24 Hours of Le Mans: Duel under the sun
24 HOURS LE MANS Toyota (with Sébastien Buemi) will start from the front row on Saturday at 3pm, Porsche (with Neel Jani) from the second row. This does not mean anything for the race. The decisive factor could be the heat expected for the weekend. The fact that Toyota will be faster on one lap at Le Mans this year than [...]
The fact that Toyota will be faster than Porsche on one lap at Le Mans this year was expected based on the first two endurance races in 2017. Nevertheless, Kamui Kobayashi's record lap in qualifying was a sensation.
The former Sauber F1 driver set an absolute record lap on a completely clear track - something that rarely happens at Le Mans. With an average of 251.7 km/h for the 13.629 km long Circuit de la Sarthe, he obliterated the training record held by Hans-Joachim Stuck in a Porsche 962C since 1985. Back then, there were no braking chicanes on the notorious straight of Les Hunaudières (a country road with speeds of over 400 km/h)...
The second Toyota with Sébastien Buemi will also start from row 1 on Saturday at 3pm (live on Eurosport) in the race, which is being held for the 85th time since 1923.
Behind them are the two Porsche 919 Hybrids, with Neel Jani setting the fastest lap within the team. Last year's winner achieved pole position in 2015 and 2016, but can now live with third place on the grid. Especially as he is optimistic about the only factor that the teams cannot influence despite all the effort they put into preparing for the multi-million euro adventure: the weather.
Heatwave for the two race days
Temperatures of more than 30 degrees are forecast for Saturday and Sunday in the Sarthe region. It has never been this hot and absolutely dry during the entire event for more than ten years.
"It's not so bad for us drivers, but the technology of our already very complex cars will suffer," predicts Neel Jani. The hybrid systems with their batteries, like other vehicle components, will reach their load limits (threat of overheating) even sooner over the long distance due to this factor. "We will therefore probably be much closer to Toyota than we were before," Jani believes and hopes: "It is quite possible that reliability will again tip the scales in our favor in the end."
If the outside temperatures reach more than 32 degrees, Toyota will also be forced to change strategy. According to the regulations, drivers whose cars do not have air conditioning or special ventilation (as is the case with Porsche) may be at the wheel for a maximum of 80 minutes. After that, they have to change. Although this does not cost any additional time during refueling, it does have an impact on the rhythm of a driver team. Drivers usually stay behind the wheel for up to four hours. So it will be exciting.
Will a Swiss driver finish on the LMP2 podium?
In the LMP2 class, which with 25 cars is the strongest in the field, four of the five Swiss drivers are in an excellent starting position. Simon Trummer's sports car will start from the front row, fourth in the entire field. The two Vaillante Rebellions running under the Swiss flag follow in 4th and 5th place (where Geneva's Mathias Beche will be driving). The car with Jonathan Hirschi, Trummer's team-mate at Manor Racing (ex-Formula 1), follows in sixth place on the grid. The trio with Le Mans newcomer Hugo de Sadeleer will start the race from 21st on the grid (15th LMP2) with his Ligier.
The cars of the four better-placed Swiss drivers are the Oreca 07 model, which are equipped with standardized Gibson V8 engines (around 600 hp). A comparison of times shows just how fast these smaller Le Mans prototypes have become: Vitaly Petrov's best practice time in 2011 would have been enough for first place on the grid for the entire field.
Marcel Fässler is in good spirits
Back then, Marcel Fässler took his first victory out of three with Audi. This year, the man from Schwyz is driving for Corvette Racing in the GTE-Pro class, as he last did at Le Mans in 2009. The power density among the five manufacturers Aston Martin, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Ford and Porsche is phenomenal with seven of the 13 cars within 1.2 seconds of each other.
This is precisely why Fässler, whose Corvette C7.R starts from 10th on the grid, is looking forward to this new challenge: "Everything is open for us, the decision will only be made over the distance."
On Sunday at 3 p.m. we will know them.
