Ferrari will dye the front row of the grid red in the centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The #50 car of Miguel Molina, Antonio Fuoco and Nicklas Nielsen signed the hyperpole on Thursday at Circuit de La Sarthe (3:22.982), with eight tenths of an advantage over the other Ferrari 499P and 1.4 seconds over the first Toyota GR010. A milestone for Molina, hardened for years in the GT category, who signs the second Spanish pole in history, five years after Fernando Alonso. And a big step forward for the Maranello team, which had not participated in Le Mans since 1973.. His return marks another chapter in the exciting story of the ultimate endurance event, full of unforgettable moments.
At the limit of his strength
1. LEVEGH’S RIDE
The figure of Pierre Levegh, protagonist of the biggest Le Mans catastrophe in 1955, should not only be associated with his tragic death. Rather, we should talk about his heroic attempt in 1952, when he challenged three colossi such as Mercedes, Jaguar and Ferrari. On board a Talbot Lago T26GS Spider that he had modified himself, he started with a very simple plan: wait. He knew that his rivals, faster but with precarious reliability, would fall one by one.. Early in the morning he assumed the lead and by the time the sun was up he had four laps ahead of the Mercedes. In the garage they begged him to give the wheel to René Marchand, his co-driver, but Levegh wanted to pamper the mechanics of a car he knew inside out. With an hour to go, the Talbot’s crankshaft shattered at Mulsanne. Only then was his monumental 23-hour solo ride cut short.
2. SOMMER, LION HEART
He was one of those old-fashioned pilots, able to drive any rolling contraption and squeeze it to a stop.. In 1932, Raymond Sommer appeared at Le Mans with an Alfa Romeo Mille Miglia 8C, the same car that had won the previous year, although incorporating striking aerodynamic improvements.. As co-driver, the well-remembered Luigi Chinetti, with a great hand in tuning the engines, but with a precarious physical condition. Early on Sunday, Chinetti felt faint and Sommer, who had already accumulated 10 hours behind the wheel, had to continue his pursuit of Franco Cortese alone, aboard an official Alfa Romeo. Not only did he chase him, but he saw the checkered flag two laps ahead. In total, 20 hours behind the wheel. They called it Coeur de Lion for a reason.
3. A RECORD OF 39 YEARS
In 1971, the Porsche 917 of Helmut Marko and Gijs Van Lennep set a record distance covered at Le Mans, with 5,335.313 km (222.304 km/h average speed).. A milestone that was only surpassed in 2010 by the Audi R15 TDI+ of Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller, with 397 laps (16.5 per hour) at an average of 225.228 km/h, for a total of 5,410.713 km.. Something like a road trip between Madrid and Baku.
4. THE RAMSDELL HALL MONKEY
Two years before Levegh’s truncated adventure, the British Edward Ramsden Hall had already become the first and only pilot to cover the entire distance of the event alone, completing 236 laps of La Sarthe. Nothing less than 3,200 km without getting off his Bentley Corniche. When asked by a reporter what his manner of going to the bathroom was, Hall replied with a smile: “A green jumpsuit, old man!”
Alonso double
5. REVIEWING 16 HOURS
In 2018, at the age of 37, Fernando Alonso spent his last days with McLaren, fed up with an F1 that did not allow him to fight with the best and refugee in his adventure with Toyota, which gave him a dominant car. He, of course, delivered with his usual obsessiveness.. In fact, days before the only official test at Le Mans, the Spaniard reviewed in detail the images of the previous edition of his TS050 Hybrid. Nothing less than 16 hours of camera on board. Making F1 compatible with the 24 Hours also required an express return from Montreal, the scene of the seventh round of that World Cup.. “I spend most of my time in ‘power saving mode’. I go to bed early and try to sleep as much as I can.. And if not, at least rest”, he confessed shortly before savoring glory for the first time.
Alonso celebrates his 2019 win at Le Mans. GAZOO RACING
6. “WE DID NOT DESERVE TO WIN”
A year later, again aboard the #8 Toyota, Alonso completed his double thanks to a rare stroke of fortune.. “We didn’t deserve to win, because we didn’t have his rhythm,” he admitted after José María ‘Pechito’ López’s puncture 62 minutes before the checkered flag. The Argentine’s misfortune ruined any option for #7, who had passed the finish line first for 339 of the 385 laps (87.3%). Kamui Kobayashi, in the press room, clearly expressed the desolation of his garage: “I hate this race. I know I’ll be back, but right now I hate her.”
