11th consecutive overall win and a win in every class - Michelin definitely succeeded in 2008
3 Hours
6 Hours
12 Hours
18 Hours
24 Hours
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3 Hours
After a thunderous start by the Peugeots, whose drivers were really shaking up the lap times, the teams have settled into cruising speed. After dominating the early stages the Peugeot 908 Hdi_FAP's gave way to to the number 2 Audi, whose Capello-Kristensen-McNish driver line-up ended the third hour leading from the number 7 Gene-Minassian-Villeneuve Peugeot 908. The number 9 Peugeot of Zonta-Montagny-Klien was lying third. In the LMP2 class the number 34 Porsche RS Spyder with Van Merkesteijhn at the wheel was leading the way. In GT1 the 009 Aston Martin was bowling along in front with the Salo-Melo-Bruni Ferrari F430 GT leading the GT2 class.
So Michelin had the lead in all four classes, much to the delight of Michelin's 4-wheel competition manager Matthieu Bonardel. " We're quite happy for the time being, " he said. " We're keeping a close eye on the double stints the prototypes are doing. The Ferraris and Corvettes are also double-stinting in GT1 and GT2, so things are panning out the way we expected. "
Are the track conditons as good as you anticipated ? " They are pretty tough, but that's always the case at the start of the race. There isn't a lot of grip because there isn't much rubber down yet. The teams are upping the pace and the grip is not what it might be. The tyres are wearing because it's pretty slippery. But the cars are double-stinting, so that's a good sign. Still, it's worth noting the large number of micro-punctures caused by stones and debris on the track after the various offs. Normally that type of thing happens later in the race, after nightfall, so it's a little bit of a setback. Punctures of that kind are picked up by the sensors and there's no safety issue, but it will have some effect on strategy. "
They took off in warm sunshine - what effect is that likely to have on tyre performance ?
" We're in the 30-degree zone, just like first qualifying on Wednesday evening. For the time being the teams are using the medium or medium-hard tyres. In terms of performance it's very satisfying to see that Michelin is leading the way in all of the different classes where we are supplying identical cars to our competitors, "
6 Hours
With six hours of the race gone there is a fierce battle raging on the Sarthe circuit and a tremendous atmosphere on and off the track. Among the rototypes the Peugeot-Audi duel continues while the number 5 Courage-Oreca, the number 17 Pescarolo and the number 11 Dome are some way off the leaders but ready to pounce on any slip-up from the front-running diesels.
The number 9 Montagny-Klien-Zonta Peugeot 908 slipped into the race lead at 9 pm, relegating the Villeneuve-Gene-Minassian number 7 car to second place again. With the three Audis next. The number 8 Wurz-Sarrazin-Lamy Peugeot meanwhile was fighting its way back through the field after a long stay in the pits to have a faulty gear selector repaired. Porsche number 31 was leading the LMP2 pack, while the David Brabham-driven Aston 009 was being chased by Corvette duo Magnussen and Papis in GT1 and the Melo-Salo-Bruni Ferrari Modena was looking very sprightly in GT2.
As the light faded and the temperature dropped, there was confidence in the Michelin camp about the way the tyres were standing up as the technicians adapted to the tams' decision to run multiple stints, as Michelin's 4-wheel competition manager Matthieu Bonardel explains.
"Things have changed a bit in LMP1. The diesels are still double-stinting - they are happy with the consistency and balance from the medium tyres. It wil be some time before they switch to softs. As for the petrol prototypes, Pescarolo and Dome have been working on three stints for some time already, and Oreca have followed suit, albeit with one difference : Oreca have switched to softs. These teams' third stint is a little slower than the first two, but they balance that out with one fewer visit to the pits."
Do you think we might see the diesels doing triple stints?
"It's possible, it's at the back of people's minds and I don't think we will have to wait till morning to see it happen, given the ferocity of the Peugeot-Audi fight. And as soon as one goes past the other, the tacticians start scratching their heads--"
In general terms when do the teams start thinking about soft tyres?
"At the moment the track temperature is 26, so the switch to softs probably won't happen till around 11 pm or midnight. Then they will all stay on those till about 8 or 9 in the morning."
The tyres stood to the test well in changeable conditions
12 Hours
Night has fallen on the Le Mans 24-Hours circuit, and as always the drivers have had to re-adjust and inevitably some have been caught out. At midnight, with the number 7 Minassian-Gene-Villeneuve Peugeot out in front from the McNish-Kristensen-Capello Audi, the race was neutralised following the accident involving the Courage-Oreca driven by Marcel Fassler. The field g ot back to racing after 23 minutes under the Safety Car. At one in the morning the number 7 Peugeot still led from the number 2 Audi. In third place came the Klien-Montagny- Zonta number 9 Peugeot ahead of the other two four-ringed prototypes. Some way back was the Treluyer - Tinseau-Premat Pescarolo from the number 5 Courage-Oreca. At two o'clock the order was unchanged : Gene's number 7 Peugeot was still skipping away from the number 2 Audi, while the two other Audis were giving chase to the Montagny-Klien-Zonta Peugeot 908. At three, still no change and Michelin was still ahead in all four classes.
