Road to Le Mans Race 2, 2022

  

The most interesting car in the race was this  Hydrogen Electric Prototype car, the Mission H24.

For those who got there early enough on Saturday, the last warm up race for the 24 Hours of Le Mans , was the second Road to Le Mans race for LMP3 and GT3 cars.  This is the flagship race and third round of the Michelin Le Mans Cup calendar.  The race was over 55 minutes and the winning car completed 11 laps.  The race was won by a Ligier driven by Michael Benham and Duncan Tappy from the other 44 cars that started.  There were some surprisingly good drivers and top teams in this race.

Particularly interesting this year is the Mission H24 car that is competing in the series. It is a hydrogen-electric prototype that it is part of a project to have a hydrogen powered class compete in the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans.  It is propelled by 2 electric motors which are powered by a hydrogen fuel cell.  It has zero emissions and runs in a special experimental category.  Total Energies have created a special mobile hydrogen refuelling station for it.  It had to refuel a few times during the race and was slower than the LMP3 and GT3 cars, but this could be the future.  I was actually quite excited by seeing it.

Another view of the Hydrogen car.  It completed 9 laps of Le Mans in just under one hour driven by the development driver Stéphane Richelmi.  It sounded different to both the other cars in the race and Formula E cars.

The first lap of the Road to Le Mans race 2.  These are the leaders.

The first lap of the Road to Le Mans race 2.  This is further down the field and we start to see the GT3 cars.

This is the second placed car - a LMP3 Ligier JS320-Nissan. This was driven by Mads Siljehaug and Freddy Hunt.  Freddy is the son of 1976 World Champion James Hunt.

The 3rd placed Ligier of Alexander Mattschull and Tom Dillman.

The other make of car in LMP3 was this Duqueine M30 D08 Nissan. This ios the fourth placed car of Kratz and Weiss.

In GT3 it was nice to see the Honda NSX.  This one won the class in the hands of Kasper Jensen and Kristian Poulsen.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page.

LMP3 Racing.

The No.6 Ligier crashed out after 4 laps.  It caused a safety car.

Le Marché des 24 Heures - Montval-sur-Loir

 

An Excalibur on exhibition in Montval's market square on the eve of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

When we arrived at our hotel for the Friday night before the 24 Hours of Le Mans, we were pleasantly surprised to see the the town of Montval-sur-Loir  (Chateau-sur- Loir) had organised their Marché des 24 Heures with a few stands, some music, food stalls and an exposition of about fifty classic and more modern cars.  A very nice atmosphere that set us in a good mood for the weekend.  The music and festivities went on from 7pm to midnight.   A great little event. Below are just a few examples of what was being exhibited by the local car enthusiasts:

A beautiful old 1927 Citroën B14F truck.  I believe the F stood for Freins (the French for brakes) as it had servo assisted brakes.  This model also had circulation of the water coolant via Thermo-syphon rather than pump.

Always nice to see a Matra D-Jet.

Triumph Spitfire.

Jaguar E-Type.

Lotus Elise.

American Muscle.

Chevrolet Corvette.

Renault 8 Gordini.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page.

Engine and interior of the Matra D-Jet..

This driver had been sitting in his car drinking for rather too long!

24 Heures du Mans - 2022 - LM GTE Am - 24 Hours of Le Mans

The GTE Am winning Aston Martin leading the Dempsey Proton on Saturday evening through the Esses.  A good consistent drive gave them the top place on the podium.

Great to see Le Mans regulars Ben Keating and Marco Sorensen take their first Le Mans class win this year.  Always nice to see two Aston Martin cars on the podium.  They had to beat a multitude of Porsches and Ferraris to get there.  GTE Am cars are similar to GTE Pro cars but must be at least one year old and have some Bronze rated drivers in the car. 

The LMGTE Am class at Le Mans always gives me some good photos to publish and this year was no exception.   A picture of every car in the class can be seen below:

Results of the LM GTE Am class:

1st No.33  TF Sport-Aston Martin (Ben Keating / Henrique Chaves / Marco Sorensen) 343 laps

For Ben Keating this year's win was some recompense for when he was disqualified in the Ford GT after crossing the line first in 2019.  It was also the first Le Mans win for Marco Sorensen after many years of trying.  A nice win for the Aston Martin Vantage AMR as well over stiff competition from the Porsches and Ferraris.  Here the car is in the Esses on Sunday morning when running third.

2nd No.79  WeatherTech Porsche (Cooper Mac Neil / Julien Andlauer / Thomas Merrill) 343 laps, 44 seconds behind

The WeatherTech Porsche remained on the same lap as the winner. Here it enters the start finish straight on Sunday morning.  It had looked a real contender early on but a few mistakes gave TF Sport the win.

