Experience the full broadcast of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2011 — one of the most dramatic and unforgettable races in endurance history. Audi and Peugeot engaged in a brutal 24-hour showdown filled with courage, heartbreak, and breathtaking moments. Massive crashes, mechanical struggles, and fierce on-track battles tested the limits of man and machine. Relive the triumph, the emotion, and the relentless spirit that defined this legendary edition on the Circuit de la Sarthe.
#LeMans2011 #24HoursOfLeMans #FullRace #EnduranceRacing #Motorsport #AudiVsPeugeot #LegendaryRace #HistoricRace #EpicRacing #SpeedAndEndurance
#LeMans2011 #24HoursOfLeMans #FullRace #EnduranceRacing #Motorsport #AudiVsPeugeot #LegendaryRace #HistoricRace #EpicRacing #SpeedAndEndurance
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SportsTranscript
00:00:00it's the long slow fade of a soft summer afternoon into dust it's the powerful headlights drilling
00:00:20into the night it's the track eight miles long linking three towns with 200 mile an hour straight
00:00:27it's riding the ferris wheel the drifting smoke of campfires the mingling of many languages
00:00:33a quarter of a million people lining the fences it's the 24 hours of le mans audi versus peugeot
00:00:42both teams powered by silent turbo diesels both with menacing dorsal fins both designed for high
00:00:50top speed peugeot won two years ago audi last year audi were pushed back down the stairs last year by
00:00:58peugeot but they are back setting the stage for today's stunning confrontation a battle neither
00:01:05team can afford to lose in the gt classes ferrari lotus aston martin corvette porsche bmw
00:01:16each manufacturer confident of its product each willing to risk the long odds for a chance to win
00:01:22le mans where victory guarantees credibility from its beginnings in the 1920s this race has been about
00:01:30the car but each car's connection to success or failure lies in the hands of those who drive it
00:01:37and the driver must have judgment as well as speed he must push hard every moment but how hard is too
00:01:44hard he must take chances but how bold is too bold one man has the answers tom christensen driving this
00:01:54year for audi has won here a record-breaking eight times and is going for a ninth le mans its commitment
00:02:02a year's work for one race always knowing the failure of a single part or a single moment of inattention
00:02:09will spell defeat its exhaustion and the heavy hand of luck as the long day wanes the once bright
00:02:16cars are pale and battered streaked with oil the great crowd will flood the track the winners will
00:02:22soar on its rising tide who will they be the answer lies ahead the 79th running of the 24 hours of le mans
00:02:30is next scenes like these passion like this cars like these it could only be le mans in the past two
00:02:42weeks we've been treated to the indy 500 and monaco grand prix now it's time for another classic and it's
00:02:48with much pleasure we say welcome to speaks live coverage of the one the only 24 hours of le mans and
00:02:55those magical scenes on the front straight hi folks welcome lee diffie along with brian till calvin fish
00:03:01dorsey schrader lamar winners scott pruitt and justin bell jamie howe andrew married and great creamer
00:03:07and we're here for 25 hours on speed and speed.com and that's what they're all racing for the big trophy
00:03:16guys let's get straight to it what are we looking for dorsey kick us off i think what we're about to
00:03:20witness is going to be quite extraordinary when you consider le mans and its eight mile lap length
00:03:25and then you think about the top six cars in qualifying cars from peugeot cars from audi all
00:03:30qualified within a half a second it gives you a great idea about what next 24 hours are going to be
00:03:34like scott with cars these this close the big question is strategy how are these guys going to
00:03:40manage fuel who's going to get better fuel mileage and tires can you double stint up triple stint up
00:03:44maybe go for four it's going to be hard to say but strategy is going to play a big part when you look
00:03:49at these cars being this close cal there's been some big real changes this year for the prototypes
00:03:54the power has been reduced dramatically the p1s have about 150 to 200 horsepower less so they'll
00:04:00no longer blow by those gt cars like years past there'll be a very different dynamic to the race
00:04:04here today i think and i look to see how aggressive these prototype drivers will be in traffic and just
00:04:09how creative they'll be with new passing zones today how about you braun well calvin mentioned gt i'm
00:04:14telling you the gt battle will be just as intense while the field might be a little bit more spread out
00:04:19take a look at this aliver gavin dominic farnbacher qualified fourth and fifth but they did the
00:04:24exact same lap time to the thousandth of a second around eight plus miles of racetrack here at los
00:04:30arth i'm telling you gt it's tight and it's going to be intense let's show you some practice and
00:04:34qualifying highlights and it did not get off to a great start for the defending race winner romaine dumar
00:04:39at mulsanne corner yeah he claims there were no yellow flag flags being displayed also the audi lower cockpit
00:04:45situation there the high fenders he said he just didn't see him we may see more of that during the
00:04:50next 24 hours crunching that aston martin frank montagne had an anxious moment uh in his peugeot
00:04:55almost colliding with the pescarolo but ultimately it was three-time pool winner stéphane sarazan
00:05:01who set the fastest lap of the day in the number eight peugeot flying however the lesser spoken about
00:05:08number two audi had more to say about this because those boys set the pace with benoit trellier the
00:05:14man who cheated death here a couple of years ago came back in phenomenal style then mr lemont tk himself
00:05:20was going for it two minutes ago he gets it wrong in tete rouge there you see a major impact with a
00:05:25tire barrier they have repaired the old bruised helga as they call it now congratulations from dr wolfgang
00:05:32ulrich to benoit trellier and we show you the top five you may have heard dorsey mention it earlier
00:05:36just look at the margin 0.4 of a second blanketing those top five this is setting up for a phenomenal
00:05:42race hey let's go to our defending race winner greg cream is standing by
00:05:49thanks very much gentlemen mike rockenfeller you had a a great win last year a little bit of good
00:05:54fortune playing into it this year you show up with a an r18 with the new regulations that looks to be an
00:06:00absolute warrior you're the defending champ any extra pressure well i don't think it's extra
00:06:05pressure i mean i we felt a lot of pressure released last year i think this year it doesn't
00:06:11help you know that we won last year it doesn't mean anything it's still a long race and you have to
00:06:16be focused hopefully we can do a job like last year no mistakes spend no extra time in the pits
00:06:22that's the key always in le mans and definitely we have a great weapon in our hands i think the r18
00:06:27looks not only good it's also fast and hopefully we can bring it back to victory lane a lot has been made
00:06:33about the ultralight technology that's gone into the car but how does that affect its sturdiness over
00:06:3824 hours well we will see i think we did a lot of testing definitely you can see that the cars pushed
00:06:44to the limits you know in every area and that's what we had to do to catch up the gap we had to
00:06:50peugeot and i think we did a good job and our technicians did a really good job so we will see i
00:06:55mean now it's the first real test in racing conditions and i hope the car lasts and we won't have any
00:07:01problems after roman shut diesel okay diesel is okay the mechanics called it diesel i heard that
00:07:07just now on the grid which i think is quite funny no the car is okay it was just the front nose it
00:07:12looked more and for safety reason we said okay leave it on the track and they brought it back on
00:07:18the track and like i said the car was really fine just the front nose was broken all right rocky good
