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We are now in
the last hour of the 2001 running of the 24 Heures du Mans. The
weather is so moody you simply cannot begin to second-guess it.
It was raining torrentially and now the sun is shining. There are
no more than 20 cars still technically in this race, and even they
are not all out on the track right now.
No. 75 is now 3rd in class but came in for a stop.
No. 79 just dived for its garage too after what has been a pretty
rough race for them.
No. 72 gets all locked up out there in the slippery conditions.
There is much speculation as to what the tactics at Audi will be
but no one is prepared to say anything just now.
The No. 83 Seikel car is leading the GT class and has just called
in for fuel before the end.
The No. 30 WR car comes in.
No. 75 and No. 80 are running nose to tail fighting for second in
the GT class just now while.
The Bentley would appear to be about to call in for a pit stop.
Eric van de Poele is still at the wheel though how he can see where
he is going is anyone's guess.
No. 83 and 77 are fighting for places too.
No. 72 has another pit stop -maybe it's last one.
There are now 45 minutes left and the Bentley is in for wet tyres
and a final stop. Andy Wallace will finish the run. The mechanics
polish the Union Flag on the side of the car before they send him
out to vigorous applause.
At the Audi end of the pit lane there is much activity and they
are obviously expecting their cars in pretty soon.
Derek Bell (Advising at Bentley): "My thoughts have always
been that we just needed to finish. I just felt that a top five
would be unbelievable. So to lead the race like we did yesterday,
and to be in 3rd place now is just wonderful." Even a four-minute
stop/go penalty for speeding doesn't appear to worry anyone at Bentley
too much. It's upset the fans though.
The Audis come in together again for fuel. No. 2 gets in first then
No. 1.
No. 64 comes in and so does No. 82.
No. 38 comes in for its final stop and a chance to clean his helmet.
They take the rear bodywork off and start working on it. Afterwards
they take the opportunity to give it a clean.
The GTS leader has slipped behind the battle for the GT victory,
which is still raging between Fabio Babini and Romain Dumas with
about a second between them.
Finally they let the Bentley go and it stalls on the first attempt
to leave. On the second attempt it gets away and Radio Le Mans start
organising a Mexican wave in the grandstands.
Pirro in the No. 1 Audi passes Aiello in the No. 2 Audi again and
drops the second placed car back down a lap.
No. 63 makes a pit stop.
No. 58 goes out again despite appearing to be no longer on the sheets.
There are less than 30 minutes left now and the Audis are running
in formation.
Babini has got ahead in the GT battle now and looks like he is having
a lot of fun! He certainly won't want to give it up now.
There is the usual frantic activity as the teams try to dismantle
everything before the inevitable track invasion and souvenir hunt.
The No. 63 and No. 64 Corvettes are now circulating together and
just waiting for the end of the race.
The Bentley is now slowing for the end of the race and waiting for
the Audis by the look of things. After all there is no point is
pushing matters now. Wallace is a whole 8 laps ahead of the next
placed car, the Chrysler of Beretta. Wendlinger and Lamy. The Audis
are now glued together too.
The Audis are now holding up the field but there is a risk that
things may get a bit odd when the GT Porsches that are still fighting
come through.
And the two Porsches go through for another lap while the No. 17
Pescarolo Courage comes out of its garage and goes back onto the
track with around 10 minutes left to run And just to finish things
off the rain starts up again with around five minutes to go. Even
in the ran, if the Audis keep running at this speed they will arrive
too soon and will have to do another lap.
And the marshals are trying to get the No. 6 Cadillac back out onto
the track too. The Cadillac bursts into life and is able to crawl
back round.
They cross the line too soon and have to go around again. Hopefully
no one will make the Cadillac do an extra lap. That would be too
cruel. And of course Tinseau restarted the car all on his own…
The main thing now is that it is running.
And the Corvettes
cross the line just ahead of the pack in close formation.
Tom Kristensen is on the pit wall worshipping the Danish fans who
are waving flags at him. The pit wall is packed now. The Cadillac
halts just before the line and waits. He is joined by the Pescarolo
car (No. 17). They all wait.
It is now 16:08
and they really are taking their time, many of the drivers waving
flags of various sorts.
Someone in the
grandstand is waving a Porsche flag saying "Au Revoir Bob Wollek",
a very fine sentiment that no one here would disagree with. He would
have loved many things about this year's race. In addition the Audi
team wanted to win this in memory of Michele Alboreto and no one
would begrudge them that. This race will never change in some ways
and in others will never be quite the same again in many ways, both
happy and sad.
