Le Mans, “borderline” drivers?

The proliferation of inexperienced drivers or team owners wishing to get behind the wheel has not reassured all those involved in endurance racing at Le Mans. If some have nothing against this phenomenon, others are worried about the difference in level between the drivers of the same car. Thus, an LMP1 or LMP2 prototype can be very fast in the hands of a professional driver, then much slower when the baton is passed to a gentleman driver. Not necessarily informed of the passing of witnesses, certain Audi drivers or Peugeot had to face cars losing or winning, depending on the change of drivers, by 10 to 12 seconds per lap!

And, beyond the difference in speed, it is the very behavior of these drivers which worries many. “ When you come around the corners Porsche, that the driver opens the door for you and, when you arrive alongside, he turns on you while you are at 250 km/h, you tell yourself that this is not going to go well, explained Sébastien Bourdais at AUTOhebdo.fr. There are hot moments. Sometimes it's like poker. On the one hand, you can't afford to wait behind the other car for the time it would take to overtake. But on the other hand, if you don?t wait and double down as soon as possible, you can hang on and lose everything. You will have to be very vigilant about this. »

Le Manceau is not the only one to have been wary of the behavior of these pilots. Romain Dumas, winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, explained before the race that he always had a certain apprehension when overtaking these fast but sometimes poorly controlled cars. “ It's obvious because you never know how he will react, what he wants to do and even if he saw you., Romain confided to us. Because it is already so difficult for him to drive that he looks at the road and not in his mirrors. There is a law that exists but it has never been applied. »

« You can get stuck in traffic very, very quickly, a factory LMP1 driver told us on the sidelines of the race. This year, it?s even more difficult because there are a lot of new people. The general level is lower than usual. This is not to be mean but it is an observation: the general level is lower than usual. In traffic, it is difficult and even limiting. Some drivers are limited. These are people who are not comfortable in the car, who can scare themselves on such a difficult circuit. It's part of Le Mans, it's always been like that but we should perhaps ensure that there is an average because a gap of 20 seconds between two drivers of the same car is not okay. »

However, there is a downside as some gentlemen drivers showed excellent pace at Le Mans. Some of them, accustomed to car racing for many years, are now competing with professional drivers, allowing private-pro crews to fight for the podium. And even for the victory since in GT1, it was the crew of Larbre Compétition who won in the Sarthe, while the three drivers, Julien Canal, Gabriele Gardel and Roland Bervillé only had four participations between them. at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, before starting the race last Saturday and winning.

Beyond the beginner driver controversy, some professional drivers sometimes find themselves in the middle of the overtaking problem, more due to the speed difference between LMP1 and GT2, for example. It is in particular these two categories which were involved when Manu Collard (Corvette n°64), an excellent driver but surprised by an overtaking of Anthony Davidson (Peugeot n°1), made a mistake. “ Particularly in the Porsche corners, they do not want to be overtaken even though they are much slower , Confided Davidson after this incident. “ I kept my line and he was surprised. » See you in 2011 for all these actors and these cars who must coexist on the 13 km of the Le Mans circuit.