The second weekend of June, traditionally the 24 Hours of Le Mans will take place. It’s already the 87th edition of the mythical automobile endurance race. On the Circuit de la Sarthe (13,6 km), 62 cars will compete in 4 classes.
Just like last year, Toyota will be the only factory teams in LMP1. The rest of the teams are private teams without the budget and support of a major car manufacturer. In LMP2 and both GT classes, there’s a lot competition! So there’s a lot to look for.
The race
Regulation changes
This year, there are some small changes to the regulations. Both changes have to do with safety cars.
Full course yellow
When an incident on track occurs, sending our safety cars (3!) is a complex procedure, so race directors try to launch this procedure only when needed. Safety cars can also impact race results. To keep the impact as low as possible, a new procedure for smaller incidents can be invoked: Full course yellow.
The procedure is similar to the “Code 60”, used in other races. When Full course yellow is started, all cars on track may not exceed the speed of 80 km/h. The main difference between Full course yellow and the classic safety cars, is the gaps between competing cars will stay more or less the same. While safety cars will group the competing cars, which impacts the gaps.
Pitlane & Safety car
When safety cars are deployed, the pitlane is closed until a safety car has passed and the car can rejoin after that safety car. If you are in the pitlane when safety cars are deployed and you’re chasing the leading car, you have a disadvantage when the pitlane gets closed while you were in it before the safety cars enter. From this year on, cars that were in the pitlane can rejoin the race.
Schedule
This is only the timing involving the cars or drivers, not entertainment or scrutineering
Tuesday
| 10:30 – 10:45 | Official Drivers photo | |
| 17:00 – 18:30 | Drivers’ autograph session |
Wednesday
| 16:00 – 20:00 | Le Mans 24 Hours Free Practice | |
| 20:30 – 21:30 | Road to Le Mans Free Practice 1 | |
| 22:00 – 00:00 | Le Mans 24 Hours Qualifying 1 |
Thursday
| 09:00 – 10:00 | Road to Le Mans Free Practice 2 | |
| 10:30 – 11:15 | Ferrari Challenge Free Practice 1 | |
| 11:55 – 12:40 | Ferrari Challenge Free Practice 2 | |
| 13:30 – 13:50 | Road To Le Mans Qualifying 1 | |
| 14:05 – 14:25 | Road To Le Mans Qualifying 2 | |
| 15:30 – 16:30 | Ferrari Challenge Qualifying 1 | |
| 17:30 – 18:30 | Road To Le Mans Race 1 | |
| 19:00 – 21:00 | Le Mans 24 Hours Qualifying 2 | |
| 22:00 – 00:00 | Le Mans 24 Hours Qualifying 3 |
Friday
| 17:30 – 19:00 | Drivers’ Parade |
Saturday
| 09:00 – 09:45 | Warm Up | |
| 10:15 – 11:00 | Ferrari Challenge Race | |
| 11:30 – 12:30 | Road to Le Mans Race 2 | |
| 15:00 | Start of the Le Mans 24 Hours |
Sunday
| 15:00 | Finish of the Le Mans 24 Hours |
Entry list
| No. | Entrant | Car | Driver 1 | Driver 2 | Driver 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LMP1 (8 entries) | |||||
| 1 | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion R13- Gibson | Neel Jani | André Lotterer | Bruno Senna |
| 3 | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion R13- Gibson | Thomas Laurent | Nathanaël Berthon | Gustavo Menezes |
| 4 | ByKolles Racing Team | ENSO CLM P1/01- Gibson | Tom Dillmann | Oliver Webb | Paolo Ruberti |
| 7 | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota TS050 Hybrid | Mike Conway | Kamui Kobayashi | José María López |
| 8 | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota TS050 Hybrid | Sébastien Buemi | Kazuki Nakajima | Fernando Alonso |
