24 Hours of Le Mans 100th anniversary.

Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules

BarnOwlLover

BarnOwlLover

Staff Sergeant
944
345
Nov 3, 2022
Mansfield, Ohio, USA
This year's race represents the 100th anniversary of the first edition of the event. It's not the 100th race (there was a strike in 1936 that cancelled the race that year, and of course, World War II prevented any edition from being run from 1940-48).

Any thoughts, anyone going to watch or follow? I'll post more as we get closer to the race (June 10/11) if there's interest.
 
Sessions 1 and 2, both with Ferrari on top:

Ferrari On Top In First Le Mans Test Session | dailysportscar.com

Beautiful, sunny skies, an idyllic late spring morning - the perfect conditions to ring in the first test session for the centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which was topped by the #50 499P of Antonio Fuoco, with a 3:30.886. One by one, the field of 62 cars began to make their
www.dailysportscar.com www.dailysportscar.com

Test Day Ends With Ferrari Fastest In Afternoon Session | dailysportscar.com

The temperatures were climbing during Le Mans Test Session 2 at Circuit de la Sarthe - and so too were the lap speeds, though we're not yet up to the pace we should expect to see once the first official competitive practice begins on Wednesday. But there are still trends to examine across Sunday...
www.dailysportscar.com www.dailysportscar.com
 
Toyota and Ferrari did, Toyota more so than Ferrari. The non-hybrid cars stay as it, while Cadillac and Porsche got minor weight bumps (Cadillac more than Porsche). The cars that did get weight increases also got power bumps, however.

However, this is the test day and the track was still dirty (public roads portion) or not rubbered in (permanent portions). I don't think we'll see what's what until Wednesday or maybe Thursday. Also add in the fact that off and on rain is forecast for much of the second half of next week as of now.

It should also be noted that the NASCAR-based Garage 56 entry was faster than the GT cars in both sessions.
 
Session one in the books:

#8 Toyota Tops Incident-Packed Opening Le Mans Practice | dailysportscar.com

Free Practice 1 for the centenary running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans got underway on a warm, sunny Wednesday afternoon at Circuit de la Sarthe. The three-hour session saw Toyota Gazoo Racing's #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid set the fastest time and head up a 1-2 finish - but it was also heavily disrupted
www.dailysportscar.com www.dailysportscar.com
 
Marcel said:
Toyota still fastest eh?
Click to expand...
Nope: both Ferraris fastest. Porsche also looking very strong and hopefully Peugeot concentrating on race setup. Special mention too for the Cadillacs, which as ever sounded awesome. In GT, AF Corse did what they do best and JOTA compensated for a wayward 963 by getting best time in LMP2.

It's shaping up to be a classic.
 
FP2 (second session was to set the field for Hyper-Pole) is in the books. It's Porsche's turn to lead the pack:

#6 Porsche Quickest In Free Practice 2 | dailysportscar.com

Porsche Penske Motorsport's #6 963 topped the second free practice session of Le Mans race week this evening, as the teams and drivers got their first taste of night running ahead of this weekend's race. Crucially, it also allowed the drivers to complete their minimum required night laps early...
www.dailysportscar.com www.dailysportscar.com
 
Ferrari back to the front in FP3:

Ferrari Leads The Way In Free Practice 3 | dailysportscar.com

Some hit the track straight away, others took their time to leave pit lane during a sun-soaked Free Practice 3 session for the centenary 24 Hours of Le Mans. Conditions were quite warm at Circuit de la Sarthe. This picture-perfect weather might give way to cloudy skies and rain in 48 hours - as an
www.dailysportscar.com www.dailysportscar.com
 
Ferrari 1-2 in qualifying, and tops in final practice. I'll be watching the race most of the day and night Saturday/Sunday morning, aside from maybe a brief intermission to check out a mail delivery and brief breaks to check some stuff online.
 
As of now, at least provisionally (podium finishers have to pass post race tech), Ferrari has broken Toyota's win streak in which both cars faced issues (one spin and two failures to fire after a pit stop for the Ferrari, and the 2nd place Toyota being heavily damaged in an off). Euro Interpol won LMP2 (first Polish based team to win a class at Le Mans), and Corvette went from first, to worst, to first again in GTE. The NASCAR Garage 56 car also became one of the few of such Garage 56 entries to actually finish Le Mans.
 
Final results are still provisional as the ACO have confiscated certain parts from essentially the highest finishing of each Hypercar entry, and the LMP2 winner. No such events have been confirmed to have taken place in GTE.
 
Trivia: As I posted in the German fuel thread, all cars at Le Mans this year ran on a fuel mostly made mostly from wine wastes (grape skins, wine stills, etc) though a process called ethanol to gasoline.
 
BarnOwlLover said:
Trivia: As I posted in the German fuel thread, all cars at Le Mans this year ran on a fuel mostly made mostly from wine wastes (grape skins, wine stills, etc) though a process called ethanol to gasoline.
Click to expand...
...and on tires made from recycled plastics? :rolleyes:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)

Similar threads

BarnOwlLover
2024 24 Hours of Le Mans
Replies
0
Views
755
BarnOwlLover
BarnOwlLover
seesul
80th anniversary of the air battle overe the White Carpathians from August 29, 1944
Replies
4
Views
559
Airframes
Airframes
G
First year of war British lost and damaged aircraft
Replies
1
Views
978
fubar57
fubar57
N
2023 Truckee Tahoe Air Show & Family Festival, Saturday, June 24, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Replies
2
Views
854
wheelsup_cavu
wheelsup_cavu
M
Happy 100th Birthday Bud Anderson!
Replies
12
Views
2K
Barrett
B
Back