Le Mans 2013 81st Le Mans 24 Hours
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Rain
The rain's been falling a lot heavier - in fact, just before the lead duo came into the pits, right under our noses. Buncombe, pictured, rejoined a lot, lot quicker than the chasing Caron - which means Jon Minshaw now leads the chase in his '59 Lister, 19 seconds adrift.
Checkered flag
It's a Legends win for Alex Buncombe, who mastered tricky and changeable conditions. Minshaw's Lister and Gary Pearson's Jaguar C-Type, with a last lap pass on Roger Wills, join him on the podium.
Incidentally, Shaun Lynn - father of Euro F3 race winner Alex - finished fifth, while David Cooke unfortunately slipped to 26th.
Incidentally, Shaun Lynn - father of Euro F3 race winner Alex - finished fifth, while David Cooke unfortunately slipped to 26th.
As one of our team heads off to the Legends paddock for a full debrief - watch our for the report in next week's magazine - we've been talking to Nissan about the targets it is setting for its 2014 Garage 56 car, the ZEOD RC.
In addition to pioneering new technology, it wants a full lap on EV power and 300km/h. You can read it here.
In addition to pioneering new technology, it wants a full lap on EV power and 300km/h. You can read it here.
Meanwhile, another AUTOSPORTer (OK, it's probably not a real word) returns. And he's buzzing.
The reason? It's not the excellent Audi cappucino in his hand. Oh no. We've Le Mans legend Gerard Larrousse for a chat, the jist of which will no doubt become a Race of my Life in AUTOSPORT magazine in the coming weeks.
The reason? It's not the excellent Audi cappucino in his hand. Oh no. We've Le Mans legend Gerard Larrousse for a chat, the jist of which will no doubt become a Race of my Life in AUTOSPORT magazine in the coming weeks.
Trophy
Earlier on Alex Buncombe won the Le Mans Legends race in a Lister Jaguar. Here's what he looked like on his way to victory.
Many thanks to our good friends at LAT Photographic - who braved the rain - for the shot.
The second support race of the day, the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli, is about to get underway with Grand-Am regular Jeff Segal on pole
Grabbing AUTOSPORT's attention is 'Adamski' in 19th on the grid. Wonder if he'll be putting in a 'killer' performance...
Grabbing AUTOSPORT's attention is 'Adamski' in 19th on the grid. Wonder if he'll be putting in a 'killer' performance...
Quote
LMP1: Toyota's Alex Wurz, who starts fifth, with a cliche, albeit a very true one:
"This race is all about 51 weeks of preparation and 1 week of excecution."
"This race is all about 51 weeks of preparation and 1 week of excecution."
Apologies for any issues we may have with bringing you coverage from the track over the next 27 and a bit hours.
The internet here in the Le Mans press room is being a bit tempramental to say the least.
With any luck we'll run trouble-free during the race.
The internet here in the Le Mans press room is being a bit tempramental to say the least.
With any luck we'll run trouble-free during the race.
A quick shifty through some of the pre-race stats turns up some interesting information.
Did you know that the most experienced Le Mans driver in the field this year is Lotus LMP2 man Christophe Bouchut, who won the 1993 race for Peugeot, and is contesting the event for the 20th time.
Right behind him on the starts front is Emmanuel Collard; who contests his 19th Le Mans in the #75 ProSpeed Porsche in GTE Am.
Breaking news
Internet troubles prevented us from bringing this to you earlier, but if you want to to recap what happened in this morning's warm-up, our report is right here:
Lapierre puts Toyota on top in warm-up
Lapierre puts Toyota on top in warm-up
The fever has started early - there's a parade of the 11 'Le Mans Legends', featuring one car from every decade as part of the 24 Hours' 90th anniversary celebrations.
In the build up to today's race, AUTOSPORT spoke to Aston Martin's polewinner Frederic Makowiecki, who said the team will go into the 24 Hours with lingering uncertainty about its set-up.
Read it here.
Read it here.
Frederic Makowiecki Le Mans 2013
GTE Pro: We also quizzed Makowiecki about his reaction to our recent opinion piece, asking whether he was the best GT driver in the world.
His reaction (aside from laughter)?
"I'm happy some people think this, but to be clear I think every factory driver is very close to the same level - we see that in how close the races are. The most important thing is just to do a good job. If people think I'm great I'm happy though."
That last bit was said with tongue firmly in cheek.
Remember the Asian Le Mans series? After being trimmed to four races and having its opener postponed back in April, series boss Mark Thomas told AUTOSPORT it is now on course to hit its 16-car entry target.
Read it here.
Read it here.
Rain
It's starting to rain with the cars on the grid, just as forecast. This could throw a massive spanner in the works for a lot of cars.
We do still have over an hour to go though, so maybe it won't matter so much.
LMP2: Everything is calm down in the G-Drive/Delta-ADR pit – the damage to the #25 car from the warm-up was superficial only. Tor Graves says he lost the rear end and then hit one of the bumps in the Porsche Curves as he was piling on the lock in correction.
LMP2: Stalwart engineer Greg Wheeler, who's in the headphones for the KCMG squad here, is revelling in his first Le Mans. "Who wants to go to grand prix circuits when you can come here," says the former Minardi man. Well said, we reckon.
The 11 legendary cars of Le Mans are waiting just ahead of the start-finish line. They will be escorting the new Le Mans trophy around the lap ahead of the start procedure.
Breaking news
LMP2: OAK Racing has the class pole, thanks to the late efforts of Olivier Pla on Thursday night. He and team-mate Alex Brundle spoke to AUTOSPORT about their chances of keeping the #24 Morgan-Nissan at the front of the class battle.
You can read their thoughts here.
You can read their thoughts here.
