I have been busy today trying to do my day job, but I have managed to spend a few minutes trying to work out what it all means. Inevitably, these are only first impressions, but I have examined the stints from the Audi and Peugeot works teams (not the Oreca car), which were more than 10 laps long, and it makes interesting reading:
This is an exhaustive list - all the stints over ten laps are shown, with the exception of Lamy's 13 lap stint when the safety car was out in the afternoon session. This included four laps "off the pace", which it serves no purpose to show.
I have also shown Kristensen's stint as being only 10 laps, although in fact it was 11. For some reason, TK's in lap was extremely slow - his time in the final sector being about one minute slower than it should have been. I don't know if this was a timing glitch, or a real event with an explanation. Maybe a reader can help? The stint in question was from 15:35 until 16:16.
In any event, if first impressions are anything to go by, Peugeot needs to find something like five seconds a lap if they are to get on terms with Audi. The fact that the Peugeot is more economical will not help if it is that much slower.
Interesting indeed. . .
ReplyDeleteThe fast times indicate a very close battle, but this... does not!
However, I suppose it's only a test day, who knows what kind of program everyone was running?
Also, listening to John and co on the weekend, it seemed like the Oreca was always running behind a works car - perhaps to make sure it never ran faster - I do hope (for the ACO's sake) it doesn't turn out to be the fastest car come July. . .
June**
ReplyDeleteIt's a worry, if there is a big gulf between the two teams, but, being the eternal optimist, I'm hoping that we will see them much closer together come June. I prefer to believe that 'It NEVER rains at Le Mans.......', hence that optimism.... ;-)
ReplyDeleteAysedasi
It'll be very interesting if the Oreca car does indeed post lap times as fast as the 90X. Albeit in a less restricted form, the 3:19 race lap last year was just astonishing.
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