Le Mans 2019

[wombat666]

I won't post a spoiler but I expect the armchair conspiracy experts are about to start.
:biggrin-new:

[speedy70]

Who shouted "Fix"

Cheers chris

[wombat666]

I really dislike the weird 'Prototypes' but the racing up and down the field was pretty good.
Toyota and Ford appear to be gone next time round?
I managed to get the entire week recorded (including 'the Road to Le Mans') but I'll be banished to the furthest corner of our residence when I give it a re-run.
She who must be obeyed will be even more grumpy as I managed to get the MotoGP recorded as well.
Then there is the Supercars round from Darwin!
:redfire:

[Ferry_vO]

Toyota and Ford appear to be gone next time round?


Toyota have annouced they will build a 'hypercar' (Morelike the old GT1 prototypes I guess, since they won't build a road car…) as have Aston Martin.
Ford might sell a couple more GT's to customers (Like Keating racing who won the GTam category) but no more official works entries. BMW did their last race with the M8 though, as they've cancelled the program

[wombat666]

I really enjoyed the GT race within a race Ferry.
There's something about the 'almost' road car feeling that makes me smile.
Not impressed with the 'Hyper car' concept, perhaps returning some of the old rules might be a good thing.
Perhaps a minimum production run of 25 vehicles for them along with being available to 'customers' like the 917 and their ilk back in the day, with a production run of at least 100 for the GT class.
And if a manufacturer decides to build an 'Evo' version then 50 builds would be in order.

I'm not enthused about LMP1 and LMP2 but the LMP2 brigade put up a good showing!

FWIW I really dislike the whole 'BOP' thing, Supercars Australia decided to go down that route and it's been farcical.

Shame that BMW couldn't get the car up to speed but IMHO they seem to have gone in the opposite direction that might have been sensible.
And of course the usual suspects are making noises about the Toyota's, I doubt Mike Conway for one would be taking notice of any special 'Team Orders'!
I'll give a shout for the Corvettes, not my type of car but at least they look like a 'Vette', whereas the so called 'Ford GT' should be running as a prototype.

MotoGP was really entertaining with a 'Rookie' taking pole and P2 aboard a 'Customer' Yamaha, on merit, something I'd like to see in more categories of Motor Sport.

I'll get orf me soapbox now.

:devilish:

[wombat666]

What a farce!

First this:
The Rebellion car, driven by Nelson Piquet Jr, David Heinemeier Hansson, and Mathias Beche, was found to be guilty of "modifying a homologated part and using it partly during the race," according to Autosport's report of the race official's statement.

The modification, which officials said was a "hole that [had] been fashioned by the competitor in the right-hand side of the engine cover," gave access to the car's starter motor without having to remove the entire rear bodywork.
The car, which Autosport reports as having starter motor issues early in the race, ran a portion of the 24 hours with this modified bodywork, which is strictly against the rules. And then there's an even more damning issue: the team tried to cover the hole after the race.

Racer reports that the tech inspectors saw the Valliante Rebellion team "attempt to cover the hole in Parc Ferme." Think of Parc Ferme as a hermetically sealed chamber, once cars enter it after a race, they aren't to be touched by members of the team until tech inspection is complete.

Rebellion's loss of position means the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing car driven by Tristan Gomendy, David Cheng, and Alex Brundle move up onto the podium, and take a second place finish in LMP2.