00:07:22luck to look for a repeat and of course audi sweeping the front row they fired the first shot but
00:07:27how about the roar of the lion with more on that let's go to the other end of pit lane and justin bell
00:07:32well what a race what a place and i'm standing here with one of the man of the hour simon pagina
00:07:38two years ago you were with the private squad but you were one of the fastest drivers then you
00:07:42joined the factory team and now here you are the fastest of the peugeot drivers on track
00:07:47i mean it must be an amazing feeling representing your country in what is going to be the epic race yeah you
00:07:52know it's a legendary race it's a great feeling to be here on the great sitting abroad i'm very happy
00:07:58with the car you know we didn't i'm very happy because we didn't focus on qualifying which is
00:08:03what you want to look for when you do 24-hour race and we have a very good car very consistent
00:08:08i hope it's going to be reliable you can never say in le mans it's such a tough race but we've done all
00:08:13we were supposed to do all the testing we know what time to put at what time so i'm quite confident but
00:08:19it would be a very tough race well he may not have tried very hard but i tell you what that you've
00:08:23got the power of your people here there's an entire grandstand over there all yelling simon yeah it's
00:08:28uh it's nice it's fantastic you know it's uh it's nice to be recognized by the people in my country and
00:08:35even though i race in america most of the time uh but it's the same in america so you know i enjoy
00:08:40i enjoy coming here in le mans it's a it's a big event like the indy 500. okay it's too late for anyone
00:08:45else to to act on this information but what did they say to you in the driver's briefing how in
00:08:50depth how much pressure was it there isn't any pressure which which is very enjoyable the team
00:08:56is very relaxed everybody knows we've done we've worked a lot we've worked really hard since after
00:09:01the last uh 24 hours of le mans so there's no pressure just go for it there's no pressure from
00:09:08where we are there's pressure to watch it simon in my opinion is the man in the car thanks justin
00:09:15we're going to be talking a lot about that peugeot 908 and the audi r18 let's take a look at the
00:09:20tail of the type well both turbo diesels lead 3.7 liters in both the audi and the peugeot but v6
00:09:25versus v8 now the question is fuel mileage which one will have the better fuel mileage the other
00:09:30thing to note both of these cars coupes or coupes for the peugeot drivers and mechanics and the team
00:09:36they're used to that they've had that machine since 2007 for the audi drivers and mechanics
00:09:41the coupe it's brand new the car that everybody looks towards is the one that houses le mans legend
00:09:47tom christensen and two-time winner alan mcnish let's hear from alan now
00:09:55we're actually going to hear from his co-driver dindo capello it was in 2006 though when audi debuted here
00:10:00at le mans with the diesel power dindo you've been involved with every iteration of the diesel audi
00:10:07how is it that the v6 is able to get so much power yeah we i think we have very good engineers that's
00:10:15the reason why we can get very good power for any engine size we get but joking apart i think they
00:10:22really work hard i think it's so was so difficult to make this engine running at such a high level about
00:10:29talking about power and about torque because you know with the 3.7 engine it's what we achieve is
00:10:36something just unbelievable just unique and uh yeah what to say more now we will see i think we did
00:10:43enough endurance test about reliability we are quite um i would say safe even though in such a long
00:10:52race you never know because uh you know le mans always can take some some surprise but we are well
00:10:59prepared both in terms of speed and in terms of reliability then you know in a few minutes the
00:11:05race we will start and after that we will see if what we have done was good enough to to be successful
00:11:11at the end of the day another team that's well prepared is peugeot and they're down with andrew marriott
00:11:18well nick manassi and the frenchman who lives in england i'm not quite sure why nick here for your 12th
00:11:23race uh this is going to be a titanic struggle yeah he's going to be a titanic one as you say you
00:11:28know he's so tight i think i've never seen something like this you know and qualifying it was like a
00:11:33right battle you know like like i've never seen before the performance of the car very very close
00:11:39together and uh again he wasn't like this in the last four years we always had the advantage of pure
00:11:45speed you know so now he's gonna be um playing in the wheel and you gotta be not too silly you know not
00:11:52fighting to the bone too much and don't make a mistake he's still a 24 race you know luck will
00:11:56come into it can you make your own luck to a degree you can make your own luck you know your
00:12:01own luck is uh looking after the car as much as you can without losing too much time you know you
00:12:05got to find the right balance with that nick manassi looking for his first victory here at le mans
00:12:12and he talks about balance they'll need it both in speed and aggression in the lmp2 category
00:12:17straka racing they won on strategy and speed in 2010 they were very quick on wednesday night
00:12:22team owner nick leventus took over the 42 machine big problem in the dunlop curves talk around the
00:12:28paddock was about nissan power and at the end of the tape it was this car the number 26 signatech orca
00:12:34nissan driven by sohiel yari who pulls off pole position while it was not nearly as close in the lmp2
00:12:41category some two seconds between the top five it is spread out on it amongst the engine manufacturers
00:12:46two nissans two judd bmws and one hpd acura this will be once again a battle of strategy and endurance
00:12:56from the high banks of daytona to the long straits of le mans is quite the journey but
00:13:01nascar star michael waltrip has made it we'll tell you more on the other side of this break
00:13:06speed's coverage of the 24 hours of le mans is brought to you by chevrolet and america's premier
00:13:17sports car corvette
00:13:21not only corvette but american manufacturers teams and drivers have a rich history here at
00:13:27le mans that tradition continues it's a massive weekend for scott tucker he is the one and only
00:13:32american driver in either prototype class we wish scott and his level five team all the best and how
00:13:38about joey hand kicked the year off with victory at the rolex 24 at daytona and he is here on his
00:13:44debut appearance we wish joey all the best hey speaking of him it was a good start for his gte pro team
00:13:52the 56 sandy prio and dirk moore and joey this car was quickest on wednesday night however at the hands of
00:13:59andy prio scott you can see there there's rocks on the track and unfortunately a car gets away from
00:14:04a little bit the good news is they got the car fixed they ran very good this morning in morning
00:14:08warm-up i think they're going to be i mean which we're talking it's going to be an incredible fight
00:14:12not only in the prototypes but also in gt and just like dumar prio was a little critical of the marshall
00:14:20saying why didn't you tell me there was something on the track the af course of ferrari with former f1
00:14:25driver giancarlo fisichella has been fast it did not get the class pole this car did the sister bmw
00:14:31with second time le mans appearance for augusto farfus there's the top five scott has already flagged
00:14:38it this is going to be an incredible battle bmw porsche ferrari corvette it's incredible throw lotus
00:14:44in there as well we've got 24 and three quarter hours to talk more about that that's for sure all
00:14:49right let's hear from one of our american drivers
00:14:56i'm standing by with joey hand joey uh you've had an epic start to the season obviously
00:15:00congratulations on that with the win at daytona the win at sebring a chance now to come here to
00:15:04le mans and win another 24-hour race it's your first time here hard to believe in first time with schnitzer
