Le Mans 2014: The stories so far

As is so often the case, practice and qualifying for the Le Mans 24 Hours only ever paints half of the picture ahead of the French classic.

The headline times from the sessions rarely reveal what kind of shape teams are in for the track time that matters - after all, come Sunday night nobody will remember (or care) who was quick on a Wednesday or Thursday evening.

And what of the stories away from the battles for pole position in the various classes? AUTOSPORT's team of reporters has been up and down the paddock over the last few days uncovering what's really going on at Le Mans, from the competitive battles, the feel-good stories, potential controversy and some futuristic technology...

WATCH OUT FOR AUDI

Audi didn't show its hand in qualifying. That's no surprise given that it's never put a major focus on qualifying at Le Mans, and the car-destroying accident that befell Loic Duval in practice on Wednesday. The German manufacturer reckons it has already won one race in getting three cars out for Thursday qualifying and the race.

"For us, it was important to put the three cars on the grid prepared as best we could despite the serious accident on Wednesday," says Audi Sport boss Wolfgang Ullrich. "We fully concentrated on the optimal race set-up and have now created a good starting base for all three teams."

The best of the Audi R18 e-tron quattros qualified 1.5s off the pace of the pole-winning Toyota, but the turbodiesels were closer on pace before its rivals started throwing new tyres at its cars at the start of the final session as darkness began to fall on Thursday. Audi, as it has been insisting all along, isn't out of the game.

PORSCHE HEROICS UNLIKELY

Porsche is still insisting that a trouble-free run for its new 919 Hybrid will be a big ask. The cars have encountered problems in both the opening World Endurance Championship races, as well as in its final Le Mans simulation at the Aragon circuit in Spain last month.

"We think we have addressed the issues that we have encountered before," says Porsche LMP1 technical director Alex Hitzinger, "but the probability that we will find new issues in the 24 Hours is high. Our car has 7000 parts and you only need one part to break to stop you.

"We will need a bit of luck to finish the race without problems that force us into the garage at some point. We have always said that this year is about preparation."

LOOK OUT FOR STINT LENGTHS

The official fuel calculations of the rule makers say that a petrol-engined LMP1 running six megajoules of energy retrieval should be able to go 13.9 laps on a tank of fuel. That raises the prospect of either Toyota or Porsche backing off to achieve 14 laps, one more than the turbodiesel Audis.

Whether either Toyota or Porsche attempts to go for the magic extra lap will not become apparent until the race. Asked whether the TS040 HYBRIDs would attempt to go for 14 laps, Toyota Motorsport technical director Pascal Vasselon replied: "It is already decided, but I am not going to tell you."

Vasselon has always insisted that the extra lap is not quite so magical as everyone insists. "It is a simple calculation based on how much time you gain by reducing the number of pitstops and how much you lose by going slower."

SLOW ZONE FLASHPOINT

New for 2014 are the 'slow zones' designed to control cars as they pass by car recovery or barrier repairs during the race without the need for a safety car.

The idea is simple. Based on the 'Code 60' regulations used in events such as the Dubai 24 Hours, drivers must adhere to a 60km/h speed limit.

When a slow zone is declared, drivers see a board declaring 'next slow', meaning they have to decelerate to 60km/h (the pitlane speed limit) by the time they pass the orange board at the next marshals' post designating the start of the slow zone itself.

There are concerns about the different approaches to slow zones being taken by drivers. Race control monitors the situation by GPS, with the rules dictating that they must be doing the speed limit when they pass an imaginary line crossing the track.

So, the ideal way would be to approach this like the pitlane line, staying flat before getting on the brakes to minimise time loss.

The trouble is, overtaking is forbidden so drivers in quicker cars will have to be wary of slower, heavier machinery with less stopping power, especially those driven by less experienced drivers, some of which have been slowing earlier than expected.

The regulation is a logical one, and several yellow zones were run on Thursday night, allowing drivers to get used to the procedure. But there are real concerns about an incident in the slowing-down zones.

Based on what we saw in practice, race control is avoiding being too trigger-happy, with ample warning issued before the slow zones are activated.

PORSCHE THE GT UNDERDOG

A Balance of Performance row is nothing new to GTE, but Porsche feels particularly aggrieved here.

The leading Team Manthey 911 RSR was almost two seconds off Gianmaria Bruni's Pro pacesetting AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia in qualifying, courtesy of a baulked early qualifying attempt and then a driveshaft failure for its #91 car.

Its drivers reckoned the top three was in reach had circumstances been kinder, but head of Porsche motorsport Harmut Kristen admitted the extra 25kg of BoP ballast the cars are carrying was hurting them.

Beyond that, each of its rivals have had BoP breaks of some description that have put Porsche on the backfoot.

The #97 Aston is back in the game after a five-litre fuel allowance increase for the race (in addition to the universal extra five litres), which means it will definitely be able to make the 14-lap mark for its stints. It is also 35kg lighter than at the start of the season after two steps of weight reduction since Silverstone.

There's the possibility of Ferrari, which is running a revised aero package this season, eking out a 15th lap on fuel and triple-stinting on tyres, while the 911s have been hard on their rear tyres when fuel-laden.

