In fact not really or maybe some french from 1600s...nice google failure ^^
btw Romain Dumas is probably the best endurance racer, as he is human he has just made an error. McNish has crashed an Audi again, really racing without brain ! He has also clipped another car that tv didn't seen.
Predicted optimum pace to be in the 34s, ran with open diff, and could go on the same set of tires for 10 stints at 11 laps a stint as they were unsure of finishing lap 12.
This week end it's Le Mans Classic! Amazing to see so many GT40's, 917, 908 (Porsche's one but the Peugeot is still in LM24 museum), those Bentley 'Tank', Ferrari GTO and BB512! Only Matra V12 is missing
I read that there was concern about availability of LMP1 chassis for privateers after 2013, maybe thats what Oreca aims at (Lola is bankrupt, and those older Pescarolo chassis are too wide for next years regs)
Oreca is of course the best bet since they already provide most of the LMP2 field and have capabilities to do it for LMP1 too, but they have sort of indicated that they have happy and too busy with Toyota.
Oktanas Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (team chef is Karolis[Lt] father if you remember such person) won in a final lap, almost got owned by BMW M6.
Fastest car on the track of BOD-Bauer Aquilla CR1 LS7 spent 45+ laps in pits because of overheated brakes which cost them a win, which in the beggining, was considered to be inevitable (lapped whole grid after 5 laps or so)
BTW, Karl Raudsepp's of Savage Simsports "Erki Racing Team" finished 7th overall!
Oreca is using for its Oreca 03 the "old" Courage LC75's one. They have lot of improvment on the Oreca 03 but the LMPC car is a Courage with Chevy engine and shock absorber from PKM. LMP1 is a different stuff than LMP2 and tbh no privateer is made for it. I mean only a work factory team can compete on it. As every other racing category where constructor are allowed and where there is a technical regulation (not based on any BoP), a privateer cannot win because it has such a poor budget compared to factory team.
A privateer could have win in LM2002 maybe but not in 2012 when you see Audi weapons at Le Mans. The thing is Peugeot vs Audi was so hard (+diesel regulation) that privateer were really outdated!
That looks like a brilliant track, probably not up to FIA standard and a little narrow in places, but it looks fantastic. It's a shame I missed the race, I'm going to be keeping an eye out for it on the usual motorsport torrent sites.