24 Hours of Le Mans

The 24 Hours of Le Mans: The Finale
By Kate Shaw
Photos courtesy ACO.com

LA SARTHE, France (June 14, 2009) — We are finally on the last leg of a very long journey. At the top of the class, nothing has changed; the leaders are still: LMP1, No. 9 Peugeot Total; LMP2, Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder; GT1, No. 64 Chevrolet Corvette C6R; GT2, No. 82 Risi Competizione Ferrari. The threat of rain has gone with the wind. The sole surviving Audi is seven laps down. The race is essentially settled. But there are three hours to go.

On his 3rd stint, Allan McNish is forced to pit and a mechanic promptly changes the steering wheel on the cars 324th lap of the race, 3 laps less than the leading No. 9 Peugeot. This car has already had an ECU change and the worry is it may need another.

In order to be classified as a finisher of the race a car must complete 70% of the distance of the overall winner. At the 20 hour mark this would have been 224 laps (320 x 70%) so only the No. 75 Porsche would not qualify although the No. 39 car would be marginal.

This years Prix Jean Rondeau, an eponymous prize named after the late driver & manufacturer of the Sarthe region who won Le Mans in 1980 in his own car, celebrates the best hope amongst the young French drivers taking part in the 24 Hours.
The jury decided this year to give the prize to Julien Jousse, the driver of the No. 73 Alphand Corvette. He will receive the prize in the Luc Alphand Aventures pits from Pierre Fillon, the vice-president of the ACO and the brother of the French Prime Minister Francois Fillon.

The first “Prix Jean Rondeau” was given in 2007 to Nicolas Lapierre, and the 2nd in 2008 to Loic Duval.

The No. 92 JMW Motorsport Ferrari was third in LM GT2 class for a long time, but the car driven by Tim Sugden comes back to its pits running slowly, with some sort of tyre or suspension problem to the rear left. The No. 78 AF Corse SRL Ferrari F430 GT is now third in class. After its pit stop and a wheel hub replacement, the No. 92 car is down to fifth in class, three laps behind the No. 78 car.

The pace has slowed as everyone concentrates hard on simply getting to the end of the race.

No sooner was that written than Marcel Fassler in the No. 64 Chevrolet Corvette C6R slows to a stop and pulls off the piste. It is thought he might have run out of fuel; as it turns out, it is a fluid problem, in fact transmission oil. What an ending to the last hurrah of the GT1 Thunder Cars. The car is pushed to the entrance of pitlane, and the people of Corvette en masse rush to persuade the officials that they ought to be allowed to push the car to the pits so they can work on it.

Hour 22 passes with no change to the top of the classes save for the No. 64 Corvette C6R which has given up the lead to the sister car No. 63. But stay tuned – there is a Luc Alphand Aventure Corvette only two laps down that could take second place – there are still two hours to go. And in fact it does, demoting the No. 64 Corvette to P3, where it has such a lead over the Aston Martin following that it cannot be caught in the remaining time.

All three of the Peugeot Total cars have now changed their noses. The noses on their cars.

The Raymond Narac No 76 IMSA Performance Matmut car officially retires after a gearbox breakdown. They tried to fix it for most of this morning, and rejoined but the repairs didn’t work. Patrick Long, the captain of the ship, said that the team would continue to run as long as they could – or the officials would allow them – and everyone did his best, but the car will go no farther. This could well give the final place on the podium to Krohn Racing, the No. 83 Ferrari (the green one) which has been quietly and efficiently circulating throughout the 24 Hours. They have stood on the podium before, but not last year. It would be a joy to Giuseppe Risi to have both his cars on the podium today. And in fact, this is what happens. It is likely now that Risi will take first and third in class.

With just an hour and a half to go, the Speedy Racing Team Sebah car is undergoing a gearbox replacement. The car currently lies 10th overall.

The No. 87 Drayson Racing Aston Martin Vantage stops after the second Michelin chicane. It was 33rd overall and 10th in LM GT2. The cars are falling like snowflakes.

Just before Hour 23, the yellow flags fly and the safety cars deploy for two simultaneous but unrelated accidents, the seventh caution of the race. The No. 5 Team Goh Porsche RS Spyder, which has run in the top two all race long, suffers a breakage of some kind and turns sharp left at the Playstation chicane, hits the safety barrier so hard that the car is literally torn to pieces. Although in a state of shock, the driver, Seiiji Awa, climbs out on his own and is escorted to sit in the grass and wait for the ambulance.

Just down the piste the No. 39 KSM Lola Mazda bursts into flames; the marshals attack the fire with extinguishers, but the fire is persistent and will have to be extinguished by a fire truck. It proves to be an oil leak. The driver, Hideki Noda, finally climbs out of the car, conceding defeat.

The marshals and firemen had to put out several fires before the car was extinguished and pushed back into its pit.

Hour 23 has passed into history. One hour remains. No change at the top of the grid; however, the safety car situation may put the No. 9 and the No. 8 Peugeot Totals close enough to one another so they will get racy, and when that happens, anything can follow. Bourdais is driving the No. 8, which is in second place right now. Stay tuned.

Half an hour to go.

Bourdais suddenly slows on the track; the No. 8 Peugeot Total crawls painfully toward the pitlane, and one just knows that in the sister car the driver is thinking “What is wrong with his car and will it happen to me?” Hope flares at Audi. The fat lady pauses, waiting for her cue.

Or could it be simply showboating? The three Peugeots fall into line with one another, and that certainly looks to be the case. One remembers what happened when Ferrari tried to orchestrate a finish and the wrong car won …

The No. 63 Corvette backs into the garage for a Show and Shine finish – it has 8 laps on the Alphand Aventure car, but this is taking a chance. Fortunately there is no problem firing it up, and the clean and shiny Corvette rejoins the parade. The two remaining Aston-Martin Racing P1 cars line up too.

And that is the way the race finishes up. David Brabham brings the No. 9 Peugeot Total home in triumph, followed by the team cars. After 16 years, Peugeot finally wins its second 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Lion Has Roared. France has her champion.

And that’s the way it is.

Thanks for joining us in this adventure. Tune in later for the wrap-up.

 

The 24 Hours of Le Mans: Seventh 3 Hours
By Kate Shaw
Photos courtesy ACO.com

LA SARTHE, France (June 14, 2009 – 3 a.m.) — It has been a very long day and night, and another day has dawned, and your humble correspondent feels as if she has been driving the whole thing. Most of the people we can see around the track look just about the same. One can only imagine what the drivers feel like by now.

More drivers have crashed out with every cycle, but the top of the scoreboard has stayed the same since late last night. Peugeot is fated to win the race, it seems; they have displayed an amazing degree of resiliency and bulletproof serenity since the sun went down last night. Tom Kristensen continues to pound out the laps, but at this point it looks like a tough road ahead.

Around 8 AM, the driver from Marseilles beats the record he set earlier lapping in 3’24.352. The Peugeot driver is the fastest driver in the race and it’s a consolation when he is only 9th overall.

Although the No. 63 Corvette C6R has led the class for the entire race, a serious difficulty has arisen; namely, Jan Magnussen has developed stomach problems and has been declared too ill to drive. This means that Johnny O’Connell and Antonio Garcia will have to undertake the rest of the race between them. Johnny O confessed that he had only had one hour of sleep throughout the night and that he was praying that Mags would recover, before going off to try to catch up.