Every reason, then, for Michelin and their 4-wheel competition manager Matthieu Bonardel to feel happy with their work so far. "At last we've managed to get in the long runs that we missed out on in practice, " he said. "And what they have shown us is that double-stinting is fine for the GT cars, and some of them, like the Ferrari in GT2 and the GT1 Astons, have really got on with it. In fact things are going better in GT than in previous years and this year's performance level is also up. In LMP2, as the night wore on they switched from medium tyres to soft, and the Michelins made it possible to run double and even triple stints. We've had very positive feedback from the teams on the balance and performance lap after lap. As for the LMP1's, they all started on mediums and then switched to softs. The petrol prototypes were soon doing triple stints, with no performance drop-off at the end of the third one. Among the diesels, Audi decided to stay with two stints and Pedro Lamy in the number 8 Peugeot even managed to take it out to three."
Despite all that, are there any little worries ?
"Very early on we had some little punctures, which was very frustrating, but on the other hand we didn't get the usual flood of them around midnight. We can put up with these annoying little things, and they didn't lose the teams much time or cause any safety issues for the crews. "
Stil some concerns, though, notably with the weather ?
"That's true -- what will happen when the temperature drops even further ? At half-distance track temperature was 16 degrees ; we expect it to go down another 4 or 5 degrees in the coming hours, and that's not exactly the ideal performance window for soft tyres. We're heading into uncharted territory a little bit, and of course we've got one eye firmly fixed on the weather forecast, wodering if those showers will come along as the morning goes on."
18 Hours
Steady rain gate-crashed the Sarthe party at 4 :23 this morning, forcing all the cars to pit for wet- weather tyres. Tom Kristensen then went into attack mode in his Audi, quickly catching and passing Tom Kristensen, who lost six seconds to his rival on the first flying lap. The Audis are looking much more at home in the rain with the number 2 car in the overall lead. In LMP2 the number 34 Porsche RS Spyder continues to dominate. In the GT1 class the Aston 009 is still out on its own, while in GT2 the Risi Competizione Ferrari F430 GT is calling the shots.
For Michelin and their 4-wheel competition manager Matthieu Bonardel, the right choice of rain tyres can be a tricky thing.
" All the teams have pitted to change tyres, " he explains. " You need to second-guess what the weather is going to do and make the right choice. And that's no easy matter, because there are a number of rain tyres on offer and they each have their own performance window, and the track can change quickly as well. We offer advice, but the teams make up their own minds and they have gone in a number of different directions. As soon as the rain came Audi went straight to full wets, whereas Peugeot tried intermediates at first before going to harder tyres then full wets. In the GT and LMP2 classes we saw the full wet spec working very well in the early stages of the wet race, until six, but after that they got better results from a rain tyre with a harder compound and that has helped them close the gaps little by little. "
How do you account for the difference in performance between the various rain tyres ?
'That's simple enough : when the track dries the tyre loses grip because it starts to move around and go off. A harder compound, on the other hand, holds on better on the drier parts of the track, though you need to back off a bit on the wet. What we are seeing is a performance variation depending on how much water is on the track. It's neither really wet nor really dry, so the trick is to find the tyre which copes best with all those conditions on every section of the track. If the track keeps drying out we will move to a different option of rain tyre or intermediates. "
So Michelin has to keep coming up with new answers ?
" That's right, and how glad we are we brought those 8000 tyres with us ! A wet track is always a bit of a problem, because it cuts a tyre's life by a factor of two or even three. Not having truckloads of tyres to play with, the teams will also have to manage what they've got quite carefully. Some of them will work through the entire range of tyres we brought to the 24 Hours. "
24 Hours
The Audi Sport R10 TD1 driven by Kristensen-Capello-McNish crossed the line in first place after a heart-stopping finish to this year's Le Mans 24-Hour race. It was the German marque's eighth victory on the Sarthe circuit and the fifth in a row since 2004. Michelin was with Audi every step of the way to this extraordinary result, taking the 17th Le Mans win in the company's history. This latest win is the11th in a row for Michelin, which has not tasted defeat in the Sarthe since 1998.
The 2008 running of the race will go down in history because of the way Peugeot pushed its great rival to the very limit. The changeable weather played havoc with strategies, keeping the final outcome in the balance right up to the chequered flag.
It was a fight to the finish in every one of the four classes - and Michelin came out on top in every one. In LMP2 victory went to the Van Merksteijn-Verstappen-Bleekemolen Porsche RS Spyder; there was more success in LM GT1, where the Brabham-Garcia-Turner Aston Martin 009 was shadowed all the way to the finish by the Corvettes; and in LM GT2, Salo-Meli-Bruni added another chapter to Ferrari's legendary Le Mans history with victory in their F430 GT. Last but not least, there was a superb effort from the Luc Alphand Adventures team, which finished fifth in GT1 - the eighth time in a row Luc Alphand has made it to the Le Mans finish.
