaud just 0.272sec off the pole time, with the # 8 car of
Montagny / Sarrazin / Minassian a scant 0.146sec back, with the
third Audi of McNish / Kristensen / Capello only 0.009sec behind
that. Only 0.107sec behind the Audi was the third works Peugeot
of Gené / Wurz / Davidson, followed by the older Team Oreca
Matmut Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP, so despite late regulation
changes aimed at assisting the petrol powered entries get
equality in the LMP1 category, it was still diesel supremacy, with
the quickest petrol powered car being the Rebellion Racing Lola B
10 / 60 Coupé of Jani / Prost / Bleekemolen, some 7.145secs off
the pole time! However, the race looked to be set for a very close
battle between the two main protagonists, Audi and Peugeot.
In the other classes, the best LMP2 qualifier was the Signatech
Nissan entered Oreca 03-Nissan of Mailleux/Ordonez/Ayari,
followed by (despite a big practice accident) the Strakka Racing
HPD ARX 01D of Leventis/Watts/Kane. The GTE Pro class the
qualifying honours went to the works # 55 BMW M3 GT of
Farfus/Muller/Werner, just ahead of the AF Corse entered # 51
Ferrari 458 Italia GT of Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander. In the GTE Am
category it was the AF Corse entered # 61Ferrari F430 GTC of
Perazzini/Cioci/Breslin that posted the fastest qualifying time,
ahead of the Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR of
Ried/Felbermayr/Felbermayr Jr.
The race started promptly at 15.00hrs on the Saturday afternoon,
and immediately the trios of Audis and Peugeots went head to
head, with really close and equally balanced racing, that showed
just how evenly matched they were in race trim. However, less
than an hour into the race, Audis prospects suffered a major blow
when their # 3 car driven by Allan McNish clipped the # 58 Luxury
Racing Ferrari 458 GT, whilst lapping it in the first curve on the
run down from the Dunlop Bridge. Both cars disappeared in a
cloud of dust through the gravel trap, with the Audi striking the
safety barrier hard before catapulting along it, coming to rest
upside down and straddling the tyre wall. It came within
millimetres of crossing the barrier and into the service road
beyond, where there were marshals and photographers, thus it
could have been a catastrophic incident. One of the wheels
actually ended up chasing a photographer down the road, but
came to a halt before hitting him. Amazingly, Allan McNish was
extricated from the car unhurt, and there were no other
casualties. The incident brought out the safety cars, and it was
over an hour before the barriers were repaired, and racing
recommenced. The Ferrari managed to get moving again, coming
off relatively lightly, and made its way back to the pits for repairs,
and was soon back out on the track.
Audis hopes were dealt a further major blow in darkness late in
the evening, when the # 1 car driven by Mike Rockenfeller also
had a touch with a Ferrari, this time the # 71 458 Italia GT driven
by Robert Kaufman, which pitched the Audi head first into the
barrier the Mulsanne and Indianapolis corners, destroying the car,
although, fortunately, once again the driver was uninjured, thus
there was another long safety car period while the remains of the
Audi were collected and repairs effected to the safety barrier. So
it was down to one Audi against the three works Peugeots, which
were running like clockwork, but Audi weren’t about to throw in
the towel, with their remaining car trading fastest laps with the
Peugeots as dawn broke, and the lead changing regularly
between the two marques as the pit stops panned out. It
remained this way right up to the chequered flag at 15.00 on
Sunday afternoon, with the # 2 Audi of Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer
taking a hard fought victory from the # 9 Peugeot of
Lamy/Bourdais/Pagenaud, by a mere 13.854secs after 24hours of
racing. The # 8 Peugeot of Montagny / Sarrazin / Minassian took
the final podium place 2 laps off the leaders.
The battles were equally fraught in the other classes, with a high
rate of attrition, there were a number of mechanical failures, and a
lot of very bent machinery filling the dead car park at the end of
the race, with only 27 of the original 56 starters making it through
to the chequered flag. If it was a sweet and sour weekend for
Audi, then it was definitely sour only for Aston Martin, as both
their AMR-One LMP1 cars were out almost before they started,
the # 009 car lasting for only two laps, and the # 007 example for
only two more. Both the Vantage models in the GT classes
retired, and the only car to uphold the company’s honours was
the Kronos Racing Lola Aston Martin of Ickx/Martin/Leinders,
which finished 7th overall and was the second highest petrol
engine finisher. Of the ten Ferraris that started only three saw the
chequered flag, with the # 51AF Corse 458 Italia GT of Fisichella /
Bruni / Vilander coming 2nd in the GTE Pro class. Smith /
Lombard, whilst Chevrolet took the GTE Pro class win withthe n,
with the k,but Audiweren'riert on the track The LMP2 class victory
went to the Greaves Motosport Zytek Nissan driven by Ojjeh /
Kimber-Smith / Lombard, whilst Chevrolet took the GTE Pro class
win with the # 73 Corvette of Garcia / Milner / Beretta, with the
GTE Am win also going to a Corvette, the # 50 Larbre
Competition example driven by Bornhauser / Canal / Gardel.
Ferraris at Le Mans, 11 – 12 June 2011
Race # Model Chassis # Colour Entrant Driver Result OA Class
GTE PRO Class OA Class
51 458 Italia GT 2826 Red-White-Green AF Corse G. Fisichella/
G. Bruni/ T.Vilander 13th 2nd
66 458 Italia GT 2808 Yellow-Black-Red JMW Motorsport R. Bell/
T. Sugden/ X. Maassen 24th 9th
71 458 Italia GT 2822 Red-Yellow AF Corse R. Kauffman/ M.
Waltrip/ R. Aguas DNF DNF
59 458 Italia GT 2832 Red Luxury Racing S. Ortelli/ J. Melo F.
Makowiecki/ DNF DNF
58 458 Italia GT 2834 Red Luxury Racing A. Beltoise/ P. Thiriet
F. Jakubowski/ DNF DNF
89 458 Italia GT 2830 White-Black- Orange Hankook Team
Farnbacher D. Farnbacher/ A. Simonsen/L. Keen DNF DNF
GTE AM Class
83 F430 GTC 2626 Red JMB Racing M. Rodrigues/ J. Menahem/
N. Misslin/ 27th 4th
61 F430 GTC 2624 Red-White-Green AF Corse P. Perazzini/ M.
Cioci/ S. Breslin DNF DNF
57 F430 GTC 2620 Lime-Blue Stripe Krohn Racing T. Krohn/ N.
Jonsson/ M. Rugolo DNF DNF
62 F430GTC 2612 Red-White-Blue CRS Racing P. Ehret/ S.
Lynn/ R. Wills/ DNF DNF
Keith Bluemel
06 / 2011
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