Alonso Wins Something - At Last!

[2112]

The ACO and WEC should just hand the Manufacturer's Trophy and the Le Mans Winner's Trophy to Toyota now and cancel the P1 season. Or hand the trophies to Toyota, thank them for coming and tell them to leave, then race the rest of the field.

The P1 race was a joke and the ACO/FIA made sure Toyota would win. Can't have archaic V8's without "Green Technology" winning a race against a more expensive, possibly slower car, can we?

People complain about IMSA and their BOP geared more toward the DPi than the P2's yet at least in IMSA the P2's have won and are competitive.

The Mid-Ohio race was a far better race to watch and more competitive. Shame on the ACO/FIA for presenting such a race as they did at Spa. I love sports car racing but the WEC is giving us crap. If they had any sack at all they would make the P1 class competitive and let the non-hybrids run like they are able to instead of how the ACO/FIA wants them to.

 

[NASCRAP]

The ACO and WEC should just hand the Manufacturer's Trophy and the Le Mans Winner's Trophy to Toyota now and cancel the P1 season. Or hand the trophies to Toyota, thank them for coming and tell them to leave, then race the rest of the field.

The P1 race was a joke and the ACO/FIA made sure Toyota would win. Can't have archaic V8's without "Green Technology" winning a race against a more expensive, possibly slower car, can we?

People complain about IMSA and their BOP geared more toward the DPi than the P2's yet at least in IMSA the P2's have won and are competitive.

The Mid-Ohio race was a far better race to watch and more competitive. Shame on the ACO/FIA for presenting such a race as they did at Spa. I love sports car racing but the WEC is giving us crap. If they had any sack at all they would make the P1 class competitive and let the non-hybrids run like they are able to instead of how the ACO/FIA wants them to.

I mostly agree with you. But Toyota's top speed blows compared to the non-hybrids -- so the latter may have a very good chance at winning Le Mans -- especially Rebellion.

 

[Richard Dastardly]

Toyota have to finish at LM to win it. They've been trying since sometime in the 80s ( exactly when depends on where you draw the line between Dome & Toyota ).

Test days soon, we will know how screwed Rebellion are fairly quickly. Unless there's more sandbagging...

 

[2112]

I mostly agree with you. But Toyota's top speed blows compared to the non-hybrids -- so the latter may have a very good chance at winning Le Mans -- especially Rebellion.

I get the top speed thing but Toyota is being given the golden goose with the mandated pit windows the privateers must follow. To me that negates any speed advantage the privateers will have, to the extent that it gives Toyota the strategic advantage.

I guess the WEC does not want it known that their Pedestal Mounted Hybrids are less economical than a N/A V8.

Lotter stated that Rebellion was forced to go into fuel saving mode from the start of the race. How does one consider that a race if a team, or cars, have to go into fuel saving mode the moment the green flag drops?

It is clear that the WEC did not want anyone but Toyota to win.

Right now the WEC is ball-washing Toyota so their "Green Tech" does not get stomped by older technology.

The other P1's should park their cars at the side of the start/finish at Le Mans and walk off with bi-lateral middle fingers held high above their heads.

 

[Jorge Villar]

In what dark cave will some people hide if a Rebellion or another Privateer team wins at Le Mans? And looking at previous years, the chances are higher than you would think.

As the past has shown, you don't need to beat the competition at Le Mans, you need to beat the race itself.

 

[Richard Dastardly]

In what dark cave will some people hide if a Rebellion or another Privateer team wins at Le Mans? And looking at previous years, the chances are higher than you would think.

As the past has shown, you don't need to beat the competition at Le Mans, you need to beat the race itself.

Looking at past years, providing a prototype finishes at all, a privateer can't fail to win*. That's going to raise suspicions no matter what happens....

* Edit: assuming it beats the GT cars, which looking at past years isn't 100% guaranteed either.

 

[wombat999]

A win is a win despite all the demented mutterings by the conspiracy theorists.
End of story.