The driver of the No. 008 Lola Aston Martin rejoins around 8.35 AM after a 45-minutes gearbox repair. He rejoins in 14th place but drives back into his pit a lap later for more attention.

The Signature No. 12 Oreca Judd driven by Franck Mailleux has to drive through the pitlane for a Stop and Go because the driver was caught at 80 kph speeding in the pitlane during his last stop. He will rejoin in 18th place.

The Pescarolo team change the front brake pads and discs on its No. 16 Pescarolo and Bruce Jouanny takes the wheel. Before the car stopped it was in 6th place but it rejoins in 8th position, being overtaken by the No. 14 Kolles Audi R10 and the No. 13 Speedy Racing Team Sebah Lola Aston Martin.

Nicolas Prost's teammate Neel Jani spins the No. 13 Speedy Racing Sebah Lola Aston Martin into the gravel bed. The rookie driver loses one place dropping to 7th in P1 being overtaken by the No. 14 Kolles Audi R10 TDI driven by Dutch driver Charles Zwolsman.

At 09h08 the No. 81 Ferrari F430 GT rejoins for the second time in a few laps after some hood fixing problems. The car is still being driven by Patrick Dempsey who is running in aid of “Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque” and so continues to accumulate money for this charity.

Another safety car period comes out as Harold Primat has a heavy crash at the same location where Lucas Luhr destroyed the Audi No. 2, the entrance to the Porsche Curves. The 009 Aston Martin Lola is destroyed, but Primat climbs out safely and will be taken to the medical centre to be checked out. The car will be towed back to the garage. The Swiss driver is OK but has been taken away by ambulance as a precaution. Exhaustion may have been a factor with the long runs he has had to do as a result of the exclusion of the 3rd driver in their line-up (Stuart Hall) after his incident yesterday with the Radical LM P2.

The Safety car goes back in on the 300th lap at 9.49 AM

It is the end of Hour 19 and the top of the grid has not changed. And it doesn’t look as if there will be any rain.

As the cars come round under the safety car, one of the Kolles Racing Audi R10s suddenly shoots across the track and spins wildly on the Mulsanne Straight. Fortunately he doesn’t hit anybody and does little damage to his car; with the help of marshals, he spins his car back around to the right direction and heads for his pit box. After spinning under the Safety Car, Christian Bakkerud had to bring the car back into the pits in order to replace the damaged front bodywork. The mechanics didn't have a spare, so they recycled a repaired one. All the drivers of these R10s are rookies. It is remarkable they had no trouble up til now.

One after another, the two leading Peugeots pit for a rear bodywork change. The ACO marshals asked the Velizy works team for the change because of serious deterioration of the ventilation grills.

Roman Dumas, the driver of the #3 Audi, loses control of the car at Indianapolis, and has a brief encounter with the gravel trap. The marshals give him a little push in order to rejoin the track, and he then makes it back to the pits to get rid of the debris from the car.

Christophe Bouchut brings the No. 99 JMB Racing Ferrari F430 back into the pits with only three wheels on his wagon. He lost the rear left wheel at Arnage corner while limping back after a puncture. The mechanics are currently changing the rear left wheel hub.

After hours of fighting for P2, suddenly Stephan Sarrazin checks up his No. 8 Peugeot Total in front of Allan McNish’s Audi R15TDI. It looks suspiciously like a brake check. Fortunately no damage is done. McNish responds by setting the fastest lap of the race.

The third Audi R15 has once again come back to its pits. The car was obviously unstable when Romain Dumas brought it down the pit lane. The mechanics subsequently changed the front end and the steering rack in just about five minutes. Romain Dumas hands over the car to Alexandre Prémat.

In 28th place overall and next to last in LM P1, more than fifty laps down, Audi can't expect much more for the #3 car than to finish the race.

Hour 21 arrives at last. The only change in the leaders is in GT1, where the No. 64 Chevrolet Corvette (Beretta) has passed the sister No. 63 for the lead. This is undoubtedly due to the loss of Jan Magnussen to the 63 car team due to illness.

More and more fans begin to straggle back to the track, especially the general admission people in search of the perfect spot to watch the end of the race. Such places need staking out earlier rather than later.

Allan McNish comes back into the pits with the Audi R15TDI one lap after its scheduled pit stop was completed, and it’s wheeled back into the garage for another freshening up. Essentially they have set up a test program for their cars that would have served them well at the ALMS races they normally would have won. There is such a thing as false economy. Other bits of the car are inspected and changed as well.

Meanwhile the No. 007 Aston Martin Racing Lola is steadily overhauling the stationary Audi; he is 2 laps down, but the longer the Audi spends in the pits, the better his chances look – and he, too, wants the last spot on the podium. Capello finally exits the pitlane, then spins under the Dunlop Bridge (no damage done) and sets sail.

Hour 21 has come and gone, and there are no changes to the leaders in class.

The clouds are thickening, but no rain is falling yet. We will meet you here for the finale to this long and winding race very soon.
 

The 24 Hours of Le Mans: Fifth 3 Hours
By Kate Shaw
Photos courtesy ACO.com

LA SARTHE, France (June 13, 2009 9:00 p.m.) — At 3 o’clock on Sunday in France, it’s past half distance and the No. 9 is still leading on the 196th lap, despite the No. 2 Audi driven by Allan McNish, who is driving his 4th stint in a row, maintaining pressure. The Ingolstadt car is pursued by the No. 8 Peugeot driven by the pole sitter Stephane Sarrazin. Dawn is about 90 minutes away; the top drivers in class are the same, and so far there are 9 retirements. And it is not raining.

One of the greatest and longest fights for the lead is in LMP2 and on the 185th lap it’s now the No. 31 Essex Porsche RS Spyder ahead of the No. 5 Navi Team Goh Spyder. In third’ No. 33 Speedy Racing Sebah Lola Judd is still waiting for one of the Porsches to have a misfortune so it can improve its position on the podium.

The standings in the GT1 category did not change after the retirement of the No. 72 Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette which was pushed into the tire wall by the No. 009 Aston Martin and only mechanical problems will stop Corvettes from filling the 3 podium positions in this class.

The 2008 GT2 class-winner No. 82 Risi Competizione Ferrari F430 GT eventually leads the category, 28 laps behind the overall leader. No. 92 JMW Motorsport F430 GT is second and No. 76 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche 997 GT3 RSR is third.

Drayson Racing has pulled onto pitlane for their first real upgrade during the race. The No. 87 Aston Martin Vantage GT2 displayed warning lights for battery and fuel, causing Marino Franchitti to pull the car into the pitlane for a checkup. The team decided to replace the battery and alternator and a wheel sensor which had been acting up to boot. This will be a longish stop for the British team, but it is their first. Marino will return to the car when the work has been done.

A big accident has happened to a Peugeot which hit the rail at the Dunlop Bridge and catapulted into the deep gravel below; with so much of the car smashed up that nobody can tell which car it is. This brings out the third caution of the night and out comes the safety car. The track workers are talking into the cockpit of the car, to ascertain if the driver is all right; a fire truck and an ambulance are going down the straight, and the door on the car is open. Medical personnel have arrived and are working on the driver, who may be Benoit Treluyer, who is a Frenchman who races in Formula Nippon and lives in Japan. In the No. 17 Pescarolo Peugeot. A green tarp has been put up to block the view of the spectators and photographers, and another yellow tarp on the other side for privacy.