00:15:09how's things looking ah things look pretty good you know i've been telling people i think this is our best
00:15:13shot to win for me my first time here it's definitely my best shot to win right but uh you know racing's
00:15:18about momentum and uh i got some good momentum i've won already a few times this year in bmw powered
00:15:23cars and uh this team this bmw motorsport team they already fixed the car from from a crash the other
00:15:28day and they're great uh they've welcomed me here it's uh so far been a great experience for me the
00:15:34whole thing so i'm looking forward to going after it but you know i gotta tell you i'm always here to
00:15:39win i never come to lose so uh i'm trying to win every race if i win this one it'd be great well joey's
00:15:45enjoying his first experience as an american near paris but of course he's got competition from
00:15:49bmw to bow tie here's andrew marriott well oliver gavin what a scene down here it's your 11th lemar
00:15:57you're looking for your fourth victory but the last couple of races you haven't managed to make the
00:16:01finish no it's uh it lasts a few times here at le mans it has been a bit tough for us but uh you know
00:16:07the team is extremely well prepared the c6r is uh you know fighting fits it's a hundred year of of
00:16:14chevrolet so you know we're ready to go you know it looks like the bmw has got quite a bit of pace
00:16:19but i think in terms of long runs i think we should be right there with them ferrari's here with a new
00:16:22car and porsche is always going to be there so i think it's going to be battle royal in gte pro
00:16:27so uh really looking forward to it yeah gta i think it stands for gt excitement certainly is
00:16:32certainly is it's super exciting and you know had a great battle last year with jamie mellow and the
00:16:36ferrari and uh you know hope to be able to recreate some of that you know this year so uh yeah really
00:16:41really looking forward to it it's always a sense of excitement right now on the grid but uh we know
00:16:46we've got a huge race ahead of us 24 hours patrick long is the only american porsche factory driver
00:16:53he's been racing in this event since 2004 and patrick you have two wins but none of them are with flying
00:16:58lizard how ready is this team for today's race well i think they're ready we've had a tough week a lot
00:17:03of trying difficulties a little bit of accident a little bit off pace um but i think we're ready to go
00:17:08it's going to be a lot of competition we're starting 12th we're not used to being that far
00:17:12back but uh the team's prepared very very hard they've kept their head down the whole time uh jurg
00:17:17and lucas are always pushing hard so it's just an honor to be here this is my eighth one in a row
00:17:21and i enjoy it more and more every year well after a lifetime in motorsport it's probably pretty
00:17:27hard to find a new challenge but michael baldrips pops over to france here you are an italian car
00:17:32very quick one at the biggest french race you certainly jumped in at the deep end i'm totally
00:17:37international justin i've got this after 25 years of racing in nascar i suspected there was racing
00:17:43going on around the world and the invention of the internet and speed tv confirmed that
00:17:48and i'm just so thankful that i can be here and experience it it's such an honor to be here well you
00:17:53took a boat over obviously and now you're here but you described to me earlier in great terms
00:17:58you are in a obviously a multi-class race which is a new experience but when the peugeot and audi
00:18:02came by you described it as almost violent tell your fans what that's like you're driving down the
00:18:08straightaway and you see lights in your mirror and you don't know whether those are lights of gte cars
00:18:12or or the prototypes and really quickly you figure out it's a prototype because it's coming like a bullet
00:18:17and you just sort of squinch down and it goes by and they're sucking up the earth i mean they've got so
00:18:22much downforce ground effects it just almost pulls you sideways and you gotta you have to get
00:18:27over that and then focus on the turn the funniest thing that happened so far one of those prototypes
00:18:31went around me going into indianapolis and when it did it went so fast i went wow i wanted to watch
00:18:37them and all of a sudden whoa i'm off the road so there's many challenges for me this is the first
00:18:42time in the 458 obviously the first time ever to le mans and uh i'm i'm living it up me and rob
00:18:48both want to say hi to our moms is that cool no anyway we will be following you all the way through the
00:18:53race i hope and uh a man that is finding out that turning right in france is not as easy as it looks
00:19:00michael and his team all the best the final class is gte am and we want to draw your attention there
00:19:07to the third place car it is the second flying lizard motorsports entry it's got a very good
00:19:12chance at winning this class it seems every year we come to le mans there is something special and this
00:19:18year we're celebrating the 20th anniversary of mazda's win at the hands of johnny herbert bertrand
00:19:23gashaw and volker weidler in the mazda 787b well that car is at le mans this year and hollywood star
00:19:31and team owner patrick dempsey was invited to take part in something very very special he's there with
00:19:3791 race winner johnny herbert and patrick as you see got to climb aboard and got to do laps of lasar
00:19:44in a very very special time for him and for mazda and for everybody involved in this project justin
00:19:49caught up with him it's a very special moment for me and certainly a little nervous getting into the
00:19:57car this this is a valuable car uh it's such an important car for mazda and what they achieved
00:20:02is remarkable after so many attempts to finally break through with the rotary engine which is
00:20:06phenomenal and it's hard to believe it's been 20 years it's gone by for everyone and it's great to see
00:20:11the drivers here today and the team that was here and uh just to be a part of that history and
00:20:15and hopefully we'll be here next year with mazda lmp2 that's our goal good on you patrick you saw right
00:20:21there getting some acknowledgement from your giro tarada le mans legend and there have been many
00:20:26legends born here at this place over the years so many magical moments when we come back we'll tell
00:20:31you about some breaking news involving one very special american that man there dan gurney the 67 winner
00:20:38more right after this
00:20:49le mans its commitment a year's work for one race always knowing the failure of a single part
00:20:56or a single moment of inattention will spell defeat its exhaustion and the heavy hand of luck
00:21:02as the long day wanes the once bright cars are pale and battered streaked with oil the great crowd
00:21:09will flood the track the winners will soar on its rising tide who will they be the answer lies ahead
00:21:16the 79th running of the 24 hours of le mans is next
00:21:23countdown until we see the trickleur fly just five and a half minutes until le mans begins there is
00:21:29no one better here at le mans than tom christensen the eight time winner is back again to make it nine
00:21:35one thing that tk requests is to speak to his dear friend calvin fish our own calvin fish before each and
00:21:41every 24 hours of le mans that is going to happen once again cal hey tom great to see you mate this
00:21:47year's race promises to be a stunner that's a very different dynamic this year audi on the pole first
00:21:52time since 2006 but less power this year for the p1s how critical will dealing with traffic today be for
00:21:59you and your teammates mate it will be very it will be there's a lot of on the plate but the cars are
00:22:08covered by almost nothing in qualifying the the sixth manufacturer from persia audi and with the
00:22:14regulation i mean the top speed are actually getting to the top speed is not a big difference with
00:22:19within the classes like the previous year so we're all gonna fight for the same tarmac and trying to
00:22:24obviously to keep the momentum and this is going to be a mental strain for everyone tom thursday
00:22:31night pole position up for grabs look like you were going for it explain what happened at tetrouge