7. PENDING ISSUES
Today looks tough, but if Alonso gets off the Aston Martin wave, he could still come back for the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) to tackle a couple of challenges.. The first, equaling the British Woolf Barnato, the only one with a perfect record after three participations (1928, 1929, 1930). In addition, he could be compared to Phil Hill, F1 world champion and with three wins (1958, 1961 and 1962) in the 24 Hours. During the 2019 Drivers Parade, Fernando warned a crazed crowd. “This is not a goodbye but a see you later. I’ll be back here for sure, although I don’t know what year”.
8. GREATNESS AND MISERY
Those who know about resistance say that the 24 Hours, like the Indianapolis 500, choose their winner. and not inverted. A way to sum up all the greatness and misery of these two legendary races.. In any case, despite the monstrous superiority of his car, Alonso left good proof at Le Mans of his virtues as a driver, one of the most complete of all time.. The clinical coolness in traffic management, aggressive attacks on the curbs and ability to squeeze the Toyota’s power out of corners left an impression on French fans.
From pioneers to artisans
9. AUTHOR’S TRIUMPH
Since its genesis, in the 24 Hours there has always been a space, more or less privileged, for small manufacturers. Among the innumerable adventurers who dared to challenge giants such as Porsche, Ferrari, Jaguar or Ford, perhaps none more deserving than Jean Rondeau, a motor enthusiast who in 1976 set out to build, in his Champagne garage, 20 km from the Circuit de La Sarthe, their own cars, powered by a Ford-Cosworth V8 engine. He was eighth in 1976, fourth in 1977, ninth in 1978, fifth in 1979… and finally achieved victory in 1980. Not against just anyone, but beating the Porsche 908/80 of Jacky Ickx and Reinhold Joest, to become the only driver to win at Le Mans behind the wheel of a car that bears his name.
10. THE DUNLOP ADVANTAGE
Although in their seventies, André and Edouard Michelin were able to enjoy the triumph of their tires in the first edition of the 24 Hours. However, the heirs of the founding brothers had to wait no less than 55 years to enjoy another victory. During that half century, no one could stand up to Dunlop, whose fame grew like foam after giving its name to the footbridge located in the Pontlieu fork and later transferred to the Tertre Rouge area.. To this day, the British brand still maintains an advantage in the list of winners (34-31).
eleven. THEM, SINCE 1930
Despite the resounding void between 1951 and 1971, where there was no female representation, the truth is that women made themselves felt very quickly in the 24 Hours. On June 21, 1930, Marguerite Mareuse and Odette Siko, at the controls of a Bugatti 40, finished seventh, the best position ever. Two years later, partnering Louis Charavel in an Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 SS, Siko missed out on the podium in a race completed by only nine cars.. And throughout that decade a legion of British women joined. In fact, in 1935, Margaret Allan, Corinne Eaton, Doreen Evans, Eveline Gordon-Simpson, Anne Itier, Joan Richmond and Barbara Skinner reached the goal, while Kay Petre, Gwenda Stewart and Elsie Wisdom had to drop out.. In more recent times, Annie-Charlotte Verney deserves a place of honor -with 10 consecutive participations (1974-1983), including a victory in her category (1978)- and the engineer Leena Gade, who commanded the three victories from the wall of Audi by Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer (2011, 2012, 2014).
12. THE EXAMPLE OF SAUSSET
In 2012, with the aim of favoring accessibility and encouraging the development of new technologies, the ACO created the Garage 56 project. Four years later, Frederic Sausset took advantage of this initiative to become the first quadriplegic to start at Le Mans.. He participated with the Morgan team, from the LMP2 category and managed to finish the race. During the relays, to get in and out of a car adapted to his handicap, the mechanics used a long steel bar. Not satisfied, Sausset began to lead his own team, with three disabled pilots. After getting the invitation, he returned to the 24 Hours in 2021, with an Oreca 07-Gibson. And his project reached the goal again.
death face to face
13. A LIST OF 22 DECEASED
Over the course of a century, 22 pilots have killed themselves on the tarmac of La Sarthe. The first tragedy came on May 15, 1925, five days before the race, when the Frenchman André Guilbert lost his life on a road near the circuit.. In any case, Marius Mestivier is officially considered the first fatality, when he lost control of his Ravel on the Mulsanne straight. It was June 20, 1925.
