Friday 16th June 2006

Oil-burning Audi R10s hit top spot

Pole position at Le Mans for pair of diesels

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Audi R10 at Sebring

At the end of qualifying for this weekend's 24 Heures du Mans, the two diesel-powered Audi R10s were at the front of the grid, as expected following their performance at Sebring.

In the second half of the evening's session the Audi Sport Team Joest cars, No.7 and No.8 took fastest times almost as soon as the track opened. Picking up where they left off, Marco Werner in the No.8 went out and set a fast 3:30.584 to claim provisional pole, but Dindo Capello, in the No.7 Audi R10 almost immediately bettered this time by 0.118 of a second. Capello’s provisional pole time proved enough to keep them at the top of the timesheets right through to the end of the session.

The No.16 and No.17 Pescarolo Judd cars came close, but couldn't get within two seconds of pole. The drivers were disappointed, blaming traffic on their fastest laps. Team boss Henri Pescarolo however said: "I am happy with the second row. Last year we started on the front row and finished second; this year, if we start on the second row, maybe we will finish first."

The success of the two Audis means that Saturday will see the first-ever front-row start for diesel-powered cars in the history of the Le Mans race; a remarkable achievement, given that this is the first visit for the R10 to la Sarthe.

With this weekend's Le Mans forecast showing temperatures in the mid- to late 20s, this weekend looks set for a battle royale with plenty of sunshine...

[zumbruk]

Isn't it a little unfair on the remaining competitors, having to drive behind cars chucking out huge plumes of stinking carcinogenic filth?

[ahonen]

zumbruk said:

Isn't it a little unfair on the remaining competitors, having to drive behind cars chucking out huge plumes of stinking carcinogenic filth?

The car has massive diesel particle filters in its exhausts, so there's no smoke at all. Please at least try to find out just a little tiny bit about the car before making comments like that.

It's going to be a heck of a race in all classes this year.

[TonyToniTone]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?doc

Looks clean enough..

[Beefmeister]

Ummm, i'd guess (hope) that Zumbruk chap was displaying some of that wonderful british humour trait - sarcasm....

Edited by Beefmeister on Friday 16th June 11:04

[oagent]

I quite like the idea of diesel racing at LM now. It goes back the the glory days of competitors driving their cars to the race then home again. This yr Audi can even use their race cars to tow their own trailers and caravans.

[dinkel]

I wonder when the V12 diesel Peu will strike . . . next year will be thrilling.

[turbobungle]

Does anyone know if Le Mans will be on tv and if so what channel?

[bunglist]

turbobungle said:

Does anyone know if Le Mans will be on tv and if so what channel?

It normaly is and I expect it will be on sky, on the Eurosport channel I am pretty sure that was where you could find it last year.

[havoc]

Motors TV I believe are covering all of it - they've certainly covered a lot of practice and qualifying.

I have to say, though, I will be supporting Pescarolo. One I'm fed up of Audi dominating everything with their oversized budget, and two I really don't want a diesel to win the premier sports-car race in the world...it'll give all the reps a superiority complex!!!

[Dr S]

I really like the Audi guys being adventurous, puts some soul into the game

[TonyToniTone]

turbobungle said:

Does anyone know if Le Mans will be on tv and if so what channel?

www.livesportontv.com/sportindex.php?id=5

[edt]

Are there any sites showing it on-line ?
Ed

[TonyToniTone]

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=279912&f=37&h=0

[top fuel]

Dr S said:

I really like the Audi guys being adventurous, puts some soul into the game

It'd be interesting to know the value of the Diesel burnt in the Audi's compared with the petrol in some of the other cars.

[TonyToniTone]

they say a 8 or 9% gain in economy, not sure if that takes into account that a full tank of diesel is 5 kilo's heavier than petrol..

www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/alms/26018/
www.lemans.org/accueil/ressources/pdf/2005_12_13_audi/R10_Booklet_gb.pdf

Edited by TonyToniTone on Friday 16th June 21:22

[dannylt]

What do you mean by value? Diesel has more calorific value than petrol anyway, though the real gains come from part throttle economy. Not something that happens at Le Mans much with 85% of the time flat out!

[Thom]

Dr S said:

I really like the Audi guys being adventurous, puts some soul into the game

Putting some "soul" with a diesel-powered car ? Ahem ...

[havoc]

Thom said:

Dr S said:

I really like the Audi guys being adventurous, puts some soul into the game

Putting some "soul" with a diesel-powered car ? Ahem ...

ROFL

Audi wouldn't have done it if they weren't convinced they could win. Nothing to do with 'soul' (this is Audi, FFS!), all to do with image and selling on Monday...and apparently over 50% of Audi production is now diesel. Very calculated marketing move, nothing more.

GO PESCAROLO!!!

[ninjaboy]

I drove my bosses BMW 3 series diesel and it was fastish but what this of torque with diesels both my fiat and MG are far more tractable the bloody thing would go if you had it at a certain revs and it would do noting if out of the 2.5-4K rev range

[dinkel]

ninjaboy said:

I drove my bosses BMW 3 series diesel and it was fastish but what this of torque with diesels both my fiat and MG are far more tractable the bloody thing would go if you had it at a certain revs and it would do noting if out of the 2.5-4K rev range

Right, so keep it there and go like hell. My Corolla D4D (laugh if you want) keeps up with 320d's easy BTW . . . on the twisties that is . . .