Fast forward twelve months and viola... Where did
that last year go? As many things stayed the same, albeit the weapons of choice
certainly changed...
2012: 80th running of Le Mans recap
Ah, isn’t it funny how time flies by, which
supposedly means I was having fun over the past year, eh? As we all know;
shockingly Peugeot Sport sadly withdrew from endurance racing at the beginning
of Twenty-twelve, after a five-year fight for Le Mans supremacy vs. Audi - leaving a very large void in the FIA’s newly
created WEC category, the World Endurance Championship which commenced at this
year’s 12hrs of Sebring - which once again wasn’t televised; nice way to go you
GOOBERS! As I really hope the ABC/ESPN '‘DOUCHE'S cheque was HUGHMONGO Mr. Atherton
- as you’ve LOST a longtime devoted ALMS fan by taking away my television
access to your races; but I digress...
Yet great fanfare was made over Toyota’s return to Sports Cars competition with its
one-hour Road to Le Mans
tribute incorrectly pronouncing it was the first LMP1 Hybrid prototype. As
sorry Toy Yoter; BUTT! YOU’RE WRONG! As that accolade actually rests with the Minnowesqe
American Le Mans Series Corsa Motorsports team that beat them to thy punch by
some 3-years...
Yet once again it was the ‘Uber successive
might of Audi’s Teutonic efficiency squashing the Japanese rivals, as Audi’s
own hybrid racer - the R18 E-Tron Quattro was the very first ever hybrid
vehicle to claim Pole-position at le Circuit de la Sarthe; stomping its air of supremacy
by securing the grid’s top three positions with its massive four “Works” car
armada - with its very own two turbo diesel hybrid’s locking out the front row.
And although I’d turned off thy alarm clock -
apparently I couldn’t await the start of the French endurance classic as I
majikally sprung awake at 5:25AM ‘Justin-time to catch the 30min pre-race
hoopla which included another entertaining segment with Justin Bell... Along
with thee ceremonial waving of the French Tricolour by Japan’s father of Hybrid
Synergy - as the race around the Rolex clock began with the No. 1 Audi jumping
out front whilst thee Scottish Terrier (Alan McNish) made his now trademark
slash ‘N cut thrust past the eagerly nipping Toyota’s...
And isn’t it funny how the LA Kings had already
wrapped up their debutant Stanley Cup victory a week prior - I guess partly due
in thanxs to this being “Leap Year,” eh?
As the race’s first hour seems a blur - as
the temptations ‘O slumber were too strong and ‘Ye humble No Fenders scribe
went back to bed - as the race had some 23-hours remaining...
Thus later in the day as I watched/listened
to copious amounts of the wonderous SPEED television coverage; Remember them? I
learned that the ACO, the governing body of the French classic had announced
sweeping new rules for the 2014 race
primarily directed towards the LMP1 Prototype category, albeit the series will
also allow the usage of diesel engines in LMP2 competition beginning next year
which promptly saw the announcement of “Dr. McDreamy,” aka Patrick Dempsey
announcing his return to Le Mans as Mazda’s Skyactiv
diesel LMP2 Powerplant
lead customer next year...
And I missed the live footage of what
arguably was the low-point of the race plus its biggest talking point - when
‘ANT (Anthony Davidson) went for that wicked passenger ride when being clipped
by gentleman driver Piergiuseppe
Perazzini’s Ferrari 458 Italia. Which thankfully
Davidson walked away from literally! Having said he felt claustrophobic inside
the Toyota
TS030’s driver’s cocoon - and had to get out of there after he opened his eyes
to discover “I’m still here!”
As he’d later be diagnosed with having broken
his T11-12 vertebrae, in what could have been a whole lot worse; CRIKEYS! (This
‘Mega shunt occurring in Hour-5 I believe...)
And I think it was around 5PM? When I caught
the middle of a telephone interview with Dan Gurney, who was asked his
impressions upon the Delta Wing which sadly was Hip-checked into the wall by
the sole remaining Toyota Hybrid at the time being piloted by 'Kaz, (Kazuki
Nakajima) ironically crashing out fellow countryman Satoshi Motoyama.
