2005 Le Mans
Hour 1:
Le Mans, France (bM) Early trouble for the Dome/Mugen they lose a lap due to a dodgy paddle shifter needing repair. Pesca’s lapping 5sec quicker than anything else on the track; at the end of the first hour they’ve got well over a 1 minute lead from the no. 2 Champion Audi. Then it’s Oreca Audi, Rollcentre Dallara/Judd, 3 Champion, Creation DBA/Judd, 13 Courage, 12 Courage, Jota Zytek.
LMP2 led by the Kruse Courage/Judd. Belmondo Courage in 2nd. The RML MG/Lola (air in the fuel line) and Chamberlain Lolas (turbo wastegate) both with lengthy stops.
GT1 is dogfight. AM led much of the first hour but lost it to the 64 Vette on the pitstop. Less than 2 sec separate the two. 59 AM in 3rd.
The Kondo
Dome and 18 Pescarolo pit on lap 8. With only 80L tanks this year (10
less than 2003), pit stops will happen more frequently this year. It'll
be a bit before we can determine the pit window properly due to the installation
laps, parade laps, etc.
GT2 saw the 77 Panoz take the lead for a while but the heat is taking a toll on the drivers. Both of the Panoz’s had driver changes on the FIRST stop. Won’t beat Porsche with that strategy.
Hour 2:
The 17 Pesca divebombs the 78 Panoz into the right-hander at Arnage, contact spins the Panoz and the Pesca needs the toe re-set. The crew completes it double quick and the car rejoins outside the top five. 18 Rollcentre in second.
LMP2: Air in the hydraulic line is the problem for RML. Kruse still leads.
Troubles befall previous leaders for both GT1 and GT2. The formerly leading 64 Vette had a puncture on the Mulsanne and Ollie Gavin had to drive the part of a lap on a flat tire. Somehow the tire didn’t delaminate and Ollie makes it into the pits after a painful amount of time. Yet another penalty for Darren Turner in the 59 Aston Martin. He served a stop/go early on and now has a 3 minute stop to serve for clipping the cone at the Ford Chicane. If he does it again he’ll be excluded and David Brabham and Stephane Serrazin will have to finish the race.
The previously GT2 leading Panoz had bodywork issues forcing it into a couple unscheduled stops. According to SPEED this is damage from contact but the car doesn’t show any marks. Like the 64 Vette the 77 Panoz, too, had led it’s class but will face an uphill battle into the night.
Hour 3:
The leader is in for an unscheduled stop. The 16 Pescarolo is wheeled into the garage with apparent gearbox issues. It loses a lap to the 2 Champion Audi before rejoining only to have it act up again. A second stop in the garage sees this car plummet down the order. It’s Audi 1-2-3; sounds vaguely familiar.
Miracle’s LMP2 class Courage spends time in the garage for a wastegate changes. For those of you scoring at home that’s two wastegates now for AER-built engines. The Pilbeam spins, hits the ARMCO and removes the rear bodywork and is stranded on the circuit apparently.
Another left rear puncture for the 64 Corvette. Their history of being snake-bitten at Le Mans continues on. 59 AM pits for a new splitter. 58 AM leads over 63 then 64 Vette.
GT1 is Porsche, Porsche, *Ferrari*. Talked some last year that a 360 Modena might end up on the podium; it didn’t happen but the Scuderia Ecosse is looking rather well. Panoz’s are now dead last in GT2 behind the TVR and even the Spyker.
Safety Car period greets the start of hour 4, brought out by the expiring? Chamberlain Lola.
Hour 4:
The 2 Champion Audi goes off at Arnage under the safety car; Pirro exits McNish enters on the stop. Car rejoins nearly a lap down in 5th behind the 18 Rollcentre Dallara, 17 Pesca, and Oreca Audi. Cold tires, brakes cause the off according to Pirro; he sounds gutted during the interview. Nishy is out setting the fastest laps of the race for any Audi.
17 Pesca goes on to have a puncture and it takes 5 minutes to make it back around to the pit. New tires are fitted but the car is backed into the garage. To borrow a phrase it’s all gone pear-shaped for Pescarolo in the last two hours. They’re in 9th (17) and 16th (16).
Tomas Enge is out of the 58 Aston Martin and is completely spent. He can barely do the interview from heat exhaustion. They lead by ~1 minute over the 63.
Panoz had overheating problems which has perhaps led to engine problems. The 77 car is reportedly now down on power. You’d think a team that calls Georgia home wouldn’t have problems with overheating in the balmy 88degF of France...Petersen-White Lightning leads GT2, a great achievement after the weeks’ drama.
