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[MUSIC PLAYING]
MIKE SPINELLI: Welcome to Thursday on Road Testament.
The rotating cast of characters, Leo Parente.
LEO PARENTE: Thank you for having me here.
I'm replacing Alex Roy.
MIKE SPINELLI: You're the Alex Roy of today.
LEO PARENTE: And you're the J.F. Musial.
MIKE SPINELLI: I'm the J.F. Musial of today, which is--
LEO PARENTE: It's the Italian-American edition.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah, yeah.
So you know what I'm saying?
We're going to talk about racing today.
LEO PARENTE: You're going to make me laugh?
MIKE SPINELLI: No, I'm not going to make you laugh.
LEO PARENTE: You think I'm funny?
MIKE SPINELLI: I might make you cry.
LEO PARENTE: Why?
Tell me why.
Why?
MIKE SPINELLI: Because Peugeot announced it's leaving LMP1
for the 2012 upcoming season, citing money difficulties.
And since we're talking about that, maybe you want to let us
know what you think on @DriveTV on Twitter.
Because that's what we do.
We listen to what you guys have to say.
LEO PARENTE: Apparently Peugeot
listened to the economy.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yes.
LEO PARENTE: And normally we do SHAKEDOWN
on Friday with racing.
But the news is today, so we should pick up on the fact
that Peugeot is gone.
They had a test team at Sebring.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yes.
LEO PARENTE: But they're done.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah, apparently that's it.
OK.
So, just to lay it out the way it is.
Today they announced they're leaving Le Mans racing.
LEO PARENTE: World Endurance Championship going on 24 hour.
Parking the cars.
MIKE SPINELLI: Parking the cars for 2012.
LEO PARENTE: For 2012.
MIKE SPINELLI: And the problem, they said, poor
sales, the overall economy in Europe, and a bunch of new
launches that they're concentrating on in Europe.
LEO PARENTE: So just like Honda and Toyota pulled out of
F1 saying economics of the business forced them to focus
their money and their attention, Peugeot is saying
the same thing.
It happens to be that they were working on a hybrid, like
Audi, like Toyota coming in.
They won a Le Mans two years ago.
MIKE SPINELLI: 2009 they won Le Mans, 24 hours of it.
LEO PARENTE: They won the World Endurance
Championship last year.
MIKE SPINELLI: Five out of seven races
they won last year.
LEO PARENTE: OK.
And in 2014 are all new rules, which is what Porsche is
waiting for.
MIKE SPINELLI: Well, you just hit on what could be the nut
of this whole thing.
The talk is that Peugeot is just bowing
out for this season.
They can save the money and then get right back in 2014
when the new rules kick in, which will make their hybrid
car the important car right here.
LEO PARENTE: Yeah, so they've built a hybrid.
They were one of the first to announce an LP hybrid.
Remember that silver car with the lightning bolts?
MIKE SPINELLI: Yes.
LEO PARENTE: And they built this and ran it last year.
They were going to race it at the China race.
But they did not.
Then Toyota showed up with their gas hybrid.
This is diesel hybrid.
Audi tested their R18 at Sebring.
They brought an AB car.
One of those was a hybrid, rumor running the front
engine, electric motors, the flywheel thing that comes from
their partner Porsche.
And maybe these guys just decided-- and they're
committed to battery.
So maybe they just decided, you know what?
Let's just take a breath, save our money, focus our business,
and from a racing standpoint, regroup and come out full
strength in 2014.
They've left that door open.
MIKE SPINELLI: So what about the 2014 season is the issue?
I mean, there are big changes coming to LMP1.
If you don't know, it's the top prototype class of Le Mans
racing as defined by ACO.
LEO PARENTE: ACO and Le Mans rules.
And they're talking about making various changes to make
the traditional internal combustion engine smaller but
to open the door for new technology, such as hybrid, to
limit the fuel available.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah, they're limiting the energy that a car
can-- so they're just using the blanket term energy.
LEO PARENTE: And they're using that term instead of fuel.
You're absolutely right.
They want the cars to be smaller, to be more efficient.
They want to create some cost controls, even including
managing tire use and wear.
And Porsche has been building their 14 car forever.
And not to create a conspiracy, but the
manufacturers always have an ongoing
dialogue with these people.
If Porsche is building this car, maybe they know something
where these rules are going.
They announced some set of rules in December.
And maybe Peugeot has decided, well, looking at those rules,
it'd be smarter to do this.
Wait, and then regroup.
Toyota has got their Rebellion Lola is running the gas engine
in LMP1 and WEC.
But, they're bringing one car, their gas hybrid as kind of a
test project to kind of get comfortable with
what's going on.
MIKE SPINELLI: Well, it's interesting that you should
mention Toyota, because the second big news today is about
Toyota's hybrid LMP1 car.
LEO PARENTE: Well the car's been tested, and we finally
see pictures of it.
MIKE SPINELLI: Right.
The pictures just showed up today.
LEO PARENTE: So that was the rendering.
MIKE SPINELLI: That was the rendering.
And this is sort of the real deal.
It must have been scanned out of some magazine or something.
LEO PARENTE: That's what I heard.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah.
So the interesting thing about this car is-- well, the same
thing about the Peugeot is that they both landed today
because today is the deadline for announcing which cars are
going to be running.
LEO PARENTE: Yeah, not to bust chops.
I think that's why Peugeot made their announcement.
Toyota has already made their entry for this one car in WEC.
They've been testing a couple of days ago.
Everyone has been scrambling for pictures.
Some Toyota PR person sent it out.
I think it ended up in a foreign magazine.
And we start to see this picture and maybe a
side shot you had.
