Le Mans News

You don't find it telling that the only manufacturer effort besides Audi and Peugeot is Aston Martin. There's no Ford, GM, Ferrari, Mercedes, BMW, Toyota, or Mazda, and Honda is a factory effort in name only. Why would they waste the money to run an LMP program when they cannot win.

I don't think its the lack of funding in the petrol teams, its that for nearly the past decade the regulations have created a separate and faster diesel P1 class. Seeing as none of those manufacturers that I listed use diesel heavily in their road cars, they are obviously not going to run a diesel race team. How many years has Pescarolo spent trailing Audis around Le Mans? The same for Aston Martin. And sadly now, the car that was most likely to prove me wrong won't be racing.

I'll grant you that if McLaren or Ferrari showed up with their F1 budget and F1 resources that they would have no trouble wiping the floor with Audi and Peugeot, but that's just not how sports car racing works. That kind of money just isn't realistic, and it shouldn't be required in order to beat diesels.

Its to the point now where it isn't about new technology either. A turbo diesel has won every race since the R10 showed up. Its just more of the same every year. The tech is there, the ACO just isn't letting onto the grid. Look at the most recent road cars: AWD, small twin turbo engines, KERS, active aero...