If we ever lose Paris, we’ll always have Le Mans

Le Mans circuit: Warming up the machines in free training sessions yesterday

The echoes of last year’s Centenary Day have not yet faded, and we’re already back in the golden week of Le Mans and the La Sarthe circuit. If in 2023, after Ferrari’s masterful comeback and fabulous victory, the premier Hypercar category featured sixteen cars from seven manufacturers (Cadillac, Ferrari, Vanwall Vandervell, Porsche, Toyota, Peugeot, Glickenhaus), the departure of Vanwall and Jack Glickenhaus’ team could have led to fears that this year’s field would be smaller. Fortunately, this was not the case. The brands that had previously announced their future participation in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) didn’t miss out and are showing the strength of the most competitive of the world’s motor racing championships in its various categories.

That’s why when former French football star Zinedine Zidane waves the tricolor flag next Saturday for the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 23 cars will be on the Hypercars grid from nine different manufacturers.

In addition to the manufacturers who have increased the number of cars (Ferrari is present with three cars for Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen, Per Guidi, Calado/Giovinazzi and a third 499P for Kubica/Schwartzman/Yifei Ye, this one in yellow colors, joined by the three Porsche 963s of the Americans from Porsche Penske Motorsport in a squadra with two more cars from Hertz Team Jota and one from the Proton Competition team), Peugeot continued with the 9X8 model from the French Total Energies team.

To those must be added the usual two cars from the official Toyota team with the GR010-Hybrid, and the three Cadillac V-Series.R, two from the official team and one from the Americans from Action Express Racing, where the names of Brazilians Pipo Derani, Felipe Drugovich and the very fast Felipe Nasr stand out, joined by young Englishman Jack Aitken, his experienced compatriot Nick Tandy and Frenchman Mathieu Jaminet.

What’s new is the arrival of the Italian manufacturer Isotta Fraschini with the TIPO6-C model, the car that reached the fastest straight-line speed in practice last weekend, hitting 346 km/h, with Thai driver Bennett, great champion Jean-Karl Vernay and Antonio Sarravale, the young Canadian hope at just 21 years old, all looking for a place in the sun.

The Alpine Endurance Team’s new Alpine A424, with two cars for Chatin/Ferdinand Habsburg/Milesi and Nicolas Lapierre/Mick Schumacher/Vaxiviére, and the Lamborghini SC63 both make their debut (Grosjean/Caldarelli/Cairoli and Bortolotti/Kvyat/Mortara) in this year’s edition. Finally, BMW will be returning to Le Mans to compete in the premier class with two M-Hybrid V8 cars, entrusted to the Belgians from WRT (Vanthoor/Marciello/Wittman and Van der Linde/Frijns/Rast).

After the initial prologue in Qatar, where the first race was also held, and the Imola and SPA-Francorchamps stages, Le Mans will be the fourth race of the season. If in Qatar the dice were rolling in favor of Porsche, which placed three cars on the podium, then at the 6 Hours of Imola, which saw a race with an uncertain winner until the end, Toyota won, relegating the two Penske cars to the next places, in SPA the victory went to the Hertz Jota team, their first win in the WEC, followed by the Penske number 6 car and the number 50 Ferrari of Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen, in what was the first podium of the season for the winners of the “Course du Siècle”.

As for the other two categories present at Le Mans, LMP2, with 16 cars at the start, and the young LMGT3, with 23 cars, only the latter counts for the WEC, since the other has been eliminated by the FIA, although it will continue to take part in Le Mans, there will be a European championship and the popular Le Mans series, which in any case does not invalidate the fact that the entry list is still impressive in terms of the quality of the teams and drivers. It should be noted that there are fourteen former Formula 1 drivers competing this year.

In addition to what will be happening on the track and in the pits, there will be plenty of entertainment and parallel activities. Last week the scrutineering and technical checks took place in the city center, and there was a Hypercar parade. Today the town will see the popular parade of participating drivers in classic vehicles and the usually crowded streets. And those who don’t want to follow the races (in addition to the main race there will be support races) always have plenty of options.

From the daily concerts to a visit to the 24H Museum, with the Alpine Esprit Tricolore exhibition, and where the Bentley 3L Sport that won the 24 Hours in 1924 will also be on display for classic lovers, to the brand exhibitors or a visit to the Hydrogen Village, an increasingly strong bet by some manufacturers.

As for the championships, everything is open. And since anything can happen at Le Mans, it’s certain that a fierce and close fight is expected right up until the end, to the delight of the 300,000 spectators who follow the race live here, in an atmosphere that is as glamorous as it is popular, frenetic, welcoming and always full of novelties, all contributing to the guarantee of continuity and success for another hundred years. Long live the 24 Hours. Le Mans is a party. Sérgio de Almeida Correia, MDT, Le Mans