Breaking news
WEC
Jarvis: Le Mans issues "not a good advert" for LMP1 cars
Former Audi driver Oliver Jarvis believes the LMP1 failures in the Le Mans 24 Hours this year were "not a good advert" for the top class.
Robert Ladbrook
Edited: Jun 30, 2017, 3:06 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
All five factory-entered LMP1 machines suffered mechanical dramas during the last weekend's Le Mans race, with two of the three Toyotas retiring by the midway point.
Porsche salvaged a win by a single lap late on with its sole surviving #2 919 Hybrid, having lost the sister entry to an oil pressure problem with a little under four hours left when it was 13 laps ahead.
Jarvis, who spent five years on Audi's LMP1 programme up until its withdrawal last year left him without a seat for this term, was ironically one of the chief beneficiaries of the poor LMP1 reliability.
The British driver and his teammates Ho-Pin Tung and Thomas Laurent led Le Mans outright in their #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca, before slipping back to second with just over an hour to go.
Jarvis told Motorsport.com that he foresaw the troubles for the hybrid cars to an extent, and has questioned how hard both Toyota and Porsche were pushing.
"I had a bet with my engineers that an LMP2 would finish on the podium, but we definitely didn't see ourselves leading the race," Jarvis said.
"After the test day it was clear the P1 hybrids would have issues at some point, but what we saw last weekend was manufacturers pushing the envelope to the extreme, and it wasn't a good advert [for the class] in the end.
"The ACO sets the rules to slow the cars down, yet this year we had the lap record smashed and the cars going faster than ever on less fuel than ever. But that's clearly had a knock-on effect on reliability.
"Perhaps the cars now are just too technical, and in my opinion something has to be done about the cost surrounding them if the class is going to be sustainable."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Vanthoor turns down G-Drive WEC seat for Nurburgring
Next article Derani set for Rebellion Nurburgring WEC seat
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Robert Ladbrook
Martin becomes latest Aston Martin driver in British GT
British GT
British GT
Martin becomes latest Aston Martin driver in British GT
Taylor-Smith makes Blancpain GT switch with Bentley
GT World Challenge Europe Sprint
GT World Challenge Europe Sprint
Taylor-Smith makes Blancpain GT switch with Bentley
Ginetta LMP1 cars ordered for WEC 2018/19 season
WEC
WEC
Ginetta LMP1 cars ordered for WEC 2018/19 season
More from
Oliver Jarvis
Pfaff Motorsports adds Alexander Rossi to Rolex 24 lineup
IMSA
IMSA
Petit Le Mans Road Atlanta
Pfaff Motorsports adds Alexander Rossi to Rolex 24 lineup
Jarvis “had to think for myself” to seal Portimao win with no radio
WEC
WEC
Portimao
Jarvis “had to think for myself” to seal Portimao win with no radio
United laments "cruel" TV camera issue that cost team Sebring win
WEC
WEC
Sebring
United laments "cruel" TV camera issue that cost team Sebring win
Latest news
Phillip Island to remain in use despite MotoGP and WorldSBK departures
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
1 h
Phillip Island to remain in use despite MotoGP and WorldSBK departures
Did Max Verstappen already know the impact of Red Bull’s big upgrade when he signed his new deal?
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
2 h
Did Max Verstappen already know the impact of Red Bull’s big upgrade when he signed his new deal?
WEC: Barcelona 6 Hours schedule and TV times
WEC
WEC WEC
Barcelona
3 h
WEC: Barcelona 6 Hours schedule and TV times
Brennan Poole joins Jordan Anderson Racing for 2027 NASCAR O'Reilly season
NASCAR O'Reilly
NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly
Phoenix II
4 h
Brennan Poole joins Jordan Anderson Racing for 2027 NASCAR O'Reilly season
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe