The summer of sport in France has the French Open, and the Tour de France. But, it also has the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with three parts. Beginning, in the early afternoon, the cars sped through the pines and fields. In twilight, stripes fly across the road, into the darkness, and dawn comes, towards an endless stretch to the finish, at dawn. 12, 8, 4. Magnetic force increases as the hours tick by. Winning Le Mans, is the biggest accomplishment in sports car races. Le Mans, defines sports car races. It's the same and different every year. Welcome, to the 84th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, at this 8.5 mile track.
This is the one, and the only, Le Mans 24 Hour race. We have a record 60 car field. Porsche won six straight races last year, after Le Mans. All the factory cars, may be vulnerable this year. You cannot fake it in racing. Lots of action during practice and qualifying. Pirre Kaffer had a fire in his Prototype on Wednesday. Stephane Sarrazin crashed the Toyota at Indianapolis corner. Audi also had a few wrecks. On Wednesday, Neel Jani was going for his second straight Le Mans pole. Thursday had rain, as even the safety car was spinning, with four-time Le Mans winner Yannick Dalmas, slide.
Leh Keen and Marc Miller, will race the WeatherTech Porsche 911 RSR as a duo, because their team mate, Cooper MacNeil, he fell ill overnight. Le Mans is wet. The drivers are hesitant as they move to the grid. The rain on stopped cars is not good. You don't want steam on your windows. The Porsche's have done extremely well in qualifying. But, these blokes are managing 1,000 horsepower. A few years ago, there was a huge wreck in the rain. There are three tire compounds. We will have three safety cars for each 20 cars. Slow zones caused trouble last year. Let's hope that doesn't happen, this year.
Stand by for drama. 50 years ago, Ford won for the first time, but they are back at Le Mans, this year, with four cars. You race to win, and, that's why Ford has returned. We are very close, to the start of the race. Ford Chip Ganassi Racing sees George Howard Chappel and Mike Hull, running each team. Porsche and Ferrari will be competing. Porsche has two of last year's overall winning drivers (Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber), back in the GT division. Risi Competizione makes their first start at Le Mans, in five years, in their Ferrari 488 GTE. Corvette is making their 17th start at Le Mans.
21 American drivers will start. Of course, Cooper MacNeil won't take the flag, because he is ill. Mike Shank Racing makes their Le Mans debut, but will have to take a penalty, for an engine change. Le Mans is all about testing limits. Luigi Chinetti drove all but 20 minutes, in 1949. Cars have wrecked hugely here, and have lots of speed. Very little total darkness here at Le Mans, but, when it is, it is really dark. The race has started, as we are behind the safety car. The teams and drivers have seen rain. Let's check the conditions, make adjustments, and we'll get underway.
Watch out for aquaplaning off the road. We will hear 30 year veteran race director Edoardo Freitas of Portugal. He is a seriousperson who knows his job. Here are some numbers. 14 laps between pit stops. 395 project laps distance, 3,300 miles, 25,293 gear changes! Wow! The #67 Ford GT has been in the garage. They have an engine issue even before the race starts. Will the car start? The same thing happened at the 24 Hours of Daytona back in January. Let's hope car #67 can get back out there.
1,650 corner marshals. Many French marshals, ARE HERE. The ByKolles CLM P1 01 is in the lane, too, and they had a fire in qualifying. That car is shared by Simon Trummer, Oliver Webb, and Pierre Kaffer. Michelin and Dunlop are two of the biggest tire brands in this field. Lots of water around. Audi's Lena Gade is telling Andre Lotterer to maintain tire temperature. She will leave the team, after this race, for Bentley. Will Bentley come back to Prototype racing? Sven cars were sent to the back of the grid, due to drivers not being able to get laps in during night practice.
Krohn Racing is also at the back with Tracy Krohn, Nicolas Jonsson, and Joao Barbosa. Extreme Speed Motorsports' car #30 of Scott Sharp, Ed Brown, and Johannes van Overbeek. Those cars are usually sponsored by Tequila Patron. However, France bans alcohol sponsorship. So the cars carry the Paul Mitchell hair care product brand. The conditions are changing, and you have the brake discs and a reverse motor providing resistance instead of power. The gearbox on the #67 Ford GT is having gearbox issues. Under yellow, we see three safety cars. Right now, we only have one safety car there.
We have more celebrities at Le Mans than we've seen in many years. The most fearsome section is at the Porsche Curves, as we have paving, and SAFER barriers there. The privateer P1 cars and the P2 cars might be in contention for a win, if the factory Prototypes have issues. Going through the Porsche curves at 150-160 miles an hour, it takes your breath away as a driver. Car #67 is back on track, and it doesn't seem like there is active rain right now. We have begun a journey, that will go through the night, and into the day beyond. We have run under the safety car, for almost 20 minutes. Rebellion Racing is taking car #12 into the garage for repairs.
Work also goes on on the #60 LM GTE Am entry, from Formula Racing. A Ferrari 458 Italia. The 1,000 horsepower LMP1 cars, they definitely can't use all that power, in this rain. We await the green flag yet, as the light is brightening. There could be clearing and sunshine for the next few hours. Mike Shank Racing, still needs to serve their penalty. They need to wait, and cannot do it under the safety car. We have 60 cars, 180 drivers from 26 countries. We have the SRT41 Morgan Nissan, have Frederic Sausset... a quadruple amputee, but he's able to drive the car. He is lifted out of the car, by straps.
The drivers have lots of respect for Monsieur Sausset. The #61 Ferrari 458 Italia just pitted in LM GTE Am, with Rob Bell at the controls, sharing with Weng Sun Mok and Keita Sawa. The Ford GT gearbox issues, came under extended yellows at the 24 Hours of Daytona back in January. Car #49 pits. MSR is pitting, but they have not served their penalty as yet. This race, is only just beginning, folks. We've got a long, long way to go yet. This is the first time ever that the 24 Hours of Le Mans has begun behind the safety car. The downtime for a long run, with two drivers, is going to be tough. MarcMillr and Leh Keen, will be driving. Cooper MacNeil, he's got a Norovirus bug. Leh Keen and Marc Miller have special dispensation. Gunnar Jeanette was there to drive, but the ACO didn't approve him to drive.
The cars are easier to drive, but the pace is way more intense that it was when drivers ran as duos. A couple years ago, Cooper MacNeil and Jeroen Bleekemolen ran as a duo, a few years ago. Workers have been sent to the corners to check for puddling. A green flag, is coming. Our polesitters in each class are Neel Jani, Rene Rast, Dirk Mueller, and Rob Bell. The sun is coming out as we are about to green at Le Mans as Neel Jani leasds the way. Here we go! No overtaking before you cross the line, and we are underway at Le Mans!
Sebastien Buemi is in the lead Toyota, as the carsd sweep through Tetre Rouge and onto the Mulsanne straight. Mike Conway is chasing the Porsche. In GTE, a Ferrari passes one of the Ford GT's at 300 kilometers an hour. Drivers look for grip, through the slowest corner at Arnage. Diving through Indianapolis. The Audi's are faster than the Porsche's. Two Oreca's, two Morgan's, and two Gibson's, are the three teams in LMP2 with open top cars. This is the last year of open cockpit cars at Le Mans. We are close to the end of hour one, and green, at the worlds greatest sports car race.
No comments:
Post a Comment