This was the scene on the Le Mans grid about 20 minutes ago. Since then the French police, sorry, Marshals, have been escorting people away from the cars.
Breaking news
LMP2: In other news, we have Caterham Technology chief Mike Gascoyne's latest exclusive blog from the pitwall.
You can read what Gascoyne has to say about the Greaves Motorsport team's newest recruit for this weekend - Caterham Formula 1 reserve Alexander Rossi - right here.
Mike Gascoyne: From the Le Mans pitwall
You can read what Gascoyne has to say about the Greaves Motorsport team's newest recruit for this weekend - Caterham Formula 1 reserve Alexander Rossi - right here.
Mike Gascoyne: From the Le Mans pitwall
Speaking of Le Mans grids, 15 cars have been demoted for qualifying infringements (namely not completing the requisite number of laps). The most high profile casualty is the #21 Strakka Racing HPD, which had been due to line up eighth, but will now start from the outside of row 18.
The #46 TDS ORECA-Nissan is the only other car inside the top 20 to have been demoted - it drops to 37th.
In GTE Pro, the fifth-place #98 Aston Martin of Bill Auberlen, Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana drops seven spots (to 40th overall).
In GTE Am meanwhile the #88 Proton Porsche, which had been due to line up second in class, drops three spots to 43rd.
The #46 TDS ORECA-Nissan is the only other car inside the top 20 to have been demoted - it drops to 37th.
In GTE Pro, the fifth-place #98 Aston Martin of Bill Auberlen, Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana drops seven spots (to 40th overall).
In GTE Am meanwhile the #88 Proton Porsche, which had been due to line up second in class, drops three spots to 43rd.
We have a full list of starting drivers to hand. Here are the most important in each of the classes...
Overall/LMP1
1. #2 Audi (McNish)
2. #1 Audi (Lotterer)
3. #3 Audi (di Grassi)
4. #8 Toyota (Davidson)
5. #7 Toyota (Lapierre)
6. #12 Rebellion Lola-Toyota (Heidfeld)
LMP2
1. #24 OAK Morgan-Nissan (Pla)
2. #26 G-Drive/Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan (J Martin)
3. #43 Morand Morgan-Judd (Mailleux)
GTE Pro
1. #99 Aston Martin (Bell)
2. #97 Aston Martin (Turner)
3. #92 Porsche (Lieb)
GTE Am
1. #95 Aston Martin (Simonsen)
2. #88 Proton Porsche (Ruberti)
3. #96 Aston Martin (Campbell-Walter)
Overall/LMP1
1. #2 Audi (McNish)
2. #1 Audi (Lotterer)
3. #3 Audi (di Grassi)
4. #8 Toyota (Davidson)
5. #7 Toyota (Lapierre)
6. #12 Rebellion Lola-Toyota (Heidfeld)
LMP2
1. #24 OAK Morgan-Nissan (Pla)
2. #26 G-Drive/Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan (J Martin)
3. #43 Morand Morgan-Judd (Mailleux)
GTE Pro
1. #99 Aston Martin (Bell)
2. #97 Aston Martin (Turner)
3. #92 Porsche (Lieb)
GTE Am
1. #95 Aston Martin (Simonsen)
2. #88 Proton Porsche (Ruberti)
3. #96 Aston Martin (Campbell-Walter)
LMP2: Several giggles are heard in the press room as a message flashes up on the timing screens that Johnny Mowlem, in the #30 HVM Status Lola-Judd, has been reported for speeding in the pitlane.
The race hasn't even started yet!
The race hasn't even started yet!
The intermittent internet problems we've been contending with for the past three days have struck again. We'll do our best to keep you updated when we can - everyone here has their fingers and toes crossed.
Rain
The weather is really making things difficult for the teams today as another shower moves in over the circuit. Rain is falling heavier than it has been so far this afternoon.
Strakka
Wet track declared, meaning teams can change to wets without any penalties.
Not ideal news for the Strakka squad though - aside from their grid penalty (see 12.16), the team also confirmed to AUTOSPORT that it is short of spares following repairs after Jonny Kane's qualifying three shunt. Keeping it clean and tidy just got that much harder.
Rain tyres are being hurriedly dispatched out onto the grid in front of our commentary position.
The pitlane is now officially closed. Twenty-two minutes to go until the 81st Le Mans 24 Hours gets underway.
Rain still falling on the grid, with many outfits getting intermediate tyres ready to fit to the cars.
We're sat with a very nervous Caterham PR team. The Anglo-Malaysian (that's the preferred term) marque is lending its support to the #41 Greaves-run Zytek Nissan this weekend.
Confirmation that we have five minutes until the formation lap.
And just as we write that, the rain starts coming down harder. Plenty of wind too - hardly ideal conditions. Spare a thought for all the photographers getting wet down at Turn 1, waiting for the famous start shot.
Le Mans 2013
We have engines, and we have a formation lap. We also have a cheat photo (from last year's race). The crowd, in the grandstands and the media centre, is on its feet.
The field heads down to the second Mulsanne chicane, with a certain Henri Pescarolo - a four-time winner, and a 33-times Le Mans veteran (that's a record, incidentally) leading them in the safety car.
The Audis lead the pack towards the final complex of corners. Windscreen wipers on, umbrellas aplenty in the crowd...
Green flag
0h0m The safety car peels off and Le Mans 2013 is underway.
0h1m LMP1 The two Audis go side by side into the first corner, and Lotterer goes around the outside of McNish to lead under the Dunlop bridge.
0h1m LMP1 Nicolas Lapierre brings the lead Toyota up to third past Lucas di Grassi's Audi.
By: Jamie O'Leary, Gary Watkins, Sam Tremayne, Scott Mitchell, Geoff Creighton, Matt Beer
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