Audi LMP1 Discussion

[gwyllion]

Similarly Andre Lotterer was picked up by Jo Hausner when he was at Kolles.

Maybe Capello wants to be replaced by a fellow Italian when he retires at the end of the year

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by gwyllion

Maybe Capello wants to be replaced by a fellow Italian when he retires at the end of the year

Yeah, they probably need a quota of waving arms and frantic gestures during debriefs. And it can't be met if there is no Italian element to the team.

[Lola T70]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

Yeah, they probably need a quota of waving arms and frantic gestures during debriefs. And it can't be met if there is no Italian element to the team.

[chernaudi]

I wonder where that leaves Martin--I don't really follow DTM, so is he retiring or doing something else within Audi or has he left Audi or has gone to another Audi team?

Promoting Rocky to the Abt team to be Ekstrom's teammate is probably a consolation prize/payback from Audi Sport as Audi couldn't get a deal worked out for him in the ILMC, just as being part of the LM driving squad last year was a payback for Rocky always being saddled with a year old car in DTM the past couple of years.

I think that being with the top Audi DTM team this year and being part of the LM winning team last year was probably to make up for Audi's plans not always working out with Rocky.

Either way, I think that Audi or Peugeot will be spoiled for choice, especially for Audi for a driver to replace Dindo after he retires after LM. Maybe Rocky will run for Audi in the ILMC (or maybe the ALMS if there are plans for that, which is at best uncertian) next year, or this new guy if he's fast. He has GT car experience, and it seems that Dindo has been tutoring him as well.

[chernaudi]

Originally Posted by Lola T70

Did many of the Peugeot drivers or in fact most of the original Audi drivers for that matter?

he drove with Audi Sport Italia last year in the R8.

Most Peugeot drivers have an extensive open wheel background. Until recently, only McNish, Kristensen and Marco Werner had a large basis for open wheel racing, especially McNish (raced in F3, F3000 and raced and and tested F1 cars, and Kristensen raced in F3 and was the lead Michelin F1 tire test driver). I think that Rocky did some open wheel racing before he became a GT ace.

More recently, Audi had gained Ben T and Lotterer, who have a lot of open wheel experience, but also a lot of GT and prototype experience. It seems that Audi in recent times have been trying to get drivers with a wide base of racing experience who are fairly young.

[Lola T70]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

I wonder where that leaves Martin--I don't really follow DTM, so is he retiring or doing something else within Audi or has he left Audi or has gone to another Audi team?

Promoting Rocky to the Abt team to be Ekstrom's teammate is probably a consolation prize/payback from Audi Sport as Audi couldn't get a deal worked out for him in the ILMC, just as being part of the LM driving squad last year was a payback for Rocky always being saddled with a year old car in DTM the past couple of years.

I think that being with the top Audi DTM team this year and being part of the LM winning team last year was probably to make up for Audi's plans not always working out with Rocky.

Either way, I think that Audi or Peugeot will be spoiled for choice, especially for Audi for a driver to replace Dindo after he retires after LM. Maybe Rocky will run for Audi in the ILMC (or maybe the ALMS if there are plans for that, which is at best uncertian) next year, or this new guy if he's fast. He has GT car experience, and it seems that Dindo has been tutoring him as well.

Martin?? If you mean Martin Tomczyk he is driving with Rosberg in DTM.

DTM and ILMC have race date clashes so drivers cannot do all of both.

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

Promoting Rocky to the Abt team to be Ekstrom's teammate is probably a consolation prize/payback from Audi Sport as Audi couldn't get a deal worked out for him in the ILMC.

DTM is ranked more highly, especially for a German driver, than ILMC. So this is nothing to do with consolation. Also remember that there is no ILMC driver title.

It was clear when Audi's endurance driver line up was announce,d that Rockenfeller could not do a full ILMC because of clashing DTM races.

"Due to the clashing dates in the DTM and ILMC it wasn’t easy to form the driver squad," says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. "For example, it prevented Mike Rockenfeller from driving a complete season in the R18."

source: http://www.audi.com/com/brand/en/exp...ms_driver.html

[Lola T70]

Originally Posted by gwyllion

DTM is ranked more highly, especially for a German driver, than ILMC. So this is nothing to do with consolation. Also remember that there is no ILMC driver title.

