Le Mans Saturday Notebook

Photo: Bruno Vandevelde/MPS Agency

***The final 19 cars set to participate in the 94th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans went through administrative and technical checks in downtown Le Mans on Saturday, including Hypercar efforts from Toyota Racing and three-time and defending winners Ferrari AF Corse. The afternoon, meanwhile, featured the fourth annual ‘Roulage’ race car parade through the city streets, which saw one car from each Hypercar and LMGT3 manufacturer, plus two LMP2s, take part.

***United Autosports, which was one of the first teams to roll through in the morning, had its specially designed ‘Racing for Diabetes’ livery on its No. 22 Oreca 07 Gibson with drivers Mikkel Jensen, Rasmus Lindh and Gregoire Saucy. The design is shaped by the blue circle, the international symbol for diabetes awareness, with the colors developed in association with Sanofi, one of the team’s sponsors.

***It was announced on Saturday afternoon that Laurens Vanthoor will be United’s reserve driver across its two LMP2 entires, with the Porsche factory star, who is being loaned to McLaren United AS for its Hypercar effort next year, set to turn laps in the No. 22 Oreca tomorrow.

***While Ben Keating finally made it through the administrative checks after his travel delays, RD Limited team owner/driver Romain Dumas and CrowdStrike by APR’s George Kurtz were also notably absent on Saturday. “Air France canceled two flights and then they told me they could get me here on Saturday afternoon and I said I can’t do it,” Keating told Sportscar365. “I ended up finding a flight through Minneapolis.”

***AO Racing’s newest character, ‘Rockie the Pegasus’ made its premiere Saturday at scrutineering, adorning the defending LMP2 Pro-Am class winning No. 99 AO by TF Oreca of Dane Cameron, PJ Hyett plus James Allen, who is subbing for the Hypercar-bound Louis Deletraz. It marks the team’s first character linked directly with a commercial partner, in this case Mobil 1.

***Team principal Gunnar Jeannette told Sportscar365: “It’s a super cool project. It’s amazing to be a part with Mobil 1 and have them give us the green light to make an AO character out of their longtime mascot/brand ambassador, Pegasus. Right now it’s just Le Mans but hopefully if things go well, ‘Rockie’ can make some appearances Stateside.

***The entire Toyota Racing team arrived at scrutineering in a hydrogen fuel cell bus, which turned demonstration laps at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps last month. The bus, with virtually zero tailpipe emissions, will be at the team’s disposal throughout the event. The city of Le Mans opened its first hydrogen refueling station in 2023, with ACO President Pierre Fillon famously known to drive a Hydrogen fuel cell-powered road car.

***Silverstone looks set to be added as a ninth round on the 2027 FIA World Endurance Championship schedule, which will be released next Friday during the ACO’s annual press conference. Sportscar365 understands the race is set to take place in May, meaning there is likely to be four pre-Le Mans events on the calendar, resulting in what’s understood to be an additional clash with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship beyond the existing two weekends, plus the Le Mans test day next year.

***Anthony McIntosh revealed that Team WRT pitched him the livery design for Le Mans, which honors the BMW-engined McLaren F1 GTR when it ran in Gulf colors in the French endurance classic. McIntosh told Sportscar365: “This was something that WRT was thinking about for a while because of that engine that was put in that car. They were like, ‘Hey that’d be great, those are great colors.’ I was like, ‘Sure, let’s do it.'”

***Of note, the No. 69 BMW M4 GT3 EVO is the only car taking part in this year’s race that already has a scale model for sale from Spark Models.

***McIntosh and Parker Thompson, who are both making their 24 Hours of Le Mans debuts, are coming off a sweep of the weekend in the Italian GT Championship sprint series at Vallelunga, claiming Pro-Am class honors in their BMW Italia Ceccato Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO in both races last weekend. The duo currently sit second in the class championship with events remaining at Mugello and Monza.

***McIntosh, a former series class champion, came up with the idea to dovetail their WEC LMGT3 commitments with a season in the national GT series, which has a total of eight races spread between four Italian circuits. The duo are scheduled to complete the season, with no conflicting events.

***Ford Racing global director Mark Rushbrook told reporters in Detroit that he has high hopes for the pair of Proton Competition-entered Ford Mustang GT3 EVOs in Le Mans, which comes on the 60th anniversary of the American manufacturer’s first overall Le Mans win and ten years since its GT Le Mans class victory. The German squad has so far been winless in LMGT3 competition but had a promising outing at Spa.

***Rushbrook said: “We go to every race with the intent to win. The cars ran strong in the WEC race at Spa but had a few unfortunate incidents that we didn’t get the finishing results. We know that the cars are good. We know the team, the drivers are good. We’re going to Le Mans with high expectations.”

***Prodrive is celebrating its 25th consecutive appearance at Le Mans this year, with the David Richards-owned company supporting operations of the pair of Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evos in LMGT3, with a third Prodrive-built Aston in the field in Racing Spirit of Leman’s entry. The Banbury-based outfit made its Le Mans debut in 2002 with a self-built Ferrari 550 Maranello for Tomas Enge, Alain Menu and Rickard Rydell, which scored GTS class pole but retired in the race.

***Enge, Peter Kox and Jamie Davies gave Prodrive the first of six class victories at Le Mans the following year, also with the privately run 550, before becoming Aston Martin’s factory partner in 2005, which it has remained with ever since in the build of its GT machinery, as well as the ill-fated AMR-One LMP1 car. Prodrive-built cars have covered 346,958 kilometers (211,589 miles) of racing at Le Mans, equivalent to more than 8.5 times around the world.

***Richards said: “Le Mans has always meant something deeply personal to me. It’s a race that captured my imagination from a young age, so to see Prodrive reach its 25th consecutive entry is incredibly special. A real testament to the passion and dedication of the people who have made that journey possible.”

***Several longstanding Prodrive staff, including race team operations director Paul ‘Drez’ Diggins and race team manager Simon Edwards have played a role in all 24 of Prodrive’s previous Le Mans campaigns. A celebration dinner is planned at the track on Tuesday.

***Peugeot, meanwhile, is commemorating the 100th anniversary of its first entry into Le Mans, when two Peugeot 174S cars took part in the 1926 edition. The French manufacturer has made 44 participations in the century since, either as a factory team or engine supplier, having scored three major victories: 1992-93 with the Peugeot 905 and 2009 with the 908 HDi FAP.

***Peugeot Design has created a special centenary badge that’s featured on both of the 9X8s for this year’s race.

***Alpine driver Fred Makowiecki is sporting a special helmet design in celebration of Endurance-Info’s 20th anniversary. The leading French-language sports car racing news site, run by longtime editor-in-chief Laurent Mercier, was launched in 2006.

***Several sports car drivers, including WEC regulars Malthe Jakobsen and defending Le Mans winner Yifei Ye, have been among those named ambassadors of the FIA Smart Driving Challenge last month. Reigning Intercontinental GT Challenge and GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS champion Kelvin van der Linde was the third sports car driver named as ambassadors.

***Ye wrote on social media: “Safety and sustainability are essential both on and off the track. I’m proud to join the FIA Smart Driving Challenge ambassador program and invite you to be part of my FIA SDC team. Together, we can make a positive difference wherever we drive, travel or commute by becoming smarter and more responsible road users.”

***With scrutineering complete, all attention turns to Sunday’s test day, which is made up of a pair of three-hour sessions, the first of which is due to run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. local time (4 a.m. to 7 a.m. EST) and the second from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EST). Exclusive live coverage is available on Radio Le Mans and trackside on 91.2 FM.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John