Le Mans, 01 June 2014
The annual Le Mans test day was held on Sunday 01 June, giving
the majority of participants in the race over the weekend of 14-15
June the opportunity to see where they stood against the
competition in the four classes, and also to fine tune their set-ups
for the race. It was also open to competitors hoping to gain entry
to the race in future years, thus there were a total of 54 cars
running during the course of the day.
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Scrutineering, administrative and technical checks took place on
the Friday and Saturday, with Sunday providing two sessions,
each of four hours duration, in the morning and afternoon. Fine
sunny and warm weather, and the opportunity to see the latest in
sports car technology, including the first public appearance of the
Nissan ZEOD RC innovative technology car, plus the first public
appearance in France of the latest weapons from Audi, Porsche
and Toyota, attracted large crowds to witness proceedings.
It was also announced that the official race starter of this, the
82nd edition, would be current Ferrari F1 star and two time World
Champion Driver, Fernando Alonso, the first time that a current F1
driver has been appointed as race starter. Actually, this is quite
fitting, as although Ferrari aren’t in contention for overall race
honours, they have a very strong presence in the two GT
categories, with no less than fifteen 458 GT2s in the entry list,
which in percentage terms is over 50% of the GT field. It was
concurrently announced that three time Le Mans 24 Hour Race
winner, recently retired Allan McNish would be the “Grand
Marshall” of the 2014 race, and he will drive the lead car that
precedes the competitors on their formation lap prior to the rolling
start.
With Toyota having won the first two rounds of the 2014 FIA
WEC, they had the psychological advantage over their rivals, and
they built on this further by posting some impressive times as the
quickest lap pendulum swung between them, Audi and Porsche.
At the end of the day, they had improved that psychological
advantage as their two entries topped the time sheets, with
Sebastien Buemi putting a storming lap during the afternoon, to
go fastest overall in 3min23.014secs, an average speed of over
240kph (150mph), in the # 8 Toyota TS 040-Hybrid that he was
sharing with Anthony Davidson and Nicolas Lapierre. The # 7
example of Alexander Wurz, Stephane Sarrazin and Kazuki
Nakajima was only 0.142sec adrift, whilst the fastest Audi R18
e-tron Quattro, the # 3 car of Albuquerque/Bonanomi, was over
half a second slower than the # 7 Toyota. However, as we know
only too well speed isn’t everything in a 24 hour race, as there are
many other factors that come into play as the race unfolds, so it
promises to be a fascinating battle for overall honours in the 2014
edition of the world’s most prestigious endurance race.
In the other categories, it was the # 26 G-Drive Racing entered
Morgan-Nissan of Rusinov/Pla/Canal that posted the fastest
LMP2 time, with the # 92 Porsche Team Manthey Porsche 911
RSR of Holzer/Makowiecki/Lietz taking the LMGTE Pro honours,
ahead of the # 51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 GT2 of
Bruni/Fisichella/Vilander. In the LMGTE Am group Ferraris filled
the top seven places, led by the # 90 8Star Motorsports example
of Montecalvo/Roda/Ruberti, which in the hands of the latter driver
set a time better than the trio of LMGTE Pro Ferraris, and was
only 0.143sec slower than the # 92 Porsche, which was the
quickest GT entry. With such a large and competitive Ferrari
entry, this is a race that fans of the Cavallino Rampante will not
want to miss.
This is definitely a race to be savoured, so if you are a fan of
endurance racing, cancel any plans that you might have for the
weekend of 14-15 June, and head to Le Mans for what promises
to be the scene of epic battles in all categories. Further details
and ticket prices can be found at www.24h-lemans.com
Keith Bluemel
06/2014
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