LM24 Poll: Audi vs. Porsche vs. Toyota

[Mini Stiggy]

What are your predictions for the winners of the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans?

 

[Mac K]

Audi. Porsche is hyping up their return, but they're going up against a team that's been doing it for well over a decade straight now and doing it well at that. Porsche with an outside shot, and again Toyota wouldn't be my personal pick.

 

[Mini Stiggy]

Exactly what I was thinking. I would be very difficult to come in and beat the guys who have been dominating the last decade, on your first year(in a while).

 

[Earth]

I think Toyota wins next year. But Porsche dominates in their second year.

 

[Carlos]

PORSCHE!!

I hope... I'm sure Porsche can handle themselves, they have Audi to get their information from..

 

[Tired Tyres]

Hoping for third time lucky for Toyota.

 

[SagarisGTB]

No clue.

But I have to say, I wouldn't bet on Toyota until the beancounters in Aichi Prefecture loosen their wallet strings a bit. TMG have a great facility and great people, but it's enough hard to win Le Mans when you're putting all your resources into it, it's going to continue to be nearly impossible if they keep skimping. Especially now that Porsche has joined the fight.

 

[AudiMan2011]

I think that Audi will continue their diesel dominance but they'll have a much tougher job next year. Porsche will probably run them the closest and Toyota will probably struggle to match the two Germans.

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

It depends how all the engine types are balanced. Diesel's had the advantage under the old regs but it could all be different next year.

 

[karl53]

I think It'll go to Audi again, but I want it to go to Porsche.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Toyota, because I don't want Audi to romp away with it again.

 

[Azure Flare]

It will probably be Audi, but I want Porsche to take their 18th victory.

And I'd hate to say it, but I think Toyota will become the "Also-ran".

 

[R0ssingt0n]

I'd love for Audi to get another win but I really want to see them have to fight for it.

 

[C-ZETA]

Audi will probably win it again but Toyota should be close enough again. It's worth noting that they weren't too far off on their first attempt before the unfortunate crashes. Last year they did a fair enough job but Audi still look too good to just be beaten like that.

 

[Bo]

I think Porsche will come out like Toyota did in their first year, but unless something major happens to Audi and Toyota I can't see any results coming from it.

 

[MoLiEG]

Voted Toyota, but either them or Porsche would be great. I'm sick of Audi winning effortlessly...

 

[TexasTyme214]

No Rebellion? I voted for Porsche because avatar.

 

[Mini Stiggy]

No Rebellion? I voted for Porsche because avatar.

Do you honestly Rebellion will win?

 

[Carlos]

Do you honestly Rebellion will win?

The R-One is an Oreca Toyota so sho knows... I would fell of the couch if they did.

 

[TexasTyme214]

Do you honestly Rebellion will win?

I don't think it's impossible. They were getting pounded this year because they didn't have a hybrid system. That's not the case for 2014. I'd like to see what the differences in lap times would be if the TS030 and R18 didn't have the hybrid bits.

 

[Mini Stiggy]

Nothing's impossible
I still think it's extremely unlikely for them to win.

 

[Wolves]

I think Audi will take the top step again.

I just can't see Toyota putting up enough of a fight to actual take control of the race and win it outright. And with it being Porsche's first year back challenging for the lead, I can see Audi's total dominance shining through come next June. That's not to say that I want Audi to win, as I'd love to see a 24 hour long fight for the overall victory, but I think they will.

Don't discount the petrol's either! Since Audi started using Diesel there have been many instances where if reliability had come in to play for the front runners, a Petrol running car could have easily taken a higher finish, resulting in various podiums or even wins. In 2006 Pescarolo finished 4 laps down on Audi (finishing 2nd), in 2007 Pescarolo finished 11 laps down on Audi (finishing 3rd), in 2009 the AMR Lola finished 9 laps down on Peugeot (finishing 4th) and in 2012 Rebellion finished 11 laps down on Audi (finishing 4th).

All the finishers above these rankings were either Diesels or Diesel/Hybrids and were even closer to being replaced by a Petrol finish. Although it's been quite up and down in terms of just how much further the Diesels have been able to go in the last 8 years, you never know what can happen at Le Mans.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

I'm going to stand behind Porsche and put away the Audi support.

 

[SteveEnforcer]

Audi have a dynasty happening at Leman there gonna be extremely difficult for Porsche with Mark Webber driving he doesn't no a thing about LMP1 hell hold them back as for Toyota they'll be gone in the next year or 2 I reckon

 

[Northstar]

I voted Audi, I think Toyota has a shot, but they will need everything to go their way. Porsche is a long shot though as I'm sure there will be some gremlins that pass through testing only to show themselves 14 hours into the race.

As for who I want to win, that doesn't matter too much to me as long as it's close.

Audi have a dynasty happening at Leman there gonna be extremely difficult for Porsche with Mark Webber driving he doesn't no a thing about LMP1 hell hold them back as for Toyota they'll be gone in the next year or 2 I reckon

I'm guessing whatever growing pains develop from the switch from F1 to LMP1 will quickly be worked out after a few laps of testing.

The important thing is that he has experience at Le Mans, even if hasn't exactly worked well in the past.

 

[Bram Turismo]

I'll go ahead and say that Porsche might be the new Peugeot; lots of development, spectacularly fast car, but ultimately it's Audi with all the knowledge, experience and reliability.

Add to that I'm kind of feeling everyone is over-hyping Porsche.

 

[Ardius]

Audi have a dynasty happening at Leman there gonna be extremely difficult for Porsche with Mark Webber driving he doesn't no a thing about LMP1 hell hold them back as for Toyota they'll be gone in the next year or 2 I reckon

What? Like Alex Wurz, Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Bourdais, Jacques Villenueve, etc held back Peugeot? Oh wait.

 

[sumbrownkid]

Everytime I go against Audi, I get punished.

 

[mustafur]

I still don't understand why Audi and Porsche are going against each other in Factory backing, since they are both part of the Volkswagen group.

Unless this is an inside engineering test(if so then Audi should win) I would expect Porsche to win with favoured backing by Volkswagen similar to how Bentley won in 2003.

Porsches pedigree is much higher then that of its Rivals when it comes to top Class Endurance racing(when you consider most of their wins were against multiple factory teams)though so even if its an inside VAG test expect them to come straight out of the factory giving Audi a hard time.

 

[Northstar]

I still don't understand why Audi and Porsche are going against each other in Factory backing, since they are both part of the Volkswagen group.

My theory is that it's a marketing stunt. On the one hand you have Audi, trying to take the most wins record from Porsche. While on the other hand you have the king returning after over a decade away to defend it's crown. Granted Audi still needs 4 wins to tie Porsche, but that's still close enough where you can make quite the storyline out of it for the next 5 years or so.