 

[dvgportor]

Well the same that Mercedes have been done since 2014 to 2016. So Hamilton and Rosberg victories have no value?

The other Toyota had to start at the back but eventually caught the #8. Then they went in for pitstops together and the 7 magically lost 10 seconds. Then the 7 was catching Alonso rapidly at the end but suddenly backed off. Couldn't possibly be team orders, surely not team orders.

But great job Fernando, you won in a lower series.

Edit: I don't hate Alonso, I think it would be cool to see him get the triple crown, but only if it's a legitimate win and not a sham where the one dominant team clearly sets everything up to give his car the win.

 

[Will Mazeo]

In what dark cave will some people hide if a Rebellion or another Privateer team wins at Le Mans? And looking at previous years, the chances are higher than you would think.

As the past has shown, you don't need to beat the competition at Le Mans, you need to beat the race itself.

Privateer teams will be lucky to finish the race, first actual endurance with the new cars on smaller budget than Toyota, chances of a P2 winning has never been so high. At the same time Toyota has 1 or 2 laps extra per stint, they dont need to push, just stay out of trouble and they win.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

In other news - this is so far the only picture/video of the SMP car doing a Merc-LeMans at Radillon.
So that's one broken arm, two broken legs and an airborne flip so far with the new Dallara-BR chassis.

 

[nath]

to be honest Alonso never and ever will win his third title,he got 37 year weak team,and i doubt some of the top team will hire him in next future.just be real and pragmatic.

 

[Richard Dastardly]

Privateer teams will be lucky to finish the race, first actual endurance with the new cars on smaller budget than Toyota, chances of a P2 winning has never been so high. At the same time Toyota has 1 or 2 laps extra per stint, they dont need to push, just stay out of trouble and they win.

Rebellion have been doing this a long time, with a lot of success. Toyota have been doing Le Mans a long time with a conspicuous lack of top step...

 

[Patrik Marek]

on one hand I'm happy for him, he deserves to win something, but it would be not fair to mention that against pretty much no competition, it's a victory with bit of a sour taste

 

[cybertron3]

spot on mate!

A win is a win despite all the demented mutterings by the conspiracy theorists.
End of story.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Rebellion have been doing this a long time, with a lot of success. Toyota have been doing Le Mans a long time with a conspicuous lack of top step...

Not only have they done it for a long time, they run what's basically an upgraded P2 car with an beefed up engine from that same car.
Basically the have taken the car they won WEC in last season (in LMP2), beefed up the car with more goodies, beefed up the engine. And that's it.
I would be surprised if they run in to issues.

Even the ENSO CLM P1/01 ran the whole Spa race without any major issues, and even beat another LMP1 car. Not sure when you could say that either of these things happened last time.

 

[Will Mazeo]

While it is upgraded some parts are still new, and look how long it took for the CLM to run trouble free, literally years.
Rebellion of course is on another level, but things are still new.
If I was going to bet on this race I'd also pick one of the LMP2 cars, just to be safe lol

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

While it is upgraded some parts are still new, and look how long it took for the CLM to run trouble free, literally years.
Rebellion of course is on another level, but things are still new.
If I was going to bet on this race I'd also pick one of the LMP2 cars, just to be safe lol

The BR-car for SMP is also an upgraded LMP2 car, with a proven engine. I have a feeling that the new P1 cars for Rebellion, SMP and Dragonspeed will be reliable if the teams that run the cars are capable (and at least Rebellion have those skills). The Ginettas are a bigger questionmark. Also the CLM is a Kolles-car, it's run on a shoestring budget (or mafia-money, who knows. There are little to no sponsors on the car). While I love the ByKolles team, you cannot look at them to decide if LMP1 is hard or not to run trouble free.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Damn.

 

[Richard Dastardly]

I have much to say in my head about that driver & little is good, but I'm glad he's OK.

 

[cybertron3]

ooh that car is flying! hope he's ok!

Damn.