Le Mans 24 Hours - Pre-Race and Hour 1

With the 'mock herringbone' start done and dusted (most drivers choosing to run across the track but some - including Messrs Leinders and Montagny - opting to amble Ickx style) and sunshine finally braking through the cloud we've had throughout the day so far, the final preparations are complete; all the cars are sitting on the grid with the #82 Risi Ferrari in its allotted spot at the back of the grid and we are ready to go.

Jacky Ickx firmly backs Peugeot for the win as he talks to Graham Tyler on Radio Le Mans.

The cars are flagged off to complete their first sighting lap and the compressed air driven train whistle that Corvette have fitted above their garage sounds for the first time this afternoon - it's unbelievably loud. Why are they doing it? "Because nobody told us we couldn't!" Can't argue with that.

Neel Jani overshoots the Dunlop Chicane and has an embarrassing run across the kerbs, but continues.     

Astonishingly the #80 Flying Lizards Porsche suffers a left rear puncture on its first sighting lap  - seemingly though with no other damage. Is this a portent of things to come?  The Group C cars in the support race suffered multiple punctures - lets hope that's not the case in the race proper.  #80 gets back with no further damage - a lucky escape after poor early fortune. An omen?

The #2 Peugeot is cruising around very slowly too and seems to have a problem.  Apparently not - the car comes straight to the grid. A fuel saving tactic perhaps? 

All 55 cars are on the grid (nobody looks set to start from pitlane). 

FIA President Jean Todt tours the grid as the clock ticks towards 14:45; "It's heading in the right direction" says Le President. 

All 55 get away cleanly onto the green flag lap. The track is fully dry but with possible light showers forecast.

Do Peugeot hold all of the cards or are Audi holding a card or two close to their chest? We're about to find out!

It's a clean start for the Peugeots but McNish is already by the #9 Audi and right with the Oreca 908 - he's alongside between the two Mulsanne Chicanes  and again alongside up to Mulsanne Corner. Lapierre is playing hardball and there's no way by.

Lamy is getting away a little; 1.1 seconds clear of #1 at the end of Lap 1.

The #19 Autocon car has a problem meanwhile; Mike Lewis has stopped on circuit after Arnage - gearbox it seems - and may be out of the race already.

The #72 LAA Corvette (Policand) pits after Lap 1.

Melo is up into 51st position after Lap 1.

3:23s for the Peugeots - 3:25s for the R15s (and 3:28s for the Lola Astons).

In LMP2 the Acura ARXs are getting away. Kane leads Brabham by 1.4 seconds after two laps, but Erdos is a full 10 seconds behind already.

In GT1 Jousse (#73 LAA Vette) has taken third from Thomas Mutsch in the #60 Matech Ford.

Pat Long is up to third in GT2 meanwhile; he's gone by the #77 Felbermayer 997 and the #95 AF Corse Ferrari.

Montagny takes second place in the #2 908 and is drawing closer to the leader - almost a full second faster that time around.

Policand has rejoined in the #72 Corvette after a brief (40 second) stop.

Melo's progress is steady rather than meteoric  - up to 48th as the Corvettes lead the field 1-2 and are lapping at least two seconds a lap faster than the rest in GT2.

As a comparison the lead Peugeot's pace last time around was 3:21, while the 54th placed Jaguar was 4:14. 

Leinders is right with Kox and battling for the GT1 lead. The leaders are now making their way through traffic.

Nigel Mansell spins and hits the barrier, seemingly a left rear puncture as the car runs down to Indianapolis. Safety Car.  Nigel is not out of the car yet and the extraction crew is with the car.

The Jaguar was running slowly before the Mansell incident; are the two incidents in any way related? Goossens pits, as does Leinders in the #70 Marc VDS Ford. The Ford stop seems fairly routine but he's held at pit exit.

Nigel Mansell is out of the car and is being carried to an ambulance - he's clearly concious.

The Drayson Racing Lola and #009 Lola Aston Martin also pit - Paul Truswell believes that there are only two safety cars on track, leaving cars that are pitting to wait for half a lap before being released. 

Just before the Safety Car Bouchut (#14 Audi) had gone by the #6 Oreca AIM for 11th overall.

The #5 car looks to be out of the race.

The Peugeots are at the back of one Safety Car train with the Audis at the head of the second group - the lead then has immediately stretched to half a lap. 

Pitlane update - Still too early for a Beechdean update; consternation in the garage understandably as nothing has been heard back from Nigel. 

Autocon - a glum Bryan Willman says it appears to be a gearbox problem.  All gears can be selected, but there is no drive, so the theory is that the input shaft has failed. 

Ryan Dalziel says that the Jaguar problems are electrical, a problem they have had all week.  A misfire and loss of power started in the second lap so they have brought it in to check that it is not causing any damage. "It was fine in the warm-up, so we thought it had been fixed."