| 10 | DragonSpeed | BR Engineering BR1- Gibson | Ben Hanley | Henrik Hedman | Renger van der Zande |
| 11 | SMP Racing | BR Engineering BR1- AER | Mikhail Aleshin | Vitaly Petrov | Stoffel Vandoorne |
| 17 | SMP Racing | BR Engineering BR1- AER | Egor Orudzhev | Stéphane Sarrazin | Sergey Sirotkin |
| LMP2 (20 entries) | |||||
| 20 | High Class Racing | Oreca 07- Gibson | Dennis Andersen | Mathias Beche | Anders Fjordbach |
| 22 | United Autosports | Ligier JS P217- Gibson | Filipe Albuquerque | Philip Hanson | Paul di Resta |
| 23 | Panis Barthez Competition | Ligier JS P217- Gibson | René Binder | Will Stevens | Julien Canal |
| 25 | Algarve Pro Racing | Oreca 07- Gibson | John Falb | Andrea Pizzitola | David Zollinger |
| 26 | G-Drive Racing | Aurus 01- Gibson | Roman Rusinov | Job van Uitert | Jean-Éric Vergne |
| 28 | TDS Racing | Oreca 07- Gibson | Loïc Duval | François Perrodo | Matthieu Vaxiviere |
| 29 | Racing Team Nederland | Dallara P217- Gibson | Frits van Eerd | Giedo van der Garde | Nyck de Vries |
| 30 | Duqueine Engineering | Oreca 07- Gibson | Romain Dumas | Nico Jamin | Pierre Ragues |
| 31 | DragonSpeed | Oreca 07- Gibson | Anthony Davidson | Roberto González | Pastor Maldonado |
| 32 | United Autosports | Ligier JS P217- Gibson | Alex Brundle | Ryan Cullen | Will Owen |
| 34 | Inter Europol Competition | Ligier JS P217- Gibson | Nigel Moore | Léo Roussel | Jakub Smiechowski |
| 36 | Signatech Alpine Matmut | Alpine A470- Gibson | Nicolas Lapierre | André Negrão | Pierre Thiriet |
| 37 | Jackie Chan DC Racing | Oreca 07- Gibson | David Heinemeier Hansson | Jordan King | Ricky Taylor |
| 38 | Jackie Chan DC Racing | Oreca 07- Gibson | Gabriel Aubry | Stéphane Richelmi | Ho-Pin Tung |
| 39 | Graff | Oreca 07- Gibson | Vincent Capillaire | Tristan Gommendy | Jonathan Hirschi |
| 43 | RLR M Sport/Tower Events | Oreca 07- Gibson | John Farano | Arjun Maini | Norman Nato |
| 47 | Cetilar Racing Villorba Corse | Dallara P217- Gibson | Roberto Lacorte | Giorgio Sernagiotto | Andrea Belicchi |
| 48 | IDEC Sport | Oreca 07- Gibson | Patrice Lafargue | Paul-Loup Chatin | Memo Rojas |
| 49 | ARC Bratislava | Ligier JS P217- Gibson | Henning Enqvist | Miro Konôpka | Konstantin Tereshchenko |
| 50 | Larbre Compétition | Ligier JS P217- Gibson | Erwin Creed | Romano Ricci | Nicholas Boulle |
| LMGTE Pro (17 entries) | |||||
| 51 | AF Corse | Ferrari 488 GTE Evo | James Calado | Alessandro Pier Guidi | Daniel Serra |
| 63 | Corvette Racing | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R | Antonio García | Jan Magnussen | Mike Rockenfeller |
| 64 | Corvette Racing | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R | Marcel Fässler | Oliver Gavin | Tommy Milner |
| 66 | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford GT | Billy Johnson | Stefan Mücke | Olivier Pla |
| 67 | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford GT | Jonathan Bomarito | Andy Priaulx | Harry Tincknell |
| 68 | Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA | Ford GT | Sébastien Bourdais | Joey Hand | Dirk Müller |
| 69 | Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA | Ford GT | Ryan Briscoe | Scott Dixon | Richard Westbrook |
| 71 | AF Corse | Ferrari 488 GTE Evo | Sam Bird | Miguel Molina | Davide Rigon |
| 81 | BMW Team MTEK | BMW M8 GTE | Nick Catsburg | Philipp Eng | Martin Tomczyk |
| 82 | BMW Team MTEK | BMW M8 GTE | Antonio Felix da Costa | Augusto Farfus | Jesse Krohn |
| 89 | Risi Competizione | Ferrari 488 GTE Evo | Pipo Derani | Jules Gounon | Oliver Jarvis |
| 91 | Porsche GT Team | Porsche 911 RSR | Gianmaria Bruni | Richard Lietz | Frédéric Makowiecki |