14. THE WORST EVER
Although by far the worst tragedy -not only at Le Mans, but in the history of motorsport- has to be dated, without a doubt, on June 11, 1955. That Sunday, Pierre Levegh’s Mercedes became a huge ball of fire that claimed the lives of 82 spectators in the middle of the finish line. A massacre that would forever mark Mike Hawthorn, the British driver who triggered the accident, final winner with Jaguar and F1 world champion in 1958 with Ferrari.
Ickx, left, during the 1969 outing.
fifteen. THE ICKX GESTURE
Today it is almost impossible for us to assume for safety reasons, but the truth is that the majority of winners at Le Mans were open cars. That is, without a hood. 51 versus 39. Until the mid-1960s, closed cars did not compete on equal terms. And not even their occupants wore seat belts. This is how Jacky Ickx denounced it in 1969, with a gesture for history. While his rivals ran towards their cars, the Belgian walked slowly towards his Ford GT40. He lost many positions while adjusting his belt, but he won the race. That same June 23, during the first lap, John Woolfe was killed after flying out of a Porsche 917. He had not fastened his seat belt.
16. A DECADE LATER
He was one of the most respected drivers in Grand Touring and had six years of previous experience at Le Mans, where he also boasted two podium finishes in his category (2010 and 2007).. However, from the first moment, Allan Simonsen’s accident in Tertre Rouge seemed extremely serious. Barely a quarter of an hour had passed. The agonizing countdown ended with the confirmation of Aston Martin. Since that disastrous June 22, 2013, there have been no more deaths to be regretted in La Sarthe.
could only happen here
17. WIN WITH HANGOVER
Between historical rigor and urban legend, it is convenient to situate the anecdote of Duncan Hamilton and Tony Rolt, winners of the 1953 edition with a Jaguar C-Type. Their weekend, however, began to go wrong late on Thursday, when the commissioners disqualified them for an irregularity in their number 18. With nothing better to do than drown their sorrows, they spent the night drinking at Le Mans. After all, both of them had already seen almost everything in life during World War II.. Rolt received a pair of decorations after attempting to escape concentration camps seven times, while Hamilton forged his mettle as a jet pilot behind enemy lines.. The fact is that early on Friday, the manager of Jaguar, Lofty Williams convinced the organization to reinstate the #18. As has been said since then, the British team did the impossible to get their duo out of a monumental hangover. True or not, the truth is that Rolt and Williams covered 4,088 km at an average of 170.3 km/h, leading their sister car, driven by Stirling Moss and Peter Walker, by four laps.
18. BROTHERS AND NARCOPILOTS
With Bill and Don Whittington it is convenient to start at the end. In the spring of 1986, Bill pleaded guilty to one count of drug trafficking and one count of tax evasion, for which he served five years in prison.. His brother Don, sentenced in 1987 for money laundering, spent 18 months behind bars. The fact is that they, inside or outside the law, had climbed to the top of the podium at Le Mans in 1979, leaving Paul Newman’s Porsche with honey on the lips. The seed of his success was sown by Kremer Racing, one of Porsche’s best customers at the time.. The German team had a specialist like Klaus Ludwig, but to complete their lineup they would auction off the two free seats. And there the Whittingtons showed up, with $200,000 in a bag.. An astronomical amount for the time. And that that 935 K3 was well worth the expense. Equipped with a fierce 2994 cc six-cylinder engine, it surprised the favorites thanks to a very simple device that the competition did not have at the time: a windshield wiper.. Essential during a weekend of intermittent rain. Thanks to Ludwig’s speed, the Whittingtons won at Le Mans seven laps ahead.
