FLRacingFan
Team Owner
Six hours of running on test day today.
2024 24 Hours of Le Mans
- Thread starter FLRacingFan
- Start date
FLRacingFan
Team Owner
Entry list:
Still surreal to see 23 entries and 9 different cars in the top class.
Still surreal to see 23 entries and 9 different cars in the top class.
FLRacingFan
Team Owner
Penske Porsches fast early - three of the top four times today.
Doc Austin
Back From The Dead
Can't wait to see who gets the hyperpole!
Doc Austin
Back From The Dead
Doc Austin
Back From The Dead
Anybody know the scoop on this car? Is it the fat Turbo with green added?
Doc Austin
Back From The Dead
My bad. That is the Proton and it appears to still be Fat Turbo. That's a bit of a different scheme for the Fat.
FLRacingFan
Team Owner
Yep - the livery they ran the first few races this season was tribute to the 1994 Le Mans-winning Dauer 962. They went to highlighter green trim this week for the 1991 Rolex 24 winner Joest 962.
FLRacingFan
Team Owner
FLRacingFan
Team Owner
One-hour qualifying session is not enough, imo…although it was a fun session to watch, not long enough for a lap this long with as much traffic as there was. However, some really impressive performances, particularly BMW going provisional pole with Dries Vanthoor at the wheel. Also good to see one of the Proton Mustangs show speed and go quickest in LMGT3.
Doc Austin
Back From The Dead
Didn't expect BMW to be even remotely competitive, but there it is. Also surprised Porsche isn't ahead. Utterly delighter the Caddy is showing some speed.
FLRacingFan
Team Owner
Think Porsche is still really good on race pace. Also cautiously optimistic about the Cadillacs. Derani was also set to put all three of them in Hyperpole with a huge flying lap of his own at the very end before getting balked by traffic.
Ilott just stuffed the #12 in the barriers at Tetre Rouge at the very end of night practice. Looks big.
Doc Austin
Back From The Dead
Unless I missed one, all the hypercar manufactures except Isota and Peugeot made it into hyperpole qualifying. All eight cars are within 0.7 seconds. Lemans is roughly twice as long as all the other WEC courses, so over double the distance that's a fairly small margin.
It's also pretty sweet that the fastest Ferrari was the privateer car!
It's also pretty sweet that the fastest Ferrari was the privateer car!
Doc Austin
Back From The Dead
Anyone want to make a prediction for hyperpole? I'm gonna have to go with one of the Penske Porsches.
FLRacingFan
Team Owner
Hypercar - Fuoco puts the #50 Ferrari on pole again
LMP2 - #14 AO, aka ‘Spike’
LMGT3 - #70 Inception McLaren
Doc Austin
Back From The Dead
Looks like Jota #2 is getting a new tub: https://www.dailysportscar.com/2024...ce-replacement-chassis-after-ilott-crash.html
Looks like the new tub is coming from Penske. Why doesn't Porsche have enough tubs and spares to go around?
Looks like the new tub is coming from Penske. Why doesn't Porsche have enough tubs and spares to go around?
FLRacingFan
Team Owner
You don’t often need a whole new tub really, especially on site. Spares inventories are mostly all the chassis components and bodywork they build up on top of it.
FLRacingFan
Team Owner
Still not super convinced they have the reliability for 24 hours, but they’ve been pretty quick this week and if they can do this during the race it could end up saving a stop or two.
Doc Austin
Back From The Dead
Alpine is looking like a great dark horse. I hope they bring that car here next year too.
FLRacingFan
Team Owner
I think Porsche/Cadillac/Toyota/Ferrari are the pretty clear top four in any order, but BMW and Alpine are interesting sleepers for being in their first year here.
Doc Austin
Back From The Dead
Lambo could spring a surprise too. They were on the lead lap at Sebring, so they are not that far off. If they can have a clean race, they could be in there at the end.
Kiante
Team Owner
Kinda been teased in France, so I'll post it here:
Doc Austin
Back From The Dead
I sure hope Jota finds a good home for it's 963s.
Doc Austin
Back From The Dead
Sorry. That didn't work.
Kiante
Team Owner
That was a hell of a session. I don't think Estre was in track limits, but they let it fly.
FLRacingFan
Team Owner
FLRacingFan
Team Owner
Penske taking pole for the Daytona 500, Indy 500, and Le Mans 24 in one calendar year is absolutely insane. Best race team on the planet right now.
Doc Austin
Back From The Dead
The yellow Caddy has had so much bad luck the last two years that they are my favorites.
Kiante
Team Owner
Having Deletraz in an LMP2 at this point is a cheat code.
Zerkfitting
Team Owner
Are there any Garage 56 cars this year?
FLRacingFan
Team Owner
Not this year. They’re kinda fewer and farther between these days…last year’s was only the second since 2016. I suspect if we get one again within the next few years it’ll be something hydrogen-related.
Doc Austin
Back From The Dead
Kiante
Team Owner
Yes, GTPs and Hypercars are out on track together. Action Express, Penske, and Ganassi have their respected GTPs in the field.
Kiante
Team Owner
LMP2 is going to be movie:
FLRacingFan
Team Owner
Lots of heavy hitters. A pretty decent amount of rain forecasted for the back half of the race, so it’ll be interesting to see how LMP2/LMGT3 teams manage getting the bulk of their Am driver times in before the bad stuff.
Doc Austin
Back From The Dead
P2 is a very sadly underrated class. Before hypercar, they were the only reason to watch WEC.
FLRacingFan
Team Owner
Action Express Caddy made it past the first chicane this year 
Doc Austin
Back From The Dead
Damm, I hope we're not in for 24 hours of this. This s bonkers.
Kiante
Team Owner
Pipo will drive all 24 hours if he has to. Lol.Action Express Caddy made it past the first chicane this year