Only two other manufacturers have scraped a victory over Audi this century. Bentley managed it in 2003 and Peugeot overcame its usual reliability issues in 2009. There is no other major racing series where a single team has proved to be so dominant, for such a long time. In recent years, Audi’s winning formula hasn’t been all-out speed. Peugeot, for example, have always qualified ahead of Audi since their first Le Mans outing in 2007. This tradition was broken tonight when Audi qualified in first place. Audi have adopted a technique of consistency. Audi’s Le Mans cars have habitually proved more reliable than those of their challengers and the team strives to improve every finite detail of the racing effort, prior to the race. But, enough of sycophancy. One must focus on this years race as well.
Peugeot (left) and Audi will do battle once again at Le Mans. |
Whilst Peugeot had the fastest car in the first qualifying session, in the second opportunity, this evening, Audi gained first and second place for the start of the race. It seems as though it won't be business-as-usual at this stage of the race. It is clear that, yet again, the battle for top spot will be between the two diesel powerhouses: Audi and Peugeot as they dominated the qualifying session. These two great adversaries have battled for the title every year since 2007. Typically, Peugeot have the faster car, gaining faster lap times until they suffer from reliability issues and Audi swoop past calmly and coolly; a tortoise-and-hare situation. This circumstance acts as a rather precise depiction of the reputation of these two car manufacturers’ road cars as well: Audis are solidly built and Peugeots are not. For the first time since 2006, however, it appears that Audi have the fastest car this year. Whoever does win will undoubtedly use that victory for a range of PR and advertising messages for the following year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKMB2i1I1h4 Peugeot put this advert out shortly after winning at Le Mans in 2009
Who would I put my faith in for the overall victory? All the evidence leading towards this year’s race is exactly the same as it has been for years. Peugeot won the 1000km race at Spa this year, as they have every year since 2007. Once again, the Peugeots have proven to be Audi's closest competitors at Le Sarthe. However, this happens every year and every year (except for 2009) Peugeot fail to cut the mustard during the actual race. I maintain that Audi will win the Le Mans 24 Hours this weekend. Watching this incredible documentary, Truth in 24, really shows what it takes to win this race and how Audi have achieved this goal in the past few years, even though it does act as some serious propaganda: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1320302 Just ignore Jason Statham's awful attempts to pronounce the place names.
Other points of interest at this year’s race, for me, include the new Toyota-engined Judd racer, which qualified in fifth place. This entrance suggests that Toyota may re-enter the endurance-racing scene themselves. Given how explosive their previous Le Mans entry, the Toyota GT One was at Le Mans , this is an exciting prospect.
Aston Martin's team with the two ugly ducklings. |
Aston Martin have also entered a brand new model, the AMR-One. However, it seems to be the comical entry of the entire class. Firstly, it is, without a doubt, the ugliest Aston Martin ever made, even when compared to the door-wedge Lagonda saloon of the 1970s. Secondly, at a time when all other competitors are putting roofs on their cockpit to make their cars more aerodynamic, Aston Martin has taken the roof off their new model.
To sum up, I'm declaring that I believe Audi will win the race, in some form or another. They have qualified in first and second place. Given that speed is normally Audi's downfall, it seems they have closed the gap on Peugeot, leaving only reliability as an issue, which is typically the cause of Peugeot's failures, not Audi. This may be academic if Audi and Peugeot battle so determinedly they both crash all three of their cars, leaving the bat-faced Aston to take the victory.
Audi did indeed win at Le Mans, with the #2 car, but only by 13 seconds over the following three Peugeot cars. Audi lost there other two cars in collisions with GT cars. So whilst I'd like to brag about being right, it was a much more closely fought contest than I had predicted.
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