They said --
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich: Audi Sport Director
"This year's Le Mans was one of the greatest challenges we have ever faced. We really needed a tyre partner we could rely on to get us to the end of the race. Michelin's people did that superbly for us, supplying a product that was absolutely right, and perfect service to go with it. We work as one with our Michelin technician: he's part of the team, he thinks the same way we do and he did absolutely everything he could to give us the best advice in very difficult racing conditions. So thanks and hats off to Michelin!"
Tom Kristensen: Audi Sport Driver
"A fantastic win ! We knew we had a reliable car that would let us do do long runs, thanks also to Michelin and the great advice they gave us on tyre choice. It was a hard race because things kept changing so much, and every time we made a stop we had to take a punt on the tyres. The technician was able to tell us the right way to go, it was unbelievable. Thanks to Michelin's products, their performance and their durability, even at the end of double stints, we were able to take full advantage of our long runs, and we can all feel very proud of what we have done together."
Allan McNish: Audi Sport Driver
"It was a hard race for everybody but especially for the tyres. In the dry the times were very quick; normally on a circuit like this it's virtually impossible to double-stint when you're lapping in under 3:30. But that's what we did, and the Michelins did a great job. It really gave us a strategic edge. We had to make the right tyre choice at times when it was only some sections of the track that were wet or dry, and that was hard to manage. But there again we looked to our Michelin technician and it was working so closely together that saw us across the line in first place. A big thank you to Michelin - winning at Le Mans is a feeling you don't get anywhere else!"
Rinaldo Capello: Audi Sport Driver
"I've been working with Michelin for some years now so it's no surprise to me that we had such quality products here at the 24 Hours. I know what Michelin's people can do when it comes to supplying outstanding products, and the way they go about the business of racing in general. There was a moment when I wanted to go to intermediates and my engineer wasn't really convinced. In the end I did and it was unbelievable - I had as much grip as if I had been on slicks. Michelin's 2008 range is just fantastic, whether in the wet or the dry, and I kept telling him that! At Le Mans, if you don't have the right tyre at the right time, it can lose you the race. So tyres are absolutely crucial to winning here."
Michelin quotes --
Frederic Henry -Biabaud, Michelin Competitions Director: " Once again we learned a great deal this year with all our partners and it was a difficult race. Looking at the broader picture, we have won all four classes and that's just fantastic. We have every reason to be proud of what we have done, and I would like to thanks all Michelin employees who work hard all over the year to provide the best product for our partners."
Three questions for Michelin 4-wheel competitions manager Matthieu Bonardel:
How would you sum up the 2008 race?
"It's a very positive outcome for us because we won all four classes. All the more positive in that it was a very taxing race, one that brought the full range of available tyres into play. The first partof the race, on a dry track, showed how well our soft and medium tyres coped with double of triple stints in the various classes, while the wet second part of the race meant we had to call on our intermediates and our choice of part- and full-wet tyres. It was a wonderful Le Mans, one where we were able to put everything we learned from testing this season with our 2008 range in the LMS and ALMS series into practice, as well as some other more specific solutions, given that we hadn't had any wet running. It was a very rewarding learning process that will stand us in good stead next time. It was a marvellous race, very tense and exciting - and a very difficult one for all of the Michelin technicians and fitters. Given the way the grip was changing they had to make recommendations about tyre choice as well as managing the pressure or the whole monitoring and fitting process. We are all shattered, but very happy."
So, is the 2009 Le Mans 24-Hour race already under way?
"In the race we were able to show some of our strengths and areas where we have made progress. During this 2008 race our minds were already turning to 2009- you don't need to wait for the chequered flag to start doing that. It's a circuit that poses very specific problems because it's not easy to come and test here, so you have to take advantage of being here to try things that help you come to grips with it. It's all about finding out what works best in each of the classes. Naturally we will have a full debrief, and we should be able to sort out the priorities for the rest of the season pretty quickly. In a general sense we will wait for the end-of-season testing to get ready for the Le Mans 2009 tyres."
Is there one outstanding memory of Le Mans 2008?
"It would have to be Kristensen's incident with one LMP2 and his spin just a few lengths short of the finish line. It just goes to show that in racing it only takes a few moments to throw away an advantage you have worked long and hard to build up. Le Mans is not a easy race to win."
Michelin Energy Endurance Challenge goes to Van Merksteijn Motorsport
By taking out the LMP2 category, the Porsche RS Spyder crew of Van Merksteijn-Verstappen- Bleekmolen not only enjoyed a Le Mans podium, they also received the Michelin Energy Endurance Challenge Trophy, presented to them by Michelin's competition director Frederic Henry -Biabaud. The challenge rewards energy efficiency which is calculated on the basis on the average race speed and the fuel consumption.
For the Le Mans 24 Hours the first three best teams earn a cheque of 10,000 Euros.
The 2008 result is: Van Merksteijn Motorsport team, following by Team Oreca Matmut and Team Essex.