An Introduction To... Le Mans 24 Hours

What Is Le Mans 24 Hours?

Le Mans 24 Hours is one of the most prestigious races in the world, a huge test of endurance for the drivers, the teams, and of course, the cars. Each team has 3 drivers per car who take turns to race around a long and challenging circuit in the north of France, with the car with the most laps completed at the end of the 24 hours is the winner. The race is rightly part of the so called ‘triple crown of motorsport’, alongside the Monaco Formula One Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 oval race. The winners become part of history alongside famous names, such as Graham Hill, Tom Kristensen and more recently, Fernando Alonso. Recent Hollywood blockbuster Le Mans ’66: Ford vs. Ferrari showed the sacrifices it took for Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) to win as a driver and team owner in this race back in the 50s and 60s. Reliability improvements in modern racing cars mean that the racing is closer than ever before and it is vital for drivers to avoid mistakes and losing time on track.

The racing at Le Mans is especially difficult as there are different categories of car racing on the circuit at the same time – each aiming to stand on the podium as the winners of their own class. This means some cars are much faster than others, forcing the drivers to constantly overtake slower ‘traffic’ whilst battling with their rivals. With 59 cars on track, the best drivers in this sort of racing are the ones that find the best way to deal with cars of differing speeds without sacrificing their lap times. All of this happens through the full day, to night, and back to day cycle of the race, with increasing levels of fatigue in the later hours. The winner of the event is likely to cover over 3,200 miles - a similar distance to the full Formula 1 season - over the 24 hours, highlighting just how quick these cars are. Last year’s winner had an average speed of just over 130 mph for the whole 24 hours (including all the pit stops), which is almost identical to the average speed of Lewis Hamilton’s win at the 2020 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps!

Photo: A Toyota Gazoo Racing LMP1 car during the night in 2018. ©Ian Gilby 2018

On any normal year, Le Mans week is an international festival attracting up to 250,000 fans from across the world to a carnival atmosphere of racing, parades in the town itself, a funfair, and even music concerts. It is without a doubt, my favourite even of any kind in the world, and I would recommend it to anyone, whether racing fan or not. For this year though, understandably, it is running a shortened schedule, with no fans able to be present at the circuit. The race itself is unaffected, and the action on the circuit will stand out as much as ever for the TV audience.

Practice and Qualifying for the drivers begins on Thursday 17th September, including the spectacular night time practice session. This continues on Friday morning, before the race itself kicks off at lunchtime on Saturday 19th September.

To anyone following the race at home this year, whether you are new to the race or not, I would definitely recommend doing the following:

• Visit the ‘Spotter Guides’ website and look through the designs on Andy Blackmore’s wonderful guide to the cars and drivers in this year’s race. Available at: https://spotterguides.com/portfolio/20_lm/

• Pick a car in each of the 4 categories to follow. Even better if the car has a distinctive livery or driver name you are familiar with!

• Download the ‘FIA WEC’ app on your phone so that you can look at the ‘Live Timing’ screen from time to time to see which of the 3 drivers is in the car at that time and see who your picks are racing with.

• At around each hour of the race, the TV coverage will show an hourly update of the highlights of the race so far and show the overall leader board. This is a great way to catch up if you have not been watching the whole race, or it has been on in the background.

• If you are able to watch the Qualifying session, you will often learn names of the quickest drivers in each car. These are the names you are likely to see in the cars at the start and end of the race, when the battles for position are at their most important.

A more detailed look at the circuit, categories of cars, and drivers is below.

Weekend Timetable

Thursday 17th September

Free Practice 1 10:00 CET, 09:00 BST

Free Practice 2 14:00 CET, 13:00 BST, Live on Eurosport 2

Qualifying Practice 17:15 CET, 16:15 BST, Live on Eurosport 2

Free Practice 3 (Night Practice) 20:00 CET, 19:00 BST, Live on Eurosport 2

Friday 18th September

Free Practice 4 10:00 CET, 09:00 BST, Live on Eurosport 2

Hyperpole Qualifying 11:30 CET, 10:30 BST, Live on Eurosport 2

Saturday 19th September

Morning Warm Up 10:30 CET, 09:30 BST, Live on Eurosport 1

Le Mans Cup Support Race 2, 11:15 CET, 10:15 BST, Live on Eurosport 1

Race Start 14:30 CET, 13:30 BST, Live on Eurosport 1

How to watch

Unlike the GT World Challenge I wrote about last week, sadly, the Le Mans 24 Hours is not free-to-air in the UK. It is available both on TV and online through subscription services as follows:

TV Coverage

Eurosport 1 & 2, Available on Sky & BT TV (See above for the timings of the live sessions)

Online Coverage

FIA WEC Live & Replay Membership, €9.99 (or €13.99 for 2 remaining FIA World Endurance Championship events). Signup at this page:

https://members.fiawec.com/en/login (Sign up also available through the FIA WEC app)

Eurosport Player, Monthly Pass £6.99. Sign up at this page:

https://auth.eurosportplayer.com/product

Where Do They Race?

