2011 DVD Le Mans review

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2011 DVD Le Mans review

Engelstalig, 235 minuten, geproduceerd door Duke

Within the first hour of the race the Audi R18 No. 3 car driven by Allan McNish hit the barrier and rolled over near the Dunlop Bridge after a collision with the No. 58 GTE Pro class Ferrari 458 Italia, driven by Anthony Beltoise, after it had rejoined the track from the pit lane and McNish was passing the car just after the Dunlop Bridge. McNish had started from from fifth on the grid and by lap and was running second. The crash was severe and threw the Audi into the air after hitting the crash barrier beyond the gravel trap. The car was effectively destroyed but McNish walked away from the accident, while Beltoise after assistance rejoined the track with his car having bodywork damage.

Eight hours into the race, the Audi R18 No. 1 car crashed after making contact with the No. 71 Ferrari whilst trying to pass between Mulsanne and Indianapolis corners, but again driver Mike Rockenfeller was able to walk away from the crash.

After the accident, the safety car came out for over 2 hours. For the first time ever at Le Mans the safety car ran low on fuel and had to be replaced – it was required to drive as fast as possible to keep pressure within the race cars' tyres, but in so doing greatly increased its own fuel consumption. After a close battle in the last 2 hours of the race, Audi car #2 crossed the finish line first. It was the first fast last Le Mans lap ever since the 1969 victory. There were no marshals waving flags except for the chequered flag at the start/finish line, the flags were waved on a full circuit in-lap after the final lap was completed.
The victory was Audi's tenth at the race, second in total wins behind Porsche's sixteen and ahead of Ferrari's nine. After the race, Tréluyer said that "[i]t's absolutely fantastic to win like this. You need good opponents to have a great victory. With Peugeot, we had rivals who were really strong." Bourdais, who drove the second place car, said that "We were beaten by a competitor stronger than us. Audi has developed a highly reliable and fast car. We chose to work on reliability. The objective is met, but we missed by 13 seconds at the finish."

The No. 74 Corvette was leading class by about 1 lap over the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari until 8am. Coming out of the Porsche Curves, Magnussen found himself the No.63 Felbermayr Porsche. Magnussen had to go up the inside, he bounced over the curbs, corrected it but ran into the No. 63 and the wall. After this the No.51 Ferrari led by a lap over the No. 73. Corvette was able to make up ground and use rain to its advantage.