19. BITTER HONEY WEDDING
Japanese motor fever, traditionally focused on its national Super GT championship, took half a century to transfer to Le Mans. In 1973, Hiroshi Fushida and Tetsu Ikuzawa became the first Japanese drivers to compete in the 24 Hours at the wheel of a Sigma-Mazda with which they could only last 79 laps, due to a clutch failure.. And we still had to wait until 1995 to celebrate the triumph of Masanori Sekiya, the man who closed the triplet for the Lanzante team, with that McLaren F1 GTR that JJ Lehto made fly over the water. Sekiya’s star, however, had already shone in a very peculiar way in 1987, when he decided to celebrate his third participation with a wedding just before the race. A bad time for the honeymoon, since that year, with treacherous weather, only 14 cars (29.1%) reached the finish line. The engine of the Toyota 87C-L of Sekiya, Tiff Needell and Kazuyoshi Hoshino said enough when it had only completed 39 laps.
twenty. COMMISSIONER ‘FAKE’
“It was a spontaneous sign of support, as happens between pilots”. That was the official version of Vincent Capillaire to explain the unusual event that frustrated any Toyota option in 2017. Late in the morning, Kamui Kobayashi’s #7 was leading the test when he entered the pits during a safety car period. When he returned to the pit-lane he stopped at a red light. Right there the truly unheard of thing would be unleashed. Capillaire, an LMP2 driver at Algarve Pro Racing, runs up to the Toyota and gives it a thumbs up, so Kobayashi starts again. Immediately, Toyota radioed its pilot to rectify. This ceremony of confusion ended up causing irreparable damage to the clutch of the TS050 Hybrid. The reason was simple: Capillaire’s orange jumpsuit, very similar to that of the commissars, had fatally confused the Japanese. The FIA would settle the matter with a 1,000-euro fine for Capillaire and Toyota added another notch to its jinx at Le Mans.
extreme speeds
twenty-one. PORSCHE, FOR 32 YEARS
Throughout this century, the Circuit de La Sarthe has undergone up to 14 substantial modifications. From the 17,262 km of 1923, to the current 13,626 km. The absolute fastest lap record was set by Kamui Kobayashi’s Toyota TS050-Hybrid in 2017 testing, with a time of 3:14.791 (251.882 km/h) over a 13.629 km rope. In this way he cut, by a very narrow margin, the 3:14.80 of Hans-Joachim Stuck at the wheel of a Porsche 962, during the qualifying session of 1985 (251.815 km/h).
22. HAD TO BE 405
It was closer to a marketing strategy than a sports one, although as such it was resoundingly successful.. In the 1988 edition, the modest Secateva team, sponsored by Peugeot, launched Project 400, with which they intended to break the speed record, overcoming such a huge barrier.. at any price. Even covering the cooling intakes with adhesive tape to optimize aerodynamics. At 8:19 p.m., with Roger Dorchy at the wheel, car 51 reached 415 km/h at Hunaudières, although the team ended up reducing that figure to 405 km/h, given that that year the mark of the lion launched his saloon 405. No one seemed to care that the engine blew up on lap 59, because the car was retired to cheers. To stop a foreseeable dangerous climb, just two years later the organization introduced two chicanes on that mythical straight.
23. LOOKING FOR SPACE
Navigating the thick traffic at Le Mans is always a thankless task for the favourites, who rarely have enough space in which to optimize the power of their cars.. However, over the last decade a couple of records have been polished. André Lotterer, aboard the Audi R18, already made history in 2015, at an average speed of 248.458 km/h (3:17.475). Four years later, this time was broken again by Mike Conway in his Toyota TS050-Hybrid, during the fourth lap of the race (3:17.297, at 248.628 km/h).
24. A CENTURY AGO, AT 92 KM/H
On May 27, 1923, 30 of the 33 cars that took the start in the first edition reached the finish line.. There were only two withdrawals due to mechanical setbacks and another due to an accident. Only names like Bentley and Bugatti have survived from those heroic times, who did not even climb the podium, powerless against a winner who already reached an average speed of 92.064 km/h.. Powered by a 3000cc inline-four engine, the number 9 Chenard & Walcker of André Lagache and René Léonard took victory, after completing 128 laps, for a total of 2,209.536km.
famous phrases
25. SOMETHING MORE THAN A RIVALRY
“We sell millions of cars, but this guy is in the papers every Monday just because he wins a few races.”. Henry Ford II, grandson of the founder of the American firm, took over the family business at the age of 28, just after the Second World War. In those years of crisis, he knew how to impose his aggressive style, of a ruthless capitalist, to the point of challenging Enzo Ferrari himself.. The creation and subsequent triumph of the GT40 at Le Mans remain one of motorsport’s greatest feats.