| 92 | Porsche GT Team | Porsche 911 RSR | Michael Christensen | Kevin Estre | Laurens Vanthoor |
| 93 | Porsche GT Team | Porsche 911 RSR | Earl Bamber | Patrick Pilet | Nick Tandy |
| 94 | Porsche GT Team | Porsche 911 RSR | Mathieu Jaminet | Sven Müller | Dennis Olsen |
| 95 | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | Marco Sørensen | Nicki Thiim | Darren Turner |
| 97 | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | Alex Lynn | Maxime Martin | Jonathan Adam |
| LMGTE Am (17 entries) | |||||
| 54 | Spirit of Race | Ferrari 488 GTE | Francesco Castellacci | Giancarlo Fisichella | Thomas Flohr |
| 56 | Team Project 1 | Porsche 911 RSR | Jörg Bergmeister | Patrick Lindsey | Egidio Perfetti |
| 57 | Car Guy Racing | Ferrari 488 GTE | Kei Cozzolino | Takeshi Kimura | Côme Ledogar |
| 60 | Kessel Racing | Ferrari 488 GTE | Claudio Schiavoni | Sergio Pianezzola | Andrea Piccini |
| 61 | Clearwater Racing | Ferrari 488 GTE | Luís Pérez Companc | Matteo Cressoni | Matt Griffin |
| 62 | WeatherTech Racing | Ferrari 488 GTE | Cooper MacNeil | Robert Smith | Toni Vilander |
| 70 | MR Racing | Ferrari 488 GTE | Olivier Beretta | Eddie Cheever III | Motoaki Ishikawa |
| 77 | Dempsey- Proton Racing | Porsche 911 RSR | Matt Campbell | Christian Ried | Julien Andlauer |
| 78 | Proton Competition | Porsche 911 RSR | Vincent Abril | Louis Prette | Philippe Prette |
| 83 | Kessel Racing | Ferrari 488 GTE | Rahel Frey | Michelle Gatting | Manuela Gostner |
| 84 | JMW Motorsport | Ferrari 488 GTE | Rodrigo Baptista | Wei Lu | Jeff Segal |
| 85 | Keating Motorsports | Ford GT | Jeroen Bleekemolen | Felipe Fraga | Ben Keating |
| 86 | Gulf Racing | Porsche 911 RSR | Ben Barker | Michael Wainwright | Thomas Preining |
| 88 | Dempsey- Proton Racing | Porsche 911 RSR | Matteo Cairoli | Satoshi Hoshino | Gianluca Roda |
| 90 | TF Sport | Aston Martin Vantage GTE | Charlie Eastwood | Salih Yoluç | Euan Hankey |
| 98 | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin Vantage GTE | Paul Dalla Lana | Pedro Lamy | Mathias Lauda |
| 99 | Dempsey- Proton Racing | Porsche 911 RSR | Niclas Jönsson | Tracy Krohn | Patrick Long |
Spotter guide
A Spotter guide is an easy to use overview of all cars and as much information as possible (team, drivers, …) As you can see above with a real example explained. My guess, you should print it on A3 paper format?
Follow the race
On TV
For many years already, Eurosport is covering the 24h of Le Mans at length. I expect they will do the same this year, so once the schedule is released, you may expect an update of this post!
With the Eurosport Player you can get a week’s free trial which will take you well over the race weekend and you don’t have to miss a thing.
On the radio
Not everyone can watch TV all day. Luckily, the famous Radio Le Mans is on air almost all week. Whenever the cars are on track, Radio Le Mans is covering this!
Radio Le Mans is also pretty active on Twitter, so consider this a #followtip
This brings me seamlessly to Twitter. For sports, Twitter is great to follow an event! To follow the 24h of Le Mans, you can setup a filter on these hashtags:
During the racing weekend, it will be hard (read: impossible) to follow, so some filtering might be a good idea.
Live timing
To quickly follow the race, with the least distraction, you can keep an eye on 2 live timing website:
- FIA WEC: The official website offers an overview of the actual standings of all cars. You can apply some filters to have a better understanding of the situation
- 71Wytham Live Timing: This unofficial website aggregates data from multiple sources and visualizes it.