The Le Mans circuit is almost unique in international racing as it is made up of a partly purpose-built facility and part public roads. Just hours before the action begins on track, the support team is sent out to close the gates on the sections of public road that make up around two thirds of the circuit. At almost 8.5miles long (13.6km), it is one of the longest circuits still in use in the world. The start/finish section of the circuit is part of a shorter permanent circuit also used for the French Moto GP race.

The first section of the lap includes the Dunlop Chicane, before cars head under the famous Dunlop Bridge and down the hill into a meandering section of corners. The fast flick of the Tetre Rouge fires the cars on to the public roads section of the circuit, the Mulsanne Straight. Until 1990, this was an uninterrupted 3.7 mile section of mostly straight road but now it is split into three sections with a pair of chicanes. The Mulsanne Corner at the end of the straight is a road junction, notorious for cars missing their braking point and running wide into the gravel.

Next is the long run down to Indianapolis and Arnage corners, where cars hit speeds as high as 215mph before the reaching slowest section of the track. The following flowing section brings cars back into the permanent section of the track at the Porsche Curves, which are fast and narrow, making it difficult for the faster cars to pick the right moment to pass. Finally, the Ford Chicane is a double left-right which brings the cars back on to the start/finish straight.

The long straights and fast sweeping corners means the cars are a full throttle over 80% of the lap, with big braking zones for the slower corners putting a large amount of stress and wear on every part of the cars.

What are the cars like and who is driving?

What keeps the racing intriguing and exciting over such a long period of time is the different types of car that take part in the race. For Le Mans, the cars are split into two types – Prototypes and GT cars. The Prototypes are purpose designed racing machines which are what Formula one cars would look like if they had a roof and additional bodywork around the wheels.

The fastest category, LMP1, has the fastest cars, including two hybrid cars run by Toyota, and a full line up of professional drivers. The LMP2 category has similar looking cars, which are from 3 approved-manufacturers, and are run with a mixture of amateur and professional drivers in the line-up for each car.

Photo: Three LMP2 Prototypes overtake a Porsche GT car (left). ©Ian Gilby 2018

As with GT World Challenge, Le Mans 24 Hours uses the FIA Driver Rankings, with professional drivers graded as Platinum and Gold, fast amateurs and junior drivers as Silver, and amateurs over 30 years of age as Bronze. Each car has 3 drivers, who must all drive for a minimum of 6 hours and no more than 14 hours during the race. Each team will fill the fuel tank at every pit stop and drivers will typically stay in the car for multiple ‘stints’ at a time (usually around 2 hours of driving) before changing to the next driver.

LMP1, (5 cars with ‘Red’ number boards):

• The fastest cars in the race, fighting for the overall win

• Toyota run two cars with hybrid technology producing over 1000hp. Toyota have won the race for the past 2 seasons, and the #7 and #8 cars are expected to fight each other for the race win again this year as the circuit favours the power and efficiency of the hybrid cars.

• The Toyota drivers include 4 former Formula One drivers, a multiple Indycar race winner, and a three-time World Touring Car Champion.

• The lesser known British driver Mike Conway was one of the stars of the race last year, who, along with co-drivers Kamui Kobayashi and José Maria López, return to the race this year as the drivers of the #7 car. Last year the #7 Toyota was the faster car for much of the race but had to settle for second behind the sister #8 entry after some reliability delays.

• The #8 Toyota entry is piloted by Sébastian Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima, and Brendan Hartley, who replaces Fernando Alonso in the car from last year’s event.

• Independent entries from Rebellion (including former F1 driver Bruno Senna) and Bykolles complete the class and will likely be fighting for third position behind the Toyotas as these cars do not have a hybrid system

• Cars in this category will be pitting around every 45 minutes for a full tank of fuel and may look to save time by making the tyres last for a couple of fuel stints.

LMP2 (24 cars with ‘Blue’ number boards):

• A fiercely contested class with many familiar names appearing alongside junior and amateur drivers. LMP2 is likely to stay a close battle right to the end of the race between multiple teams

• Each team runs one of 3 available cars purchased from specialist manufacturers – Oreca, Ligier or Dallara. Two of the Orecas are also rebadged as an Aurus and one an Alpine thanks to sponsorship deals, but the car is unchanged. All LMP2 cars run the same Gibson engine for additional parity between the cars.

