Le Mans, 30th of June - 3rd of July, 2022 |
As said above the actual race is divided in 6 grids and all of them have their own paddock, where the cars are
checked by the scrutineers and get their race number and transponder on Wednesday and mainly Thursday
where the majority of cars arrived. The tents hosted about 80 cars per race group and there was plenty of
activities all over the next days of mechanics fixing smaller and larger problems. Having the first look around
for the highlights of the race groups showed that although some of the star cars of previous editions were
missing the overall quality is still very high. Just as at the F1 Historic races at Monaco this is a unique
experience that seems to attract more owners and racers than any other event, even when the seasoned
entrants already experienced this a few times in the past. |
Normally one would expect the Grid 1 to go out first but both the practice sessions as well as the races
started with Grid 4 to 6 followed by the first Grids. The main reason for that is to have the pre-war cars
racing less in the night as they basically start before sunset and have their morning race just before dawn
when the light is coming back. |
Friday was the day when the track action started and with no less than 4 support races the track was hot
already early in the morning as the Group C racers went out at 9:35 for their qualifying session. For many the
Group C era is one of the most exciting ones in the Le Mans history and back then with the lack of the
chicanes on the Hunaudieres those cars hit the 400 kph mark back in time. And although driven a little bit
slower today and with the chicanes they were still the fastest cars on track this weekend. Fans could admire
a few Porsches 956 and 962, several Jaguar XJR with the iconic Silk Cut livery as well as a duo of the very
last Group C winners, the Peugeot 905s. |
After the Group C cars there were single marque races for Jaguar and Porsche as well as for the Endurance
Legends that features the newer Le Mans cars like the beautiful Bentley Exp Speed 8, Maserati MC12 or
the Aston Martin DBRS9. |
On Saturday morning the infield started to get really busy as the majority of club cars arrived, the official
numbers of the organizers showed about 8000 classics and young-timers parked on the fields sorted by
marque. Largest gathering was without doubt the Porsche display with hundreds of cars lined up sorted by
age. |
For those arriving early the support races could be seen before the clock was approaching the 4pm marque,
the traditional start of the 24h. But before the big ones were let loses it was the Little Big Mans that took
the heart of the spectators when the kids were lined up opposite to their miniature replicas going for a
proper Le Mans start and all the way up to the Dunlop bow. It was easy to see that they got the competitive
spirit of their racing dads as they were going for it. After that the real action started with the sole Le Mans
start of the Saturday of Grid 4 as Grid 5 and 6 were from the time when the running over the road was
already abandoned. |
Every Grid raced 3 times over the 24h for about 45 minutes, so at the end excluding the formation laps every
Grid raced for about 2.5 hours. The cars of each Grid with the same race number are forming a team adding
up to the “24h race” although the actual net race time is more like 14 hours. First overall was the team
number 64 with the Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 LM of Team Rettenmaier, the Austin-Healey including
5-times Le Mans winner Emanuele Pirro, a Lola MKI of Duchene, a Ford GT40 of Farley, the
Chevron B19 of Jack and finally the Osella PA5 of Turriziani / Mazzoleni. They finished 140 laps
combined giving them a 3 laps lead over the next placed team. |
After an exhausting 3 days in Le Mans, we had thousands of photos to sort and prepare for our report that
might include the most complete gallery of the racing Grids sorted by race number in addition to some night
action and ambience from the support races. It should give you a good impression of the action this
weekend. |
Overall Classification: |
Overall Classification: |
Overall Classification: |
Overall Classification: |
Overall Classification: |