Meanwhile the Audi No. 1 comes in for fuel only, and Capello is dragged back into the garage area for more duct and radiator cleaning, and the No. 8 Peugeot Total comes in for fuel and dashes out again. The No. 82 Risi Ferrari comes in for brake pad change on the pitlane, and many other cars come in to get their top-ups and business done under caution. The No. 80 Flying Lizard Porsche also appears to be having brake pads replaced.

The driver has been extracted from the car and put into the ambulance, which has headed for the medical centre. He is reported to have been conscious when extracted. No other information has been given.

Somewhere in this kafuffle we have passed into Hour 13, and as we are under the safety car, everyone has held position. There are 10.5 hours to go.

This 8th retirement, the No. 6 Ginetta Zytek of Team LNT driven by Nigel Moore has retired due to a fire. The driver is the youngest driver this year, only 17, but he didn't quite beat the record of Ricardo Rodriguez who is the youngest ever to compete in the race.

This is the end of hour 14, and positions are all the same. At 4:46, the Safety Car situation was lifted, and the 47 competitors which are left are back to racing. The Safety Car was out for 42 minutes, time for Benoît Treluyer to be taken removed from the car and taken to the Medical Centre. He was lying 4th overall in the No. 17 Pescarolo Peugeot, 4 laps off the leader.

The Drayson Aston Martin Vantage is back in the race, all its gremlins banished at lest for now. It is in 46th place which is not quite last and 55 laps behind the leaders, but it is running.

The No. 35 Oak Racing Ferrari has blown a turbo. It will be Retirement No. 10. In addition, the 33 Barazi Epsilon Zytek has been pushed back into the garage and its ignition appears to be the problem. Phil Bennett has been driving that one. He was a star in the BTCC back in the day and we have met him; he has quite an international fan club.

The sun is beginning to come up over the tribunes (which are grandstands to us). The sky is turning a beautiful Gulf Aston Martin colour scheme. People still left in the grandstands are mostly asleep.

The safety car trundles out again so debris can be cleaned up from the accident site of the Peugeot. The No. 80 Flying Lizard Porsche comes into the pitlane for new tires and warns that the track is very slippery.

As the chimes of midnight ring here in North America, the safety cars still trundle around the track and at the end of Hour 15, the leaders remain the same.

Yawn. See you at 3:00 a.m. local time….
 

The 24 Hours of Le Mans: Third 3 Hours
By Kate Shaw
Photos courtesy ACO.com

LA SARTHE, France (June 13, 2009 – 3:00) — Night is falling fast over the 8 mile race course and the air is cooling down. Race fans are heading for the Village for champagne and crepes, beer and skittles, or fun and games. The drivers have settled down to hold station through the darkness. In the Audi pits, Tom Kristensen stands suited and booted, ready to take over Audi No. 1 for his first stint of the race. You will remember he drove the last stint in 2008. The car will also get four new tires.

At the 6.5 hour mark, disaster strikes Audi yet again, as Lucas Luhr has a suspension failure in the No. 2 Audi R15TDI and goes hard into the wall backward at the first of the Porsche Curves. The right rear wheel is perpendicular to the car, and the left looks flat; nevertheless, Luhr fires up the car and, refusing to exit the car, doggedly aims to get it back to the pits. Good luck with that, Lucas. This hit was at the same place where Allan McNish destroyed the same car in 2004. As the No. 3 Audi is still in the pits, this leaves only Tom Kristensen aboard the No. 1 Audi, currently in P2, to carry the flag. Dr. Ulrich would be pulling out his hair now if … well, you know. The officials argue that the car cannot be moved, but Dr. Ulrich and Lucas both think it can be done. Dr. Ulrich in an interview says that he has no idea what happened and will not until they get the car back. Alas, the marshals have prevailed; 20 minutes after his accident, Lucas climbs out of the car and gives up the ghost of the No. 2. The car becomes the fourth retirement of the race.

Meanwhile the No. 3 Audi has been diagnosed as a fuel problem; the engine had to be split off the car and repaired, they have removed debris from the undertray, and are now estimating half an hour til the car can get back on the track.

All the disaster for Audi has meant that the Lola Aston Martin LMP1 team, also racing new cars for this occasion, has moved up to P4 and P6. The Astons are as beautiful as they are efficient, and if the attrition rate continues they might score an upset podium. Stay tuned.

Another car, the No. 72 Luc Alphand Corvette, driven by Patrice Goueslard has violently hit the wall in the Tertre Rouge esses. The Corvette, which was 3rd in LM GT1, will probably not rejoin. The driver of the No. 72 Luc Alphand Corvette had a nasty accident at Tertre Rouge. In a state of shock, he tells us what happened
"I don't know who pushed me off of the track,” said Goueslard, “but at that speed, I can only imagine an LM P1. I don't understand what happened; I didn't even see a blue flag being waved. The impact with the safety barrier was almost head on, and quite hard. I had a nasty blow. But on top of that, I'm really sorry for the team. Gutted, really..."

Since Luc Alphand Aventures has take part in the 24 Hours with these American sport cars, it will be his first ever retirement, even if it’s not official yet.

At the end of Hour 7, the Top Guns are: LMP1, Peugeot Total No. 9 (Marc Gene); LMP2, Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder (Ortelli); GT1, No 63 Corvette C6R (Magnussen); and GT2, No. 82 Risi Competizione Ferrari (Jaime Melo). For Tracy Krohn fans, his No. 83 Risi Ferrari is still on the track, P8 in class, driving a steady race. The No. 80 Flying Lizard Racing Porsche is up to P5.

It has to be pointed out at this juncture that the privateer Kolles Audi R10TDI is running in P7 and P9, and the way things are going, it may end up one of the better Audis of this race. Interesting.

The French driver of the No. 7 Peugeot 908 Hdi FAP, Nicola Minassian, just set the fastest lap of the race. Delayed by its contact with the Pescarolo Peugeot at the beginning of the race, it dropped 6 laps behind the leader, at 22.17 the driver who comes from Marseilles did a time of 3’24.628 and is currently in 12th place.

The No. 1 Audi comes in unexpectedly and goes into the garage; it looks to be an air temperature problem. The car is vacuumed out, the radiator cleared, and the car is back on the track. This loses the car its second place to Bourdais in the No. 8 Peugeot, but at least Audi still has one bullet in the gun.

At the 8 hour mark, the top of the boards remain: LMP1, No. 9 Peugeot Total (Gene); LMP2, Team Essex RS Spyder Porsche (Elgaard); GT1, No. 63 Corvette C6R (Johnny O); and GT2, No. 82 Risi Ferrari (Melo). The remaining Audi R15TDI that still figures in the fight, the No. 1 driven by Tom Kristensen, remains in P3. The two R10TDI privateers are in P6 and P7.

The No.008 Aston Martin Racing Lola Aston LM P1 went into its garage at 22.15 for a left front hub change. The car, currently driven by Darren Turner, rejoined 11 minutes later, now in 12th place.