Hour 5:
The chase is on. The Audi’s and Pesca’s are playing tortoise and hare–if you considering doing anything at 200mph being associated with a tortoise. The 16 Pesca is lapping in the 3.36 range while McNish can only muster a lap that is ~3.5 seconds slower. The 16 is two laps down, the 17 is 5. Helary is consistently taking 6+ seconds out of the leaders time; at that rate it’d take 35 laps to make up one lap. With 75 laps on the board, and depending on safety car periods there are probably 290 or so laps to go. It’s early days yet...
GT1 remains 58 AM, 63 Vette, 64 Vette -1L.
GT2 is Petersen-WL followed 10secs behind by AJR/BAM!. Scuderia Ecosse 360 has slipped to 5th.
Hour 6:
One Audi falls into trouble. The ORECA Playstation entry is in the garage with a faulty front wishbone(?).
Overall it’s
1) 3 Audi,
2) 2 Audi,
3) 5 Dome/Mugen,
4) 10 RfH Dome/Judd,
5) 4 ORECA Audi,
6) 18 Rollcentre Dallara/Judd,
7) 17 Pescarolo,
8) 9 Jota Zytek,
9) 12 Courage,
10) 16 Pescarolo
LMP2
The Kruse Motorsport Courage/Judd has fallen to fifth in class from first due to brake pedal problems--as in it goes to the floor.
1) 32 Intersport Lola/AER
2) 36 Belmondo Courage/Ford
3) 37 Belmondo Courage/Ford
Missed how it happened but the 63 Corvette has assumed the lead over the 58 DBR9. The AM is still lapping 4 seconds quicker than the Vette so lead change must have happened on a pitstop.
1) 63 Corvette
2) 58 DBR9
3) 64 Corvette
GT2=Porsche all the way
1) 71 AJR/BAM!
2) 90 Petersen/WL
3) 76 Raymond Narac
4) 72 Luc Alphand
5) 80 Flying Lizard
Hour 7:
Punchlist:
ORECA Dallara: Debris on the track caused failure of a top upright.
Chamberlain Lola/AER: the gearbox lunched itself and the car is retired out on the circuit.
Rollcentre Dallara/Nissan: Crank sensor was evidently the cause of the electrical problems. It’s fixed now and they’re just now pulling themselves out of dead last.
Panoz: To close the door on the 77 Panoz story, an air duct feeding the radiator fell out of place causing the water temp to rise very high. The car was brought in and the duct was fixed but it failed again and the car overheated again. The 5 litre, Ford based, mod-motor couldn’t hold up.
The 18 Dallara is finally in to fix the power steering problems that have plagued the car for the last half dozen stints. It falls out of the top 10.
The Spyker has crashed and is immediately engulfed in flames at the rear. The safety car is despatched and hour 8 begins under caution.
Hour 8:
LMP2 Miracle Courage (with Ian James at the wheel) lost a wheel after it’s pitstop and rolled BACKWARDS down the track on the hill at pit exit.
At the front it’s still Audi, Audi, Audi and the Pescarolo doesn’t seem to be making up much ground.
Hour 9:
The Gainer Dome is catching the Audi’s but a puncture and off-schedule pitstop keeps it from being an immediate threat. The ORECA Audi has had the right front suspension fail yet again. It’s in the garage having a new corner fitted and drops down the order. The 16 Pescarolo creeps ever closer...
1) 3 Audi
2) 2 Audi
3) 5 Dome
4) 6 Audi
5) 10 Dome
6) 16 Pescarolo
7) 58 DBR9
8) 64 Vette
9) 63 Vette
10) 9 Zytek
Wondering about the 17 Pesca? That car had a coming together with the Rollcentre Nissan out on the Mulsanne. Ten laps down and they get to start the chase again.
Wondering about the 17 Pesca? That car had a coming together with the Rollcentre Nissan out on the Mulsanne. Ten laps down and they get to start the chase again.
The Miracle car has been excluded for reversing on the track. Even though it was under caution the officials were obviously not amused.
Hour 10:
No change at the front; 3 Audi, 2 Audi, 5 Dome, oh and the 16 Pescarolo. Still not reeling in the lead Audi but making its way up the leaderboard.
Longtime LMP2 leader Intersport Lola has been retired with a blown AER lump. Belmondo Courage/Fords are 1-2 in class.
The 58 DBR9 has enough of a lead that it can pit without losing the lead. They’re getting better fuel economy than the Vettes too....
Hour 11:
No change at the sharp end of the field. Rollcentre continue to struggle with lack of power steering and this is keeping Vanina Ickx out of the drivers seat for the time being. Sad, really. Danica may get a lot of press but the best female racing driver could very well be one Vanina Ickx.
LMP2 as whole continues to self-destruct. Kruse sticks it in the gravel early in the hour. 24 WR wrecks on the Mulsanne. 37 Belmondo in the garage with intermittent fuel/electric issues. Noel Del Bello Courage is retired after a fire on the Mulsanne. The lead car in this class is only 23rd overall and behind and would only be sixth in the "slowest" class GT2.
