Before I start on this post, I would also like to send out my thoughts, prayers & condolences to the family & friends of Allan Simonsen. R.I.P.
Every gear head looks forward to a specific day depending on the sport, for NASCAR its Daytona, for IndyCar, its Indianapolis & for Formula 1, its Monaco. However, in my opinion there is always one race that all motorsports look forward to... The 24 Hours of LeMans, the world's greatest Endurance Race. This race alone is one of the most grueling & toughest challenges to not only a driver but the crews and cars themselves. It truly can take a lot out of everything. I was watching most of the coverage on Speed (in the US) and just seeing most of the exhaustion that goes on, but for LeMans, its a wonderus victory, just to have that on your racing record is hero worthy. It even brought out some of the greatest rivalries in motorsport as well. Ford vs. Ferrari, Corvette vs. Porsche & now recently, Audi vs. Toyota.
Ah yes, the 4 rings, one of the most if not the dominant team in endurance & it seems like no matter which auto manufactures comes in, they must deal with the juggernaut that is Audi but it leads to the question, can anyone stop them?
Sure it seems that they're unstoppable but can it be done? I think so... Just not now. The furthest anyone could this year was Toyota but before hand there was another... Peugeot who did beat them, once but they were the big rival to Audi but due to the economy, Peugeot had to relinquish Endurance for the time being. Toyota is still young but they have experience, so they could be a threat but its still too early to tell.
The one thing I've often said is I've always wanted to see more auto manufactures get involved, kind of like other motorsports, just having 2 or 3 manufactures just seems rather boring. I had a bit of a problem with IndyCar when they only had Honda engines. Although, I think the future in LMP1 looks bright. Why would I say this? Simple, more auto manufactures are coming in.
One that is making a huge impression is of course a legend in racing, Porsche, who has experience in LeMans, they have a lot of history in prototype as well as GT, now they want to see what they can do and I think they can do it. Other reports of Nissan coming in with their Zeod RC electric car which is a Deltawing coupe and Peugeot... They've returned to Pike's Peak, why is this a big deal? This is a return to the world stage, Peugeot's new boss Maxime Picat has even said beyond 2014, there is a possiblity to renew the rivalry depending on money but it may look into other opportunities as well.
http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/peugeot-le-mans-shanghai-motor-show-2013-04-24
Then there are always others rumored to come back, Bentley, Jaguar to name a few but either way, other are interested to join in LMP1 game in LeMans and as a fan, I look forward to that day.
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