~This is it, this will be a series to watch if only to see how well the new ECO-BOOST Ford GT's perform in International endurance racing competition.

Here is the schedule:
(from WIKI)

The ACO announced a provisional calendar during the 2015 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas in September 2015. The calendar retains the eight rounds from 2015, but adds the 6 Hours of Mexico City at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. The World Sportscar Championship previously visited Mexico City in 1991. The Nürburgring round has been moved a month forward to July to close the gap after Le Mans.[1]

A test session will be held prior to the start of the season at Circuit Paul Ricard in March, while the mandatory test for the 24 Hours of Le Mans will be held in the first week of June.[1]

Rnd Race Circuit Location Date
1 6 Hours of Silverstone #ad
[/U][/URL] Silverstone Circuit Silverstone, United Kingdom 17 April
2 WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps #ad
[/U][/URL] Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Spa, Belgium 7 May
3 24 Hours of Le Mans #ad
[/U][/URL] Circuit de la Sarthe Le Mans, France 18–19 June
4 6 Hours of Nürburgring #ad
[/U][/URL] Nürburgring Nürburg, Germany 24 July
5 6 Hours of Mexico City #ad
[/U][/URL] Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Mexico City, Mexico 3 September
6 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas #ad
[/U][/URL] Circuit of the Americas Austin, United States 17 September
7 6 Hours of Fuji #ad
[/U][/URL] Fuji Speedway Oyama, Japan 16 October
8 6 Hours of Shanghai #ad
[/U][/URL] Shanghai International Circuit Shanghai, China 6 November
9 6 Hours of Bahrain #ad
[/U][/URL] Bahrain International Circuit Sakhir, Bahrain 19 November
*Thank you Wikipedia

So it begins in MARCH, with the first race in the UK in April. I'm posting this up so there is plenty of time to mark calendars

 

Two days until SPA...

I hope the GT's do better.

 

I just caught the Le Mans footage last night.

The GT's finished 1-3-4 in class, with another GT fortieth overall. That isn't the same as a 1-2-3 finish, but for a first time back at Le Mans, and given that it took an experienced team with a Ferrari 488 to take second away - that's pretty stunning anyway.


There was a lot of controversy in the last thirty minutes. The second place in GT class #82 Ferrari was flagged for a technicality that if it had been upheld would have soured the entire finish, even though it would have given the GT's that 1-2-3 finish that would have made a fifty year old dream come true.

But the consensus among the commentators was that the penalty flag was inconsistent in the first place - and that the GT's didn't NEED any help, certainly not that kind.

The #82 was kept on the track, by direction of the team in the pit apparently and the penalty was over ruled. The technicality had to do with the "Leaders Lights" on the side of the car not being displayed properly and the officials were calling for it to pull into the pits and have it fixed...

At this time, the third place Ford GT pulled into the pits for a full set of tires and fuel (A conciliatory gesture? A statement of sportsmanship?), and still went on to finish in third.

The biggest debacle though was the failure of the 1st place running (overall) Toyota car (#5) on the very last lap of the race - appallingly it stopped just past the finish line and one lap short, causing some to wonder if the driver thought the race was over. But it turns out that there was a total loss of engine power, giving second place Porche their 18th win at Le Mans, with the number 6 Toyota finishing second (another second for Toyota...) and the number 5 car (which was in a comfortable lead) unable to make it around the track to complete the race within the specified time limit.


~People were wandering around in a state of shock over that.

Had the #5 car not failed at the very last minutes of a 24 hour endurance race, it would have been the first ever Le Mans win for Toyota and they would have been only the second Japanese manufacturer to ever win at Le Mans (after Mazda).

So for Toyota - almost a complete disaster, they still got second but what a huge disappointment that had to be.

And for Porche, the top honors for the eighteenth time.

Audi had a miserable time this year, and but for the #5 Toyota dropping out would not have made it to the podium in third position.

 

Been at Lemans, and it was a shame that the C7 couldn't keep up with the GT's, what I've heard, it was because of the intake restriction they got. Pretty good fun with some friends being there. The f250 is an excellent sleeping place...
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Incredible....

WELL DONE!