The GT1 leaders are up into the top 10 overall. The battle between the Vettes and DBR9's pushing the class well into the LMP1 class as the GT1's are turning lap times within 5 seconds of their pole time while the LMP1's are typically 10 seconds slower than their qually laps. Order remains 58, 64, 63.
GT2 is still a battle between the 71 AJR/BAM! and the 90 Petersen-W/L. The 71 now has a small margin over the 90; one wonders if the hectic last-minute rebuild completed on the 90 only this morning is catching up with them.
Hour 12:
Halfway home and it’s a drastically different race than was predicted. By this point most felt that Pescarolo would be 1-2 by a healthy margin but instead it is the old, venerable Audi that is 1-2 by a couple laps over a trouble Pescarolo/Judd and a surprising Gainer Dome/Mugen.
Collard is putting in some flyers in the 16 Pescarolo to try and catch up. First victim on his list was the Jim Gainer Dome which is in pits with a flat battery. Next up is the 2 Audi, a couple laps ahead. Pescarolo needs to start now if it hopes to catch up.
Stangely, the predictions for ever other class is nearly spot on. LMP2 is in shambles. GT1 is a cracker between Aston Martin and Corvette. GT2 is a Porsche affair.
Pos N° Team Laps
1 3 Champion Racing ==184==
2 2 Champion Racing ==183==
3 16 Pescarolo Sport ==181==
4 5 Jim Gainer International ==179==
5 4 Audi Playstation Oreca ==177==
6 9 Team Jota - Zytek ==175==
7 58 Aston Martin Racing 1:12.793
8 64 Corvette Racing ==174==
9 7 Creation Autosportif 5.676
10 63 Corvette Racing 1:57.391
11 17 Pescarolo Sport 2:18.477
12 59 Aston Martin Racing ==172==
13 18 Rollcentre Racing ==171==
14 10 Racing For Holland ==170==
15 12 Courage Competition ==169==
16 50 Larbre Competition ==168==
17 71 Alex Job Racing ==166==
18 61 Cirtek Motorsport ==165==
19 90 White Lightning Racing 45.640
20 76 Raymon Narrac ==162==
21 80 Flying Lizard Motorsports ==161==
22 36 Paul Belmondo Racing ==158==
23 89 Sebah Automotive ==157==
24 72 Luc Alphand Aventures ==156==
25 37 Paul Belmondo Racing ==155==
26 25 RML 13:00.531
27 92 Cirtek Motorsport ==151==
28 30 Kruse Motorsport ==150==
29 91 T2M Motorsport ==146==
30 83 Seikel Motorsport ==140==
31 35 G-Force Racing ==128==
32 78 Panoz Motor Sports ==113==
33 24 Rachel Welter ==109==
34 95 RaceSport Peninsula TVR ==107==
35 31 Del Bello Noel ==99==
36 8 Rollcentre Racing ==79==
Hour 13:
Nip, nip, nip, the 16 Pesca inches closer to the Audi’s. On current pace, however, they’re not going to do it; more speed must come from the French car.
LMP2 has a mini-battle between the RML MG/Lola and the Belmondo Courage/Ford’s. Nothing worth shouting over yet but perhaps something will come of this class yet.
Aston Martin and Corvette seem to be playing a waiting game. Neither have had any mechanical niggles and simple pound around. The heat of the day will be the tale of the tape for this lot.
Hour 14:
Gainer Dome/Mugen stops out on course at Maison Blanche, unclear on the exact problem but the entry has disappeared from the timing screen. Retirement would be a massive injustice for this team that heretofore had been he best of the non-Audi’s. "Best of the non-Audi," how many years have we heard that?
A spin at the second Mulsanne chicane delays the 16 Pescarolo even more.
1) 3 Audi
2) 2 Audi
3) 16 Pesca
4) 6 Audi
5) Jota Zytek
6) 17 Pesca
7) 58 DBR9
8) 64 Vette
9) 63 Vette
10) 59 DBR9
Hour 15:
McNish has spun the 2 Audi at Indianapolis. Heavy suspension damage but Nishy gets it back into the garage. Pescarolo on the same lap, then into second place now. Still three laps to make up on the leader, 130-140 laps to do it.
RML trying to make a race of it in LMP2, only 5 laps back of the class leader now.
AM and Corvette continue to slug it out. The margin between the class leading 58 DBR9 and 2nd place 64 increases ever so slightly as it has for the past few hours. There’s just the feeling of waiting for the afternoon for this class.
AJR/BAM! and Petersen-W/L have a 5 and 4 lap margin over the rest of GT2.
Hour 16:
The 2 Audi lost some 20 minutes in the garage repairing the suspension from McNish’s off. They rejoin ~5 laps down and in 3rd place. The running order is
1) 3 Audi
2) 16 Pesca
3) 2 Audi
4) 4 Audi
5) 17 Pesca
So Pescarolo making up a little, but Kristensen surely has gotten the whiff of win number 7 and he’ll be extremely tough to catch.