Final Placings
at 16:00 (subject to confirmation):
LMP900 winners - 1, Audi Sport Team Joest (LMP900), Frank Biela
(D), Tom Kristensen (DK), Emmanuele Pirro (I), 319 laps
2, Audi Sport North America (LMP900), Laurent Aiello (F), Rinaldo
Capello (I), Christian Pescatori (I), 318 laps
LMGPT winners - 8, Team Bentley (LMGTP), Andy Wallace (GB), Eric
Van De Poele (B), Butch Leitzinger (USA), 304 laps
16, Team Playstation (LMP900), Olivier Beretta (F), Karl Wendlinger
(A), Pedro Lamy (P), 296 laps
LMP675 winners - 38, Roc Auto (LMP675), Jordi Gene (E), Pascal Fabre
(F), Jean-Denis Deletraz (CH), 282 laps
GT winners - 83, Seikel Motorsport (LMGT), Gabrio Rosa (I), Fabio
Babini (I), Luca Drudi (I), 280 laps
77, Freisinger Motorsport (LMGT), Gunnar Jeannette (USA), Romain
Dumas (F), Philippe Haezebrouck (F), -1:38.592
GTS winners - 63, Corvette Racing Gary Pratt (LMGTS), Ron Fellows
(USA), Scott Pruett (USA), Johnny O'Connell (USA), 276 laps
75, Perspective Racing (LMGT), Thierry Perrier (F), Michel Neugarten
(B), Nigel Smith (GB), 273 laps
80, Larbre Competition (LMGT), Patrice Goueslard (F), Jean Luc Chereau
(F), Sebastien Dumez (F), 272 laps
72, Team Taisan Advan (LMGT), Hideo Fukuyama (J), Atsushi Yogo (J),
Kazuyuki Nishizawa (J), 271 laps
82, Seikel Motorsport (LMGT), Tony Burgess (CAN), Max Cohen-Olivar
(MAR), Andrew Bagnall (NZ), 271 laps
17, Pescarolo Sport (LMP900), Sebastien Bourdais (F), Jean-Christophe
Boullion (F), Laurent Redon (F), 270 laps
64, Corvette Racing Gary Pratt (LMGTS), Andy Pilgrim (USA), Franck
Freon (F), Kelly Collins (USA), 59:16.156
6, DAMS (LMP900), Wayne Taylor (USA), Massimo Angelelli (I), Christophe
Tinseau (F), 269 laps
76, PK Sport Ltd (LMGT), Mike Youles (GB), Stephen Day (GB), Dave
Warnock (GB)
74, Warmup Luc Alphand Adventures (LMGT), Luc Alphand (F), Michel
Ligonnet (F), Luis Marques (F)
60, Saleen (LMGTS), Franz Konrad (D), Oliver Gavin (GB), Terry Borcheller
(USA)
30, Welter Gerard (LMP675), Yojiro Terada (J), Jean-Rene De Fournoux
(F), Stephane Daoudi (F)
58, Larbre Competition (LMGTS), Christophe Bouchut (F), Jean-Philippe
Belloc (F), Tiago Monteiro (P)
79, Noel del Bello (LMGT), Sylvain Noel (F), Georges Forgeois (USA),
Jean Luc Maury Laribiere (F)
Retirements:
14, Viper Team Oreca (LMP900), Ni Amorim (P), Seiji Ara (J), Masahiko
Kondo (J)
62, RML (LMGTS), Bruno Lambert (B), Ian McKellar (GB), Johnny Mowlem
(GB)
9, Racing For Holland (LMP900), Jan Lammers (NL), Val Hillebrand
(NL), Donny Crevels (NL)
20, Team Ascari (LMP900), Werner Lupberger (RSA), Ben Collins (GB),
Harri Toivonen (SF)
15, Viper Team Oreca (LMP900), Yannick Dalmas (F), Franck Montagny
(F), Stephane Sarrazin (F)
70, Aspen Knolls (LMGT), Cort Wagner (USA), Bob Mazzuoccola (USA),
Vic Rice (USA)
36, Dick Barbour (LMP675), Didier de Radigues (B), Sascha Maassen
(D), Hideshi Matsuda (J)
32, Roock-Knight Hawk Racing (LMP675), Claudia Hürtgen (D),
Christopher Gleason (USA), Rick Fairbanks (USA)
33, MG Sport & Racing Ltd (LMP675), Mark Blundell (GB), Julian
Bailey (GB), Kevin McGarrity (GB)
11, Panoz Motor Sports (LMP900), Klaus Graf (D), Jamie Davis (GB),
Gary Formato (RSA)
12, Panoz Motor Sports (LMP900), Jan Magnussen (DK), David Brabham
(AUS), Franck Lagorce (F)
3, Champion Racing (LMP900), Johnny Herbert (GB), Ralf Kelleners
(D), Didier Theys (B)
10, Team Den Bla Avis (LMP900), John Nielsen (DK), Hiroki Katoh
(J), Casper Elgaard (DK)
21, Team Ascari (LMP900), Scott Maxwell (CAN), Klaas Zwart (NL),
Xavier Pompidou (F)
55, Paul Belmondo Racing (LMGTS), Vincent Vosse (B), Vanina Ickx
(B), Carl Rosenblad (S)
7, Team Bentley (LMGTP), Martin Brundle (GB), Stephane Ortelli (F),
Guy Smith (GB)
5, DAMS (LMP900), Eric Bernard (F), Emmanuel Collard (F), Marc Goossens
(B)
19, SMG (LMP900), Philippe Gache (F), Anthony Beltoise (F), Jerome
Policand (F)
56, Paul Belmondo Racing (LMGTS), Anthony Kumpen (B), Gregoire de
Galzian (F), Jean-Claude Lagniez (F)
71, Racing Engineering (LMGT), Robin Donovan (GB), Chris MacAllister
(USA), Terry Linger (USA)
18, Pescarolo Sport (LMP900), Didier Cottaz (F), Boris Derichebourg
(F), Emmanuel Clerico (F)
4, Johansson Motorsport (LMP900), Tom Coronel (NL), Stephan Johansson
(S), Patrick Lemarie (F)
34, MG Sport & Racing Ltd (LMP675), Anthony Reid (GB), Warren
Hughes (GB), Johnny Kane (GB)
37, Dick Barbour (LMP675), John Graham (CAN), Milka Duno (VEN),
David Murry (USA)
61, Konrad Motorsport (LMGTS), Walter Brun (CH), Toni Seiler (CH),
Charles Slater (USA)
57, Equipe De France FFSA (LMGTS), Davide Terrien (F), Jonathan
Cochet (F), Jean-Philippe Dayraut (F)
35, S+R Rowan Racing Ltd (LMP675), Martin O'Connell (GB), Warren
Carway (IRL), Francois Migault (F)
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