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The problem with TMG is that they've been away from sportscar racing for 13 years, and to expect a team to come in and completely clean up is a lot to ask for. They may be on the pace eventually, but the 24 Hours of Le Mans is too much to ask probably for TMG's first try on their return.
It took Peugeot 3 years (and a faltering Audi with the R15) to win LM in '09, and even though the came close to repeating in '10 and especially '11, they couldn't quite make #2 in their then current incarnation, and even Toyota had reliability issues ('98) and horrid luck ('99) when TMG was last at LM. It also took Bentley 3 years to win LM when they did it in '03, but those wins/losses might have been in part dictated by tire choice (Bentley switched to Michelin in '03 from Dunlop), a not quite up to date car (which the '03 car was--the Audi R10, R15 and R18 cribbed a bunch of areo stuff off it it), and above all else, VAG politics (trying to get Audi 3 in a row before Bentley won).
And yes, Audi had instant success with the R8 and R10, and the R18 won first time out at LM, but that was on the back of the disastrous R8C and obsolescent R8R of 1999, and the R18 was the fruit of the not particularity successful R15.
It's logical to think that it'll take at least 2-3 years for a new team to become serious contenders at LM, as opposed to being dark horses. A car can be successful in sprint races, but LM is a much tougher nut to crack, as Peugeot can attest to, especially if you're battling someone with years of experience, and I don't think that Toyota can count on substantial attrition against Audi this year, with the R18's redesign being in part to deal with the visibility issues that caused so many of McNish's and Kristensen's accidents last year.
The only kink might be that the LM field is filled with pro-am drivers, and we remember what happened with Rocky and Rob Kaufmann last year, but that can happen just as easily to Toyota, so it's not an equalizer and it's pure Russian roulette for everyone.
It's not impossible for TMG to pull of a first year back victory at LM, but it's pretty improbably being outnumbered and facing an experienced foe that hopefully learned from last year's near debacle.
As for the R18, any more speculation about it's front suspension maybe being a pushrod or pullrod system (the TS030 uses pushrods all around). The Ferrari F2012 uses pullrods all around to lower the CG, but the big rumor is that it's to help out with getting the front tires to work better with the chassis.
If Audi is running a pullrod suspension, could that be a motivation, since it took them a while to get the front tires to work the way the wanted to. However, with the R18's weight distribution and its zero-keel nose, would the question of pushrod vs pullrod matter?
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