The WeatherTech Porsche is chased by an LMP2 Oreca as it heads up to the Dunlop Bridge on Sunday morning.

3rd No.98  Northwest AMR Aston Martin (Paul Dalla Lana / David Pittard / Nicki Thiim) 342 laps

The second Aston Martin on the podium was the Northwest AMR car, seen here at Tertre Rouge after the sun has gone down. The Aston Martin Vantage has a four-litre, twin-turbo-charged V8 engine.

4th No.86  GR Racing Porsche (Michael Wainwright / Ricardo Pera / Benjamin Barker) 340 laps

Bumping over the kerbs early on  Sunday morning is the GR Racing Porsche.

5th No.88  Dempsey Proton Porsche (Fred Poordad / Maxwell Root / Jan Heylen) 340 laps

The No.88 Dempsey Proto Porsche leading the Spirit of Race Ferrari through the Dunlop Chicane.

6th No.54  AF Corse-Ferrari (Thomas Flohr / Francesco Castellacci / Nick Cassidy) 340 laps

The No.54 AF Corse Ferrari enters the start finish on Sunday morning.

7th No.85  Iron Dames Ferrari (Rahel Frey / Michelle Gatting / Sarah Bovy) 339 laps

The three Iron Dames, Rahel, Michelle and Sarah did very well and finished seventh especially as the Ferrari seemed the car least favoured by the BOP (Balance of Performance).

8th No.21  AF Corse-Ferrari (Simon Mann / Christoph Ulrich / Toni Vilander) 339 laps

As the night starts at Le Mans the No.21 AF Corse Ferrari rounds Tertre Rouge.

9th No.61  AF Corse-Ferrari (Louis Prette / Conrad Grunewald / Vincent Abril) 339 laps

The Ferrari had taken the GTE Am hyperpole but couldn't do as well in the race.

10th No.55  Spirit of Race Ferrari (Duncan Cameron / Matthew Griffin / David Perel)  339 laps

The Spirit of Race Ferrari leads the AF Corse Ferrari through the Esses on Saturday afternoon.

11th  No.99  Hardpoint Motorsport Porsche (Andrew Haryanto / Alessio Picariello / Martin Rump) 338 laps

The Hardpoint Porsche in the Esses on Sunday morning.   Later it was to lose any hope of a podium when it got stuck in the gravel trap for a number of laps.

12th No.57  Kessel Racing Ferrari (Takeshi Kimura / Mikkel Jensen / Frederik Schanorff) 336 laps

The Kessel Ferrari exiting the Dunlop Chicane on Sunday morning.

13th No.80  Iron Lynx Ferrari (Matteo Cressoni / Giancarlo Fisichella / Richard Heistand)  336 laps

The Iron Lynx Ferrari after sunset in Tertre Rouge.

14th No.77  Dempsey Proton Porsche (Christian Ried / Sebastian Priaulx / Harry Tincknell)  336 laps

We follow the Dempsey Proton Porsche down the pit straight as the visibility begins to get affected by the heat haze as the sun has risen.  This car looked set for a podium finish until it suffered broken suspension late in the race.

15th No.66  JMW Motorsport Ferrari (Renger Van der Zande / Mark Kvamme / Jason Hart) 331 laps

Too close for comfort as the Ferrari squeezes the Aston Martin on the entry to the Dunlop Chicane on Sunday morning.

The resulting light contact sends the Ferrari to the inside of the second past of the chicane.  It is still relatively early on Sunday morning and there are not too many people in the Grandstands.

16th No.93  Proton Competition Porsche (Michael Fassbender / Matt Campbell / Zacharie Robichon)  329 laps

It is Saturday evening at the Esses and the No.93 Porsche leads some protoypes.  This was the car which had actor Michael Fassbinder as one of its drivers and he had a difficult race with two incidents during the night.

17th No.75  Iron Lynx Ferrari (Pierre Ehret / Christian Hook / Nicolas Varrone) + 19 rounds  324 laps

It is very early on Sunday morning, just before sunrise but after dawn, when the No.75 Ferrari follows a number of GT cars onto the start finish straight.

DNF  No.60 Iron Lynx Ferrari (Claudio Schiavoni / Alessandro Balzan / Raffaele Gianmaria) DNF

The Iron Lynx Ferrari in the Dunlop Chicane on Saturday afternoon.

DNF  No.56  Project 1 Porsche (Brendan Iribe / Oliver Millroy / Ben Barnicoat) DNF

The No.56 Porsche was still going early on Sunday morning but later retired.

