LE MANS miniatures Audi R15 TDI Le Mans 2010

Choose one of 3 versions :

• #7 : Tom Kristensen - Allan McNish - Rinaldo Capello 3rd place
• #8 : André Lotterer – Benoît Tréluyer – Marcel Fässler 2nd place
• #9 : Mike Rockenfeller – Romain Dumas – Timo Bernhard Winner

Specifications :

• Body : Polyurethan resin
• ABS chassis plate
• Inline motor mount
• Turned metal rims
• Pressure screw M2 system
• Injected tires
• Weight : 95 g

In 2009 the Audi drivers complained about the handling of the R15 on the track. Prémat’s take off in testing and Luhr’s accident in the 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours sealed the fate of the Audi R15. The R15 plus, despite its name, is not just a simple evolution but an entirely new car. Only the monocoque and the gearbox have been kept.

At the end of the qualifying of Wednesday evening, the reconquest of Audi seemed badly engaged since none of the three R15 succeeded in reaching the Peugeot’s time. Thus Peugeot looked like big favorite. Nevertheless, on Thursdays the distance is not so important any more.

Bourdais on the Peugeot car number 3 took the pole position in front of two others official Peugeot and Peugeot car number 4 of team Oreca.  Despite the Scottish driver Allan Mc Nish’s willpower on Audi car number 7 to overdraw this latter, the speed of the Peugeot cannot be reached. The entry of the safety car on the track after 15 minutes racing only separated the two groups, Peugeot and Audi.

Peugeot leads the race until a first alert come to darken the picture. At the end of the second hour Peugeot car number 3 of Bourdais-Pagenaud-Lamy must retire consequently to a problem of fixation of the suspension on the bonnet. In Peugeot teams it is the consternation. Although they keep the head of the race and theirs advance on Audi cars, they have already lost one car and Audi cars are impressive of reliability.

Except the exit out of the track of car number 7 of Kristensen-McNish-Capello because of a BMW in slow motion during the 5th hour; few incidents come to disturb the scheduled board of Audi. Car numbers 9 and 8 point one lap behind the three leading Peugeot. If car number 8 teammates seem to be slower, they compensates with short pit stops.

After leading during hours long the race Peugeot has to give the first position to Audi for the first time. In fact Peugeot car number 2 of Franck Montagny just stops at the beginning of the Hunaudières with broken engine. The car retires few minutes after seven in the early morning. It only remains Peugeot car number 1 and private Oreca Peugeot team on the track to save the crown.

Despite the quarter of an hour spent into the pit to change alternator and its collide with a Ferrari in the “Esses de la Forêt” the Peugeot car number 1 comes back to the first places. It puts the pressure on Lotterer’s Audi car number 8. It is the reason of Lotterer’s straight in Arnage’s curve. This incident definitively insures the winner place to car number 9.

And just when Peugeot car number 1 finally succeeds in taking the second place to the Audi car number 9 it stops on its turn at the end on the 22nd hour with broken engine.

It now only remains Peugeot Oreca car number 4 that from the early morning decided to tempt everything. And it seems it works since the car reaches the 4th place when Duval realized the lap record. It only remains one hour racing. The podium seems to be within reach. But the engine failed. The same engine that made Peugeot powerful since they came back in endurance does not roar anymore.

The Audi car number 9 did not suffer any mechanical incident. Only the right side mirror has been changed after hitting a cameraman in the pit lane. Romain Dumas becomes the first French driver to win since Yannick Dalmas in 1995.

The hardier won when the faster made the show. The lap record set by Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep in 1971 is broken by the winner team. The trio covered the distance of 5410.713 km on average of 225.228 km/h. On the 18 LMP1 on the start grid only 6 arrived, included one not ranked.