00:22:36and how bruised is your new baby of nicknamed helga helga is just fine but that's also due to
00:22:44fantastic mechanics obviously the car was good on thursday it's better now but we put a new set of
00:22:51rubber because we all three were happy with the car and i kept running into traffic and i just had the
00:22:56last lap just to improve these four tents which i have done with with quite some traffic i made a
00:23:01mistake at tetrouge just nixed it in a little bit too fast and they swap corners and um 100 my mistake
00:23:08but helga is in top form so is the team so is the other cars everything uh looks good for a great race tom
00:23:16good luck in your quest for number nine and lee says he's going to beat you next time on the golf course no
00:23:20problem
00:23:31the three of us uh are keen golfers we're not necessarily good but we are keen each and every
00:23:36year at the annual aco the automobile club de la west press conference there is something special fia
00:23:41president john tot on hand and jean-claude placard the man that heads up the aco were there to announce
00:23:48something very very special in addition to the world endurance championship which we'll get into
00:23:52later it is a very special car that will debut here next year and yes you heard about it with the
00:24:002012 indycar program indycar's losses sports cars gain because scott pruitt the delta wing will run
00:24:06with highcroft racing here next year that's exactly right i spent a bunch of time with this car uh on
00:24:12different simulations on different tracks like mid ohio and so on and it's a completely new concept and
00:24:18it's going to be real interesting it's exciting also to see it come come to life uh here here at
00:24:24le mans in a sports car form i think it's going to be exciting and it's such a departure from what
00:24:28we were used to seeing we'll continue to take us through the corvette track map mike well here we get
00:24:33out of the pits we go through the dunlop curves uh you need to have good car placement all through here
00:24:38with these guys you know to carry the speed totten rouge on the most along straightaway uh very very
00:24:44high speed down at the end of that very tight right hander uh most salon uh working down towards
00:24:50indianapolis again very far fast part of the track uh you work through at indianapolis and then our
00:24:55knowledge very tight right hander all the way down to first gear uh some cars second gear and then the
00:25:01flowing porsche curves uh heading down into the the ford chicane this is a fun track to drive 8.46 miles
00:25:11unbelievable how long this track is and just a picturesque place to drive around here's the race
00:25:17analysis and again highlighting just four classes no more gt1 gt is now split into two classes two classes
00:25:25of prototypes it's very straightforward now yeah it really is and i think strategy is going to be a key
00:25:30part of this as scott talked about earlier how many stops do you make how many tires do you take
00:25:34you're not allowed to put the tires on when the refueling is done so the more rules are a little
00:25:38bit different and the team's got to be really on top of that as we told you tom christensen going for
00:25:43his ninth win that is an appropriate number for audi they've had nine victories in 12 years from
00:25:48when they first turned up in 1999 it was embarrassing and that's their word not ours for perjo last year
00:25:56with the engine failures for three out of the four cars they are here not to see that happen again
00:26:03with their new 908 we have got an ocean of information to share with you over the next 24
00:26:08hours there's some really exciting times john tott to wave the tricolor this is a very special event
00:26:13for him remember he guided peugeot to victory here in the early 1990s so this event we normally associate
00:26:21john tott with formula one but the now president of the fia this event is right close to his heart
00:26:26now you see the drivers scottie you see him weave in warming up these tires this is the coolest the
00:26:30tires are that they probably had all weekend long they come from ovens when they put the tires on the
00:26:34car and they leave pit lane right now they have to be very careful through those first few turns they
00:26:39have to be very careful remember the size of the front tires are now the same size as the back and
00:26:43you were talking about john tott when we won the rolex 24 this year he actually got on the podium with us it
00:26:48was an incredible event to uh to participate with him in it's funny that you brought up the tire
00:26:53ovens because tire warmers are illegal at lamont but you can put them in an oven ready to go for
00:26:59lamont the tricolor is out audi owns the front row but what does peugeot have to say about it
00:27:05lamont 2011 and look at alan magnisch on the inside we know how determined alan is to get off to a good
00:27:11start the peugeot boys are battling watch for them to scramble through this first chicane there's been
00:27:16problems here in the past they try and funnel into one line they're the peugeot guys defending
00:27:21they're really just trying to own that part of the racetrack benoit trellier the pole man he gets
00:27:26out and sets the pace mcnish was searching on the inside all of the p2 cars look good look at this the
00:27:32outis have been really quick all weekend long through this first segment and when you get through
00:27:37tetrouge onto the mulsanne straightaway that's where the peugeot seems to have a little bit more
00:27:41straightaway speed timo bernard tucks into second follows mcnish has got by the peugeot so he moves
00:27:47up to fourth now under the long straight there we'll see where the top end plays out by 215 miles
00:27:55an hour the fastest prototypes those being the peugeot's in qualifying there we see dr ulrich from
00:28:01audi sport looking on frank montagne is the lead peugeot and there he is olivier cannell the boss of the
00:28:09peugeot sport program see a car weaving around there i think he's just trying to clean up those
00:28:13tires you get a lot of pickup and the tires are going around at slow speeds they'll pick up the
00:28:17little marbles that are laying around the racetrack a couple cars in the middle simon or sorry calvin
00:28:22that were doing that just look like two team cars on those massive battle between the diesel and petrol
00:28:29powered cars it's almost like two divisions within the lmp1 category dr wolfgang ulrich so we've seen both
00:28:35heads of the peugeot and audi programs and there is the final peugeot again just weaving subtly side
00:28:42to side and all these all these drivers have to be a bit careful as calvin was talking earlier you
00:28:46see that cars the tires are getting up the champ they're working through that even some
00:28:51said debris a good fight right here side by side got a little bit loose getting off that chicane
00:28:56mcnish pounces he goes to the outside we should say it's very cool in lamar today it's not very warm
00:29:02yet high today maybe 70 degrees but it's not there yet montaigne does not want the three out
00:29:07he's in the top three positions so the car number eight stays there we ride on board with alan mcnish
00:29:12look at the perspective of these audi drivers the cockpit has been dropped about three inches and
00:29:16they've got those really big front wheels this year means big high fenders very difficult to see
00:29:20through the corners and really hard to feel the traffic around you sebastian vaude is in that red
00:29:26mirrored peugeot the next one in line he's taking a good hard look at as well at the audi and don't
00:29:32forget this could be a challenge for audi and his drivers the first time that they've come to this
00:29:37race in these closed cockpit cars and it's a big difference from an open cockpit to close tell you
00:29:42what's another big difference the end of the first lap last year those percios were about three or four
00:29:47seconds down the road we've got a battle on our hands here today now these cars are trimmed out to run
00:29:51at lamar they don't run a lot of downforce they try to get them very aerodynamically clean this is the
00:29:56first time these cars have run as a path together they're each feeling out what they have underneath
