Ex-Audi engineer predicts LMP1-LMP2 battle

Former Audi Sport race engineer Justin Taylor didn't spend much time on the unemployment line after the German manufacturer pulled the plug on its LMP1 program. The Colorado native was quickly hired by the Ed Carpenter Racing IndyCar team, and while he's enjoying the challenge, a big part of Taylor wishes he was in Le Mans right now.

Despite his new surroundings, Taylor has kept an eye on the LMP1 class from afar, and in lieu of his normal race preparations for Le Mans, he shared a few thoughts on the teams he raced against for many years.

"It's hard to deny that Toyota's looking really strong," Taylor (pictured) told RACER. "They just look pissed off about last year, and the past couple of years. The first thing I'm looking at in the race is refueling time. I know last year and the previous year Porsche had a leg up on both Audi and Toyota in terms of refueling time. Sometimes they were four to five seconds a stop quicker. I know the ACO want to make things equal as they can there, but we'll have to see if Porsche continues to have an edge."

The rise of the new-for-2017 LMP2 cars to lead the top speed charts is another area of interest for Taylor. Due to the limited amount of fuel each Porsche and Toyota is allowed to consume per lap, and the emptying of the hybrid energy recovery system's power storage when accelerating out of corners, LMP1s have fallen behind the improved LMP2s in a straight line.

With LMP1 drivers having less horsepower than LMP2s after deploying their ERS systems, and the routine need to lift and coast into most of the braking zones at Le Mans to stay below the per-lap fuel limit, the two styles of Prototypes could be intertwined on a regular basis.

"A lot of the top speed deficits that you see to LMP2 cars will make things pretty busy for everyone," he said. "It'll be interesting to see how traffic plays a role this year, with closing the gap on the straights to P1s. A lot of teams have software to predict where you're going to catch traffic on track, and it will be important if a lot of cars are on top of each other."

With 500hp or more of ERS power to use on demand, Taylor thinks LMP1 teams could place a heavy reliance on the predictive traffic information to instruct their drivers to surrender some of the hybrid acceleration out of the corners and save the boost to get by traffic in more critical sections of the circuit.

"Any kind of traffic forecast could have you choosing something different than giving full acceleration out of a turn," he said. "Maybe it's an early boost somewhere, or deploying some more boost in a different area than the normal strategy would dictate.

"Before, you'd fully deploy and then have to deal with traffic with the engine's power, which isn't a lot, and you'd get stuck. The predictive [traffic] software will allow you to plan how you use that deployment to get around somebody that you might catch on corner entry, and saving a few seconds could be invaluable. A lot of teams were doing this last year, and I think everyone will be onto it by now."

Missing Le Mans after 11 consecutive visits will be strange for Taylor. He had invitations to work for the remaining LMP1 teams, but chose to remain neutral while hoping that Audi eventually returns. The only question left is whether he'll follow Le Mans as a fan, or if his engineering tendencies will crop up during the 24 Hour.

"I really haven't made up my mind how I'm going to approach it, and I'm not really sure about how I feel about it," he said. "Le Mans is kind of a love/hate thing. I remember pretty much every time I've been there – by about three o'clock in the morning on Sunday, I'm thinking, "I'm never doing this again". And then the day after, I couldn't wait to come back. So I'll probably fight the urge to get out the software and pay that close of attention, and just try and enjoy it for a little while.

"But I won't promise. I think after a while, I'll start to wonder what the hell someone's thinking, or how this is going to go in the morning. And the other problem is I've got so many friends there. I don't know really who to root for. I'll be glued to the TV for as long as I can stay awake. I don't know if it's going to be the full 24 hours, but I'll be there in heart."