DNF  No.59  Inception Racing Ferrari (Alexander West / Come Ledogar / Marvin Klein) DNF

The No.59 Ferrari early in the race at Tertre Rouge but it was destined not to finish.

DNF  No.71  Spirit of Race Ferrari (Franck Dezoteux / Pierre Ragues / Gabriel Aubry) DNF

The Spirit of Race Ferrari in the Esses on Saturday afternoon.

DNF  No.777  D’station Racing-Aston Martin (Satoshi Hoshino / Tomonobu Fujii / Charles Fagg)  DNF

The No.777 Aston Martin in Tertre Rouge late on Saturday evening.  They later retired with suspension damage.

DNF  No.46  Project 1 Porsche (Matteo Cairoli / Mikkel Pedersen / Nicolas Leutwiler)  DNF

AS the sun gets low in the sky, the No.46 Porsche leads an LMP2 car and an Aston Martin through the Esses.  This was the car at le Mans that completed the least laps this year.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page.

The Marshals at Le Mans did a superb job over the whole week as usual.  Here the marshal waves a blue flag as the No.71 Ferrari passes under the Dunlop bridge.

24 Heures du Mans - 2022 - LMP2 - 24 Hours of Le Mans

 

The LMP2 winning JOTA No.38 Oreca enters the pit straight on Sunday morning.

The LMP2 class at Le Mans was virtually a one make class with 26 Oreca 07s and 1 Ligier competing.  All had identical 4.2 Litre Gibson motors.  Photos of all these cars and commentary on how their race went appears below.  There may not be much variety in this class but I have at least taken the shots from different points at different times of day! 

Without LMP2 we would have a lack of prototype cars and they did provide a good level of competition even if the No.38 JOTA car led a lot of the way after a first lap incident.  In the end the Prema No.9 car, that had led only on, finished over 2 minutes behind.   Well done to the whole JOTA team including Da Costa, Stevens and Gonzalez!

Seen here early in the race at Tertre Rouge, the No.31 WRT Oreca car took LMP2 hyperpole driven by Robin Frijns.  In the end a penalty and a crash as it tried to catch-up put an end to its hopes.

THE RESULTS (of the LMP2 class):

1st No.38 JOTA Oraca (Roberto Gonzalez / Antonio Felix Da Costa / William Stevens) 369 laps

The LMP2 winning JOTA Oreca No.38 entering the Esses on Sunday morning.  Da Costa had done the first stint and took the lead before the first two hours were up. After that they dominated the race in LMP2 and finished fifth overall in the race after the 4 hypercars.

2nd No.9 Prema Oreca (Robert Kubica / Louis Deletraz / Lorenzo Colombo) 2 mintues 369 laps, 21.9 seconds behind the winner

Early on Sunday morning the Prema Oreca is in second place as it enters the start finish straight. Kubica had made a great start to lead the class early on but they eventually had to settle for second.

3rd No.28 JOTA Oreca (Oliver Rasmussen / Edward Jones / Jonathan Aberdein)  368 laps

Bumping over the Motul Chican kerbs on early Sunday morning, the JOTA Oreca is in third place and gives JOTA two out of three podium positions.

4th No.13 TDS Racing x Vaillante Oreca (Nyck de Vries / Mathias Beche / Tijmen van der Helm) 368 laps

The TDS Racing Oreca in Tertre Rouge on Saturday afternoon.  Nyck de Vries was drafted in after practice and obviously did a great job.

5th No.5 Team Penske Oreca (Dane Cameron / Emmanuel Collard / Felipe Nasr) 368 laps

The Team Penske Oreca leads a JOTA car into the Esses.

6th No.23 United Autosports Oreca (Alexander Lynn / Oliver Jarvis / Joshua Pierson) 368 laps

The United Autosports Oreca leads a group through the Esses on Saturday evening.  It had recovered from an extra pitsop due to tyre issues early on and then a drive through for overtaking in the slow zone  and then an off into the gravel.  They were certainly trying!.   Josh Pierson at 16 is the youngest driver ever in the 24LM.

7th No.37 Winter Tournament Oreca (Yifei Ye / Ricky Taylor / Niklas Krütten) 367 laps

The No.37 Oreca entering the Esses on Sunday morning.

8th No.48 IDEC Sport Oreca (Paul Lafargue / Paul Loup Chatin / Patrick Pilet) 366 laps

The IDEC Sport Oreca in the Dunlop Chicane on Saturday evening.  Earlier it had had a tyre come off whilst on track.

9th No.1 Richard Mille Racing Team Oreca (Lilou Wadoux / Sebastien Ogier / Charles Milesi) 366 laps

The Richard Mille Racing Oreca in the Dunlop Chicane.  Eight times World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier was amongst the drivers and it was his first 24 Hours of Le Mans race.