That's led Frederic Makowiecki to label the race "impossible" for the German manufacturer. "Sometimes if you work well you get penalised," he said. "If you do a good job you deserve to get a good result. I think the Corvette, Ferrari and Porsche will be close. But Aston will have a real advantage."

BEWARE OF THE CORVETTES

Last year's race was a nightmare for Corvette. Its C6.Rs were, for a variety of reasons, just not competitive.

A new car, the C7.R, has changed that completely for this year. And its rivals know it. The straightline speed deficit has disappeared, the chassis is stiffer and offers greater response for the drivers and it's more stable under braking - all three huge factors in whether you will be competitive at Le Mans.

Throw in the BoP breaks that have made it 10kg lighter, given it a 1.3mm larger air-restrictor and allowed it to race without the rear wing Gurney or wicker, and it's easy to see why the mood in the camp is a far cry from 12 months ago.

"We've erased it from our heads," says Oliver Gavin, and now confidence is high.

"We'll be happy with top five in qualifying," added team manager Gary Pratt, "because we seem to be able to race much closer to qualifying pace and the others can't."

Nailing second in class was therefore a big result for the #73 car in qualifying, and there's no reason it can't translate that into a proper victory bid in the race.

ZEOD PLAYING CATCH-UP

Nissan was always going to be up against it with its radical ZEOD RC experimental racer, but 'old-style' car problems have created a number of setbacks since the RML team masterminding the project arrived at Le Mans.

Fuel pump and exhaust manifold issues at the test day and then gearbox input shaft failure in practice on Wednesday have limited the petrol-electric hybrid's running, meaning the ZEOD heads into the race without hitting its stated aim of completing an all-electric lap of the 8.47-mile Circuit de la Sarthe.

The ZEOD has, however, already hit one of its targets: it achieved 300km/h or 186.4mph down the Mulsanne Straight solely on electric power.

Nissan used the Thursday qualifying sessions to test running the car on its 110kW electric motors over different sectors of the long Le Mans lap.

The target will be to string them together in the race and complete a full lap with the car's 1.5-litre direct-injection turbo engine switched off.

It's one that Nissan is increasingly confident of achieving after finally clocking some decent running on Thursday. Expect the ZEOD to go for the electric lap some time on Saturday evening. When temperatures drop, battery efficiency goes up.

News update: Nissan achieved its aim of an all-electric lap in the warm-up on Saturday morning. Click here to read more

LIGIER BACK AFTER 39 YEARS

For the first time since 1975, when Jean-Louis Lafosse and Guy Chasseuil finished second driving the JS2, there will be Ligiers on the grid at Le Mans. And one of the cars, the TDS Racing-run machine of Tristan Gommendy, Pierre Thiriet and Ludovic Badey, starts on LMP2 pole position.

The car has been produced by Onroak Automotive, which acquired Ligier in 2013. It only hit the track for the first time on March 7, when it was shaken down on the Le Mans Bugatti circuit.

The three Nissan-powered Ligiers are the only cars on the grid built to the new coupe LMP2 regulations, but although this will be its competitive debut, thanks to racking up plenty of test miles during the past three months it is a credible victory contender.

And Guy Ligier himself, now 83, is here to see the marque that bears his name make its comeback.

"For me, it's very important to be able to continue to be involved in racing," says Ligier. "Thanks to Jacques [Nicolet, Onroak president], I will always have a place in sportscar racing, so it's very emotional for me to be back at Le Mans."

Onroak's sister company, OAK Racing, runs a brace of Ligiers: the #35 entry driven by Alex Brundle, Jann Mardenborough and Oliver Webb and the #33 of Ho-Pin Tung, David Cheng and Adderly Fong, with the former seen as a strong victory contender.

And one of its main rivals will be itself. OAK also fields one of the Pescarolo-based Morgan LMP2s that Onroak has developed.

Having won LMP2 last year with the Morgan, expect OAK to be at the forefront of the battle in what might prove to be the most closely fought class in this year's race.

McMURRY BECOMES THE YOUNGEST

At least one Le Mans record should be broken in this year's race. At the age of 16 years, 202 days, American Matt McMurry (son of ALMS stalwart Chris) will become the youngest driver to contest the Le Mans 24 Hours.

This will break the record set by Mexican Ricardo Rodriguez, who was 17 years, 126 days old when he raced an OSCA alongside brother Pedro in 1959.

If the #42 Caterham-branded Greaves Motorsport Zytek, which McMurry shares with Tom Kimber-Smith and Chris Dyson, is still around for the chequered flag, there will obviously be a new record for youngest finisher. This was set in 2010, when Gunnar Jeanette finished sixth in the GT class at the age of 18 years, 43 days.

McMurry is not the only youngster driving for Greaves. Briton Alessandro Latif, who's driving the #41 Greaves Zytek, is dovetailing his Le Mans debut with his A-levels, shuttling between Le Mans and Paris on the TGV. He describes the situation as "not ideal".

On Tuesday, having been at Le Mans for scrutineering on Monday, he sat a maths exam before heading back for the autograph session.

The next day, he sat a physics exam before returning to qualify, repeating the pattern on Thursday, when he took another maths exam. After competing in the most gruelling race of all, he is also due to sit a physics exam at 9am on Monday!

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- The Autosport.com Team

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