2011 24 Hours of Le Mans, LMS and ALMS news.

[henk4]

Aston Martin wins its first LMP1 race at Mid-Ohio.
This is more than a surprise because I clearly saw that during one of the stops the mechanisca and the fuel filler were workingat the same time...

[Chernaudi]

They were supposed to get either a stop and go or a 20 second penalty for some pit road violation but I don't know if it was ever issued, and it didn't matter, as Graf just wiped the floor with Dyson in the rain.

[RacingManiac]

Aston Martin wins its first LMP1 race at Mid-Ohio.
This is more than a surprise because I clearly saw that during one of the stops the mechanisca and the fuel filler were workingat the same time...

Really? This was their first win? I thought they've won another race this year before....

[henk4]

Really? This was their first win? I thought they've won another race this year before....

I was already told that they did win earlier races, but there were some Dutch commentators on Motors TV which led me to believe that Dyson had won everything sofar in ALMS
Anyway, there was at least one win in LMES for a factory car in 2009 IIRC.

[Dino Scuderia]

Before the Mid Ohio race, Dyson was leading in points over the Aston team 82 to 56. I don't know how many points was awarded this race...but with Dyson finishing second they are probably pretty close.

My first trip to Mid Ohio...it's a good track for action...and way easier to walk around than Road Atlanta. The paddock is huge and easily handled all the ALMS bunch with Indy being there also.

[henk4]

Before the Mid Ohio race, Dyson was leading in points over the Aston team 82 to 56. I don't know how many points was awarded this race...but with Dyson finishing second they are probably pretty close.

My first trip to Mid Ohio...it's a good track for action...and way easier to walk around than Road Atlanta. The paddock is huge and easily handled all the ALMS bunch with Indy being there also.

got some time to use the camera?

[Dino Scuderia]

got some time to use the camera?

Not as much as I usually take.. but have some I can post up later.

[RacingManiac]

Mike Rockenfeller on his crash at Le Mans from Autosport:

Mike Rockenfeller survived one of the Le Mans 24 Hours' biggest accidents in recent memory this June, when his Audi R18 was clipped while passing a slower car on the flat-out run to Indianapolis in the middle of the night.

He was lucky to escape with no serious injuries, and just three weeks later he was back in the cockpit to race in the DTM at the Norisring.

But the journey the 27-year-old German went on between the moment he decided to go for the small gap to the right of Rob Kauffman's Ferrari and the condition he is in now has been a remarkable one.

Understandably, Rockenfeller hasn't been shouting from the rooftops about what he's gone through. But here, in his own words, he shares his story – or at least what he remembers of it – with AUTOSPORT.

The Crash

I was having a good run in my stint leading up to the crash. We had good speed, a good rhythm.

I was catching people – we were P4 or P5 when I got in the car because we'd had a couple of problems, and I think I had us up to P2. I was really pushing, and it was good fun.

After three more laps I would have been out of the car, because we were due a driver change. So then to be in a crash like that...

I do remember the crash. I saw it; I know what happened.

If you watch the footage of my onboard camera – I've watched it again on YouTube – you see me go to the inside, and then Kauffman starts turning.


But many guys do that because they misjudge the width of the car. So I thought, 'okay, this will be tight', but I kept it flat.

Then I got alongside him, and he came across even more.

Then when I was almost in front he was still coming across, he touched me on the rear and my car turned 90 degrees at over 185mph.

It was a head-on hit, but the car turned as it hit the wall. If it was a proper head-on hit, there’s no chance I could be here as I am now.

If you hit the guardrail head-on at those speeds you go through it – you cannot build anything strong enough to withstand that impact.

But because the car turned as it hit the barrier, it absorbed some of the impact and then I went across to the other side of the track.

When you see all the parts that were missing from the car, you realise how much of the energy was absorbed and that was really helpful.

But imagine what it was like for my team-mate, Andre Lotterer. The safety car comes out in the middle of the night, you drive through the scene of the accident, you see pieces everywhere.