More problems for the No. 8 Peugeot – apparently it hit the No. 76 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche and had to pit for new bodywork. This of course inspires Tom Kristensen to put the hammer down and attempt to get P2 back again. The Peugeot has no quick-release bolts, apparently. It takes forever to get the thing off. The new one goes back on more easily. Out they go again, now in P3.

There is a haze over the track that some have thought might be fog. In fact, it is campfire smoke. The air is humid and is holding the smoke low. While this looks messy, it carries lovely smells to the drivers of all the things that are cooking. Numerous drivers have commented that they can both see and smell the campsites as they hurtle through the night. It’s part of the atmosphere that everyone fondly remembers.

The last hour has been quiet; as darkness falls, the unspoken rule is pretty much Hold Station. The temperature has dropped to 15c (60f). A lot of people have left the grandstands for the Village, for their campsites, or in some cases to catch the TGV back to Paris – they will return at sunrise. But surprising number are still there, bundled up and sipping hot drinks, drinking in the atmosphere and playing The Engine Game (trying to identify the cars by sound alone). Its drowsy time.

We have come to the end of another three hours. At the ninth hour, the top cars remain unchanged.

See you at midnight (France) or 9 pm (EDT).
 

The 24 Hours of Le Mans: First 3 Hours
By Kate Shaw
Photos courtesy ACO.com

LA SARTHE, France (June 163, 2009) — Welcome to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the biggest and most thrilling race in the world! The sun is shining and the sky is blue (for now) and we are settling in for our annual Longest Day here at RFM Sports. As is our custom, we will be bringing you updates every 63 hours; and since the writer figures you have plenty of sources for straight reporting, some opinions may creep into these updates. You are free to ignore these observations, or to enjoy them.

The ticket sales at Le Mans are better than ever before (recession? Where?) and a tour of the track will show people parked for the duration in every space they can fill. Of course, nobody stays put during a 24 hour race, but it’s clear that the track is surrounded as well as populated with interesting characters. The race begins on a green track (that is, without the rubbering in that gives grip) because as you probably know most of the circuit is usually public roads, and it has rained for the last few days. Still, when 55 cars take to the track, the situation will quickly improve.

Apart from a scare on the pre-formation lap with the #7 Peugeot going into its pit and rejoining 5 minutes later, the 55 cars selected by the ACO will start on a dry track with sunny 28c weather, with a light wind (7/10 kph)and a track temperature of 46c.

And they’re off! Peugeot No. 6 (Franck Montagny in command) leads into the first corner, hotly contested by Allan McNish in the No. 1 Audi R15TDI – the only Audi in the top 5 this year, in the early going at least. McNish is about 4 seconds slower than last year, although this has never lasted in the past.

After 9 minutes, Alexandre Prémat in the #63 Audi spins off at Indianapolis, and hits the tyre wall. After a couple of minutes, the car is pulled out of the gravel by a snatch vehicle and gets under way again. This is not an auspicious beginning for Team Audi. Into the pitlane he comes, with a cracked front end, and after fuelling the car is wheeled into the garage for examination and fixing up. Body work only replaced, and 2.5 minutes later he is back on track, having has already lost a lap. It’s a long race. It will be longer for Primat.

In P2, the polesitter Essex Racing Porsche Spyder (Emanuel Collard on board) has pulled out a good lead over the other Porsche Spyder, the Navi Team Goh No. 5. In GT1 its Jan Magnussen in the No. 64 Corvette C6R (that’s the yellow one); he started on pole in the final hurrah for the Corvette Thunder Lizards, and still maintains the lead over Oliver Gavin in the sister Corvette. And in GT2, it’s Jaime Melo in the No. 82 Risi Competizione Ferrari 4630 in the lead; Jörg Bergmeister, who started the No. 80 Flying Lizard Porsche on pole, has fallen back to P5, third of the Porsches in class.

After many problems during the test and qualifying sessions and the warm up, the Lamborghini entered by JLOC officially announced their retirement at 63.20 PM due to an engine problem. Many have tried to race modern Lamborghinis and many have found that they are just not made for endurance racing. Alas. They are beautiful cars.

First pit stop for the No. 9 Peugeot comes at the 9th lap – two fewer than the Peugeot averaged last year. No problems and Alex Wurz is quickly back onto the track.

As the other Peugeots come in for their pit stops, there is a collision – the No. 7 Pescarolo Peugeot is conked in the side by the No. 17 Pescarolo Peugeot (Jen Christophe Boullion on board – somebody tell him this isn’t the BTCC), and as it goes out onto the track the left rear tire sends out the smoke signals that signal a very long 8 miles for that car to get back to the pits. The first safety car comes out as the tire delaminates and scatters tire and body bits everywhere. Thus Peugeot shoots itself in the boot once again in the pits.

The No. 7 pulls into the pits with the rear quarter panel missing, no tire left, and other visible damage – into the garage it goes for a long job of repair. Heated discussions occur between Henri Pescarolo and the head of the Peugeot Total team. Good thing that isn’t miked. Apparently the offending vehicle is blaming the photographers in the pitlane. Good luck with that.

Somewhere in this fracas, Allan McNish has put the No. 1 Audi R15TDI into the lead, and he ducks in for his pit stop under caution, emerging in P2 due to a tire change, with Mike Rockenfeller in the No. 2 Audi right behind. Montagny in the No. 8 Peugeot still holds the lead.

At the end of the first hour, the leaders in class are No. 8 Peugeot Total (Montagny), No 631 Team Essex Porsche Spyder (Collard); No. 663 Corvette (Magnussen); and No. 82 Risi Competizione Ferrari (Melo).

As the second hour begins, GT2 sees its first lead change as Patrick Long in the No. 76 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche takes over from Jaime Melo and Porsche leads Ferrari. Stay tuned. Darren Law is now in the No. 80 Flying Lizard Porsche and he is now in P3. For Tracy Krohn fans out there, the No. 83 Risi Ferrari is running in P8 (Krohn at the wheel) just ahead of the No. 87 Drayson Aston Martin Vantage (His Lordship commanding.)

After 15 minutes, the safety car pulls in and the race is under way, and the No. 7 Peugeot, with Minassian at the wheel, rejoins the fray seven laps down.

The #96 Virgo Motorsport Ferrari F430 gets a stop & go penalty for driving too fast in the pits (71 km/h). Guess he can’t drive 55 …

Montagny in for another pit stop and four tires; out without hitting or being hit by anyone.

In come the 1 and 2 Audi R15TDI cars; Rocky pulls the No. 2 away into P2; No. 1 needs a new nose but it is quickly out after a clean stop, in P4.

Some eight-ball from the stands above the pitlane drops a water bottle on one of the cars. Judging by experience, someone is about to be sent downstairs for the duration.

Stephan Ortelli has smashed the No. 10 Team Oreca Matmut AIM into the wall at Tetre Rouge; the car is in a shambles that indicates that he backed into the wall somewhere. Ortelli is unhurt, but that car will not be going anywhere for long. He succeeds in rejoining and gets back to the Oreca’s pit garage to scope out the problem. Challenging for first place in the GT2 in the early laps of the race, the car then had a puncture which sends it down to 47th place. Richard Lietz stopped at the pit lane entry unable to drive back to his garage. This could be trouble.