00:30:00them right now the audi guys said we don't know what peugeot's doing are they playing with us in
00:30:06the lead-up races in the qualifying in the practice they said but they don't know what we're doing with
00:30:11them either well now we know everyone's showing their hand and we're seeing all the ingredients for
00:30:16an amazing 24-hour race this is the porsche curves any prototype driver will tell you oh look at that
00:30:22the perju drops away a little bit picks some dust up this is where you get a read for the aerodynamic
00:30:28efficiency of the car if you can get through there good you've got a good race car underneath you
00:30:32and that's just the end of a lap benoit trellier the pole man leads the fastest lap eight and a
00:30:40half miles just like that quick look there at hug the shawnak he's running the fourth perju and diesel
00:30:48powered car entered in this race they won at sebring and a surprise can they surprise again here it was
00:30:53tears of disbelief last year and all four perjos dropped out and you may have seen earlier in the
00:31:00race that the shawnak's car there the team orica entry and now makes an inside move on your own
00:31:05bleaker molland this is nicola lapierre gets through in the tent machine and in the straight
00:31:09away there the shawnak's car was actually blowing some black smoke out of the tailpipe and that's
00:31:13something that uh they don't like seeing necessarily i think lapierre was one of those drivers that was
00:31:18really trying to get those tires up to temperature he's weaving around dramatically on the opening lap
00:31:23lead car now let's switch back to gte pro our lead gt category for the most modern gt cars and multi-time
00:31:37winner ollie beretta it's great whoa nice move right at the inside of the bmw
00:31:47under the dunlop bridge
00:31:49that's what the fans love that big v8 hammering down the straightaways through the corners around
00:31:57here they love the sound so do i
00:32:04this is such a great shot on board as you work our way on the most long straightaway
00:32:10flat out right here shifting up through the gears
00:32:12it's so much fun to be doing this in the drive
00:32:20i drove for corvette it rained probably 23 hours we won that race but it was rain soaked i remember
00:32:26a great quote from johnny o'connell that year he said i wanted to lift on the straightaways in the
00:32:30rain then he said they don't pay me to lift you got to stay in it and in this class we're going to
00:32:36see a tremendous battle between the bmws the corvettes the ferraris and jimmy bruni has got
00:32:43off to a nice start in that af course of ferrari see the corvette there struggling a little bit of
00:32:48entry to that first chicane got a little bit wide i think that's where the bmws are really strong
00:32:54spoke to joey hand last night he said we're really able to float speed through those corners and that
00:32:58relates to your straightaway speed how you get off those chicanes yeah look like ollie just got in there a
00:33:02little bit too much speed on and knew it so he just didn't turn where he needed to because he
00:33:07couldn't have made it from there we saw olivia get by one bmw there's another one up ahead is that
00:33:15augusto farfus the speed man from qualifying where is jimmy bruni
00:33:25remember that bmw passed earlier in the lab was andy prio had that massive shunt the other night in
00:33:30the warm-up this morning they said the car was the best it's been all week long you know what's
00:33:35interesting is this really is an uneventful start and i mean compared to last year where guys were
00:33:40beating and banging on each other i think they've learned a lot from last year you got to make it 24.
00:33:48so the pole man in the number two audi benoit trellier is off to a nice clean start they've
00:33:55settled into a rhythm we'll be back
00:34:03coming up on june 24th here on speed and it's live at 5 pm eastern it is barrett-jackson
00:34:10orange county california becomes home to the greatest collector car auction in the world you know it
00:34:15well and it can only be seen here on speed barrett-jackson orange county and that's friday june 24th
00:34:22welcome back to the 24 hours of le mans and a nice rhythmic start up front for audi and perjo
00:34:31to take a look to see what each other's got just to get up to speed so to speak doors well you know
00:34:36i think after qualifying all these guys saw for the first time how this race is going to play out
00:34:41and they're playing it really smart right now i mean all these cars have shown the speed to be
00:34:45able to win now they have to get through 24 hours it's the first time we've seen audi turn up at
00:34:50lesarth with a closed cockpit car since 1999 where they went with a split strategy there in their
00:34:56first appearance here they had two open top prototypes two closed cockpit prototypes so it's
00:35:02something new and one of the aston martins the amr1 has spun this is the 007 of darren turner
00:35:08he's in the gravel probably stuck these guys are going to try to push him out these guys have been
00:35:12struggling all weekend no that's the other guys that's another car that's not a good start for
00:35:19aston martin that's been a tough year scott they came into this race saying to everyone
00:35:24in the in terms of their press releases but that's a spin there in the first chicane by darren turner
00:35:29and they expected problems with their engines throughout the course of this 24-hour race
00:35:33they went with some new plasma lining technology decided that didn't work it was literally peeling the
00:35:39linings off the cylinders at the early season races haven't got a lot of seat time with this car but
00:35:46certainly from darren's perspective there looked like a quick spin in one of the chicanes and he's
00:35:49stuck in the gravel as the other one sits on the side of the road
00:35:53i didn't think those guys would be able to push him out that's they usually bury themselves pretty
00:35:57good in this gravel this is what's going to be interesting to see you see the audi's out front right
00:36:02now which i mean they're setting the pace without without question now when they get into traffic
00:36:08as calvin you were talking about earlier it's going to be interesting to see how they handle
00:36:13traffic with their limited visibility in that car it really is and the peugeot drives have spoke about
00:36:18that remember the peugeot this 908 is really an evolution of the previous 908 which again was
00:36:23closed cockpit and those drivers have been used to that since 2007 the guys that have been on their
00:36:27squad since then so they're used in race conditions to driving the car around traffic when we looked at
00:36:33that car close up the new r18 the other day with ralph you know who's the technical director
00:36:37it's amazing how short and narrow the band of windshield that the drivers have to look through
00:36:42it's almost like laying down in your bathtub and sort of like squatting way back down and having the
00:36:47sides of the top up above you with those wheel fenders with those massive front tires and when we
00:36:51were going through that technical walkthrough with ralph you know brian and i snuck around the other
00:36:55side there is ralph you now snuck around the other side we've got our notebook just stand at eight and a
00:37:00half by eleven and that filled from top to bottom of that windshield it is narrow narrow looking at
00:37:05the windshield this far if you see to the left right there that's the fender and this is where
00:37:10our camera's mounted is at the top somebody going off here that's the uh that's the uh farnbacher
00:37:15ferrari with american lee keen in it alan simonson and dominic farnbacher that's going to be one of the
00:37:20contenders in gte pro our camera is mounted on that way up inside higher than the driver's head so
00:37:27you can imagine sitting down in there you can't see left or right at all
00:37:33jamie
00:37:37in talking about the audi and the visibility issues that they have one advantage that they
00:37:42think that they could have is because they've never raced at le mans in the closed cockpit car
00:37:46and they do have those larger front tires they have nothing else to compare it to whereas peugeot