Then you see what's left of the car – it was not a big piece by this point, and you ask who it is and if he's olay.

But the team didn't know. Everyone was shocked. All they said to him was, 'It's Rocky, but we don't know [if he is okay] yet'.

If they say he is okay you can forget about it and focus on your race. But when you see it up close, and they say they don't know how the guy is, then you really start to worry.


Few knew of Rockenfeller's state as he was taken away by ambulance © LAT
The Aftermath

In the first moments after the crash I think I was unconscious, then I came round… I don't know.

I jumped out, and when I was on the grass behind the guardrail I didn't know where I was, if my parents were there, anything. I was a little bit dizzy.

What else happened after the impact? I don't know. Let's say for half an hour I was not really there.

I didn't even look at the car to see how it was, or even where it was!

Everything was hurting so bad at that point. I was really scared about my neck. But when the doctors scanned it they said it was fine – phew!

After 15-20 minutes I had my memory back. When I got to the medical centre I told the people there what had happened, so at that moment I knew exactly what went on.

But then in the hospital that night I watched it on the doctor's computer on YouTube.

At that time I wasn't sure if I knew what had happened because I'd seen it again or because I'd been through it. But I'm sure now, because I told the doctors everything.

When I went to bed that night they took my neck brace off and put some ice on me.

I had a bad headache, and everything was hurting. So I knew it was going to take a while to get everything back to normal.

The Recovery

My main concern in the days after the crash was my concussion.

I had bruises, and my ribs were hurting a little bit. My back and neck were stiff, which was not ideal, but the main thing was my head.

It's so hard to know when it is good and when it's not.

Every doctor I spoke to, even ones not associated with Audi, told me there was no way I could race in the DTM at Lausitz the week after the crash.

Even if the scan says everything is fine, they said no way. And I have to say, I was thinking maybe I could do it.

But then on the Saturday of the Lausitz weekend I drove to my friend Dirk Muller's house. He lives about 10 minutes from me, and he is building a new house.


Wolfgang Ullrich, Reinhold Joest and Norbert Singer discuss the crash at Audi's pit © LAT
I wanted to get out of my house and do something for the first time, so I went to take a look. I couldn't spend another day in bed or on the couch.

So I took my car to go to see him. Already, on the way there, I didn't feel well.

I wasn't dizzy, and I tried to accelerate just to see how it was. And everything was a little bit… well, like you have a concussion!

When I drove back I was really tired. It was just too much. So then I knew there was no way I could have been back in a car and racing that weekend.

And I started wondering if it was going to carry on like that.

I had two or three bad days again, where I had a headache and I didn't feel so good. So I took things easy, didn't do any sport or anything like that.

Then a week later I went for a small run in the morning and I felt okay. I spent some time in the sun to see how my head was.

On the Monday I went for a brain scan and it was fine, then on Tuesday I did a reaction test and that was fine, too.

On the Wednesday I went karting and there were no problems. I could focus, my laptimes were good, my reactions were good.

So I said, 'okay, I'm fine' and went to the Norisring for the DTM.

Tom Kristensen said after his bad crash in 2007 that the DTM car was really hard to go back to because it's so loud and there is not much airflow into the cockpit.

He always managed better with the open-top sportscar. I know what he meant, but for me there was no problem in the DTM car.

I never went out and had a headache or anything. It was really easy, so I think I'm very lucky.

Maybe there was something you don't even know about; maybe that's why I was two tenths off that weekend. Who knows? But I was okay.

Reflections

I still don't know how you can be so unlucky for a backmarker to misjudge things so badly.


And Kaufmann never called me in the days after the crash, which is a shame. I wouldn't do it like that.

I don't have a problem with amateur drivers – I have even won the GT2 class at Le Mans with an amateur driver as a team-mate.

The only thing I can say is that you have to drive with the mentality that you respect the whole event and what you are doing.

If you are 10 seconds off the pace in your class, in my opinion you should take the attitude to lose 11 seconds in one lap to make sure you're not in the way of the professional guys who are fighting for the lead in teams that spend millions to be there.