• Each team must have at least 1 amateur (Silver or Bronze) rated driver in their line-up, with the other 2 a free choice of either professional (Platinum or Gold) (for competitiveness) or additional amateurs (usually for budget reasons).

• A full tank of fuel in an LMP2 will last around 35 or 40 minutes.

• Look for a number of familiar professional drivers in this category including ex-F1 Juan Pablo Montoya, Paul Di Resta, Jean-Éric Vergne, Anthony Davidson, Roberto Merhi and Will Stevens. Alex Brundle, son of Sky Sports F1 commentator Martin, FIA Formula 2 driver Nyck de Vries and newly-crowned Formula E champion António Félix da Costa also add to the star power of this category.

• Look for fast silver drivers Philip Hanson (alongside di Resta and Filipe Albuquerque in the #22 United Autosport Oreca) and Mikkel Jensen (with Vergne and Roman Rusinov in the #26 G-Drive Racing) to be almost as fast as the professional drivers in their cars, giving these teams a great chance a fighting for victory in this class

• #50 Richard Mille Racing are entering an Oreca featuring three fast female Silver drivers, including 2019 W Series runner-up Beitske Visser, 2019 FIA Formula 2 driver Tatiana Calderón and 2020 FIA Formula 3 driver Sophia Flörsch. This is a capable [IG1] line up which is likely to outpace some of the more experienced runners in this category and at least be battling for the top 10 in class. This entry, and a GTE Am entry below, is part of a FIA Women in Motorsport initiative to promote promising female drivers.

The GT cars are similar to the GT3 cars that race in the GT World Challenge, which I wrote about last week, but to a slightly different specification, known as GT Endurance, which is shortened to ‘GTE’. The GTE Cars feature road-car styling with added aerodynamic aids such as a large diffuser under the back of the car and a huge rear wing. As with the Prototype categories, the GTE cars are split into GTE Pro, which features the newest models and all Professional drivers, and GTE AM, which has a mixture of amateur drivers and professionals. A full tank of fuel in at GTE car will last around 60 minutes of the race.

GTE Pro (8 cars with ‘Green’ number boards):

• GTE Pro features GT cars run by the manufactures, with line ups of factory drivers

• Cars are entered by Ferrari (4 cars), Porsche (2 cars) and Aston Martin (2 cars)

• Last year’s race was won by the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo with driver line up Briton James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Daniel Serra, who return for this year’s race.

• Other Ferrari drivers in this class include Formula E race winner Sam Bird and former F1 driver Sébastien Bourdais, who was born in Le Mans.

• Porsche won this event in 2018 with their famous ‘pink pig’ liveried entry and will be looking to return to the top of the podium this year. GT racing star Laurens Vanthoor and another former F1 driver, Gianmaria Bruni, are amongst their drivers.

• Aston Martin will be looking to return to the front after a tough event last year. The Prodrive-run cars include three quick British drivers, including Harry Tincknell, and Formula E driver Alex Lynn. The #95 Aston Martin Vantage AMR also includes the Dane Nicki Thiim, who is a world champion at this level and also a popular Twitch streamer.

Photo: A GTE Am Ferrari caught by a quicker Prototype. ©Ian Gilby 2018

GTE Am (22 cars with ‘Orange’ number boards):

• GTE Am features the same style of cars as the GTE Pro class, but the cars must be at least a year old. Again featuring a mixture cars from Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin

• Teams in this class must feature at least 2 amateur drivers in their line ups. The third driver in many of these cars is a professional who helps to coach the driving of the amateurs in the car.

• Familiar names in the Ferraris include Giancarlo Fisichella, who was also racing in the GT World Challenge last weekend, in the #54 AF Corse Ferrari 488 Evo, and Formula E driver Tom Blomqvist. Multiple Le Mans class winner and former F1 driver Jan Magnussen (father of Haas F1’s Kevin Magnussen) leads the distinctive yellow #66 JMW Ferrari in this class.

• Aston Martin’s pair of GTE Am entries both feature strong line ups, each led by Platinum-rated drivers Jonathan Adam, who is a Le Mans GTE Pro class winner and British Touring Car Championship race winner, and Augusto Farfus, who is usually seen racing BMWs. Classed as an amateur in this race, Silver-rated Scotsman Ross Gunn is a potential star of the future in GT racing.