00:37:51they do have the experience with the closed cockpit but now it's from a whole different vantage point
00:37:56with those larger front wheels they think that that might help them over the long run i think
00:38:01they might be confused i mean when you're going through an iteration of a car and going from one
00:38:08generation to the next that's one thing but when you're starting with a clean sheet of paper i think
00:38:12that's a that in itself is just kind of an excuse in my opinion jimmy bruni now set sail at the front of
00:38:18the gte pro class no gt2 or gt as we had last year it's now called gte and two divisions pro division
00:38:25essentially made up with the factory drivers and really strong driver lineups throughout the field
00:38:30then an amateur division where you have to have only one pro guy in amongst your three driver lineup so
00:38:36it's really going to be fascinating to see how that plays out this year this is in the top three bruni's
00:38:41got a handy margin over the league corvette with augusto farfus and the 55 bmw m3 we just need a
00:38:49porsche up there but the porsche guys have not been on the pace this weekend and they feel that
00:38:53reliability will be their key augusto farfus looks at mereta puts the pressure on they got some
00:38:59straightaway speed in that bmw to pull out and pass and go up next to them like that that's pretty
00:39:04impressive and you can look at the size difference and there's two cars side by side the corvette to bmw
00:39:09it's pretty significant they were 13 kilometers an hour off the pace they being bmw last year
00:39:15in straight line speed to justin bell justin what do you got
00:39:22well you know what it's like in racing the other team always thinks the other is
00:39:26sandbagging and we hear that a lot between corvette and bmw just looking at those cars side by side right
00:39:32now on the huge monitor all we can we haven't seen the corvette as close and parallel on top speed to the
00:39:39bmw at all so i think the bmw boys when they raised an eyebrow to me yesterday and went well you know
00:39:45we never know what doug vihan's squad have got in hand well i think we're just starting to see it
00:39:50i think what you could see on the monitor uh justin is the fact that bmw has a much bigger greenhouse
00:39:55the shadow of the car is much taller than the corvette and that was the problem last year as a
00:40:00punch a bigger hole you get to that terminal speed at the end of these long straightaways suddenly that
00:40:04could be a factor aerodynamically and you saw it right there to calvin the bmw had the pull on the
00:40:09on the corvette and he popped out to make the pass installed he couldn't get it done ollie gavin in
00:40:14the 74 fighting for that second place in gt just like alan mcnish is fighting here with the number
00:40:21eight peugeot of frank montagne and what a great fight this is i mean he's looking all over i mean you
00:40:26see that the audi seems to have a bit more speed to the curves but the future has a little bit of run
00:40:31on the straightaway that's exactly what tom christensen told us yesterday he said we seem
00:40:35better through some of the fast stuff and under braking but certainly the perju is trimmed out a
00:40:40little bit now will that trim that effect in terms of they're not got as much drag scott maybe that'll
00:40:45play into that fuel economy how many laps can they get audi of toddlers it'll be 11 laps 12 will be a real
00:40:51struggle if perju can go one more lap each stint that will certainly be a factor over 24 hours that that's
00:40:57massive and that's that's what you're talking about earlier on in the show when you got close
00:41:02cars running this close you got to pay attention to the strategy and those other little pieces
00:41:06that can make the difference i always like being fastest on the straightaway though
00:41:12massive downforce and fast down the straight right here right that's good for me a little bit
00:41:16of an audi sandwich between the two peugeots borde is that next peugeot in line behind him it's
00:41:23alex verts who has a remarkable record here a two-time winner from very limited appearances and
00:41:29then the number 10 the older peugeot 908 uh for orica is still there it's ahead of the best petrol
00:41:37powered car so when we see those cars we'll update you on those positions jamie
00:41:45well guys one thing that we saw last year when it came to the pit stops was that it's very very tight
00:41:50in pit lane so during that during the recon laps just before the race the number three audi actually
00:41:55came in twice they did their first recon lap pits were still open so they came back in got another
00:42:01splash of fuel so for the first round of pit stops they don't have to come in when everyone else comes
00:42:06in they're going to have a little bit more room in pit lane and a little bit more room to get the work
00:42:09done efficiently typically what audi do jamie is they actually stagger their pit stops they don't want to
00:42:15bring two or the three cars in together and i think that top-up will fuel may mean that the three
00:42:20car will be the last of their cars with the formation lap we're looking at 11 on a normal green flag run
00:42:26probably be 10 laps mag with the formation lap added into this opening stint so you may see one of the
00:42:30audi's pit as early as lap eight you may have noticed a car off to the side of the track that's the 007
00:42:37amr1 the aston martin with darren turner behind the wheel something wrong with the rear left there we saw
00:42:43darren's speed in the first chicane the other aston martin went off as well that was adrian fernandez
00:42:47but we haven't yet seen any more sightings of him and darren limping that car on home
00:42:53it was the left rear go down that would explain the spin as he was turning right into that first chicane
00:42:57pedro lami dindo capello all anxiously looking what have we got where are we placed how do we look
00:43:03in these opening laps it gives us a little bit of a window into the future up front trellier's got a three second lead
00:43:10over timo bernard alan mcnisch looking to the inside montagne does not want to relinquish his position
00:43:16how about this 24-hour race and they're battling it out with just 18 minutes on the board
00:43:22he's going to be taking a good hard look here notice how it is all over him yeah alan really using a lot
00:43:28of curves through the chicane back there well alan also knows he's got somebody right up behind him yes
00:43:34he does i think what we're seeing here is the audi once again into a rhythm as you see the cars out front
00:43:38the number two and the number one they're running faster lap times mcnisch probably has the same
00:43:43speed but he's really calling that quandary he's got cornering speed but can't make it down the
00:43:47straightaways a pass on the peugeot this is the kind of stuff i hate right there i mean as a driver
00:43:52oh he's veering to the right oh no he's bearing to the left oh now he's back in front of you i hate
00:43:56that kind of blocking guess what mcnisch has got a very low tolerance for it as well you can imagine
00:44:02what the wee scotsman is saying inside the cockpit of the r18 this is the battle for third overall
00:44:09and in lmp1 it is still the signatec orica nissan leading p2 and in gt pro jimmy bruni is the best
00:44:17for af corsa in his ferrari we'll tell you about gte and when we come back we'll tell you also where
00:44:23the american teams are placed see you in a moment this july baseball's biggest stars will gather
00:44:33together in arizona for one spectacular night in the summer's biggest event on fox we bring you
00:44:39thrilling moment of the 2011 nlb all-star game coverage begins tuesday july 11th live from phoenix
00:44:45at 8 p.m eastern 5 p.m pacific only on fox and the applause from the arti campers mcnisch
00:44:51has got by the number eight peugeot 908 of frank montagne so the peugeot staff look on with much
00:44:58interest and that was just good perseverance from allen yeah it really was you have to be patient
00:45:02you can't afford to throw all away just because you want to get to the front of the pack but look
00:45:06at this gt battle it continues to rage with farfus still chasing on ollie gavin there for the second