The Le Mans organizers ACO conjured up a special offer for the many German fans by staging an autograph session at the "German Quarter" at Arnage for every German competitor – including music from a German brass band. The four German drivers Timo Bernhard, Lucas Luhr, Mike Rockenfeller and Marco Werner attended the autograph session on Audi’s behalf.

The second hour has sped by, and the Top Guns in Class are pretty much unchanged, although the pilots are: No. 8 Peugeot Total (Montagny); No. 31 Team Essex Porsche Spyder (Casper Elgaard); No. 63 Corvette C6R (Johnny O’Connell) and No. 76 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche (Pierre Pilet).

Allan McNish brings the No. 1 Audi R15TDI in for a pit stop, clean and smooth, fuel and no tires; unlike the Peugeot operation, McNish waited for the Zytek to leave the box before he takes off. (A water bottle is hurled in the general direction of the photographers, in case they didn’t learn from Peugeot.)

The #4 Creation Autosportif car, in the hands of Vanina Ickx, slid into the gravel bed at the Porsche Curves. She manages to get the car back onto the track, and heads immediately for the pits. The car is refueled, and gets new tyres. The radiator gets a quick clear out and Romain Iannetta gets behind the wheel. This car too waits for the car ahead to pull out before rejoining.

For Chris Dyson fans, the No. 26 RML Lola Mazda is running in P3 in the P2 class, faultlessly and cleanly, with Dyson on board. Three of the four Dyson drivers (Guy Smith and Marino Franchitti are the others) are in the race today.

We have already seen 3 hours go by, and we hope everyone is still wide awake! At the end of the third hour the Top Guns are: P1, No. 8 Team Peugeot Total (Montagny); P2, No. 31 Team Essex (Elgaard); GT1, No. 63 Corvette C6R (Johnny O); and GT2, No. 80 Flying Lizard Motorsport Porsche (Bergmeister).

Meet us back here in 3 hours and see how it’s going.
 

Audi names start drivers for Le Mans
News from Audi Motorsport
Photos © Audi

INGOLSTADT/LE MANS (June 13, 2009) – Audi Sport Team Joest named the drivers who will sit at the wheel of the three Audi R15 TDI to start the 77th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Starting driver of the Audi R15 TDI with start number "1" is the Scot Alan McNish, who was the fastest Audi driver in Thursday evening’s qualifying with a lap time of 3m 23.65s (240.925 km/h). The other two Audi R15 TDI are driven at the start by Mike Rockenfeller and Alexandre Prémat.

As is usually the case at Audi Sport Team Joest, the Audi drivers will then complete their stints during the race in alphabetical order:

Audi R15 TDI #1: McNish > Capello > Kristensen
Audi R15 TDI #2: Rockenfeller > Werner > Luhr
Audi R15 TDI #3: Prémat > Bernhard > Dumas

The Audi R15 TDI will pit for refueling as planned about every 45 minutes. Subject to strategy two or four stints in succession are planned before the tires and drivers are changed.

During Saturday morning’s warm-up Audi Sport Team Joest concentrated on checking the race set-up of the cars. All nine drivers drove. Furthermore, driver and tire changes were also practiced.

There were heart stopping moments for both Tom Kristensen and Marco Werner: The Le Mans record winner had to drive through the gravel bed at the Dunlop Chicane because a cable became detached in the pedal box of his Audi R15 TDI and jammed the throttle pedal open. Marco Werner spun at the chicane before the start-finish when he had to swerve to avoid a GT2 car.

The start of the 77th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. Eurosport broadcasts almost the entire race live.
 

Bergmeister Puts the No. 80 Porsche on the GT2 Pole for Le Mans
News from Flying Lizard Motorsport
CIRCUIT DE LA SARTHE, Le Mans, France (June 11, 2009) -- Jörg Bergmeister put the Flying Lizard No. 80 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR on the GT2 pole today for the 2009 24 Heures du Mans. This is Bergmeister's and the team's first ever pole at Le Mans. Bergmeister set the fastest GT2 lap during the first of two two-hour qualifying sessions. His time of 4:03.202 just edged out the next closest GT2 car by three-hundredths of a second (the Felbermayr No. 77 Porsche driven by Marc Lieb). This is the second pole in a row for Bergmeister, following his pole in May at the American Le Mans Series Utah Grand Prix.

Rain dampened Wednesday's practice, so the initial qualifying session today was the first opportunity for dry track setup. "Because the track was so wet on Wednesday, one of our top objectives for the first qualifying session was to get Darren Law and Seth Neiman some laps on a dry track," commented Bergmeister. "We were able to work a bit on setup during the first session, then at the very end we put on a set of stickers and I was able to get a solid lap before it got dark. The car was OK but we still have some room for improvement in our setup."

The Lizards had intended to run the entire second qualifying session today, but with 30 minutes left to go, an issue with the left rear suspension sent Darren unexpectedly back into the pits. He was able to return safely with no further damage to the car but the problem put an end to the session for the No. 80 Porsche. Engineer Stefan Pfeiffer added, "It was unfortunate that we lost the setup time at the end of the session. We are still diagnosing the issue: luckily we have all day on Friday for repairs, and also the morning warm-up on Saturday to do a shakedown. It's a long race and we'll be starting from the front of the grid."

Bergmeister, a Porsche factory driver, has competed at Le Mans seven times, twice with Flying Lizard (2007 and 2008). He won in GT2 in 2004 and finished on the podium three times and in the top five in four out of the seven races. In addition to his 2009 GT win at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Bergmeister has also won the last three American Le Mans Series races in a row in the Flying Lizard No. 45 (with Patrick Long) and is leading the ALMS drivers' championship. For a full bio, click here.

Law and Neiman will join Bergmeister in the No. 80 for the 24 Heures du Mans, which takes the green flag at 15:00hr CET on Saturday, June 13. This will be Law's first time at Le Mans, but he's no stranger to endurance racing: he's driven with the Lizards in the American Le Mans Series since 2004, and earlier this year, he won the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Neiman, who drives with Law in the No. 44 in the ALMS, is currently in fourth in the ALMS drivers' championship - 2009 will be Neiman's fifth consecutive 24 Heures du Mans.

Aston Martin successfully completes Le Mans practice
News from Harold Primat Racing
LA SARTHE, France (June 11, 2009) — The three Aston Martin crews have all completed the necessary running to go through to qualifying at Le Mans on Thursday, after the opening six-hour free practice session at La Sarthe.

The practice session, which lasted from 6pm until midnight, was the first opportunity that teams had to drive the legendary Le Mans circuit, in both daylight and night-time conditions. The weather throughout the evening was wet and dry with intermittent rain, making grip levels extremely inconsistent.

Nonetheless, according to the rules of the Le Mans 24 Hours, all the drivers had to complete three laps of night-time running to be sure of taking their place during qualifying – which is scheduled for Thursday evening. Furthermore the ‘rookie’ drivers at Le Mans had to complete 10 clear laps in order to be allowed to participate in the race.

With conditions extremely difficult, the priority for Aston Martin was to get through the evening safely and accumulate valuable data during the team’s first run with its new LMP1 car on the Le Mans circuit. Although there could be some rain during qualifying, the weather for the race is expected to be largely dry. This meant that the team concentrated on finding a versatile set-up that would work well in a variety of conditions.