The #007 Lola Aston pits - fuel only. RML had pitted too last time around - Pla and Moreau are now third and fourth in class. RML had suffered a failed dashboard - a reprogrammed replacement wheel was required. The #25 car down to 46th.

The ambulance (believed to have Nigel Mansell aboard) is in pitlane.

The #4 Oreca Peugeot pits - fuel and tyres. The 908 will be held and will therefore lose fourth place as the car will be held.

A third Safety Car has now been scrambled apparently.

The Signature Plus #008 Lola Aston pits.

Safety Car will be in on this lap as we pass the 45 minute mark.

15:48 and we're underway again after 31 minutes under the Safety Car. 

The LMP2 battle is underway immediately, but Kane gets the jump on Brabham and is already well away. Pla and Moreau are together for third and fourth.

The Racing Box Lola spins at Arnage.

McNish goes by 57 seconds behind the leading Peugeot (after being less than ten seconds back before the Safety Car).

Lapierre meanwhile is down to tenth after his stop and hold! This is one new rule that simply doesn't help.

Lamy and Montagny are getting away from Gene.

Thomas Mutsch has taken the lead in GT1 from the Young Driver AMR DBR9.

Bouillon pits in the #13 Rebellion Lola - routine.

Lapierre is making progress - up to seventh ahead of Bouchut and Ayari (the Oreca AIM now the leading petrol car).

Fassler pits in the #8 R15 - the #6 Oreca AIM pits too, as does the #15 Kolles R10. The front bodywork is removed for attention beneath before Ayari is released.

Erdos's recovery pace is very good indeed - up to 23rd at the top of the hour and back up to sixth.

Jaguar sources report that the #81 may have lost the engine!

GG/ PS

Hour 1 Summary

All major races such as Le Mans begin with considerable pageantry, but this year’s edition may have been a bit over the top with the pseudo-recreation of the old sprint across the track start. The cars were lined up in herring-bone fashion with the starting drivers strutting (not sprinting) across the surface. Then the teams were given several minutes to strap in prior to departing for a slow recon lap back around to the “real” grid. They were allowed back to the pits in the event of any need and could complete an additional lap if time allowed.

The procedure proved dramatic for several teams with both the No. 8 Audi (Marcel Fässler) and the No. 80 Lizmobile (Jörg Bergmeister) suffering punctures.  The No. 2 Pogo (Franck Montagny) went around quite slowly, but with no apparent problem - fuel economy move perhaps?

On the start proper, the least surprising element was that the pole winning Peugeot of Pedro Lamy (followed by Marc Gene in No. 1) had little trouble pulling away. Allan McNish tried gamely to slip toward and past Nicolas Lapierre in the Oreca team 908. However, the “privateer” Peugeot proved a bit too wide and McNish was forced to drop back.  More surprising (pleasantly so) was that two of the Lola-Astons were able to keep close tabs on the diesels. Stefan Mücke (No. 007) and Darren Turner (No. 009) were scrapping for the LM P1-P sub-class lead.

The Peugeot quartet pulled away with seeming ease and the momentary Scottish-German hope proved fleeting. In GT2 the Corvettes similarly proved to be rather dominant. It was a three marque fight in GT1 with Aston Martin (Peter Kox), Ford (Bas Leinders) and Corvette (Julien Jousse) in close order.

Yet another unsurprising moment came when the Jaguar slowed (electrics), but then came some truly unwanted drama when Nigel Mansell had a massive accident in the No. 5 Ginetta-Zytek. The crews took great care removing him and the course went into full neutral. The procedure became truly fouled up when both the briefly leading GT1 Ford and one of the Lola-Astons were held up at the pit exit for nearly a half lap before one of the (only) two safety cars passed by. Le Mans rules do not require the safety cars to pick up the leader and instead the Audi course car plopped between the racing Peugeots and Audis - yet more problems for the challengers.

Two of the leaders (Lapierre) and Frank Mailleux (No. 008 Signature Plus Lola-Aston) stopped near the end of safety car period, which finally came to a conclusion 10 minutes before the hour (half hour of slow running). The restart was actually given first to a group of LM P2 cars that included the two Acuras, er Hondas, er HPDs, that are battling for the class lead - Jonny Kane in the No. 42 Strakka entry in front. Luca Pirri had an inconsequential spin in the No. 29 Racing Box Lola-Judd. The hour came to a close with the No. 8 Audi (Marcel Fässler) and the gasoline (to Yanks) class leading Oreca-AIM (Soheil Ayari), and the second place Pogo of Montagny making routine stops.

The sense of the hour - close fight among the three Peugeots -blocking by the Oreca entry. Audis not challenging - sad end to the Mansell effort - a disjointed interruption.    

JW