Le Mans 24 Hours – Friday Notes
The Calm Before The Storm

It wasn’t exactly a cloudless sky over La Circuit De La Sarthe on Friday, but it was dry, very warm and occasionally sunny; perfect for enjoying the rest-day.

The traditional pitlane walk was hugely popular with the fans – now very much here in force – and the paddock was a very relaxed place; no cars having suffered catastrophic damage during the track running so far – very unusual for this event.

Phil Bennett told DSC that he and Barazi-Epsilon team-mate Stuart Moseley were suffering from "massive food poisoning" on Thursday and thus not on the pace during qualifying. However, a knight in shining armour came to their aid in their hour of need; "I want to say a massive thank you to Harold Primat," said Bennett. "He used to be my team-mate in '05, and even though he was preparing for his own qualifying session, he found time to sort out some isotonic drinks for us, which was a massive help. He really looked after us.

"I'm feeling a lot better today - it's just a case today of eating some proper food and getting my energy levels back up ready for the race."

Guy Smith was spotted with shopping bags after a quick trip to the Village; “It’s an official Le Mans teddy bear,” he reported. “Actually, there’s two of them – this is getting expensive now!” he moaned (with a big smile on his face).

Barwell Motorsport British GT drivers Ollie Bryant and Andrew Smith were buzzing around the circuit on their scooters – racing in the Motor Racing Legends support event? “No. We drove down yesterday and are sleeping in the van,” said Bryant. “We’re just here to watch the race, then we’ll be driving back on Sunday.” Meanwhile, Barwell stablemate Andrew Howard’s Beechdean Motorsport transporter is sitting in the legends’ paddock, but we haven’t yet worked out why.

Slapped wrists for the DSC crew from Fiona Miller for missing the fact that Jaime Melo set the fastest Ferrari time (and third fastest GT2 time) in the second qualifying session yesterday – a fair point and one which we are happy to rectify; but do we really have to sweep out the Risi garage with a toothbrush as penance?

Martin Little bumped into Norbert Singer in the paddock; “I am here this week doing what I can to help. [Felbermayr Proton] is a good, strong team that knows how to win, but I am pleased to provide whatever I can; be that strategy or technical comment. The Porsche is a well proven and strong car, but it is hard against the Ferraris. The class is really competitive and the lap times really close – it’s a shame we don’t get the profile of the prototype classes because the racing is very exciting.

“We know we have a driver squad that is experienced and fast with this car, but the race is long and here anything can happen – the smallest things can really change your race. We will try to get to about 18 hours and then assess things from there.

“Of course I still have my connections with Porsche, and it’s interesting to consider what their future involvement may be. There is still plenty of success from the existing programmes like this, but in terms of my thoughts about a return to a works team I think a lot depends on the development of the rules. There would be no sense in thinking about this right now, but at the end of the year the regulations will be clarified until 2011, at which point you can suggest that maybe the prospects could be considered based on costs of development and running a programme and what is attractive to the board. The Volkswagen / Audi / Porsche corporate relationship is getting closer and who knows what the shape of their motorsport programme will be.”

As the drivers headed off to town for the Parade des Pilotes, the DSC crew retired to Arnage for a pre-race barbecue and some much needed sleep.

MH