Audi’s Disastrous Le Mans

Audi’s Disastrous Le Mans: "

Audi is suffering its worst Le Mans in years with two cars written off in massive accidents, although their drivers at the time – Alan McNish and MikeRockenfeller – are both reported to be unharmed.

McNish’s accident happened in the first hour as he tried to overtake the Number 58 Luxury racing Ferrari driven by Anthony Beltoise in the right hand corner after the Dunlop Bridge. Having overtaken the Ferrari it seemed to edge over clipping his left rear and sending the Number Three Audi into a wild spin across the catty litter, which actually launched the car into tire barriers almost flipping it onto its roof. It was something of a miracle that nearby marshals and photographers weren’t hit by flying shards of carbon fiber as the car destroyed itself.

As a consequence the race was run under the yellow flag for an hour, but even that didn’t help Aston Martin which lost both of its new AMR-Ones in the first hour: 007 to a faulty alternator belt tensioner, while 008 stopped at Mulsanne.

Once the race got under way the Peugeot and Audi teams traded first place as their pit stop strategies played out. The slightly quicker Audi’s running 11 lap stints compared to Peugeots 12. The German team was confident that by three-ish on Sunday morning it would have eked out a lap’s lead over its French rivals.

That was all thrown into confusion with Rockenfeller’s accident at the high speed kink between Indianapolis and Mulsanne when he collided with another Ferrari, No 71 AF Corsa car with Bob Kaufmann believed to be at the wheel at 22.50hrs. The Audi slammed into one set of barriers before catapulting across the track to take out some 15-20ft of safety barrier. A safety car period of at least an hour was being predicted with the race resuming at 00.30hrs.

This left the Number two Audi, driven by Andree Lotterer, leading with a trio of Peugeot’s breathing down his neck.

Related posts:

1. New Audi Le Mans Racer Unleashed
2. Le Mans – You Have to Watch the Audi and Peugeot Battle
3. Audi e-tron Spyder Visits 24 Hours of Le Mans

"

Source : Googel Reader