2012 24 Hours of Le Mans

Bram

RaceDepartment Founder
Staff
Premium
Another nice email:

greengt.jpg


While at the 24 Hours of Le Mans Test weekend, GreenGT yesterday evening unveiled the GreenGT H2 which is due to take part at Le Mans in 2013. It will be the first racing prototype to use electric/hydrogen power.

Following the official unveiling of the car, it was President of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest Pierre Fillon who announced its participation in the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans, using the 56th pit box.

It's worth remembering that the 56th Pit is used to offer a place on the starting grid to a car judged by the ACO to be technologically innovative. The selected car can compete but won't be classified. In order to start the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans, the GreenGT H2 will nevertheless have to successfully pass all the relevant safety tests.

This year the car which occupies the 56th pit box is the Nissan Delta Wing. It's first laps of the Le Mans circuit have taken place this Sunday, 3rd June, just two weeks before the 80th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 16/17th June 2012.

For all further information on the GreenGT H2: www.greengt.com
 

Bram

RaceDepartment Founder
Staff
Premium
Aaaaand.....another one:

FNA_12JT_D31_3116.jpg


The dress rehearsal for the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans which took place this Sunday, 3rd June was an out-and-out success as far as both spectators and teams were concerned. The majority of competitors present were here to prepare for the race which will take place on the 16/17th June.

Set two weeks before the 80th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Test Day was a fantastic appetiser for the main course, and 23,000 spectators were present this Sunday to enjoy it. They were able to feast on the quality of the sights and sounds produced by the 61 cars on track. In the LMP1 category, the Audis showed themselves to be quickest, the two R18 e-tron Quattro hybrids Nos. 2 and 1 heading the No. 3 R18 Ultra. Allan McNish, the quickest man of the day (3m25.927) ended his test following a small error which saw him hitting the barriers at the Tertre Rouge corner and being unable to continue.

Much anticipated, the Toyota TS030 Hybrid didn’t disappoint on their first outing against their adversaries, occupying 4th and 5th places. The best, driven by Alexander Wurz (3m 27.204) being only 1.3 seconds off the best time of the Audi. They made their presence known. And McNish noted, “The Toyotas amazed me. At top speed they were really much quicker than us!”

It should be noted that the No. 21 Honda HPD was the speediest of the LMP1 cars with ‘classic’ petrol engines, thanks to Danny Watts. With its two cars, the No. 17 Dome-Judd and the Pescarolo 03, the Pescarolo team struggled a little more as the team was coming to terms with little preparation time and was working towards its race, but its performance was encouraging.

Another incident of note was a big off-track excursion this morning for the No. 15 Oak Racing, hitting the guard rails at the Karting corner. Guillaume Moreau, the driver, was extracted from the car and then driven to the CHU d’Angers hospital. The young Frenchman is being operated on for injuries to his 12th vertebra.

Oak Racing showed its hand in LMP2. The No. 35 Morgan-Judd entered by the French team was the quickest in both the morning and afternoon sessions, Olivier Pla being the driver achieving the best time (3m41.291) ahead of the HPD Honda of the American Level 5 Motorsports team and the Jota Zytek Z11SN Nissan. Sebastien Loeb Racing, which isn’t entered for the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans, notched up the 5th best time in this class and it was Loeb himself who set the mark at 3m 42.248.
As usual, it was a great battle in LM GTE. In the class reserved for Professional drivers, it was the No. 59 Ferrari 458 of Frederic Makowiecki which was quickest but less than a tenth of a second ahead of the No. 74 Corvette. As for GTE-Am, Aston Martin Racing put itself in the spotlight with its Vantage V8, Allan Simonsen at the wheel and launched himself right into the middle of the GTE Pro pack.

Today’s Test Day was also the chance to at last see on track the Nissan Delta Wing, albeit non-classified. Remember that this futuristic car will run in the 24 Hours of Le Mans under the banner of the 56th Pit Box, but will not be classified. The Scotsman Marino Franchitti, who set a time of 3m47.980, was thrilled. “It was a perfect demonstration,” he explained. « No mechanical problems, easy to drive. It was very encouraging for the race and we know in which direction to go in order to gain performance.”
As for the Formula Le Mans, it was a great promotion to encourage people into endurance racing, even if they can’t be entered for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Two were on track and the young Frenchman Steven Palette was the quickest at 3m 56.496. At the wheel of the second was a certain Fabien Barthez. The former French goalkeeper achieved a quick lap of 4m06.906.

So all is in place for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In one week the technical scrutineering will begin, and the 80th running of this mythical race is scheduled for 16th/17th June.

Click on the links hereunder to download the Test Day results:
Practice 1 - Practice 2 - Combined

To download the list of entries for the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours, click here.
 
As for the Formula Le Mans, it was a great promotion to encourage people into endurance racing, even if they can’t be entered for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Two were on track and the young Frenchman Steven Palette was the quickest at 3m 56.496. At the wheel of the second was a certain Fabien Barthez. The former French goalkeeper achieved a quick lap of 4m06.906.
Quick !?
 

Stuart Pocock

I'M BACK... Again :)
While at the 24 Hours of Le Mans Test weekend, GreenGT yesterday evening unveiled the GreenGT H2 which is due to take part at Le Mans in 2013. It will be the first racing prototype to use electric/hydrogen power.

Oo electric/ hydrogen power, looking at the picture is it me or does it look like a F1 car to some extent?
 

Bram

RaceDepartment Founder
Staff
Premium
Maybe they are using the yellow hard compound F1 tire? We will have to look for red skid marks during the race to see if there are people with supersofts
 
Awwww great, just got(my father actually) an email from the ACO.

The paper that was used to print the tickets was faulty, it will turn black in the heat/light:rolleyes:

Now they gonna have to change a lot of tickets during the time until the end of the race:p
 

James Johnson

The Weatherman
Awwww great, just got(my father actually) an email from the ACO.

The paper that was used to print the tickets was faulty, it will turn black in the heat/light:rolleyes:

Now they gonna have to change a lot of tickets during the time until the end of the race:p

Well you dont have to! You just need to follow the ACO guidelines that they put out to make sure it doesnt happen! :)
 

Bram

RaceDepartment Founder
Staff
Premium
I really hope we are in for a surprise this year but I had no other choice than to vote "Audi Joest" in the poll.

The TDI's are simply to strong at this track and even the new regulations will not be able to stop them unless the Toyota on its maiden race will surprise everybody, but that seems so very unlikely.

For 2013 I really hope they will level the LM P1 with the same kind of regulations. All diesels or all normal petrol engines.
 

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