Track Torque: New champions at Le Mans
Audi and Toyota will need to go back to the drawing board.
PORSCHE took a well-earned victory at the 24-hour Le Mans in France last weekend.
Neither Audi nor Toyota had the real taste to challenge the team that had won Le Mans 16 times before.
Porsche finished first and second, with the leading car driven by Nico Hulkenberg, Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber while the second Porsche drivers were Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard.
They did 395 and 394 laps respectively.
In third and fourth places were the two Audis on 393 and 392 laps, followed by Porsche again in fifth on 391 laps.
Toyota placed sixth on 387 laps.
In the GT category Chev Corvette was the first car home in 17th place on 337 laps.
The first Ferrari 458 came in 20th on 332 laps and the first Porsche 911 came in 22nd on 331 laps.
Audi and Toyota will have to go home to lick their wounds but must find more speed next year if they are to beat Porsche.
This coming weekend will see the Austrian Grand Prix take place at the exciting 4.3km Spielberg Track.
The track was first used in 1964 and the lap record is held by none other than Michael Schumacher at one minute 8.3 seconds.
The track rises and falls as it sweeps through the countryside in a most beautiful setting.
Mercedes should hold the usual top two places but Ferrari is getting closer. Hopefully there will be a much greater tussle between the two giants.
Sebastian Vettel is really on form at Ferrari and will be doing his utmost to unseat either Lewis Hamilton or Nico Rosberg from their positions.
Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Nasr in the Williams Mercedes should be next up and don’t be surprised if Lotus shine this weekend after a concerted drive by the Enstone Team to get the E23 car into top form.
We also hope to see a big improvement from McLaren Honda as the evolutionary development of this car unfolds.
Red Bull is another team that is making great efforts to get back on top after suffering a power disadvantage with their Renault engine.
They have not given up and we must not underestimate their potential to win again.
Qualifying and the race both start at 2pm, on Saturday and Sunday respectively. It will be great to be back in Austria again.
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