Led round on the warm-up lap by four-time event winner Henri Pescarolo, competitors in the 81st running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans spent little time getting the hammer down. The theme tune from Close Encounters being blasted across the circuit tanoys had clearly got the drivers blood pumping.
[Not a valid template]Indeed, barely a third of the grid had crossed the finishing line before the polesitting #2 Audi R18 – with Alan McNish at the wheel – was deposed of its top spot by the sister #1 entry, driven by Andre Lotterer. A superb start at the lights saw the German leapfrog the illustrious Scot into turn one, braving it out around the outside of Dunlop to slide into first position, McNish giving his ‘rival’ just enough room.
Talk had been rife before the event about Nicolas Lapierre’s lap in warm-up, leading many to speculate that Toyota had been playing possum and withholding their true pace. A slow start compared to the Audi trio up front suggested this might not be true, biut it wasn’t long before the #7 TS030 – with Lapierre once again at the wheel was on a charge. Even before the first sector had been completed, the Frenchman was on a flyer, overtaking first Anthony Davidson in the sister Toyota and Lucas Di Grassi in the #3 Audi before setting off at pace after the leaders.
McNish would prove a more difficult opponent, the Audi re-taking his second place with vim into Virage de Mulsanne after the Toyota slipstreamed past on the Mulsanne Straight. It would be all too brief though, Lapierre leaping on the Audi on the following straight and dive bombing into second at the final chicane. Pre-event the threat from Toyota involved fuel consumption, the Japanese boys proving much more frugal than their hybrid-powered rivals from Germany. Now, mere minutes into a wet race, Toyota also seemed to be getting its tyres up to temperature quicker too, as evidenced by the attack Davidson was putting on Di Grassi for fourth.
It wasn’t long before McNish had slipped back into their clutches, and the polesitters were relinquished of yet another position by the Toyota in an Audi sandwich. No quarter was given on the frighteningly fast Mulsanne Straight, all three going bumper-to-bumper, but Davidson – with memories of his horrifying airborne crash last year still fresh – was soon releaiving the #2 Audi of another position. Further back, the Rebellion Racing Lolas held station, the lead #12 car just ahead of the #13 entry.
Up front by six seconds already around the 3m 30(ish)s lap, a race for the lead was shaping up between Lapierre and Lotterer, the Toyota looking very racey and poking its nose into half opened doors. That was until circuit TV cameras picked up the #99 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 slamming at high speed into the barriers, breaking off its drivers side door and two wheels in the process. A safety car was immediately called and an ambulance quickly en-route to gauge the injuries of Allan Simonsen, concerned looks in the Aston pit saying more than words could. News filtered through soon however that Simonsen was conscious and under medical care, much to everyone’s relief.
Some 45 minutes and eight laps were in the books for the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans, but it had taken some time to remove the stricken Aston, and work was still ongoing to repair the Armco. Almost nobody had noticed that it had stopped raining.
Mother Nature had no intention of making the 24-hour race easy, it seems.
– Shots courtesy of Eric Fabre.
