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.

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.

47ème Course de Côte régionale de Tonnerre,

The fastest at Tonnerre this year was Romain Richardeau in a Dallara F397 evo F398.

This was only my second Course de Côte of 2020  because of the Covid19 crisis, but a very pleasant one and a new one for me.  Thanks to the organisers, Ecurie Vauban, for maintaining their event when so many others have cancelled.  The hill climb runs up from the fire station in Tonnere to a farm "La Ferme de Chape".  Tonnere is in the north west of the Burgundy region of France.  Parking for spectators is at the top of the hill near the farm and I must remember this for the next time I go as it is difficult to find from the centre of town.  The course is quite undulating with some downhill as well as uphill sections and  is 1.5 kilometres in length, so a fast time is just under 50 seconds for the Formula 3 cars.  96 drivers were classified and 30 of them feature in this post.  The runs which counted were on Sunday but I attended the practice runs on Saturday afternoon 15th August  to avoid the crowds.  Nevertheless, there were still a lot of us on the hill on Saturday as well on a beautifully sunny day.  Very nice to see such a good field of cars and quite a good hill for taking photographs.  A hill climb to come back to again !

One surprise of the day was seeing a Wolf racing car in the old Walter Wolf racing colours.  I hadn't realised that an Italian producer had bought the rights to the Walter Wolf Racing name and had produced a CN Prototype car in 2010.  Certainly a pleasant surprise and nice to see some variety from the host of the usual Normas of which there were relatively few of at Tonnerre.

A very well known hillclimb car in this region is the beautiful Ligier JS47 of Jean-Pierre Boucharrd.  It finished second.

Third was Gilbert Isabelle in a Dallara F399. 

Florian Serralta was fourth in a Speedcar GTR Evo 19 and won the CM class.

Fifth was the Tatuus FR2000 of Laurent Varlet which won the Formule France class.

Michael France in a Dallara F304 was sixth.

Seventh was the Dallara BAM F394 of Martial Conte.

Arnaud Pignol was eighth in a Tatuus FR2000.

Tenth was the Norma M20F of Philippe Fusillier which won the CN class.

In eleventh and fastest of the female competitors was Marion Alexandre in her Ligier JS51.

Twelfth was the Wolf GB08 of Luc Francois.

Rodolphe Simonnet was 13th in his Alpine A110 and won his class.

Fourteenth was Stephane Picault in a JPS FC.

The Porsche GT2 of Morane Cat Mackowiak was fifteenth and won its class.

Twentieth was the Renault Clio 4 RS of David Deremond.

Christian Boullanger was 21st in his Renault Clio Rs.

22nd was Pascal Simonot in a CG Simca which won its class.

The Peugeot RCZ Cup of Jean-Jacques Maurel was 23rd.

24th was the Peugeot 106 of Maxime Meyer.

The Nissan Almera of Michel Bineau was 25th.

28th was the Renault Clio Williams of Damien Kosk.

Winner of the FC/FS 1 call was this Simca Rallye 2 of Bernard Delniau.

A rather good looking Farm Tork Mitjet 1300 won the GTTS 1 class in the hands of Cedric Boureille.

Giles Berger won the F2000 1 class in his Peugeot 205 Rallye.

Winner of the FN2 class was this Honda Civic of Jerome Chardin.

Franck Jovin won the FA 1 class in this Peugeot 106 XSI.

3rd in the FC/FS 1 class was Bernard Martin in the Simca Rallye 2.

The Peugeot 405 of James Skolylas.

Second of the three lady drivers was Melanie Robert in this Peugeot 205.

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.

A Renault Clio nears the finish line at the top of the hill.