Le Mans – Dumas: Porsche does not have such a big lead

With 14 participations in 24 Hours of Le Mans, Romain Dumas est bien placé pour savoir que rien n’est acquis avant le drapeau à damier. Mais les Porsche ont tout de même montré des performances prometteuses en monopolisant les premières positions sur la grille.

“We are not surprised by our level of performance, mainly in qualifying”, Romain Dumas told AUTOhebdo. “But we must not forget the pace in the race where our best results are between 3'21 and 3'23, a speed quite similar to Audi. They may be slightly behind us at the end of the Test Day. »

The teammate of Neel Jani, author of the provisional pole, estimate that Toyota a également toutes ses chances dans la Sarthe même si les TS040 Hybrid sont un peu en retrait face aux Porsche et aux Audi. « Toyota must evolve to 2 or 3 seconds. The Japanese team is further behind, certainly, but this gap is not huge over a 24 hour race. They seem a little more efficient than on Test Day. I think they have the means to come within 3 seconds of our performance in qualifying and 1”7 or 1”8 in the race”, said the winner of the 2010 edition.

“Our objective for the next test sessions is to limit the work on the front axle. The aero support has nevertheless improved significantly, especially in fast corners. But Audi has caught up with Porsche in terms of top speed (336km/h). We are still in the unknown in terms of the number of stints with the tires due to the changeable weather, but I am sure that the R18 e-tron quattro will do more than us. Neel Jani will start, I never do it at Le Mans”, added Romain Dumas.