2011 STRATEGY - RACE REPORT
Figure 3: Gap in seconds from Audi No 2 to Peugeot No 9 600
540 480 420 360 300 240 180 120 60 0
-60
shows the position at the time of Rockenfeller’s accident. By quadruple-stinting the
tyres and drivers, Audi’s shorter stints (11 laps, compared to Peugeot’s 12) and faster pace were paying dividends. Although both Anthony Davidson (in Peugeot no 7) and Stéphane Sarrazin (no 8) also did quadruple stints, the Audis could consistently maintain a better average lap time, as figure 5 shows.
It is also interesting to note
from figure 5 how different the drivers’ performances were, especially in the Peugeots. I understand, for example, that Peugeot gave Lamy softer tyres for his stint, which he seemed unable to make the most of. It is certainly noticeable how, from 8pm onwards, no Peugeot driver was able to match the average lap times of the drivers from earlier in the race. And in Lamy’s case, those 34 laps were the only ones he was to drive in the race - the rest of the driving was done entirely by Bourdais and Pagenaud. This is probably due to the
Peugeot’s narrower operating window, as explained in the last issue of Racecar Engineering. At the end of Phase One, the Audis were on a charge, capitalising on Peugeot’s sudden lack of pace.
PHASE 2 The safety cars were out for more than 140 minutes to clear up the mess left by Rockenfeller’s crash. When racing resumed, at a little after 1am, the race seemed to turn back towards Peugeot. Firstly, it is worth pointing out
that the French manufacturer did not (yet) try to take advantage of the fact that they had all three of their cars running, all of which were still on the same lap as the leader. A shrewd team manager might have considered deliberately changing the strategy
Pit stop time
No of stops
Comments
of one of the team cars, to see if it might gain an advantage on the now singleton Audi.
In fact, Olivier Quesnel and Bruno Famin kept to ‘Plan A’ – 12 laps per stint, quadruple stints from Sarrazin, Pagenaud and Davidson, but only triples from
Figure 4: pit stop summary at 22:36 (116 laps) Pos No Car
8 2 Audi R18 8 1 Audi R18
9m 46.0s 10 Two driver / tyre changes 10m 08.1s 10 Two driver / tyre changes (replaced nose section)
9 7 Peugeot 908 9m 22.4s 9 Three driver / tyre changes 7 8 Peugeot 908 12m 13.3s 9 Three driver / tyre changes (brake balance issues) 2 9 Peugeot 908 9m 40.7s 9 Three driver / tyre changes
Figure 5: average lap time analysis, Phase 1 No Driver Car
Average lap time
1 Bernhard Audi R18 1
Dumas Audi R18
1 Rockenfeller Audi R18 2 Tréluyer Audi R18 2
Fässler Audi R18
2 Lotterer Audi R18 7
3m 33.1s 3m 33.5s 3m 33.0s 3m 31.9s 3m 33.4s 3m 32.0s
Wurz Peugeot 908 3m 32.8s
7 Davidson Peugeot 908 3m 33.4s 7
Gene Peugeot 908 3m 35.1s
8 Montagny Peugeot 908 3m 34.8s 8 Sarrazin Peugeot 908 3m 33.4s 8 Minassian Peugeot 908 3m 35.6s 9 Bourdais Peugeot 908 3m 33.2s 9 Pagenaud Peugeot 908 3m 34.5s 9
Lamy Peugeot 908 3m 35.8s
No of laps
Light Drizzle
1 11 21 31 41 51 61 71 81 91 101 111 121 131 141 151 161 171 181 191 201 211 221 231 241 251 261 271 281 291 301 311 321 331 341 351
Comments
16 Two ‘green’ stints, from 15:00-15:31 44 Four ‘green’ stints, from 17:36-20:15 39 Four ‘green’ stints, from 20:16-22:37 32 Three ‘green’ stints, from 15:00 - 18:28 44 Four ‘green’ stints, from 18:29-21:08 21 Two ‘green’ stints, from 21:09-22:25 23 Two ‘green’ stints, from 15:00-17:59 48 Four ‘green’ stints, from 18:00-20:54 24 Two ‘green’ stints, from 20:55-22:22 10 1 ‘green’ stint, from 15:00-15:35 36 Three ‘green’ stints, from 16:50-19:49 36 Three ‘green’ stints, from 19:51-22:02 23 Two ‘green’ stints, from 15:00-17:55 36 Three ‘green’ stints, from 17:57-20:07 34 Three ‘green’ stints, from 20:09-22:13
Le Mans •
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