The gentleman drivers I have raced with in the past would rather put themselves on the grass than get in the way of somebody.

Everyone has to take care. If you take the risk yourself in the quicker car, you know it can go wrong at Le Mans.

Sometimes you have bad luck, it happens. But for me it was out of the blue, it came from nowhere.

I hear that he said he did nothing wrong, he kept his line. What he meant was that the slower guys are told to hold their line and it's up to us to find a way through.

But if there is a guy coming up fast behind you, then you can stay wide and there is room for two cars.

If you are alone, then for sure you cut the kink like he did. I can only assume that with the bright lights on our car, he misjudged it.


He made his comeback in the DTM at the Norisring © LAT
It's the only reason I can imagine, because if you watch the race, you will see so many overtakes there with no time loss.

Audi had a camera crew at Le Mans making a film of the 24 Hours. I saw it for the first time at the Norisring, and it gave me goosebumps.

You see the reaction of the guys in the garage, and of Andre in the other car.

It was very emotional – it doesn't help that the guys do such a good job with the background music!

It was hard to watch, and by the end I was breathing pretty heavily. Le Mans is always very emotional.

It's a race you always want to win yourself, but we all push to squeeze everything out of the car.

We worked hard together on this car, and to get that success at Le Mans – even if it is not your car – is an amazing feeling.

Especially if you've been in a crash like mine…

I still agree with him that Kaufman was at fault, whether you agree with that or not though, the fact that being the other side of the involved party and not even cared enough to contact him was seriously low....

[Chernaudi]

United Autosport's LMP2 contender is...an OAK Pescarolo with a Judd/BMW V8. The car us supposed to be entered for Petit Le Mans.

[Dino Scuderia]

ALMS @ Road America tomorrow on ESPN3.

4 hour endurance starting at 3:45pm EST.

Looking forward to the GT battle.

Ferrari was fastest yesterday in practice but I'm sure the Risi team will find a way to screw it all to hell....they've been a horrible team all year.

Maybe we'll get a better picture of the performance balancing that debuted last week at Mid Ohio.

[Dino Scuderia]

Track map of new Boston course for ALMS(and Indy).

Not a fan of most street courses.

http://baltimoregrandprix.com/pdf/track_map.pdf

[RacingManiac]

I am surprise they have this....(its Baltimore BTW), I guess the last time they had a ALMS in DC area it drew enough fan that they figure they should try again....

[Dino Scuderia]

"The No. 10 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP will return to racing at Road Atlanta for a 1000-mile event.

Winners at the 12 Hours of Sebring last March and 5th at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Team ORECA-Matmut will concentrate on Petit Le Mans for the end of the 2011 season.

"This decision was not easy to make," explains Hugues de Chaunac. "It was taken for a number of reasons. Among others, we have strategic choices to make concerning the 2012 season. We prefer to focus our energy into preparing our future programs."

Team ORECA-Matmut will be at this year's Petit Le Mans, an event in which the team competed in 2009, finishing 5th with the ORECA 01. "It's a special event for us" says Hugues de Chaunac. "In 2009, Petit Le Mans was an important step in our progress. Today, because of its format, 1000 miles, and how it leaves a lot of room for strategy, it's a race that fits our team and the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP. What's more, everyone is aware of our attraction to the U.S. and the American style of racing…"

Nicolas Lapierre will return to the cockpit of the Team ORECA-Matmut Peugeot 908 HDi FAP. With Loïc Duval busy with a previous engagement in SUPER GT, Nicolas will be joined by two new teammates. This new driving squad will be announced during the month of September."

Road Atlanta

[RacingManiac]

Hooray....I am pretty psyched about this...finally I'll be going to PLM...

[Dino Scuderia]

ALMS Baltimore

Revised schedule is out - 75-minute #ALMS practice from 1:20-2:35p today. Qualifying from 5:05-5:55p.

Qualy today on ESPN3.