00:45:12spot let's check in on pit road here's justin bell
00:45:15yeah the 007 aston we saw out there in the gravel track which you guys called has made its way back
00:45:25into the pit lane now a little bit of conflicting reports they are they took the rear engine cover off
00:45:32which i didn't quite understand other than looking to clear out the gravel but now it does appear they
00:45:36have an alternator issue on this car so it's going up in the air um i mean i know scott's experience
00:45:43at survey it's not fun driving a car full of gravel so they'll be trying to make the most of clearing
00:45:47that out of the brakes and everything but an alternator issue that could be more severe than it looks
00:45:52so darren turner pretty disgusted when he got out what do you got jamie
00:46:00one of the american teams seems to be missing from the gt battle that is flying lizard motorsports
00:46:05they've already been on pit road with a cut tire so they did have to do four new tires and fuel
00:46:10it's been a long week for the flying lizard team as patrick long said at the beginning of the show
00:46:14but they're in the fight they're ready to go out and get him they're hoping that their luck turns around
00:46:19now that's one thing with these lamont gravel trap it's not like a pea gravel it's round it has a real
00:46:25sharp edge to it so if a car goes off the road and showers the racetrack with that gravel it is really
00:46:30easy to cut down one of these tires of course the consequences of a cut down tire on an eight and a
00:46:34half mile lap can be catastrophic if you get hit in the wrong place you're talking about the
00:46:40difference between the peugeots and the audis with downforce and then trying to get down to straight
00:46:43away and it really comes into play right now we're talking about carrying a little bit more speed
00:46:49through the turns you see the audi really being able to cut his way through traffic a lot more
00:46:53aggressively than the peugeot the other thing i noticed is the fact that this everybody seems like
00:46:57they're taking a breath before they pass last year there was a lot of bumping a lot of hitting a lot of
00:47:02of accidents going on in the first few hours here you just feel like these guys are taking a little
00:47:08breath before they make their move i think this limited visibility is playing into that scott to
00:47:13some degree these guys don't have a lot of time behind the wheel of these cars i don't think that
00:47:17their confident level is where it should be yet you see those very special led headlights on the audi r18
00:47:24being flashed furiously to let the gt traffic both the pro and amp classes know that the overall lead car
00:47:32is coming through and those who are chasing him it's an audi one two three if you've just turned on
00:47:37benoit trellier leads timo bernard and alan mcnisch first second and third it's an audi one two three
00:47:44this is what the four rings were looking for in their return to lasath with a closed cockpit car
00:47:50to try and do what they did last year and that was a clean sweep of the leman podium what's amazing for
00:47:55those of you have not been to the racetrack and watched one of these diesel powered cars run is how
00:48:00silent they are you can almost hear the tire chirp there as they turn into tete rouge it's quite
00:48:04amazing that the tire noise will sometimes overpower the engine noise of these new technology cars
00:48:12greg
00:48:12well just a little bit further information on that visibility issue chatting with a couple of the
00:48:33audi drivers they said obviously you know turn in that sort of thing citing apexes on the tight corners
00:48:39presents challenges but one of their big concerns was knowing when they're clear of a car they're
00:48:44overtaking and doris you talked about the visibility maybe making them a bit more cautious and scott you
00:48:49alluded to that as well that might be part of it you can run up on somebody but now it's even more
00:48:55difficult than before to make sure you're clear of them before you swing back to the line or you turn
00:49:00into the corner if you've got around the outside i think you may be absolutely right on the caution issue
00:49:04here yeah you know i think that in the future sooner or later if this becomes more of a problem
00:49:09they'll probably have to go to those side scan cameras those little cameras they can put out there
00:49:13and have a monitor inside look at this talk about threading the needle up the middle of straightaway
00:49:21and that's difficult you're on the crown of the road there scott and you got to be so careful
00:49:25the car will want to wander on you a little bit you got to be incredibly careful doing something like that
00:49:29and making their moves now when you look at the uh peugeot's here again it's going to be interesting
00:49:35to see where they come in for their for their fuel stops it looks like they're they're pacing themselves
00:49:40they certainly don't seem to have the speed through traffic that the audi's do it'd be interesting to
00:49:46see if they can extend their their runs maybe in lap perhaps just clearing the gt leaders right there
00:49:52then you see mignish right amongst those he's catching these two front runners right now so mignish
00:49:57looks like he's got the pace he wants to join the battle at the front it's a top three gte
00:50:03pro that they are weaving through right there popping into a lot of question marks about that
00:50:08new ferrari 458 they had electrical gremlins at sebring the reesey car quit with a couple hours to
00:50:13go with alternator issues they've designed a new alternator for michelotto they believed it on top of
00:50:18that but still the other teams are counting on that ferrari may be having troubles over 24 hours i spoke to
00:50:24the af course the team this week they said yes we have done no simulations over that longer run
00:50:28we are concerned but we have a fast race car you know these alternators on the endurance uh race
00:50:34have got to be extreme they have to put out a lot of power these cars need 13 plus bolts to uh
00:50:39operate all the electrics that are on there and then you add to that the headlights and all the
00:50:42things you're running endurance so these these alternators are really high output alternators it's
00:50:47also going to be interesting because now they're lapping the leaders of the gt class about every half hour look at that
00:50:54see one of those b1 cars whistle around the outside that's just massive down force overpowering the
00:51:00gte cars through that section of the corner that's where we saw the corvette get clipped last year
00:51:06anthony davidson was just so aggressive he was driving like he had a stuck throttle
00:51:14well we've written on board plenty with the 74 corvette we know that ollie gavin is in a really nice spot at
00:51:20the moment sitting second in the gt pro class let's go to the corvette garage now with jamie
00:51:29well guys one thing that the aco has helped really advance and make it a lot easier for these teams
00:51:35is in spotting around the track last year each team only received three different camera angles from
00:51:41around the entire circuit this year they're getting seven so look at corvette racing and what they've done
00:51:46they have a monitor for each of the seven different locations around the circuit and then if you look
00:51:51down here there's a number this is so that the team knows what their lap time should be by the time they
00:51:56get to this particular position on the track and it really just helps them communicate with the driver
00:52:01what sort of traffic they're in because at least for corvette racing they do not have any spotters
00:52:06around the circuit so this is the way that they communicate with what's around each driver
00:52:10and that's true when i went drove for corvette back in 2001 it was a lot different then and it's
00:52:18exciting to see how you continually move forward and see you know how how these cars do and how they go
00:52:24and then for the team seeing it right there on camera in front of them because it's big
00:52:29we we have that opportunity at daytona when we do the 24 we have a spotter and that certainly helps an
