2018 24 Hours of Le Mans - Toyota on Pole Position
- Thread starter Paul Jeffrey
- Start date
The power of Rothmans
I don't think we do not like dominant performances, (perhaps, with the coming of age of the"participation trophy" generation this is so...), but it is how the domination occurs. Another poster mentioned the Audi R8. And he was right/wrong. The last two years Joest raced against other teams fielding Audi's and one Pescalaro. Prior to that there were fairly healthy fields against the Audi and as far as I know there was not BoP holding the rest of the field back. (Call it what you want, EoT is BoP everywhere but the ACO).
I think this is what is bothering most of us. It seems as if the ACO/FIA are making it hard for lesser funded teams to be truly competitive. All I care about is that the cars are going to race to the end. If the race is like Spa this will not happen as Toyota will have been handed the race due to the BoP.
No one wants to watch a pre-scripted parade of cars for 24 hours.
As apparently some people need reminding what real domination looks like:
2000: Audi wins with 24 laps margin over the next non-manufacturer privateer, 3 Audi's at the front, 24 laps is more than 1 hour difference.
2001: Audi wins with 15 laps margin over fellow VAG group Bentley, first privateer finishes 23 laps down
2002: Audi wins with 13 lap margin over Bentley (VAG), and 16 laps over the first privateer
2003: Bentley (Audi or at the very least a closed Audi prototype) wins with 5 laps over the privateer Audi R8 but 17 laps margin over the first non VAG group car
2004: Audi wins with 18 lap margin over the first non manufacturer privateer
2005: Audi wins with 2 lap margin over a very much promoted privateer Pescarolo running a lot more free than the manufacturer, yet Audi was never even challenged as they didn't suffer the overheating Pesca had that year.
2006: Audi wins with 4 lap margin with the all new R10 (in development so called) over the first privateer Pescarolo who was even more boosted than the year before.
2007: Audi wins with 10 lap margin over the next diesel prototype, the new 908 HDI.
Just showing how 1-2 seconds per lap in quali of Toyota now isn't even close to the easy wins Audi had in those years. And we're not even sure Toyota is going to win, they're just prime suspects to win.
2000: Audi wins with 24 laps margin over the next non-manufacturer privateer, 3 Audi's at the front, 24 laps is more than 1 hour difference.
2001: Audi wins with 15 laps margin over fellow VAG group Bentley, first privateer finishes 23 laps down
2002: Audi wins with 13 lap margin over Bentley (VAG), and 16 laps over the first privateer
2003: Bentley (Audi or at the very least a closed Audi prototype) wins with 5 laps over the privateer Audi R8 but 17 laps margin over the first non VAG group car
2004: Audi wins with 18 lap margin over the first non manufacturer privateer
2005: Audi wins with 2 lap margin over a very much promoted privateer Pescarolo running a lot more free than the manufacturer, yet Audi was never even challenged as they didn't suffer the overheating Pesca had that year.
2006: Audi wins with 4 lap margin with the all new R10 (in development so called) over the first privateer Pescarolo who was even more boosted than the year before.
2007: Audi wins with 10 lap margin over the next diesel prototype, the new 908 HDI.
Just showing how 1-2 seconds per lap in quali of Toyota now isn't even close to the easy wins Audi had in those years. And we're not even sure Toyota is going to win, they're just prime suspects to win.
So many things can happen in 24 hours...
That's how kids brains work, they root for the best, most popular, favorite to win, the champion etc.
Nothing has really changed in that regard.
The probability of Toyota not finishing the race is high. They have had many reliability issues in recent years.
Agreed, I still believe not running a 3rd car is a bad idea.
