www.porscheroadandrace.com Sunset at Le Mans 2017 Published: 18th June 2017 By: Glen Smale Online version: https://www.porscheroadandrace.com/sunset-at-le-mans-2017/ Porsche Team 919 Hybrid drivers and management: (from i-r) #1 Neel Jani, Andre Lotterer, Nick Tandy; Andreas Seidl & Fritz Enzingr; #2 Timo Bernhard, Earl Bamber, Brendon Hartley – on 13 June 2017 at the 24H of Le Mans The 2017 Le Mans 24 Hour race will go down in history as one of the most dramatic in years. If you thought that last year’s race ended in dramatic fashion, then this year’s event was equal to or even more gripping than in 2016. Unavoidably, it involved the same two manufacturers, Porsche and Toyota. www.porscheroadandrace.com Wednesday, 14 June, saw the first Free Practice session which ran for four hours from 16h00 to 20h00. This session is used primarily to set the car up and to check that everything is working properly. The two 919 Hybrids faired satisfactorily and at the end of the session, the #1 Porsche posted the fastest time with the #2 car in third place. Qualifying did not bring the 919 Hybrids any better results, because Toyota locked out first and second on the starting grid, with the Porsches in third and fourth. #77 Dempsey Proton Racing 911 RSR (2015) driven by: Christian Ried, Matteo Cairoli, Marvin Dienst on 17 June 2017 at the 24H of Le Mans The Le Mans 24 Hour race was the third race for the new 911 RSR in Europe, and the speed and sound of the cars was memorable. These new 911s have great potential, but the challenge is to convert this potential into results, which is not easy when you have been allocated an unfavourable Balance of Performance (BoP) index. It was calculated that the www.porscheroadandrace.com 911 RSR had an 8km/h slower top speed than the fastest car in class, which would suggest that the BoP is subjective in nature. But this all comes to an end with round 4 of the WEC which will be held at the Nürburgring in July, where the process becomes automated and every manufacturer will be treated the same. #86 Gulf Racing Porsche 911 RSR (2015) driven by: Michael Wainwright, Ben Barker, Nick Foster during the 24 Heures Du Mans 85th Edition, 17 June 2017 In Q1 in the GTE Am class, the customer RSRs ended up in second, seventh, twelfth and fourteenth places. Throughout all three qualifying sessions, the four RSRs (2015 model) looked and sounded good from the track side. The one blot on the record being a spin by Ben Barker that resulted in slight damage to the front of the #86 Gulf Racing RSR. The GTE Am cars occupied positions: #77 fourth, #93 tenth, #88 thirteenth, and the #86 in 59th place on the grid. www.porscheroadandrace.com The start Start of the 85th Le Mans 24H on 17/06/2017 at the 24H of Le Mans Neel Jani immediately overtook the #8 Toyota at the start of the race, moving up into second place, and but he lost this place again to the #8 Toyota not long after. When it came time for refuelling after 13 laps, Jani stayed in the car, as he did with the following two fuel stops, handing the car to Nick Tandy on lap 39. Timo Bernhard started in the #2 Porsche in fifth place and, refuelling after 12, 25, and 38 laps, he handed the car over to Earl Bamber in fourth place. Saturday afternoon www.porscheroadandrace.com #91 Porsche 911 RSR (2017) driven by: Richard Lietz, Frederic Makowiecki, Patrick Pilet at scrutineering for the 24 Heures Du Mans, 12 June 2017 Despite starting in seventh place (#92) and thirteenth place (#91), many were secretly hoping the two RSRs would manage to improve their positions and perform strongly. Watching from the track side, the two RSRs certainly looked like they were on the money, as lap after lap a train of four or five GTE Pro cars circulated nose-to-tail, with at least one RSR in its midst. www.porscheroadandrace.com #88 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR (991) driven by: Nicholas Yelloly, Stephane Lemeret, 24 Heures Du Mans 85th Edition, 17 June 2017 The first Porsche to be out of the running was the #88 GTE Am Proton Competition RSR which was hit in the rear after 18 laps (around 17h20) by the #26 LMP2 G-Drive (Rusinov) in the Porsche Curves. Both cars were forced to retire. www.porscheroadandrace.com #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid driven by: Timo Bernhard, Earl Bamber, Brendon Hartley on 18 June 2017 at the 24H of Le Mans At 18h30 the #2 Porsche 919 came in as Earl Bamber complained that there