# 2012 Le Mans Technical Regulations Announced Including Restrictions for Diesels plus Baretzky's Take



## [email protected] (Apr 9, 2004)

The ACO has announced technical regulations for the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans and the big news revolves around performance leveling for diesels, specifically 6% less flow on restrictors for diesels.

While at Le Mans, we spoke to Audi Sport engine czar Ullrich Baretzky about such a development and the German had an interesting take. We'll paraphrase that below, but first here are the 2012 regulations.



> In 2012, the safety of all prototypes will be reinforced, and the equivalences between the different engines powering the LM P1 cars in the Le Mans 24 Hours, the FIA World Endurance Championship, the Le Mans Series and American Le Mans Series will be readjusted.
> 
> Following the undertaking given after the 2011 Le Mans 24 Hours, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest and the FIA have worked together to modify the Le Mans 24-Hours regulations which, in keeping with the agreement signed with the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), form the basis of the rules governing the future World Endurance Championship.
> 
> ...












Two weeks ago on location in Braselton, GA for the running of Petit Le Mans, we threw the idea of rumored performance balancing between diesel and petrol to Audi Sport engine czar Ulrich Baretzky. We have no recording or video of the conversation, so we'll paraphrase.

"I wish I had the time to develop a petrol program," said Baretzky. It was his contention that this isn't a diesel vs. petrol problem but rather the level of manufacturers involved. Baretzky theorized that he could make a petrol Audi LMP1 as fast as the R18 TDI if he wanted to _*and*_ had the time.

He surmised that every petrol LMP1 is effectively a privateer effort without the weight of a large manufacturer behind it. Even the Aston Martin AMR One didn't have the resources behind it that the Audi and Peugeot entrants had.

And speaking of resources, Baretzky stated that, in his experience, the difference between factory and privateer efforts running the same car is 3 seconds a lap at Le Mans. The factory can simply optimize a car better given its experience and resources. He added that 3 seconds is about the difference between diesel and petrol today.









There is the argument that close racing makes for an exciting show, and this too was mentioned. Still, it's not surprising that Baretzky was against slowing down the top tier manufacturers so that privateer teams can compete. 

Arguably, he may be right. When you look back on memorable Le Mans, do you think of 2005 when a restricted Audi R8 slugged it out and won against faster Pescarolos? That race marked Tom Kristensen's record-breaking win but it is probably less memorable in the grand scheme than titanic clashes between Ford and Ferrari or Audi and Peugeot. Baretzky sounded like he would rather see manufacturer competition from the likes of Toyota and Porsche, both more than rumored to be readying for returns, than be slowed.

As for that R18 TFSI petrol we began imagining when Baretzky mentioned his wish to build a petrol program in order to prove a point, we went further and asked if such a thing were feasible in order to make a more affordable package for privateers looking to run an Audi.

"Not really," he said. "To run at (Audi and Peugeot's) level, it is prohibitively expensive whether you run petrol or diesel." 

With today's level of reliability, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is more 24 hour sprint than test of survival. To run at this pace and this level of competition, the sheer amount of resources needed doesn't really change depending on fuel.










There's another regulation worth mentioning because it got us to thinking about a conversation we had with Baretzky one year prior. At the time, Audi's Le Mans winning driver team of Bernhard, Dumas and Rockenfeller was about to run an experimental Porsche 911 GT2 flywheel style hybrid that effectively ran as all-wheel drive when power from the batteries was sent to the front wheels.

"Could this mean Audi racing a quattro powered LMP1 at Le Mans?" we asked Baretzky? He told us that was most unlikely. The intent behind such systems wasn't to allow all-wheel drive and it's easy to guess that any rule makers would be aware of Audi's reputation for turning all-wheel drive into an unfair advantage. Baretzky predicted then that any such system would be limited in use... "perhaps only above certain speeds." Here we are in 2011, and with the 2012 regulations now published limit power release to the front wheels for hybrids will only be at speeds above 120 km/h. Alas, there will be no quattro launches or physics-defying cornering in a rain-soaked Arnage.


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