80th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours - 16–17 June 2012

[Snaeper]

Sorry if this has been posted already, but here's a video of Satoshi trying valiantly to rescue the DeltaWing.

I think that the ACO needs to repeal their rule of "No assistance" for the experimental cars in the future. Since they're technically not competing for the win, why not let them at least run as much as they can? I'm sure the other teams wouldn't mind! I certainly wouldn't.

 

[HELLAFLUSH240SX]

I think they treat them as a team to see if they can truly compete.

 

[Bobcar96]

Does anyone have results that show each class separately?

 

[Ddrizle]

2012 24 Hours of Le Mans Highlights

 

[F1 fan]

I think that the ACO needs to repeal their rule of "No assistance" for the experimental cars in the future. Since they're technically not competing for the win, why not let them at least run as much as they can? I'm sure the other teams wouldn't mind! I certainly wouldn't.

The problem with this is that the other teams will alway protest any possible advantage, no matter how insignificant. For example, what if one of these experimental cars turns out to be blisteringly quick, and as an indirect result of receiving some assistance, it manages to finish ahead of one of the big guns, who did not get any assistance?

 

[Clark]

I had an awesome week at Le Mans, just got back last night. The TS030s sound and look awesome in person.

 

[Crowood]

I noticed something:

2012 Le Mans was sponsored by "Forza Motorsport" (big signs at mulsane straight for ex). There was not one "Gran Turismo" badge/sign anywhere (except gt academy) and all cars got their own manufacturer sticker on the windshield.

Was a cool race though...sadly the Toyotas got problems.

 

[m8h3r]

I noticed something:

2012 Le Mans was sponsored by "Forza Motorsport" (big signs at mulsane straight for ex). There was not one "Gran Turismo" badge/sign anywhere (except gt academy) and all cars got their own manufacturer sticker on the windshield.

Was a cool race though...sadly the Toyotas got problems.

That makes a change from the Nurburgring 24h where practically every car had a Gran Turismo Sticker on it.

 

[VspecZR1GT2RS89]

Awww man I missed it all. I was on vacation and the hotel didn't get the SPEED Channel .

Tell me what happened.

 

[gtone339]

Awww man I missed it all. I was on vacation and the hotel didn't get the SPEED Channel .

Tell me what happened.

Here.

 

[LancerEvo7]

I noticed something:

2012 Le Mans was sponsored by "Forza Motorsport" (big signs at mulsane straight for ex). There was not one "Gran Turismo" badge/sign anywhere (except gt academy) and all cars got their own manufacturer sticker on the windshield.

Was a cool race though...sadly the Toyotas got problems.

And yet they still seemed to mention GT more than Forza.

 

[tomhart9]

Haha I didn't notice that but you're right! They were constantly talking about GT academy etc

 

[Crowood]

I looked at some pics from Le Mans 2011, no GT sponsoring either. So i guess GT only sponsors the 24h Nürburgring Nordschleife event. Ah...who cares anyway ^^

Man, it is still a bit sad with those two hybrid Toyotas.....the challenge with audi was so nice to watch.

 

[Hun200kmh]

Le Mans recap as posted in the ALMS YT channel. Great to watch, you got to respect the american teams for their effort @ Le Mans:

 

[MarcoM]

GT was certainly heavily advertised in the past years. I only noticed the FM name for the first time this year.

 

[VspecZR1GT2RS89]

Here.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40do_wV3TJs&list">YouTube Link</a>

Thanks. It's a shame that the TS030s didn't finish. They were doing great until all this bad luck came out of nowhere. But I know that they are going to do better next year . Congrats on yet another victory Audi though.

Man so it looks like FM is coming out to play with GT on the LeMans it seems.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Well considering that Micro$oft is loaded and Sony is having financial issues, money wins in this case.

 

[gorsad]

Le Mans recap as posted in the ALMS YT channel. Great to watch, you got to respect the american teams for their effort @ Le Mans:

Nice find, good watch 👍

 

[Ardius]

Haha I didn't notice that but you're right! They were constantly talking about GT academy etc

Eurosport are showing their own episodes of GT Academy so it makes sense (not to mention its one of the bigger talking points lately).
Forza were literally only sponsoring parts of the track, so they got the same amount of mention as GT did back when GT sponsored bits of track but had little relation to the racing.
A few years ago no one mentioned GT as they were merely another sponsor.

The reason there isn't any track-side sponsorship or team sponsorship this year is because there is no game to sell. The only thing worth marketing at the moment is GT Academy.
You will see GT marketing ramp up again for the next game, just as Forza/NFS/whatever will.

 

[CodeRedR51]

The reason there isn't any track-side sponsorship or team sponsorship this year is because there is no game to sell. The only thing worth marketing at the moment is GT Academy.
You will see GT marketing ramp up again for the next game, just as Forza/NFS/whatever will.

Disagree. I'm pretty sure GT has had a presence there for many years, even when there were no games coming out.

 

[Ardius]

No games? What about 4, Prologue, PSP and 5?
That covers 2004-2011. I would be willing to bet a lot of the marketing for years 2007-2011 was mainly to keep a bubbling interest in 5 if anything because Sony really needed it as a major title for the PS3.

Now that GT6 is not likely to be around for a while, we see that GT/Playstation sponsorship has been reduced.

Of course, it could just be that SCEE/Sony France have decided to step back with their budget as they have always had a small presence if only as a sponsor to one or two cars (its worth noting its usually been french teams that they have sponsored e.g. Pescarolo, Oreca, Peugeot, Labre..even Prost in F1).