00:52:34awful lot promise when we went to that last break it updates you on the other classes and the american
00:52:39teams for the 33 level 5 team that's scott tucker's team of he christophe bushu and joao barbosa they
00:52:47are in the top 10 in class but a little further down they are currently running eight in their lola hpd
00:52:54powered machine we'll talk more about the gt classes as well when we come back no change it's still that
00:53:00cygnatec nissan leading p2 and it is the car to beat
00:53:20the pole sitting car and driver continue to dominate this race it's benoit trellier in the number two
00:53:26audi but what do you think if you go to speed.com you can cast your vote who do you think will win
00:53:32this year's 24 hours of le mans will it be audi perjo or a surprise winner i guess in that surprise
00:53:39categories we've got a car running slow there is that the hope hybrid no it's not no that's the
00:53:46the lmp2 frank malieu left rear yeah definitely the key is to go slow enough that you just don't
00:53:56disintegrate that tire and cause some body work damage so great job by that driver hit stops occurred
00:54:02while we're in the break you heard calvin mention earlier about audi traditionally stagger their stops
00:54:06for the one and the three came in early at the end of the eighth lap yeah and i think the reason
00:54:11being is to create that gap between the cars if the three car got serviced a little bit quicker it'd have
00:54:15space to get out of there what they changed there is the memory card the aco downloads all of the
00:54:20data from the car every time they do every hour or so and also a drink bottle change being done so
00:54:25fuel no tires now we see that 26 car struggling his way into pit lane let's go down to greg creamer
00:54:35yeah the stop for the number one audi was completely routine as you talked about the one and the three
00:54:39giving that spot for the number two and it was just a routine stop did a quick look at things
00:54:45fueled it up clean the windscreen and sent him on his way jamie you've got the story on the number
00:54:49three audi yeah so it's completely routine for the number three car as well it was just fuel
00:54:58cleaning off the windscreen and then back out and underway now we see the first of the persia was
00:55:04coming in and this is significant they look like they're certainly getting a little bit better mileage
00:55:09even with the formation lap two of their cars have stayed out justin's on the spot
00:55:16yeah very interesting that isn't it cal because i know audi especially with brad at the the in
00:55:21control of one of them has been very very tactical about how you save fuel on those formation laps
00:55:25but here's the peugeot staying out well a good lap longer uh just a routine stop obviously and please
00:55:31let's discuss with our viewers the fact that these tires even though they've got the wider fronts on them
00:55:36are going to go longer longer distances than ever before and the peugeot port this will probably
00:55:41be a three stinter by that i mean that the guys are going to stay in the car for three fuel stops
00:55:48they can probably go four when it gets a bit later in the race but remember the fuel stops are also
00:55:53only probably every 40 minutes as opposed to every 45 so a lot of dynamics have added to the strategy
00:55:58as well as the demands on the driver so pretty interesting down here dramas for the 22 chronos
00:56:04racing aston martin this is the one with venina x behind the wheel and this was a car that was
00:56:11the majority were hopeful that could be up there towards the end of this 24-hour period but early
00:56:17dramas and that is typical at le mans yeah they broke a half shaft the other night got it fixed
00:56:21quickly so uh certainly some issues there that's one of the cars that's really been grandfathered in
00:56:26with the new prototype rules that's one of last year's cars which is heavily restricted but still
00:56:30allowed to run but significant here the two lead perjus the nine and the seven they're going to do
00:56:3611 laps on this stint plus the formation lapse so will they be able to do 12 green flag laps that will
00:56:42be significant over 24 hours and it's also interesting to note that they're making pit stops at the you
00:56:47know 33 minute to about the 40 minute mark you're talking about the you know how they change the rules
00:56:54somewhat the fuel cells are smaller so that means those stints are happening quite often so i think
00:56:58there's potential for them to actually do a fourth stint with the smaller fuel loads in these cars yeah
00:57:03that's right what they try and do is really match the driver change to when they're changing tires
00:57:08because it gives them a little bit longer particularly with the closed cockpit cars that's
00:57:12one of the reasons out he wanted to stay with the open cockpit with the rules way back then like five
00:57:17six years ago you uh you had two wheel guns on pit lane they changed the rules over the last couple of
00:57:22years you're only allowed one wheel gun during the tire changes that has really lengthened
00:57:27that pit stop procedure so outing that feel that having a closed cockpit car the driver change will
00:57:32not be a contributing factor to the length of time on pit road and of course the other reason for the
00:57:37closed cockpit is because the reduced engine size doesn't put out the horsepower they're down some 150
00:57:4260 horsepower from what they were running and with the open cockpit there's so much drag that it just
00:57:47couldn't pull it with the smaller engine they had to go to the coupe and again i think that gives
00:57:51peugeot the advantage they're used to making driver changes in a closed cockpit car straka racing hpd is
00:57:57in we showed you what the story was with this british team a little earlier the defending class champions
00:58:04as well here at le mans it was far from incident free but they've been able to fix the car they've
00:58:09done a nice job and again the 42 straka hpd will be a contender yeah they had a flawless run here last
00:58:17year everyone thought it was going to be a battle royale between them and the highcroft racing team but
00:58:21they just had one of those runs during the 24-hour races that you just shake your head in disbelief
00:58:26nothing went wrong they were flawless and very very strong the three gt leaders right there running nose
00:58:32to tail just passed us greg standing by at straka
00:58:36as that car pulls out yes they have had a very fraught event here nicola venice had a huge shunt on
00:58:47wednesday and basically they said every corner was damaged on the car it was an amazing rebuild they
00:58:53got it back out and were immediately quick peugeot's are in justin's there
00:59:00yeah very unusual they actually opened the both driver's doors on both cars and they come in they got a
00:59:04loose one on the nine by the look of it they cannot latch the catch uh you don't want that at high
00:59:09speed obviously down the straight only has an effect when you break very interesting we just missed it on
00:59:13camera as the seven pulls away so smooth as they pull away and remember no wheel spin here at le mans
00:59:19that's what they work a lot with the front wind screens were very very dirty even just after the first
00:59:2430 minutes of running so imagine that visibility restriction plus a kind of crappy sort of front wind
00:59:30screen it's going to be very very difficult to see through as the light deteriorates later
00:59:34you know what that's like there don't you boys what was going on there just now i believe is
00:59:39they are taking the data card out that's an extra person you'll add on pit road and when he took the
00:59:43data card out and shut the door the door wouldn't close but the rules will not allow you to make a
00:59:47fix and work on the car whilst the refueling is going on then again a side-to-side incident right there
00:59:52on pit lane as two cars trying to pull out that's that visibility issue that's going to really
00:59:57we'll see that all for the next 24 hours it's going to be interesting to see how they shake out now the
01:00:02pitch stops have gone through their first round between the outies and the peugeots
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