I saw that and wondered if anyone else would notice that. Good eagle-eyes!! I did have a long talk with Pope about this and it is his opinoin that very few people are aware of this trick in the US. He was wondering, and I am now also wondering if it might be more prevalent in Europe. Certainly Sébastien Loeb and Citroen-Peugeot and these students all are from Europe.
Curiously, the provisional pole winner at Pikes Peak earlier this week was Romain Dumas, and he is also incredibly fast (IMHO, not quite as good as Sébastien Loeb, but very, very close.) In 2014, Romain was the fastest of all up Pikes Peak, and just a few weeks ago, he was first overall in the 24 hour race in Le Mans. (He was also first in Le Mans in 2010, and first in Class in Le Mans in 2013.) Count him in as the likely favorite, he has been under the ten minute mark (only a few drivers have done that) for the last four years, starting in 2012 with a 9:46 in a Porsche GT3 R, and putting his Norma M20 RD in first in 2014 with a 9:05. This year his Norma M20 has four new hub motors and a torque biasing system of Norma's own design. Norma is a specialty constructor of racing cars in France, and have had an effective car for the last several years. In addition to Dumas, watch Rhys Millen and Monster Tajima. All are past winners, and all have what looks to be the very best equipment that can be found. The only other name on the short list of must watch people is Paul Dallenbach, who has been way under ten minutes, some years in open wheeled (Indy Car racing cars) and some years in full bodied cars like a very non-stock Hyundai Genesis. It's going to be a good run, you can watch intermittently tomorrow.
