By Johan Laubscher
The 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours was once again a factory showdown between
Audi and Toyota in LMP1. Audi returned with a three-car team and Toyota with
two cars. Heading to Le Mans Audi had been unbeaten so far during 2013, after
beating Toyota at Silverstone and Spa.
The Audi Sport Team Joest squad consisted of three Audi R18 e-tron
quattro cars driven by: #1 Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Treluyer;
#2 Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Loïc Duval and #3 Marc Gené, Lucas di Grassi
and Oliver Jarvis.
The teams arrived at the Test Day and Audi clearly showed their pace, but the Toyota was expected to have a fuel consumption advantage. Thus a classic Le Mans scenario arose, that of a faster car versus a more frugal car. The ultimate outcome was anyone’s guess.
The teams arrived at the Test Day and Audi clearly showed their pace, but the Toyota was expected to have a fuel consumption advantage. Thus a classic Le Mans scenario arose, that of a faster car versus a more frugal car. The ultimate outcome was anyone’s guess.
Race week saw Audi’s pace continue, dominating all of the sessions and
securing an Audi 1-2-3 in qualifying. The pole position was set by Loïc Duval
in the #2 Audi. However Toyota did top the Saturday morning warm up session,
and thoughts turned to the speed vs fuel consumption question.
The race itself got underway in changeable conditions, and the #1 Audi took the lead pursued by two Toyotas who had moved up to second and third. An intense battle developed in the early minutes, which was brought to a halt by the first safety car session. Allan Simonsen suffered a severe crash in his Aston Martin at the exit of Tertre Rouge. Later the tragic news emerged that Simonsen had passed away. An enormous reception of tributes appeared on the world wide web, showing the impact of Simonsen’s passing. He was a very popular international GT driver and he will be sorely missed by everyone, R.I.P. Allan Simonsen (1978-2013).
The race itself got underway in changeable conditions, and the #1 Audi took the lead pursued by two Toyotas who had moved up to second and third. An intense battle developed in the early minutes, which was brought to a halt by the first safety car session. Allan Simonsen suffered a severe crash in his Aston Martin at the exit of Tertre Rouge. Later the tragic news emerged that Simonsen had passed away. An enormous reception of tributes appeared on the world wide web, showing the impact of Simonsen’s passing. He was a very popular international GT driver and he will be sorely missed by everyone, R.I.P. Allan Simonsen (1978-2013).
It became clear that Audi had the pace in the dry, and that Toyota had
very good pace when it became wet. A gap of almost a lap, round about two and a
half minutes, eventually stabilised as the conditions seesawed between wet and
dry, and also with many hours spent under safety car procedures. By the morning the
running order in the top four had remained as the #2 Audi from the two Toyotas and
the #3 Audi in fourth. The #1 Audi had completed a very good recovery drive and
made it up to fifth overall, after unfortunate problems befell the other
privateer LMP1 runners.
Photo credit: Audi Sport Communication / Media