Le Mans Tuesday Notebook

Photo: ACO

***Tuesday marked the second ‘rest’ day in Le Mans following Sunday’s test day, which saw teams continue car rebuilds, as well as a number of fan-related activities, including two autograph sessions, a pit walk, a pit stop challenge and drivers group photo with the centenary trophy.

***The mechanics of the No. 93 Peugeot 9X8 won the pit stop challenge with a four-corner wheel change time of 10.067 seconds. They beat the No. 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing crew by 0.206 seconds, while the No. 50 Ferrari AF Corse was third.

***Team WRT’s No. 41 team won the LMP2 class in fourth overall, while the NASCAR Garage 56 group finished fifth. NorthWest AMR took the spoils in GTE-Am with a 10.48-second stop.

***Six LMP2 cars: No. 16 Vector Sport, No. 13 Tower Motorsport, No. 80 AF Corse, No. 923 Racing Team Turkey, No. 30 Duqueine Team and No. 14 Nielsen Racing, have received 20-minute stop-and-hold penalties to be served in Free Practice after being found to have run ride height laser sensors in the test day, which is deemed a non-conformity of the car’s homologation.

***IDEC Sport’s sporting director Nicolas Minassian expressed disappointed in the teams that were penalized. “There is nothing else more accurate in terms of developing a car than putting on a laser,” he told Sportscar365. “Now, they’ve got the information. They have cheated for the race already.”

***Additionally, the No. 47 Cool Racing Oreca 07 Gibson will have a ten-minute stop-and-hold penalty for opening practice due to the constant abuse of track limits at the test. A number of cars, including the COOL entry, served five-minute stop-and-holds during the test day itself for the same infraction.

***Three teams – Alpine, Algarve Pro Racing and Team Project 1 – were given suspended fines of €10,000 ($10,675 USD) for missing a deadline to submit information towards the ACO’s sustainability competition. The fines are withheld until Oct. 4 subject to each competitor filing the necessary information.

***IDEC Sport has a new partnership with French luxury carmaker Delage that has seen the No. 48 Oreca 07 Gibson take on a new blue livery. The affiliation, which is currently for Le Mans only, originated through a friendship between IDEC Sport president Patrice Lafargue and Delage boss Laurent Tapie. Delage has produced the D12 track-only hypercar.

***Minassian added that this is a “good year” to align with such a company. “Delage was there in 1923 for the first Le Mans and they’re here now,” he said. “It was a very beautiful make of car in its day, and now they’re coming back. It brings something different to the race for us.”

***Goodyear has introduced a racing tire with the first real-time intelligence capability to record tire pressure and temperature, which are outfitted on the NASCAR Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. A passive, non-battery sensor is cured into the tire during production that provides real-time tire data to Hendrick Motorsports.

***Rene Rast will sport a custom Michael Vaillant-inspired helmet for the event, matching the Vaillante branding on the No. 13 Tower Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson in reference to the longstanding French comic book series.

***Rast told Sportscar365 that he initially was going to run with a black carbon helmet, but that changed following discussions with the team and the comic’s publishers. “We asked if I wanted to do something special for this race,” said the German. “They provided me with a design and now I’m basically a full Michel Vaillant factory driver!”

***Jim Glickenhaus said new signing Esteban Gutierrez “fit right in” with the team during the Test Day and needed little time to adapt to the Glickenhaus 007 Pipo. “ He’s doing really well in the car,” Glickenhaus told Sportscar365.”He likes the car. It was just dialing in for the test days. We’re going to try as hard as we can and do the best we can.”

***The eponymous team owner said that the outcome this weekend could “absolutely” be a determining factor in how the program will continue after the next WEC round at Monza. “There are a lot of possibilities,” Glickenhaus said. “We’re just waiting to see how we do here with the new situation with the new Balance of Performance. We’ll see how we do here. It’s a little too early for us to make any suggestions.”

***GM sports car racing program manager Laura Wontrop Klauser downplayed media reports that Cadillac Racing could expand into a two-car full season FIA World Endurance Championship program next year, telling Sportscar365 that it’s a “pie in the sky” at the moment.

***She said the prospects of customers Cadillac V-Series.R cars has also not made any progress in recent weeks. “Those discussions may have been happening, but honestly no, we’re not any closer,” she said. “[Le Mans] has been our number one thing and everything else has been secondary so we haven’t had a chance to think about it or think about it.”

***This year’s race marks the first time WeatherTech Racing and Cooper MacNeil have not been present since 2016. MacNeil retired from full-time driving following January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona although is expected to take part in historic races.

***French media reports of Hyundai currently finalizing a WEC effort, meanwhile, is believed to be wide of the mark, with the Korean manufacturer still understood to still be in an evaluation process between a Hypercar class program and the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship for 2025/2026.

***Studio 397, the Motorsport Games-owned company behind rFactor2, has announced that it is working on an official PC video game for the WEC, titled ‘Le Mans Ultimate.’ The game, featuring cars and tracks from the 2023 WEC season, is expected to be released in December.

***While opting to miss Le Mans as a “precautionary measure” following his accident at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, John Farano is planning to return to the wheel of Tower Motorsport’s Oreca at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen according to team principal Ricky Capone.

***Capone told Sportscar365 that Farano, who is currently third in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship LMP2 standings, has set his focus on the season-long title and did not want to jeopardize his championship chances.

***The Heart of Racing team principal Ian James is set to take part in the upcoming CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa with George Kurtz, Colin Braun and Felipe Fraga in a Riley Motorsports-entered Pro-Am class Mercedes effort, in a deal that came about through James’ Bronze-rated driver rating.

***James told Sportscar365: “It’s funny. I’m definitely at the twilight of my career but I’ve got more opportunities now than I ever had. It’s weird. I’ve been actively stepping back for the last ten years but now I’m driving more than I ever have. It’s kind of crazy.”

***The longtime broadcasting duo of Leigh Diffey and Calvin Fish will be part of Eurosport/MotorTrend’s on-site team that also includes nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen, Alex Brundle, Anthony Davidson and Leena Gade. It marks Diffey’s return to Le Mans for the first time since 2012, with Fish having last called the race in 2017.

***U.S. viewers can stream all sessions, beginning with Wednesday’s Free Practice and qualifying, on MotorTrend+, with the race also airing on the MotorTrend (U.S.) and Velocity (Canada) linear channels.

***As part of the centenary celebrations at Le Mans, Michelin is promoting its new #WeRaceForChange campaign, which aims to raise awareness at the different professions in motorsport and areas of activity the French tire manufacturer mobilizes. The hashtag will be on display in the circuit’s spectator village this week.

***Wednesday’s action kicks off with a three-hour Free Practice session from 2-5 p.m. CET, followed by qualifying from 7-8 p.m. and Free Practice 2 from 10 p.m.-12 a.m. Road to Le Mans, Ferrari Challenge and Porsche Carrera Cup will also be in action throughout the day.

Daniel Lloyd & Davey Euwema contributed to this report

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