10th  No.22 United Autosports Oreca (Philip Hanson / Filipe Albuquerque / William Owen) 366 laps

The No.22 United Autosports Oreca leading a group of LMP2 cars in the Esses on Saturday afternoon.  for this car it was a race of recovery as they were in the gravel just after the start and thus a top ten finish was far from a disaster . They also stopped on track briefly on Sunday morning,

11th   No.32 WRT Oreca (Rolf Ineichen / Mirko Bortolotti / Dries Vanthoor) 366 laps

The WRT Oreca in the Dunlop Chican on Saturday evening.

12th  No.65 Panis Racing Oreca (Julien Canal / Nicolas Jamin / Job Van Uitert) 366 laps

The Panis Racing Oreca leading another LMP2 car through the Esses.  On Sunday they suffered a penalty for causing a collision.

13th  No.34 Inter Europol Tournament Oreca (Jakub Smiechowski / Alex Brundle / Esteban Gutierrez) 365 laps

The No.34 cars leads a group including its other team car through the Esses on Saturday afternoon.

14th  No.43 Inter Europol Tournament Oreca (David Heinemeier-Hansson / Fabio Scherer / Pietro Fittipaldi) 364 laps

The Other Inter Europol car leading a Porsche up to the Dunlop Chicane on Sunday morning.

15th  No.45 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca  (James Allen / Rene Binder / Steven Thomas) 363 laps

The Algarve Pro Oreca No.45 leads its other team car through the Esses on Saturday evening.  On Sunday it had a trip through the gravel but continued.  This car took the LMP2 Pro-Am victory.

16th  No.24 Nielsen Racing Oreca (Rodrigo Sales / Matt Bell / Ben Hanley) 362 laps

The Nielsen Racing Oreca leads another Oreca as they lap some GTE Am cars in the Esses.

17th  No.41 Real and WRT Team Oreca  (Rui Andrade / Ferdinand Habsburg / Norman Nato) 362 laps

The No.41 Oreca entering the Dunlop Chicane on Sunday morning.

18th  No.3 DKR Engineering Oreca (Laurents Hörr / Jean Glorieux / Alexandre Cougnaud) 362 laps

The DKR Oreca in the Esses on Sunday morning.

19th  No.83 AF Corse Oreca (Francois Perrodo / Nicklas Nielsen / Alessio Rovera) 361 laps

The No..83 car at night at Tertre Rouge.  On Sunday morning it touched the No.64 Corvette, putting the Chevrolet out.

20th  No.47 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca (John Falb / Sophia Floersch / Jack Aitken) 361 laps

The Algarve Pro car No.47 exiting the Dunlop Chicane on Sunday morning. They had a bad start and an early pit stop that didn't help their cause.

21st  No.44 ARC Bratislava Oreca (Miroslav Konopka / Bent Viscaal / Tristan Vautier) 360 laps

The ARC No.44 Oreca entering the Dunlop Chicane on Sunday morning.

22nd  No.10 Vector Sport Oreca (Nico Muller / Ryan Cullen / Sebastien Bourdais) 357 laps

The Vector Sport Oreca No.10 at Tertre Rouge early in the race. Later it hit the barrier but continued.

23rd  No.39 Graff Racing Oreca (Eric Trouillet / Sebastien Page / David Droux) 344 laps

The Graff Racing Oreca No.39 in the Esses on Sunday  morning.

24th  No.35 Last Oreca (Jean Baptiste Lahaye / Matthieu Lahaye / Francois Heriau) 335 laps

With about 20 minutes of the race gone, the No.35 Oreca enters the Esses.  Later it was to be penalized for passing under the yellow flag.

25th  No.27 CD Sport Ligier (Christophe Cresp / Michael Jensen / Steven Palette) 333 laps

The only Ligier JSP217 in this LMP2 race full of Orecas was the No.27 car.  With 3 debutant drivers of which two were Bronze, this car had a tough challenge.

26th  No.30 Duqueine Oreca (Richard Bradley / Guillermo Rojas / Reshad de Gerus) 326 laps

The Duqueine Oreca leads another LMP2 car in the Esses.

DNF  No.31 WRT  Oracle (Sean Gelael / Robin Frijns / Rene Rast)

The No.31 was still going late on Sunday morning as we see it cut the first apex of the Esses, but eventually it became the only LMP2 car not to finish when Frijns went into the barrier.  It had taken hyperpole and was running second early in the race but was given a one minute stop and go penalty for being involved in the first lap collision  with car 22.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page.

The No.24 Oreca heads into one the chicanes at the end of the lap.