Closely followed by this:
The #68 Ford GT, which finished fourth in the GTE-Pro class at the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as the #85 Ford GT, the GTE-Am class winner, have disqualified by the FIA for a breach of fuel class regulations.
According to the FIA and ACO, the two sanctioning bodies for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the total fuel volume for the #68 car was "found to be in excess of the permitted limit." The maximum allowed volume for fuel tanks is 97 liters. Post-race scrutineering revealed the car to have had a maximum capacity of 97.83 liters.
WEC officials have ordered the #68 team, which consisted of drivers Dirk Müller, Joey Hand, and Sébastien Bourdais, to forfeit any trophies or other prizes. The standings have been adjusted as necessary. The other three Ford GTs, which finished fifth, sixth, and seventh, will now move up to fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively. The team does have the option to appeal the decision. The 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans was the last for the factory Ford GT program.
The first privately run GT, the #85 car fielded by Keating Motorsports, finished first in the GTE-Am class, but was handed a 55.2-second time penalty on Monday, demoting it to second place. According to a report from Sportscar365, the car didn't meet the minimum refueling time of 45 seconds. The #56 Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR of Joerg Bergmeister, Patrick Lindsey and Egidio Perfetti inherent the win, as well as the WEC GTE-Am driver's title for the season. Shortly after, the team was disqualified from the results out-right thanks to a similar issue to the #68 car, with the fuel tank being 0.1 liters over maximum capacity, per Dailysportscar.com. Second place now goes to the #62 Ferrari 488 of Weathertech Racing.

[wombat666]

What a farce!

First this:
The Rebellion car, driven by Nelson Piquet Jr, David Heinemeier Hansson, and Mathias Beche, was found to be guilty of "modifying a homologated part and using it partly during the race," according to Autosport's report of the race official's statement.

The modification, which officials said was a "hole that [had] been fashioned by the competitor in the right-hand side of the engine cover," gave access to the car's starter motor without having to remove the entire rear bodywork.
The car, which Autosport reports as having starter motor issues early in the race, ran a portion of the 24 hours with this modified bodywork, which is strictly against the rules. And then there's an even more damning issue: the team tried to cover the hole after the race.

Racer reports that the tech inspectors saw the Valliante Rebellion team "attempt to cover the hole in Parc Ferme." Think of Parc Ferme as a hermetically sealed chamber, once cars enter it after a race, they aren't to be touched by members of the team until tech inspection is complete.

Rebellion's loss of position means the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing car driven by Tristan Gomendy, David Cheng, and Alex Brundle move up onto the podium, and take a second place finish in LMP2.

Closely followed by this:

The #68 Ford GT, which finished fourth in the GTE-Pro class at the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as the #85 Ford GT, the GTE-Am class winner, have disqualified by the FIA for a breach of fuel class regulations.
According to the FIA and ACO, the two sanctioning bodies for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the total fuel volume for the #68 car was "found to be in excess of the permitted limit." The maximum allowed volume for fuel tanks is 97 liters. Post-race scrutineering revealed the car to have had a maximum capacity of 97.83 liters.

WEC officials have ordered the #68 team, which consisted of drivers Dirk Müller, Joey Hand, and Sébastien Bourdais, to forfeit any trophies or other prizes. The standings have been adjusted as necessary. The other three Ford GTs, which finished fifth, sixth, and seventh, will now move up to fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively. The team does have the option to appeal the decision. The 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans was the last for the factory Ford GT program.
The first privately run GT, the #85 car fielded by Keating Motorsports, finished first in the GTE-Am class, but was handed a 55.2-second time penalty on Monday, demoting it to second place. According to a report from Sportscar365, the car didn't meet the minimum refueling time of 45 seconds. The #56 Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR of Joerg Bergmeister, Patrick Lindsey and Egidio Perfetti inherent the win, as well as the WEC GTE-Am driver's title for the season. Shortly after, the team was disqualified from the results out-right thanks to a similar issue to the #68 car, with the fuel tank being 0.1 liters over maximum capacity, per Dailysportscar.com. Second place now goes to the #62 Ferrari 488 of Weathertech Racing.

[noddy]

I think it's a real shame for those guys especally the Keating entry, firstly the time penalty them being kicked out.

On the oversized tank, why was this not picked in the pre-race inspection?

Now the outright trying to cheat, agree with the punishment on that one.

The penalties after always leave a nasty taste.

Oh well I enjoyed the race, but feel the #7 car.

[Ferry_vO]

I've read somewhere that ford calculated the volume, while the FIA used the weight of the fuel...

The bodywork hole DQ was last year, wasn't it?