Or maybe they just feel GT Academy is doing a much better job (which it is) and so any additional sponsorship or marketing is a waste of time and effort when everyone is already talking about it.

 

[Furinkazen]

No games? What about 4, Prologue, PSP and 5?
That covers 2004-2011. I would be willing to bet a lot of the marketing for years 2007-2011 was mainly to keep a bubbling interest in 5 if anything because Sony really needed it as a major title for the PS3.

Now that GT6 is not likely to be around for a while, we see that GT/Playstation sponsorship has been reduced.

Of course, it could just be that SCEE/Sony France have decided to step back with their budget as they have always had a small presence if only as a sponsor to one or two cars (its worth noting its usually been french teams that they have sponsored e.g. Pescarolo, Oreca, Peugeot, Labre..even Prost in F1).

Or maybe they just feel GT Academy is doing a much better job (which it is) and so any additional sponsorship or marketing is a waste of time and effort when everyone is already talking about it.

Pescarolo had Playstation backing, GT4 was a sponsor on Team ORECA's Audi R8..

 

[Beerz]

Pedro Lamy crossed the finish line in first in a GTE AM Corvette C6-ZR1 Larbre Competition and of course he is Portuguese like me

Not exactly. He was told to pit in just before the last lap so Julien Canal would take the checkered flag.

See here:

Jack Leconte, Team Owner: “ (...) we asked Pedro to push during his final stint and he did a great job. When we had a safe margin of around six minutes I decided to replace Pedro with our local driver, Julien Canal, and let him take the chequered flag at his home race (...)”

Still, as a fellow Portuguese, I'm very happy he finally got to win at Le Mans of course. More than deserved, though not in a LMP1 car this time due to known reasons. 👍

 

[CodeRedR51]

No games? What about 4, Prologue, PSP and 5?
That covers 2004-2011. I would be willing to bet a lot of the marketing for years 2007-2011 was mainly to keep a bubbling interest in 5 if anything because Sony really needed it as a major title for the PS3.

Honestly right now I bet it all comes down to money. Sony is hurting, and Micro$oft is loaded. They were probably more willing to plop down the required money (or maybe a little more) to get their name plastered all over.

No big deal really, we all know what was being talked about over the weekend anyway.

 

[Ardius]

Pescarolo had Playstation backing, GT4 was a sponsor on Team ORECA's Audi R8..

:

Of course, it could just be that SCEE/Sony France have decided to step back with their budget as they have always had a small presence if only as a sponsor to one or two cars (its worth noting its usually been french teams that they have sponsored e.g. Pescarolo, Oreca, Peugeot, Labre..even Prost in F1).

SCEE France have been sponsoring motorsports for a long, long time. I even have a model of the Labre Porsche 911 GT1 with Playstation/Gran Turismo 1 sponsorship from 1998.

Honestly right now I bet it all comes down to money. Sony is hurting, and Micro$oft is loaded. They were probably more willing to plop down the required money (or maybe a little more) to get their name plastered all over.

No big deal really, we all know what was being talked about over the weekend anyway.

Yep, though I'm not so sure about Microsoft being loaded, at least maybe not so much their games studio division.
Its not so easy to judge their relative financial states when both corporations are split into multiple divisions that manage themselves.

SCEE is actually (and has nearly always been) one the most profitable parts of Sony. But it is hamstrung by the overal SCE management.
The same applies to Microsoft though.

Anyway yeah, its irrelevant either way - I just thought I'd point out the reason why GT is being mentioned more than ever before despite sponsorship disappearing..and why the commentators didn't mention Forza.

 

[SubaruWRC555]

If we would get our DLC. Sony would have some money

 

[Müle]

We get a few DLC packs and everyone whines and cries for more.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Why would the commentators mention a sponsor anyway unless they're paid to do so? I don't remember hearing about GT much either during the coverage years ago. I heard the commentators use the Forza Motorsport chicane once or twice.

 

[Hun200kmh]

Not exactly. He was told to pit in just before the last lap so Julien Canal would take the checkered flag.

See here:


Still, as a fellow Portuguese, I'm very happy he finally got to win at Le Mans of course. More than deserved, though not in a LMP1 car this time due to known reasons. 👍

Hi Beerz (long time, btw ) the story of the very, very late pitting by the Corvette was a bit more complex, see here:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100474

I was hearing RadioLemans with the TV muted (can't stand José Pinto and Domingos Piedade talking about themselves instead of the race we're watching) and they were paying attention, in fact they almost shouted when they saw that Lamy had pitted and was getting out of the car. And they shouted for two reasons, first because they understood what was at stake (disqualification becasue Canal hadn't driven enough time during the 24H) and second because the Audis were approaching in formation the end of the lap, the pitlane was already in "party mode", with people everywhere, and if anything went wrong the Vette could come to a "pitlane closed" situation. All this preventing another lap and handing the victory to Porsche again.

Was very funny, especially because it ended well, Canal got the car out of the pits and did a very lonely last lap

PS - Lamy's last stint was the stuff of legends, keeping up with Armindo in the Porsche with many bhp less under his right foot. Epic drive, lady luck favoured them in the end but if you're not there for the taking, luck won't do you any favours.

 

[SubaruWRC555]

Hey. They were the ones who said we would get new ones every month or so. And I'm willing to pay to get more!! I'm sure you could stand to have some new content at your disposal. I know I can!!