Hot! The Official Sports Car Racing Thread
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TopspeedPT
Track Technician
Porsche Guy
Kraftkurve King
tristatez28lt1
Tire Trailblazer
24 Hours of Le Mans 2023 Live Stream | FIA WEC Le Mans Full Race
Location: Circuit de la Sarthe 24 Hours of Le Mans 202324 Hours of Le Mans 2023 Live24 Hours of Le Mans 2023 Race2023 24 Hours of Le Mans Full Race2023 24 Ho...
www.youtube.com
Live stream after 5 min the ad disappears. Won’t let me embed though.
Tourbillon
Cornering Kingpin
Absolutely! Ferrari have achieved a definite milestone!
tristatez28lt1
Tire Trailblazer
Beemer B773ER
Tire Trailblazer
I'm interested in your thoughts on how the various hypercars were BOP'ed.
All things considered....
... nah, only joking.
I think given the number of entries now in the top class, and given the top class cars are built to to different rule sets, they did a fairly good job. Even by the time darkness fell the commentators had identified that Ferrari were performing well by virtue of just driving sensibly and staying out of trouble, and despite suspicion Toyota were hobbled by BoP the fact is that they were in solid contention for the win until Ryo span during his last stint.
Mixed conditions no doubt contributed to the running order, but most teams led the race - in the first race in years with a decent field of manufacturers, I think that's probably a result. With the benefit of hindsight, I think probably Ferrari did have a fraction too much pace, and Peugeot could have done with a bit more, but I'm not sure it would really have changed the outcome much.
KiwiRob
Autotechnik Ace
The organisers screwed over Toyota with an additional 37kg of ballast despite them not being fastest in qualifying. I think they handed Ferrari the victory. Hartley did a monster stint overnight and put the Toyota into first then the other two bunnies lost it. Pretty impressed with the Cadillac, they ran a faultless race, no issues and came 3rd & 4th.
I was happy with Kiwi drivers in 2nd, 3rd and 4th. I really wanted to see Hartley get his 4th title.
Toyota won the first three races of the WEC season, also got a 4MJ stint energy boost, taking them to 7MJ per stint more than Ferrari, and are only a net 16kg heavier than the Ferrari, who also got +24kg to slow them down, making them the second heaviest car behind Toyota, heavier than Cadillac, Porsche, Glickenhaus, Peugeot and Vanwall.
It might not be perfect, but it's fairly even handed IMO. The fact there was confusion about the possibility of BoP changes for Le Mans has led people to think the actions have been more sinister than they really are.
I wouldn't have minded had Toyota won, they'd earned it as much as Ferrari and could have done with a win against serious competition to validate some of the 'easier' wins they've had, but on the day Ferrari took it, and I don't think that's a bad thing either.
Penske Porsche being a bit sh!t is probably the biggest surprise to me.
Joelpeyeye
Porsche Perfektionist
KiwiRob
Autotechnik Ace
Not sportscars but its worth a mention, Shane Van Gisbergen won on debut his first NASCAR race in Chicago.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/motor...gisbergen-wins-nascar-series-debut-in-chicago
This is the first time in 60 years for a driver to win NASCAR race on debut.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/motor...gisbergen-wins-nascar-series-debut-in-chicago
This is the first time in 60 years for a driver to win NASCAR race on debut.
Tourbillon
Cornering Kingpin
SVG is obviously a multi-talented driver, but no surprise it comes on a street circuit rather than an oval.
KiwiRob
Autotechnik Ace
It wouldn’t surprise me if he won or took a podium in his first oval race. He’s competitive in every class he’s ever jumped into. He’s far too good to be wasting away driving Supercars in Australia. He needs to leave like Scotty did.
It'd surprise me. Not saying it couldn't happen (a big one with one to go for example) but better drivers have tried and failed. IIRC Ambrose moved to NASCAR from Aussie V8's at about the same time Montoya came from F1 and both of them got their first wins (only wins?) at road courses. Montoya obviously knew how to win on an oval in open wheelers, but lacked the stock car experience... Ambrose was perhaps more at home in a stock car but didn't have the oval experience. I think you need both, and that's perhaps why it doesn't happen - rookie year winners tend to have at least a few races, if not seasons, under their belt in Trucks or the second tier.
*Not suggesting Ambrose was a better driver than SVG, but Montoya probably is/was.
KiwiRob
Autotechnik Ace
SVG is a better driver than Ambrose. It took him 3 years and nearly 90 races before he won the first of his two victories. Most drivers don't get on the podium in there first WRC outing, SVG came 3rd in WRC2, and 9th overall. I wouldn't underestimate his ability to win on an oval, I think he will and fairly quickly.
