Hello all, it's time once again for the early June madness in the French countryside.
And for this 92nd running of this classic race we're in for a doozy. For those who have not been paying attention, the introduction of the Hypercar rules to the top class, as well as the switch to GT3 rules in the bottom class, has led to a true buffet of riches. We have arguably the best fight for the overall win since 1989, with Toyota, Ferrari, Porsche, Cadillac, BMW, Peugeot, Renault, Lamborghini, and Isotta-Fraschini all represented amongst 23 cars. Yes, 23 top-class entries. That's more than an entire Grand Prix's worth of fun right there, and we've also got 16 LMP2 entries running Oreca-Gibsons, and 23 GT3 cars from 9 brands. The full entry list is available here: https://www.24h-lema...2024-entry-list
If you can"t find something to enjoy from that offering, frankly, you should go take up baking instead.
If you're new to this, welcome. This race is the 4th round of the 2024 World Endurance Championship, and the first three that you missed were all cracking good fun. In case you want to rewatch them, the series has an excellent Youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@FIAWEC
They've got highlights, full replays of the races, and all sorts of behind the scenes engagement type stuff to give you the backstories if that's your thing. I'll give you a moment to go check all of that out, and then you can come back after you've gotten a taste.
You're back? Great.
Now, last year we had a race for the ages as some truly terrible weather in the early stages created all sorts of havoc and brought pain and misery to many. But eventually the race settled into a classic 2 way slugfest that nearly came down to the wire, and ended in *spoilers*
What will happen this year? No one knows. The cars are faster, the gaps are smaller, and the number of contenders has grown.
But with the nature of the Balance of Performance, everyone is convinced everyone else is doing this:
So, who's been playing rope a dope, and who's ready to throw bombs? We're going to find out, but I think the assumption should be they all are.
Last year's shambolic Porsche experience has been turned around and through masses of data and hard work offers a veritable armada of 6 963s that could fight for the win. Against the Zuffenhausen swarm, Toyota can reply with only 2 of their defending WEC champion GR010s, and Ferrari bring 3 499Ps to the fight. There could have been more, but they preferred selling 25 of them to suckers.
Adding some extra spice to the mix we have 3 Cadillac V.Series-R machines that make all the noise, 2 Alpine A424s, 2 Peugeot 9x8 [don't call it an] EVO, 2 Lamborghini SC63s, 2 BMW M Hybrid V8s, and 1 Isotta-Fraschini Type 6-C. Below that, we have the afor-mentioned LMP2s, which are identical other than paint and harder than a coffin nail; and a GT3 class full of the dreams of everyone who ever bought a lottery ticket. Seriously, check out the entry list for the visuals: https://www.24h-lema...2024-entry-list
How do you watch this battle royale? Well, in the words of the venerable Automobile Club de l'Ouest:
You can follow the race on the circuit thanks to :
- 13 giant screens
- the announcer's voice
- the 24H LE MANS TV application
- Live Timing (click on the link)
- 24 Hours radio (91.5 FM)
Follow the race from home on :
- Eurosport
- L'Équipe TV
Or get creative online and reach out to your friendly neighbourhood nigerian prince. Oh, and most of the teams live stream the race from the cockpit of each car, so if you don't mind a very fixed view of proceedings, those are all on Youtube as well.