MIKE SPINELLI: So is Toyota the new Peugeot then?
LEO PARENTE: I think Toyota's coming back.
And I would be shocked if they don't figure it out and race a
two car team and really make a full effort.
As you look at the car, there are pictures
showing up all over.
There are trappings of Audi in the back, the way they handle
the fin, connecting the rear wheel.
But the front fenders here--
this shot is kind of not showing how it rolls over.
And it looks very Peugeot-ish in the front.
The nose, the beak, is Peugeot.
That this is closed off for air flow is
Peugeot Le Mans version.
So who knows.
And I'm trying to find out who built the chassis I know this
came out of the ex-Toyota F1 shop.
But Dallara actually produces the Audi chassis I thought I
read somewhere that someone else did some engineering work
for these guys too.
MIKE SPINELLI: So, LMP1 in general.
If you're not a hardcore core racing fan, and you haven't
been following what Le Mans endurance racing is,
prototypes should be the highest form of racing
technology that there are in sports car racing.
LEO PARENTE: And there's been a lot of work on rules, all
the way back from 2009, to try to make the rules kind of
revert back to more production based.
But manufacturers such as Peugeot and Audi have been
fighting that.
And where we've ended up now is a new set of 2014
regulations that make them hyper-exotic, try to connect
the new technologies, and energy work, with these cars.
So when you watch these things run, they're
going to be the pinnacle.
And everyone is going to argue, isn't F1 supposed to be
the pinnacle?
But there's so many regulations and restrictions
in F1 right now that basically it's an aerodynamic exercise.
They're playing the tire management game with Pirelli.
And they've got curves and movable wings.
But then, this stuff's more exotic.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah.
It's funny when this is more exotic,
when they're actually--
the pretense of them is that they're more like cars you
might find on the road.
LEO PARENTE: And everyone is going to argue that the shape
and whatever is not.
But literally, a lot of the lessons here start to
apply to road cars.
MIKE SPINELLI: So 2013 is going to
suck for Peugeot fans.
But is it going to be a lost year for racing?
LEO PARENTE: I think not.
Because behind the manufacturers, there are all
these private teams.
There's Pescarolo, Oreca, OAK.
A number of teams are going to still be there.
And there's going to be a lot of racing, a lot of
competitive things.
And behind that, there's still LMP2, which is getting bigger.
I mean Nissan's made a commitment to LMP2.
There are more teams than ever.
Honda is out there.
Honda is actually in LMP1, as well.
So, it's not going to be lost.
MIKE SPINELLI: Well, is there a chance that you might
actually see Peugeot race cars run by privateer teams for
2013, and then they might jump back in 2014?
LEO PARENTE: We're absolutely guessing, but you're right.
Remember Sebring last year, a privately run
Peugeot won the race.
I mentioned earlier, they had a testing team at Sebring
already when they cut this program.
Who's not to say that they're going to sell the hardware,
offload it to a private team, and the car still may run?
MIKE SPINELLI: Right.
LEO PARENTE: We're guessing.
But who knows.
MIKE SPINELLI: Also, Citroen, those companies are connected.
They're not saying that they're
going to stop rallying.
So is there a chance that Citroen is going to say, we're
in the same boat?
We're going to be out.
LEO PARENTE: Well, I don't think so.
Who knows?
I mean these things are hyper-expensive.
They're F1 levels.
The money Audi is spending has got to be phenomenal, the
money Peugeot is spending.
But you make an interesting case.
As they go forward in 2014, is Citroen going to become the
racing arm of that PSA collection, or will they still
have two brands going?
Here's Volkswagen group that has everyone racing, even with
the rumor Bentley is showing up in '14.
So who's to say whether the two brands will come back for
Citroen and Peugeot, or they'll just
centralize it under one.
MIKE SPINELLI: But that's interesting.
So even if 2013 isn't the greatest
year, 2014 is the show.
So 2014 is going to be awesome for endurance racing.
So in LMP1, you've got Porsche coming back.
LEO PARENTE: Right.
MIKE SPINELLI: You've got Bentley rumored
to be coming back.
LEO PARENTE: There are rumors about.
MIKE SPINELLI: And then you still have Audi and if Peugeot
comes back in 2014.
LEO PARENTE: And you've got Toyota stepping up.
MIKE SPINELLI: And Toyota stepping up.
LEO PARENTE: And you've got Honda
playing around now again.
So who knows?
I think it's going to be great.
And we haven't even talked about GT.
And that thing is full of manufacturers.
So, what, 55 cars race at Le Mans.
They've got the box 56 for the exotic car, which I think is
supposed to be Delta if they ever get an engine.
MIKE SPINELLI: Delta meaning the delta wing race car.
LEO PARENTE: They'll have no shortage of field at Le Mans.
And they'll have no shortage of cars at WEC.
So it'll all be good.
It's just a dramatic statement for Peugeot.
And it's a dramatic introduction.
We finally see the Toyota.
MIKE SPINELLI: Right.
So don't jump out the window yet if you're a Peugeot fan.
LEO PARENTE: No, no.
No, no, no, no.
MIKE SPINELLI: Cool.
Road Testament.
@DriveTV.
Let us know what you think about LMP1 racing.
LEO PARENTE: Yeah, and as the news kind of cycles through,
fill in the blanks of the things that
we're not talking about.
Because it's happening very fast.
More stuff is leaking out about what's going on with
this Peugeot story.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah.
And there will probably be more this week.
This is kind of a big week for this stuff.
So watch it, and watch us on Road Testament.
Later.
Hoo-ah
LEO PARENTE: Oh, god.
MIKE SPINELLI: Son of a Leo.
Parente.
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