[/url]

If you asked Rockenfeller he may say different, he seems to prefer Sportscars.

[Rennen]

Originally Posted by Simmi

Yeah it's amazing how many of the very best endurance drivers had to take a sideways step after their single-seater careers hit a road block.

I would challenge that!

I don't think driving Endurance cars for a manufacturer such as Peugoet is a 'sideways step' to a Single-Seater career at all! And I include F1...as these Prototypes such as the 908 are every single bit as high-tech as an F1 car!

The term 'Endurance' used to suggest driving 9 Tenths, to 'Endure'! Today's manufacturer team LMP cars are driven '10 Tenths' for the entire race distance!

Manufacturer teams only want drivers who have had top level careers, especially F1, as they are used to hi-tech feed back with engineers, no coincidence that Wurz, Gene and Davidson were all F1 development/Test drivers...but they must also have had some Endurance experience, which in my book, makes 'these' drivers superior to dedicated 'single-seater drivers inc F1...ABSOLOUTLY NO WAY a 'Sideways step'!!!

[cmk]

A sideways step doesn't imply a step back, it implies a move to a parallel quality of program. I think that's a pretty fair, maybe even generous, assessment of the relationship between a sportscar career as a top-line factory pilot and an F1 career. Both allow you to drive excellent cars, but the opportunity for media exposure and outright earnings is surely higher in F1. This may be traded off with the fact that most drivers find the sportscar racing environment more fun to work in, from what they seem to be willing to say.

[Simmi]

Yeah that's what I meant cmk. Basically drivers ending up not where they intended and ending up excelling. I have a lot of the Le Mans annuals and so many of the bio's for drivers in LMP1 over the past decade or so are basically the same.

Which does figure because it is a lot easier to start out in single seater competition after karting. There are so many more options and obviously you aim for F1. But anyway this is obviously OT in the extreme.

[CTD]

Originally Posted by Simmi

Yeah that's what I meant cmk. Basically drivers ending up not where they intended and ending up excelling. I have a lot of the Le Mans annuals and so many of the bio's for drivers in LMP1 over the past decade or so are basically the same.

Which does figure because it is a lot easier to start out in single seater competition after karting. There are so many more options and obviously you aim for F1. But anyway this is obviously OT in the extreme.

Tom K and Jan Magnussen being excellent examples of this

[Audi Racer]

Just an interesting thought but i guarantee you Lotterer and Treluyer are begging Audi to sign on Loic Duval. The problem is Loic Duval drives for Oreca. If that pairing could come together (Lotterer,Treluyer,Duval). It would rival any other team.


I just think Marcel Fassler is not a particulary fast driver. Maybe i'm wrong? anyone else thinking Fassler will get the axe?

[Lola T70]

Originally Posted by Audi Racer

Just an interesting thought but i guarantee you Lotterer and Treluyer are begging Audi to sign on Loic Duval. The problem is Loic Duval drives for Oreca. If that pairing could come together (Lotterer,Treluyer,Duval). It would rival any other team.


I just think Marcel Fassler is not a particulary fast driver. Maybe i'm wrong? anyone else thinking Fassler will get the axe?

We have not started the year yet!!! But I think if anyone is on a chopping block then it would be Lotterer after 3 races and 3 crashes last year. Fassler is good and fast and makes few mistakes I would say that is one person you would want in a team imo.

[gwyllion]

We might have to wait a bit before Audi will reveal the livery of the R18:

Back in black; @Audi would like to practice and qualify for #LMS #ILMC at Spa in black before unveling the new livery on the start grid.

source: http://twitter.com/Lemansrace/status/40017879202152448

[Mal]

Originally Posted by gwyllion

We might have to wait a bit before Audi will reveal the livery of the R18:
source: http://twitter.com/Lemansrace/status/40017879202152448

I assume that means it will be a bit different - otherwise why try and make such a splash with it?

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Mal

I assume that means it will be a bit different - otherwise why try and make such a splash with it?

Why not, Peugeot made the same trick with 908

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by Audi Racer

I just think Marcel Fassler is not a particulary fast driver. Maybe i'm wrong? anyone else thinking Fassler will get the axe?

Speed isn't the problem with Fassler so much as his volatile nature.