26. KING OF COOL
“Many people go through life doing the wrong things. Races are important to men who do them well.. running is life. Everything that happens before or after is just a wait”. It is the script line that Steve McQueen’s character (Michael Delaney) offers to Elga Andersen (Lisa Belgetti), when she asks him why being the fastest is so crucial.. Of course, it is about Le Mans (1971), the most emotional and sincere documentary about the 24 Hours that cinema has produced.
27. XXL WINDSHIELD
“Aerodynamics is for those who don’t know how to build engines”. Enzo Ferrari treated his drivers with a paternalism that mixed tenderness and cruelty. A good example of this is this reply to Paul Frère, who had asked him why his 250 Testa Rossa, with a huge windshield, did not reach a higher top speed at Le Mans. In that early 1960s, Il Commendatore could still afford to ignore any advances in aerodynamic issues.
28. JOEST DOES NOT LOOK AT COLOR
“The 917/20 was different from the rest. At first I was wondering: Is this a racing car? But when I drove it, on the straight it was better than I expected. It was fantastic and I didn’t care for the exterior color. Inside it wasn’t pink”. In 1971, Porsche went to Le Mans with one of the most surprising liveries in motorsport history, the work of Antoine Lapine, its chief designer.. It was not only about the color, but it also had stickers naming each of its parts as if it were the anatomy of a pig.. He was soon christened the Pink Pig and the Truffle Hunter.. It was piloted by Willi Kauhsen and Reinhold Joest, whose sentence explained the nature of the matter very clearly.
Curves with a lot of history
29. RED LAND
If the Spa circuit gave immortal fame to the red water stream that meanders through the Eau Rouge area, Le Mans did the same with the reddish sand land acquired in 1932 and forever known as Tertre Rouge. With them, the ACO intended to communicate the private part of the circuit with the public road that goes to Mulsanne. In that area he built a tunnel and a walkway. After different modifications, in 1979 the profile of its curve became much more closed. Scene of the fatal accident involving Allan Simonsen in 2013, today it is one of the busiest areas, due to its good communications and its proximity to the city.
30. FALSE STRAIGHT, BLACK POINT
The exit of the Porsche curves, one of the most complex and technical areas where only the most experienced have stepped on the accelerator to the fullest, gives way to a false straight that leads to the Maison Blanche. For two decades, in this black spot of the circuit, with speeds of around 240 km/h, four drivers died: Pierre Maréchal (1949), Tom Cole (1953), Louis Héry (1956) and John Woolfe (1969).. Finally, in 1972 the old Maison Blanche road was abandoned and a new variant was introduced at the entrance to the Ford chicane.
31. THE STOP WHERE NOBODY STOPS
One of the monuments of motor sport, with a stop sign, at the crossroads between the D139 and D140 roads, which nobody respects during the second weekend of June. The Virage Arnage, the slowest point of the route, is traveled at about 90 km/h and does not present excessive technical difficulties. A 90º angle to the right as a pilgrimage site for thousands of fans, who flock to enjoy the roar of engines and red-hot brakes at night. It owes its name to the town of Arnage, located two kilometers to the west. It was the only point where Luigi Chinetti passed Tazio Nuvolari during the maddening last lap that decided the 1933 edition.
32. VALUE IN THE CANT
Fernando Alonso has always shown his weakness for the Indianapolis area, much more than a simple curve to the left with a marked bank. And it is that you have to have guts and talent to keep your foot down. Because here, Dindo Capello lost a wheel from his Audi in 2007 and paid the consequences against the tire protections. Sometimes 300 km/h. So named in 1932 because of its resemblance to the 500 Mile stage, it is the only part of the circuit that continues to preserve, almost exactly, its original shape.. In this century, only the cant, the protections and the loopholes have been widened.
(TO BE CONTINUE)