At the end of the six-hour session the 008 car crewed by Anthony Davidson (GB), Darren Turner (GB) and Jos Verstappen (NL) was the quickest of the three works Aston Martins with a time of 3m35.996; putting the crew in a provisional eighth overall. The 007 car, driven by Jan Charouz (CZ), Tomas Enge (CZ) and Stefan Mücke (DE), was ninth with a time of 3m36.732s. Car 009 – crewed by Stuart Hall (GB), Peter Kox (NL) and Harold Primat (CH) – was 11th with a time of 3m38.490s.

Harold Primat said, “Everything was fine and we used the session to work on the set-up. For example, on the Mulsanne straight – which is normally a public road – the car kept on bottoming out, so we had to raise the suspension settings slightly. Mixed weather conditions actually seem to reduce the gap we have to the top diesel-powered cars, which could be encouraging for the race.”

Added Stuart Hall, “The car has everything I expected of it: the feeling was good and I felt comfortable straight away. I used the practice session just to familiarise myself with my new surroundings and the team, which is outstandingly professional. The conditions were very difficult, but the important thing to bear in mind is that they are the same for everyone.”

Peter Kox, an experienced Le Mans racer, concluded, “As I had so little time in the car before coming here, this session was very important for me to increase my experience. The track was very familiar, but there are always new things to learn with a new car and new team mates – particularly when the conditions are as inconsistent as they were tonight. But we achieved everything that we wanted to and had no real problems, which is the main thing.”

Thursday’s qualifying for the 77th Le Mans 24 Hours on the 13–14 June takes place over the course of two sessions, from 7pm until 9pm and 10pm to midnight.

24 Hours of Le Mans

The 24 Hours of Le Mans: Sixth 3 Hours
By Kate Shaw
Photos courtesy ACO.com

LA SARTHE, France (June 14, 2009) — It is dawn in France, and there are about 8 hours to go. The good news is that a brief medical bulletin has been issued and Benoit Treluyer, the driver who had the serious accident in the Pescarolo Peugeot coupe in the last stint, is going to be okay. We have no other information at this time, but that is wonderful news.

The Flying Lizard Porsche has become retirement no. 11. During Darren Law's stint, and under the Safety Car situation, it appears that the car went straight through the Playstation chicane and into the tire wall so hard that many of the tires were scattered all over the track, and as the Safety Cars continued to circulate, the marshals cleaned up the mess. The Flying Lizard Motorsport Porsche is badly damaged and the decision was made to retire it. At the time of the prang, the car was in 31st overall and 6th in GT2. Law was not injured.

The No. 30 Racing Box SRL Lola Judd, driven by Andrea Piccini made a sudden stop at pit in. After trying vainly to coax it back to life, Piccini finally abandons it. He was lying 27th overall. He is Retirement No. 12.

At the end of the night it was looking good for the No. 10 Oreca, as Senna, Ortelli and Monteiro were in the top 15 overall. However, Ortelli spun off, and damaged the extractor of the car. Having no spare parts left, the team has no other choice but to retire. Big disappointment for the team who had put in a lot of work on the car. The good news is, the No. 11 sister car driven by Panis, Lapierre and Ayari is an encouraging 5th overall.

The Team Kolles Audi R10TDIs had both had great runs to reach 5th and 6th positions overall, but both are suffering a bit. Charles Zwolsman in No. 14 is having a gearbox oil refill. The driver was also complaining about gearbox problems, and had great difficulties going through the gears. As far as the No. 15 car is concerned, it seems to have gone into "lawnmower mode" as the mechanics are replacing the front right axle. The evidence of the car going off-course is visible on the bodywork.

Both Audi R10s had a quiet race so far. They are now 9th and 11th.

Coming up to the 16th hour, the Top Guns are: P1, No. 9 Peugeot Total (Gene); P2, Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder (Kristian Poulson); GT1, No. 63 Corvette C6R (Garcia); and GT2, No. 82 Risi Competizione Ferrari (Melo).

In P1, two Team Peugeot Total Peugeot cars are in the top two positions. The crew of the No. 9 car, Gené, Brabham and Wurz have covered 253 laps, one more than the sister car of Montagny, Bourdais and Sarrazin. The No. 1 Audi R15 TDI comes third, another lap down, manned by Capello, Kristensen and McNish.

In P2, the two Porsche RS Spyders dominate the category. The No. 31 car of Collard, Poulsen and Elgaard has achieved 238 laps. They lead the No. 5 car of Ara, Kunimoto and Maassen. Third in class is the Judd engine No. 33 Lola B08/80 of Kane, Leuenberger and Pompidou.

In GT1, Corvettes are up front. The No. 63 car of Magnussen, O'Connell and Garcia is ahead of the second Corvette Racing car of Fässler, Gavin and Beretta. The two works Corvettes are ahead of the only Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette which is left in the hands of Clairay, Maassen and Jousse.

In GT2 3 Ferraris are on the provisional podium: No. 82, ahead of No. 97 and No. 92.

17 hours into the race, both men and machines are showing some weaknesses. The No. 33 Lola Judd came into the pits for a routine stop, but it had to stay for longer than expected. The mechanics ended up changing the alternator directly on the pit apron, adding an extra 10 minutes to the pit stop. But the Speedy Racing Team Sebah car managed to keep its third position in LM P2 even so. Nicolas Prost is one of the drivers of this car. He looks uncannily like his father. I wonder if Bruno Senna tried to knock him off the track before his car crapped out?

The 008 Aston Martin P1 car suddenly started spewing enough smoke to make David Suzuki cry, and headed back into the garage to see if the car could be saved. The sidepods came off and interest was shown in the gearbox.

Around the track the fans are beginning to take up their positions again (its breakfast time at Le Mans), many of them only half awake just yet, and some of them once they settle into their chairs, not awake at all. Around the garages the caterers come with big trays of breakfast for the crews who have not left the room since early yesterday. One caterer also brings toothbrushes, which are gratefully received. Remember, drivers take turns in the car; mechanics and engineers never do.

At the end of Hour 17, the leaders in class remain unchanged. Brabham now drives the P1 and overall leader No. 9 Peugeot Total; in P2, Caspar Elgaard is in the Team Essex No. 35; GT1 is still the No. 63 Corvette C6R and Johnny O is still driving; and GT2 is the No. 82 Risi Competizione Ferrari and Jaime Melo commands.

The No. 92 JMW Ferrari ends up down an escape road at the Porsche Curves that used to be part of the track, probably with clutch problems. It’s towed out of the awkward position with great difficulty, and Robert Bell drives back slowly to the pit with clutch problems.

He gives the wheel to his teammate Andrew Kirkaldy, and at the same time the crew tries to fix the clutch system. They have dropped to 4th in GT2 with the No. 76 Porsche driven by Raymond Narac now 3rd in GT2.

All the cars are driving more carefully now, listening for the telltale sounds that might mean trouble, hoping it will not rain. The weather reports are being coy, probably betting on the fact that it usually does rain at Le Mans, but the appearances are against rain at this point.

The No. 008 Lola Aston Martin driven by Jos Verstappen is having transmission problems and has been in its pits since 7:40. Impatient and rather worried, Verstappen is keeping an eye on the timing screens as Nicolas Minassian in the No. 7 Peugeot is only one lap down.