As Gurney said he’d like to see the car run
some more races, while interestingly noting that the concept car that Ben Bolby
had shown off to the media was simply a shell; with NO innards at all, i.e.;
suspension, engine, tranny, running gear, etc. Yet Gurney praised Bolby by
saying he’s an ultra smart Dude... While next year’s Project 56 Le Mans entry will feature a hydrogen powered racecar -
which will be the first ever to compete
at Le Mans!
At approx 7:20PM Pacific time, the No. 1 Audi
R18 E-tron Quattro that had been leading the entire race had a wicked snap spin
in the Porsche curves which Dorsey said he was lucky to get away with just
minor rear end damage... Usually you write-off a chassis spinning like that
there! Which gave the lead to the No. 2 'Seester Audi driven by Dindo Capello,
Alan McNish and Tom Kristensen briefly, as they’d be split by the safety car in
an ensuing caution flag period when running together, as the No. 1 was back in
the lead when I called it an evening...
And it was noted how it was Dindo’s 48th
birthday on Sunday, as obviously the Italian was hoping for the ultimate
birthday present in what was rumoured to be his final outing for Audi?
Yet it wasn’t to be, as once again for the
second year in-a-row, co-driver McNish had a second accident with a slower GTE
Ferrari which damaged the No. 2’s front end and the ensuing pit stop to replace
this cost them one-lap and ultimately “Gifted” the race to the No. 1 entry
instead...
Although in fairness the junior team of Benoit Treluyer, Marcel Fassler and
Andre Lotterer; the defending race winners, especially Lotterer drove the
wheels off of their No. 1 E-Tron Quattro as Lotterer would routinely pull out a gap upon
the No. 2 and therefore would have been very hard to overtake. As Lotterer said it
best himself in his brief winner’s interview: “Audi allows
us to race!”
Thus Treluyer, Fassler and Lotterer made
history on multiple fronts, as their No.
1 hybrid was the first to not only claim a Pole at Le Mans, but to also win the
French classic. And these three ‘Boyz joined some very rarefied company by
becoming only the seventh-ever trio to win consecutive races along with their female
engineer Leena
Gade being the first ever woman to win the race in that
capacity - again, having engineered the winning chassis the year prior with the
same trio of driver's, so all ‘N all it was an ‘Uber stout effort by the entire
crew of Audi’s No. 1 chassis.
And I swear I heard SPEED’s Calvin Fish
commenting in the early morning hours of Sunday how ‘Meesh’s favourite IndyCar team
owner “Booby Ray-X,” nee Bobby Rahal had mentioned how Herr Lotterer was one
BAD ‘ARSE ultra talented driver and somebody should snap him up! As we now know
Rahal couldn’t entice the German to jump to the rival ALL Ovals Indy Racing
League for 2003...
As I vaguely remember his lone CART race
where he drove for Dale Coyne and scored one point by finishing 12th,
albeit I cannot recall what race it was; although it was late ’02 and I highly doubt
it was the Portland event - which was my last ‘Juan with duh Boyz...
As Lotterer would go off to Japan instead
where he’d win the Formula Nippon championship before bursting onto the
international radar screen with his two 24 Heurs du Mans victories. As its even
funnier hearing how he races for Toyota in Formula Nippon but Audi has made him
a brand ambassador in Japan, whilst I had NO idea he’d been a Jaguar F1 test
driver during the “IRV THE SWERVE” (Eddie Irvine( days...
And while I was very happy for ‘Fishy-fella’s
(Giancarlo Fisichella) victory in the GTE-Pro class with the beautimous Ferrari
458 Italia, I was more intrigued by where the Aston Martin would end up? And
thus was super pleased that ‘Yo Adrian
(Fernandez) wound-up third in class and thus got to stand on the podium at Circuit de la Sarthe, as I’d just
shaken hands with him weeks prior during an overly enjoyable Legend’s Day
autograph session at Mother Speedway (Indianapolis) where I’d asked him if he
was still driving for Aston Martin?
And how ‘bout that Pedro Lamy, eh? Who ran down the leading
Porsche 911 in the final hour to claim another class victory at Le Mans, this time
capturing the victory for Larbre Competition aboard their ex-factory Corvette
C6R...
