Jenson Button and the Le Mans 24h

Next week probably the best race of the world will be held in Le Mans. The quiet city will hear the engines roaring again this year. Apart from Jenson, famous names as the 2 times F1 world champion Fernando Alonso or the experienced Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya will drive in the French track for the first time. But Le Mans isn't a normal place to race. Here we will see how the race and the track works.

Actual layout of the circuit

The race (and WEC championship) consists of 4 car categories. At Le Mans we will see :

- LMP1: 2 hybrids and 8 non-hybrid ones. The prototypes, the iconic cars of the grid. 833kg minimum weight for non-hybrid cars and 878kg for Toyota ones. The Toyota TS050 has around 1000 HP and the non-hybrid ones around 650-700. During the test Toyota had the fastest time but SMP Racing and Rebellion aren't too far away from their pace. Only professional drivers.

The SMP car number 17 of Isaakyan, Sarrazin and Orudzhev

- LMP2 : Similar to LMP1s but less powerful and heavier. That cars use a V8 Gibson that gives them around 600 HP. Will be a close fight with the new improved aero kits made because of the dominance of Oreca chassis last year. 930kg minimum weight. At least 1 driver must be Bronze or Silver (Amateur driver).

Jackie Chan Oreca number 38 of Tung, Aubry and Richelmi. Source: DailySportscar.com

-GTE Pro: Pure spirit of Le Mans. This year we will see 30 GTs in the grid and the fight will be as tight as always. Even Aston Martin needs some changes of the Balance of Performance in their new cars looks like the battle will be epic with 17 GTE (4 Porsche 911 RSR, 4 Ford GT, 3 Ferrari 488, 2 BMW, 2 Corvette C7R and 2 brand new Aston Martin Vantage) racing to reach the glory. The GTE cars have a minimum weight of 1245kg and around 550HP. The choice of drivers is free but as the official manufacturer teams they are they dont need the money of any paydriver so they all are proffesional ones.

The new Aston Martin Vantage GTE. Source: Motorsport.com

GTE Am: They are basically GTE cars but the main difference is that they must be at least 1 year old and have gentleman drivers driving them. Usually we see 1 professional driver (Platinum or Gold) and 2 or 3 "amateur" ones (Silver or bronze). 

The 911 of Cairoli, Al Qubaisi and Roda. Source: DailySportscar.com

This year's edition will have great stars racing at the track of Le Sarthe. Juan Pablo Montoya (who could get his Triple Crown if he wins the race) comes from the IMSA championship where he drives for Acura Penske and will drive for United Autosports. As you may know Fernando Alonso will race behind the wheel of the Toyota number 8 but we can find more famous names such as the endurance aces Timo Bernhard, Andre Lotterer, Antonio García or Olivier Beretta, the Formula E driver Sam Bird, the former F1 drivers Bourdais, Bruno Senna or Paul Di Resta, the IndyCar champion Scott Dixon or raising stars like Antonio Giovinazzi. According to their career achievements and age they are Platinum,Gold, Silver o Bronze drivers. But nonetheless we can find amateur drivers such as Mathias Lauda who took part in categories like the DTM or the first seasons of the GP2 championship. Talking about female presence this year we have once again the great Christina Nielsen driving this time a 911 in the GTE Am class.

Jenson and his chances at the race

Jenson will share the car with Aleshin (former IndyCar driver) and Petrov (former F1 and DTM driver) who are experienced in the race. Looks like SMP Racing has solved the problems they had in Spa which made Isaakyan fly while he was climbing towards the Raidillon. According to what we have seen during the test day SMP Racing has a good car to fight for the first places. If its a win or "just" will depend on how many troubles they and the rest of the grid has. Le Mans is a capricious race that chooses the winner and even if you have the best car you can loose all in a second... and 24 hours have lots of seconds. Toyota said that TVR Rebellion and SMP are real contenders but we still have to wait to know if that's true or just a lie. Talking to Racer.com he said it will be tough but their aim is to win the race. He added later that there should be good competition from the privateers and that Le Mans is different to any other track and its a different experience.

Jenson waiting inside the car. Source: LATImages

Schedule 

Free Practice Wed 13 June 16h00-20h00 Local Time 

Qualy 1         Wed 13 June 22h00-00h00 Local Time

Qualy 2         Thu  14 June 19h00-21h00 Local Time

Qualy 3         Thu  14 June 22h00-00h00 Local Time

Warm Up       Sat  16 June  09h00-09h45 Local Time

Race               Sat  16 June 15h00- Sun 17 June 15h00 Local Time

Some curiosities and facts about that amazing race:

-The 13,626km long track held its first 24h race in 1923.

-Porsche is the make with more races won : 19 times.
-Toyota did 3 pole positions but has never won.
-Isn't strange when a team/car performs better during the night.
-When there is an incident race can be stopped (Red flag), Safety Car can be deployed (works as it does in F1), can be a Full Course Yellow (like Virtual Safety Car in F1) or Slow Zones which is like a VSC but just in a part of the track and not all of it.
-Henri Pescarolo is the driver with most entries: 33.
-44 years passed between Mario Andretti's and Yojiro Terada's first and last race.
-Tom Kristensen is the most succesful driver at Le Mans: 9 wins and 14 podiums in 18 entries.
-Top speed : 407km/h (WM P88-Peugeot 1988).
-Audi was the first and only team to win the race with a Diesel engine.
-In 1969 the attendance was 400.000 people. Highest ever at the track.
-Kobayashi set the fastest lap ever in the new layout last year during qualyfing. Watch it here :

5 days until the cars roar again at the legendary track. Any similarity to any other circuit it's just a mere coincidence. This is June and this is Le Mans !