"It's a gearbox problem, I heard a worrying noise. Something broke inside the gearbox, but we haven't pinpointed it yet", explained Verstappen.
The No. 35 Oak Racing Pescarolo Mazda P2 drives into its garage with an overheating problem that turns into a fire, and the mechanics have to use their extinguishers.

At this time, the car was 7th in its class, but the damage linked with the fire force Francois Sicard, the team manager, to post their retirement at 07.59 AM.

Its sister car, No. 24, is currently 21st overall and 5th in LM P2.

At the end of Hour 18, there is no change in the leader board. As Franck Montagny of Team Peugeot Total has pointed out, this race has already been called.

Tune in for the penultimate update coming in 3 more hours.
 

The 24 Hours of Le Mans: Halfway
By Kate Shaw
Photos courtesy ACO.com

LA SARTHE, France (June 13, 2009 6:00 p.m.) — Midnight in France, which is not the name of a perfume but a description of the witching hour when those drivers who really love Le Mans begin stretching their legs quietly, not to let anyone catch on. Tom Kristensen in the No. 1 Audi R15TDI has begun driving his fastest laps of his second stint, steadily closing the gap to the No. 9 Peugeot Total of Marc Gene who still leads the race.

Nothing else much is going on.

There has been one more official retirement: the No. 70 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche is parked out on the Mulsanne in a safe place, having suffered a clutch failure. There are six retirements now, which is one fewer than last year when the weather was awful.

Almost 9 hours into the race, the No. 33 car, driven by Frenchman Xavier Pompidou has been wheeled into its garage for a repair to the rear extractor. The blue Lola, which had kept a very regular pace until now lies 17th overall, and third in the LM P2 category, behind the two Porsche RS Spyders.

Something unusual has happened: Stuart Hall has been informed that, due to his contretemps between the Aston Martin 009 P1 and the No. 26 Radical early in the race, he has been excluded by the French stewards from further participation in the race. This means that Harold Primat and Peter Kox will have to drive the rest of the race alone. In the USA this is called Avoidable Contact and usually gets a penalty, but this one we have never heard before. There is no appeal.

The No. 80 Flying Lizard Porsche has suffered an accident on the track to the left front that has damaged a tire and the bodywork. Darren Law has brought the car in for repairs from fifth place.

We received the following from Audi regarding the No. 2 Audi accident of Lucas Luhr. Here is the salient part: “At 9:30 p.m. the race at Le Mans for the Audi R15 TDI with start number two ended. Lucas Luhr left the track entering the Porsche Curves and slammed heavily backwards into the tire wall. Although the German still tried to bring the car back to the pits, the stewards, however, prohibited Luhr, who shared the cockpit of the diesel sportscar with Mike Rockenfeller and Marco Werner, to return to the track for safety reasons because the car was losing oil. A technical defect can be excluded.” So now you know.

We have come to the end of Hour 10. The leader board remains the same: LMP1, No. 8 Peugeot Total; LMP2, Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder; GT1, No. 63 Corvette C6R; GT2, No. 82 Risi Competizione Ferrari. Tracy Krohn is still in the No. 83 Risi Ferrari (his is the green one) in P5. He is two laps ahead of the Spyker Squadron. (Psst … Spyker Guys … I covet your jackets ….) Once a friend made a cap for me with *Please may I have a Spyker Squadron Jacket?* Unfortunately he misspelled Spkyer. It might have worked. Alas.

After the retirement of the No. 2 Audi R15 TDI, Audi is even more under pressure with the No. 1 car also coming in for a 2 minute unscheduled pit stop. The No. 3 car won't be any help, as it has fallen to 44th overall, 42 laps off the leaders. As far as Peugeot is concerned, the No. 9 car is a solid leader. The No. 8 car reclaimed second place, but it had to come into the pits for a nose change after Sébastien Bourdais had an incident with No. 76 LM GT2 Porsche at Mulsanne. The battle is fierce, and the No. 1 Audi is the only R15 which could claim victory. Peugeot, however, has a numerical advantage, with 3 cars in a winning position. And that's without the No. 7 Peugeot 908 Hdi FAP which is creeping up the leader board with Nicolas Minassian who has set the fastest lap of the race so far.

In GT1, Luc Alphand Aventures lost their No. 72 car to a bad spin into the tires. The works Corvettes No. 63 and No. 64 are leading another Corvette, the No. 73 Alphand car.

The battle for LMP2 is going on between the No. 31 Porsche RS Spyder, and the No. 5 Porsche RS Spyder, the former having reclaimed 1st position during a pit stop. The No. 33 Lola Judd lies 3rd, 5 laps down.

In GT2, the No. 76 Porsche is doing its best to catch up on Ferraris No. 82 and No. 92 which are leading. Porsche has lost another of its cars, as the No. 70 Imsa Performance has stopped on the Hunaudières straight, and is unlikely to be returned to the race.

We are now in Hour 11, and the Top Guns remain the same: : LMP1, No. 8 Peugeot Total; LMP2, Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder; GT1, No. 63 Corvette C6R; GT2, No. 82 Risi Competizione Ferrari. Tracy Krohn is still in the No. 83 Risi Ferrari (his is the green one) in P5. He is two laps ahead of the Spyker Squadron. It’s night. This is what we can expect, absent accident or misadventure, until the sun rises which will be around 6:00 a.m. local time.

The "Fundraising" Ferrari 430 No. 81 has now raised over $100,000 for its” Racing for Children" French charity. On this occasion the team has chosen to support the charity "Mecenat Chirurgie Cardiaque". This charity raises funds to bring children with deformities from all over the world to be operated on in France.

Jos Verstappen had to bring the No. 008 Aston Martin into the pits for a 4 minute stop & go penalty. After investigation, race control decided that the car was to blame for pushing the No. 72 Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette C6R into the tire wall at Tertre Rouge. At the time of the accident, Darren Turner was driving the No. 008 car, and Patrick Goueslard was in the No. 72 Corvette. The penalty is equivalent to one lap, but the Lola Aston Martin has kept its position ahead of the second Oreca No. 10.

The battle on the track to watch is between Allan McNish in the Audi and Stephane Sarrazin in the Peugeot. So far, McNish is holding his own. There is no one as tenacious as McNish. To repeat a cliché, there is a lot of race to go – almost half, in fact. It’s a lot of work for both drivers but neither one is giving up. In two laps it will be pit stop time again, and then it will all begin again.

When he was in 26th, Harold Primat stopped his No. 009 Aston Martin P1 on the circuit, with an engine problem. After 10 minutes of working on the car the driver returned to his pit for a transponder change and to treat an engine overheating problem. This is the car that is racing with only two drivers after their third guy, Stuart Hall, was excluded. We have met Harold Primat. He is very determined.

As we come up to the 12th hour, and the halfway point of the race, nothing has changed at the top of any class. The cars race through the night in their quest and so do we.

See you in three hours.
 

The 24 Hours of Le Mans: Second 3 Hours
By Kate Shaw
Photos courtesy ACO.com

LA SARTHE, France (June 13, 2009 – 12 Noon) – As we begin the fourth hour, the cars have settled into their rhythms and the race has calmed down. As yet we have had only one official retirement: the JLOC Lamborghini retired early on after a very troubled week. We have had only one safety car issue, when the Peugeots had their contretemps in the pits that led to the delaminated tire on the No. 7. Audi continue 3rd, 4th and 10th. Peugeot continues to lead.