was no drive to the front axle, so he pitted. The car was in the garage for 65 minutes during which time ‘several components’ were replaced. Brendon Hartley took the car out again at 19h35, although the car appeared somewhat unwilling to take off at first, and he rejoined almost at the back of the field. After almost four hours of being back in action, the #2 car was up to 34th position. www.porscheroadandrace.com #92 Porsche 911 RSR (2017) driven by: Michael Christensen, Kevin Estre, Dirk Werner (Indianapolis) on 14 June 2017 at the 24H of Le Mans At 19h02 the #92 RSR was hit by a Corvette in an overtaking move, as the two cars entered the high-speed Turn 1. The Corvette hit the Porsche on the front right, causing it to spin and flat-spotting all four tyres, and so the car was brought into the pits for a fresh set of tyres, and the driver, Dirk Werner stayed in the car. Other than that incident, the RSRs were still running well with the #92 in seventh and the #91 in ninth place having covered 91 laps. www.porscheroadandrace.com #1 Porsche 919 Hybrid driven by: Neel Jani, Andre Lotterer, Nick Tandy on 14 June 2017 at the 24H of Le Mans The #1 Porsche 919 after five-and-a-half hours was lying in second place and circulating strongly behind the #7 Toyota, and after 78 laps, Andre Lotterer took the wheel and maintained his second place. Evening At 21h00 the outside air temperature was still 28ºC, with a humidity factor of around 97%. A short while later, the #8 Toyota passed the #1 Porsche pushing it back into third place once again. The second and third positions yo-yoed for some time, and with Lotterer ahead, he was able to close the gap on the lead #7 Toyota to just 21 seconds. But with 105 laps done, Lotterer was again overhauled by the #8 Toyota and knocked back into third place. www.porscheroadandrace.com #92 Porsche 911 RSR (2017) driven by: Michael Christensen, Kevin Estre, Dirk Werner on 18 June 2017 at the 24H of Le Mans Neel Jani took over the reins on the #1 Porsche at 22h16, but about a half hour later, the battle for second place with the #8 Toyota ceased when it pulled into the pits, remaining there for two hours. After the #2 Porsche rejoined the race in the hands of Brendon Hartley, the car performed well and was driven next by Timo Bernhard, and then by Earl Bamber. All of the drivers highlighted the numerous slow zones as interrupting their driving rhythm, which Hartley put down to many drivers making mistakes and going off-piste. www.porscheroadandrace.com #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TS050 Hybrid driven by: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Stephane Sarrazin on 14 June 2017 at the 24H of Le Mans #9 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TS050 Hybrid driven by: Yuji Kunimoto, Nicolas Lapierre, Jose Maria Lopez on 15 June 2017 at the 24H of Le Mans The next phase of the race, you could not have made up. Just after midnight, and with the #8 Toyota just out on track again following its two-hour repair, the lead #7 Toyota stopped out on track with some kind of power failure. Then, as if it couldn’t get any worse, as the #9 was exiting the pit lane and moving up towards the Dunlop Bridge, contact was made with www.porscheroadandrace.com the #25 Manor Oreca 07-Gibson which spun out and hit the tyre barrier and retired. The #9 Toyota, with its left rear severely damaged, limped onwards but a punctured tyre destroyed the remaining bodywork and the car eventually stopped in the Ford Chicane. The Porsche LMP1 team, who took the lead with the #1 car at 00h45, could not believe the situation that had just been handed to them, while the atmosphere of utter dejection in the Toyota garage was tangible. In the Porsche pit garage on 18 June 2017 at the 24H of Le Mans Two hours later, the #92 RSR (Christensen) had moved up to third in class, having completed one pit stop more than the two cars ahead of it. The #91 RSR (Lietz) was lying in sixth at the eight-hour mark. However, at 04h00, Michael Christensen in the #92 RSR put his right back wheel on the paint of the curb in the Ford Chicane and began to weave, and then to spin. The car spun backwards and hit the tyres/barrier back end first, severely www.porscheroadandrace.com damaging the rear. As a result of being so down on straight line speed the RSR drivers had to make up for this lack of performance by being aggressive in the corners and around other parts of the circuit.