Out-and-out speed is not the number one requirement for an Audi driver, they want consistency and endurance. While TK is very quick, he's not a Minassian or a Davidson.

Fassler crashes too much, and if he gets the axe, it would probably be for that reason.

[Lola T70]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

Speed isn't the problem with Fassler so much as his volatile nature.

Out-and-out speed is not the number one requirement for an Audi driver, they want consistency and endurance. While TK is very quick, he's not a Minassian or a Davidson.

Fassler crashes too much, and if he gets the axe, it would probably be for that reason.

He is Swiss, did not know they were allowed to be volatile

When did Fassler crash though?

[chernaudi]

Fassler had a minor off at LM in the middle of the night on cold tires. He also had to take to the grass to avoid a gentleman driver crewed LMPC car at PLM, but saved the car.

Lotterer spun on the pace lap at Spa on the wet section of the track on cold tires, nudged the tire wall at Arnage trying to pass a slower car, and took to the grass in the Esses at PLM and broke the nose off the car--something that Dindo and TK did earlier in the week, and Dindo did it for the same reason that Andre did--to avoid a slower car or avoid causing an accident. I'd fault Audi Sport designers there--no reason why the front diffuser had to pop of the cars that easily, considering how bullet proof the R8 and R10 were. Lets hope that they got the R18 right in that area, since it's alleged that Audi went "back to the future" and looked at the R8 for influence on the R18's design.

And it has to be remembered that Oreca has close ties to Audi as well, as Oreca is an offical dealer for the Audi R8 LMS GT3 car. If Hughes and Oreca feel like Peugeot is giving them the shaft, Audi will welcome them with open arms.

But hiring Duval might not be so simple, and it's for the same reason why Ben T. and Andre aren't full time Audi drivers--all three have contracts with the Japanese big three (Ben with Nissan, Andre with Toyota and Duval with Honda), and just as Rocky can't run the ILMC because of too many DTM date clashes, Ben and Andre can't run a full season with Audi because of Super GT date clashes and Loic can't do a full run with Oreca for the same reason.

Of course, when their contracts expire, they might want to return to Europe full time and race there or maybe America with Audi and Oreca/Peugeot.

And with the Audi paint scheme announcment rumor, does that mean that Audi will have their paint/decal guys working on spare bodypanels overnight after qualifying, or will they just bring a crapload of decaled and painted panels hidden away somewhere?

Obvioulsy means that the R15s run at Sebring will even run the 2010 paint scheme more than likely, unless Audi runs them in bare carbon.

And would the ACO have to approve this plan if Audi actually wants to pull it off?

[broadrun96]

P&M did the livery swap in the Vettes to go to the white car for a race (think it was Mosport for Fellows), but I'm not sure how the ACO will feel with a bare carbon car on scrutineering day. Although if they actually cared what fans want, they might find a lot of people like the bare carbon look.

[gwyllion]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

And it has to be remembered that Oreca has close ties to Audi as well, as Oreca is an offical dealer for the Audi R8 LMS GT3 car. If Hughes and Oreca feel like Peugeot is giving them the shaft, Audi will welcome them with open arms.

There are a lot more links between Oreca and the Volkswagen group: they ran an Audi R8 in 2005 (LMS + 24LM), they ran two cars for Seat in WTCC, they helped Skoda with the development of the Fabia S2000, and they are developing the 1.6 turbo for Skoda, Seat and VW.

Originally Posted by chernaudi

Obvioulsy means that the R15s run at Sebring will even run the 2010 paint scheme more than likely, unless Audi runs them in bare carbon.

All the spare parts of the R15 have already been painted. I don't think that they will remove the paint or repaint them in other scheme for just one race.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

(think it was Mosport for Fellows).

Yup, but the livery "debuted" with C6R-005 five months earlier.

[Dead-Eye]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

P&M did the livery swap in the Vettes to go to the white car for a race (think it was Mosport for Fellows), but I'm not sure how the ACO will feel with a bare carbon car on scrutineering day.

I can't see why they would care to be honest, I can't think of anything in the regs that would forbid it.
Especially if Audi make it clear that they'll race in the full livery.

[Tim the Grey]

I susect they will run painted all weekend, and there will be a media 'reveal' on th e grid at Spa...

I couldn't be lucky enough to see it in bare carbon, could I???