Hour 17:
Lead down to 2 laps or 1 and some change. It’s going to go to the wire; no doubt.
RML leads LMP2 in their Lola/MG; if memory serves thats the longest one has ever run at Le Mans.
Hour
18: Three-quarters gone at Le Mans and it’s all gone wrong at RML. The Lola/MG not looking like it will make the finish...
No changes elsewhere. Loeb has a protracted stop in the 17 Pescarolo to clear the radiators, they might temporarily lose 5th to the 9 Jota Zytek.
Hour 19:
16 Pescarolo gets 4 to 5 seconds from the 3 Audi every lap. Might not be enough unless the Audi has problems.
Splitter isses befall the leader in GT1. The 58 DBR9 loses the lead to the 64 Corvette getting repairs. Five hours left and Vette team manager figures this is only the first of the final phase of the race and both teams could face such. It’s 64 Vette, 58 DBR9, 59 DBR9, 63 Vette.
Belmondo 1-2 in LMP2.
AJR/BAM! leads over Petersen-White Lightning in GT2.
Hour 20:
17 Pesca has been withdrawn after a rear tire blowout out on the Mulsanne. 16 Pesca now just 1 lap down.
The remaining Panoz has retired out on course.
Hour 21:
The Creation DBA/Judd had a puncture but that was about it for problem-driven drama in the hour. The LMP1/GT1 leaders continue to slug it out. 16 Pesca remains 1 lap down with three hours to go.
Hour 22: The 16 Pesca is a lap down, but just. Two hours to go and still in doubt. Tom Kristensen driving with real passion. Heck all the leaders are.
An interview with David Brabham of the 59 DBR9 shows him recently out of the car, feet in an ice bucket, towels over his head and slumped into a chair. He’s spent. But his car is now 2nd in class and he’s in with a shot to win. He’ll have to go back out and he’ll be ready.
Hour 23:
The Witching Hour.
Pescarolo and Aston Martin see it slip away.
LMP1 appears, once again, to be headed the way of Audi. The 16 Pescarolo had to have it’s radiators cleaned again losing yet more time to the 3 Audi. Pesca are only a lap down and if the Audi suffered a puncture or some mechanical niggle they’re back in it. Really looks like T. Kristensen could be getting win number 7 in an hours time.
The big news item of the hour is no doubt the drama at Aston Martin. First, the 59 DBR9 is put into the garage for a radiator cleaning and to address general cooling issues. While this was happening Tomas Enge was on course frantically swerving the DBR9 apparently trying to find more fuel from the tank. They tried a push start from the marshals and moving the car on the starter but eventually no 58 is pushed behind the ARMCO and abandoned. With less than 1.5 hours to go this is cruel, cruel punishment. Corvette is now 1-2 in GT1 and 5-6 overall. Like last year, running to their own pace had paid huge dividends for Corvette; all they need to do is milk another hour.
Somehow, SOMEHOW, the RML Lola/MG is in with a shout for LMP2 honours. It all looked lost earlier in the hour with a collapsed suspension but they got the car back to the garage and repairs made. The class leading 37 Belmondo Courage/Ford is struggling to complete laps. They’ve only got three over RML with an hour to go.
Hour 24:
What can you say after six years of domination? Audi takes their R8 out on top and its only fitting, really. In the end, the 16 Pescarolo/Judd had the speed but the 20 minutes lost in the third was too much to overcome. Champion finally get their Le Mans win.
Aston Martin bring their DBR9 out for the last lap to be classified at the finish. A water leak ended their chance for victory. Corvette has had some real scraps here at Le Mans, coming out on the short end a couple of times. This must surely go down as one of the toughest yet gratifying wins and adds a very large chapter to the Corvette history books. For the record it was the 64 car over the 63 car.
GT2 is all-American. 1st is Alex Job/BAM!; 2nd is Petersen-White Lightning; 3rd is Flying Lizard Motorsports. There is no doubt that the best Porsche racers in the world race in the American Le Mans Series.
LMP2, what a disaster yet again. At the strike of 4:00 RML will go down as the winner but even they would admit this was not the race they had hoped for.
In the end, the 73rd edition of the 24 Heures du Mans will go down as a classic. The last win in the last start for the venerable R8, in a year when it was not a favourite. It is always helpful when the issue is in doubt until the last hour, Pescarolo made that happen. Champion’s win was the first for an American team in 40 years. Tom Kristensen’s 7th win; there are NONE better. Corvette’s hard-earned victory in GT1 over Aston Martin was a classic too. Rarely are fans treated to two factory teams going head to head. GT2, an American whitewash, awesome. From top to bottom this race was a true, modern, classic.
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