• Amongst the large contingent of Porsche are a number of drivers who have won races in the Porsche Supercup races, which feature as a support race at F1 events, including the British Grand Prix. Larry ten Voorde (driving #56) is the 2020 Porsche Supercup Champion and Thomas Preining (leading #88) was a Supercup race winner in 2018. Last year’s winner in this category was the #56 Team Project 1 entry, which features quick Bronze-rated amateur Egidio Perfetti, who’s family business includes ‘Mentos’ confectionery although his co-drivers have changed for this season. The #56 car includes Dutchman ten Voorde and Matteo Cairoli, who is one of the fastest drivers in this category.

• As with the LMP2 class, GTE Am features a car with a full line up of female drivers. The #85 Iron Lynx Ferrari of Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Manuela Gostner has had a number of podiums in the European Le Mans Series and came very close to a win at the most recent event at France’s Paul Ricard circuit. A run to the top 5 places is very possible for this line up, nicknamed the ‘Iron Dames,’ and potentially even more if the team can stay out of trouble on circuit.

Things to look out for

In the top LMP1 category, the battle for the win is likely to be between the two Toyota hybrids. The power from the electric motors gives the cars a huge slingshot out of the corners to pass the cars ahead. Look for some spectacular overtakes down the Mulsanne Straight, where the cars may end up 3 or 4 wide. Although they have improved in recent seasons, Toyota have had reliability issues at Le Mans in the past, famously losing an almost certain victory in the 2016 event, heartbreakingly grounding to a halt with just 4 minutes left on the clock. A repeat of that this year could give the chance for a David-and-Goliath-style victory for the Rebellion Racing entries or even an LMP2 car the chance to take a shock overall win.

The LMP2 battle is likely to be one of the closest on the grid, with many big name professional drivers in the category. Along with the #22 and #26 mentioned above, the #21 Dragonspeed Oreca 07-Gibson features Juan Pablo Montoya, who is looking add Le Mans to his victories at Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500. Although a LMP2 class win won’t count for the ‘Triple Crown’ of motorsport, as this requires an overall win, Montoya is the reigning champion of the Weathertech Sportscar Championship in America, showing how quick he is in any sort of car he drives. A potential dark horse for this class is the #29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca featuring a distinctive branding from Dutch supermarket ‘JUMBO’. Amateur driver (and Jumbo co-owner) Frits Van Eerd is one of the fastest Bronze rated drivers and a strong performance from him, and rapid Dutch co-drivers Nyck de Vries and Giedo van de Garde, will put them amongst the teams running a quicker Silver ranked amateur driver.

The GT categories are often very close at Le Mans, mostly coming down to which team makes the least mistakes and enjoy a good run of reliability. The slow corners at Mulsannes Corner and Arnage are action zones and a mistake in the braking zone will often lead to cars getting stuck in the gravel. In this type of racing, cars are allowed to continue after being rescued from the gravel by the tractor, but this will usually lead to time in the pits for repairs. If all three manufacturers can find good pace, the GTE Pro category will be a proper clash of the titans between the Ferraris, Porsches, and Aston Martins.

For the GTE Am category, the team is only as good as their weakest driver, so a team with strong performances from their Bronze and Silver drivers will likely end up finishing on the podium. Bronze drivers Paul Dalla Lana (#98 Aston Martin) and Ben Keating (#57 Team Project 1 Porsche) have both shown good pace in races at this category but must avoid mistakes in their stints to get a good result. Canadian driver Dalla Lana has been a world champion at this level before but the win at Le Mans has so far eluded him, including an agonising crash from the lead in the final hour in 2015. Maybe this will be the year that he finally takes the win with Aston Martin Racing co-drivers Augusto Farfus and Ross Gunn.

Have a go yourself!

Since my first visit to Le Mans back in 2009, I have always looked through the entry list and picked a car to follow in each category. Especially in multi-class racing I find it a great way to enjoy the race as you have a something to keep an eye on, even if one of your picks runs into trouble. I usually run this as a bit of a ‘sweepstake’ against the cars picked by my friends during the race for a bit of extra intrigue. Seeing a car in the gravel and then realising “that was one of mine!” often seems to happen with the cars that I pick though…

Seeing that the race is so long it might seem a bit overwhelming – much like the length of longer sports such as an NFL match or game of Test Cricket – but the TV coverage is great at pointing out the different classes of cars shown in screen, especially in replays. This makes it easy for fans – old and new – to understand the action through the race. The hourly updates are also a perfect chance to keep track of what has been happening or catch up after you have been asleep.

If 24 Hour races are a bit too long for you, next week I will be talking about frenetic 30 minute races and door-banging action in An Introduction To… British Touring Car Championship.