No sooner did we mention the single retirement, than another was announced. You will remember that the No. 77 Felbermayr-Proton Porsche was stopped at the entrance of the pit lane since just before 5:00 local time. Richard Lietz did his very best to try and repair the fuel pump, but failed to do so. The car officially retired at 17:32. A big disappointment for the German driver and his whole team.

The major action, as usual, is taking place in the GT2 class, as the lead changes hands almost lap by lap. Currently two Porsches (No. 80 Flying Lizard and No. 76 IMSA Performance Matmut) lead two Ferraris (No. 82 Risi Competizione and No. 92 JMW) but not by much.

Up at the front of the grid, Allan McNish has been pried out of the cockpit of the No. 1 Audi R15TDI and Dindo Capello has taken over; he currently rides in P4, just behind Audi No. 2, now piloted by Marco Werner. Montagny has also left the cockpit of the leading No. 8 Peugeot Total, replaced by Stephane Sarrazin, and Marc Gene has passed the baton in the No. 9 to David Brabham. Woo, keep an eye on that one!

The LM P2 Ginetta of the Quifel ASM Team finishes in the gravel bed, and Miguel Amaral needed the help of a tractor to be towed out before he could rejoin the track ten minutes later. He eventually drove slowly to his garage, with the front right wing needing to be rebuilt.

The Endurance Asia Porsche develops some kind of problem. The Chinese LM GT2 driven by the Bulgarian rookie Plamen Kralev goes slowly and eventually stops on the Mulsanne straight, just after the second chicane. The car has some fuel feed problems. It also has a dissonant name problem

Another hour has sped by already. The only change in the leader board is in GT2, where the 76 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche has taken over from the No. 80 Flying Lizard Porsche, which has pitted to change drivers and is now commanded by Seth Neiman.

During its next scheduled pitstop, the nose on the No. 2 Audi R15TDI is changed, much as on the No. 1. When asked about it, Lucas Luhr simply shrugged that they were “trying something.” Things that make you go hmmmm. Speculation is that it may have something to do with aerodynamics.

Seth Neiman in the No. 80 Flying Lizard Porsche is waked out of his rhythm by the No. 5 Goh Porsche Spyder, who shoulders past him rather closely. No harm, no foul.

The No. 40 Ginetta Zytek has retired after going off at Arnage. The car had had another spin a few laps beforehand. With damaged bodywork and a ripped off suspension, the Portuguese team decided to call it a day. This is the third retirement so far. It was announced at 18:47, and Miguel Amaral was the final driver of the car. That is the third retirement of the race so far, which is not bad.

At 19:12, Rinaldo Capello set the best lap time today for the No. 1 car in 3:28.520. The nose change which was done during the last pit stop seems to have had some positive effect, as the car is now regularly lapping in under 3 minutes and 30 seconds, and catching up with the two leading Peugeot No. 8 and No. 9 cars.

A crash has occurred just after the Ford Chicanes, as Stuart Hall in the 009 Lola Aston Martin P1 literally pushed over the No. 26 Bruichladdich Bruno Radical driven by Tim Greaves, bringing out the second safety car of the race. It seems that Hall was trying to avoid an Audi and not paying attention. Sigh. The Radical spun and hit the safety barrier hard with its rear end, breaking the right rear suspension, blowing the right rear tire, and ripping off the rear wing. The car has only 3 wheels to makes it back to the pits. That is the signal for everybody to pile into the pits, including all three Peugeots and Audis; unlike other years, the Audis do not gain track position by this maneuver. The Peugeots didn’t change tires (but did change drivers in the No. 8, from Sarrazin to Bourdais), but the Audis did (they have only changed tires when the safety car is out). They would have been due in anyway, so this likely will work out for them.

It’s a short safety car stint, and the race is soon under way.

No. 3 Audi gets away very slowly and Timo Bernhard is passed by practically everybody; perhaps he forgot to switch off the *safety car* switch, not being experienced in the Audi way. The other two Audis set out to battle for turf with the French cars.

Meanwhile Mika Salo brings the No. 82 Risi Ferrari in for a stop and go penalty; having been warned once about the blend line, he gets the call the second. Sic Transit Gloria Salo.

We are in the fifth hour, and at the top of the classes we have: LMP1, No. 8 Peugeot Total (Bourdais) almost a full lap ahead of the sister Peugeot No. 9; LMP2, the first change since the race began, No. 5 Team Goh Porsche RS Spyder; GT1, No. 63 Corvette C6R (Antonio Garcia); GT2, No. 82 Risi Competizione Ferrari (Pierre Kaffer).

The No. 3 Audi is back in the pits, getting gravel vacuumed out of the innards; as it turns over, it makes choking sounds that are most un-Audi. It may be that this car is about to retire. Everyone at the Audi pits including Dr. Ulrich is looking decidedly worried as the car drops steadily down the order, out of the top 20. Roman Dumas is now on board.

The race is much less competitive than last year. There are only 2 cars on the lead lap, and both of them are Peugeots. This year it is the Audi R15TDI having the teething problems. Perhaps they ought to have raced in the ALMS after all. Cutting budgets is not what it is all about, after all.

As the shadows begin to fall along the circuit, the No. 80 Flying Lizard Porsche begins to slow, possibly with a tire problem. Seen front-on, the car begins to look lopsided. Seth Neiman heads for the pits. New tires go on the car and Darren Law takes the wheel, to get the car up from P6. After Raymond Narac’s problems on the No. 76 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche, Ferrari is now the class leader with the No. 82 Risi Competizione. The team was the class winner last year, and the car is driven this year by Jaime Melo, Mika Salo and Pierre Kaffer. Second and third are the No. 92 JMW Motorsport and No. 78 AF Corse SRL cars, all on the same lap.

The No. 8 Peugeot has developed some kind of problem with the left rear suspension, which has kept it in the pits for 8 minutes so far, which puts the No. 9 sister car in the lead, and moves the No. 1 and 2 Audis up into 2nd and 3rd and turns this parade back into a race. The bodywork is finally replaced, the car drops back into the pitlane and Bourdais is off again, down to P6.

Its dry, its clear, and all the strategy can be planned ahead. As the air cools, the cars will get faster, and the night should be interesting.

Six hours gone. Top of the Pops: LMP1, No. 9 Peugeot Total; LMP2, No. 5 Navi Goh Porsche RS Spyder; GT1, No. 63 Corvette; GT2, No. 82 Risi Competizione Ferrari.

See you again in 3 hours.
 

Magnussen, Bergmeister Lead Series Contingent with Le Mans Class Pole Positions
LA SARTHE, Florida (June 12, 2009) —Jan Magnussen and Jörg Bergmeister captured pole positions Thursday for the 24 Hours of Le Mans as teams and drivers from the American Le Mans Series asserted themselves well in qualifying for the world’s greatest motor race. At the head of the field, Stephane Sarrazin’s late flying lap of 3:22.888 (150.266 mph) gave himself and Peugeot three straight overall pole positions over Audi in the battle of the two diesel powers. David Brabham, driver for Team Peugeot Total, said “The track was very dirty in the first stint and in the second it got better and better. Two cars were doing tire evaluations and one did setup work. We are doing different tires and doing double-stints and finding out our options for the race.”  -->MORE