Le Mans Tuesday Notebook

Photo: Charly Lopez/DPPI

***Tuesday’s activities at Circuit de la Sarthe began with the traditional drivers’ photo (pictured above) with the trophy and ACO President Pierre Fillon and FIA World Endurance Championship CEO Frederic Lequien, followed by a pit walk, pit stop challenge and autograph session for spectators. An additional autograph session for a selected group of 15 drivers, meanwhile, took place in downtown Le Mans this evening.

***The No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P won the pit stop challenge, with a time of 8.870 seconds in the competition, which involved a four-tire change only. LMP2 honors went to the No. 37 CLX Motorsport Oreca 07 Gibson, while the No. 69 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO crew triumphed in LMGT3, although had an identical time to the AF Corse crew in Hypercar.

***Genesis is expected to confirm plans for a GT3 car on Friday, with a press conference scheduled. Genesis Magma Racing team principal Cyril Abiteboul described an expansion into the production-based ranks as a “long-term project” in December, although it’s understood that significant progress on this front has been made in recent months.

***When asked by Sportscar365 for an update on the GT3 project, Abiteboul said: “There will be some news this weekend so I don’t want to spoil the news. But mainly, that’s visual news. You see our Chief Creative Officer (Luc Donckerwolke) is here and working on the final details of that.”

***Donckerwolke, meanwhile, unveiled his latest creation in the paddock on Tuesday, dubbed the ‘Box Buggy’ an experimental EV that features four-wheel steering and four-wheel drive through quad 30kW electric motors and a battery from the Hyundai Tucson Hybrid SUV. Donckerwolke said the vehicle was just completed on Sunday.

***He told Sportscar365: “I wanted to create a mobility for paddocks. It allows to turn on its own axis. It’s four-wheel steering, four-wheel drive, motors in each wheel and steer-by-wire, brake-by-wire. For us, it’s a paddock vehicle. That’s why we call it ‘Box Buggy.'”

***It is the second innovation from Hyundai Motor Group that’s been put to use in the WEC paddock, with Genesis Magma Racing mechanics having been fitted with wearable exoskeleton vests to assist with carrying heavy items, such as tires, without reduced muscular effort. “We are using the presence in motorsport, as a bit of a new platform, to try new things,” added Donckerwolke.

***Minor changes have been made to the Le Mans qualifying format for this year. As previously confirmed, the Q1 driver will no longer be able to qualify the car in Hyperpole 1. This also means that all three drivers from each crew would have to be used if the car advances to Hypoerpole 2, regardless of the class.

***A caveat remains in the Pro-Am-enforced LMP2 and LMGT3 categories, where the lowest-graded driver (LMP2, LMP2 Pro-Am) and a FIA Bronze-rated driver (LMGT3) must take part in Q1.

***Additionally, the LMP2 and LMGT3 classes will adopt the same elimination method as used in Hypercar, with the top 15 cars from Q1 now advancing to Hyperpole 1, instead of the previous 12, with Hyperpole 2 reserved for the top 10 cars, up from eight from last year, across the two classes.

***Each Hypercar entry will have up to six sets of Michelin Pilot Sport Endurance tires to use for practice and qualifying this week, plus 14 sets of tires for the race across all specifications combined. Cars that make it into Hyperpole will be permitted an additional three sets of tires for that session only, but could be re-used for future private testing.

***Michelin, the exclusive tire provider in Hypercar, is poised to become the all-time leader in overall Le Mans victories, as the French tire brand currently sits tied with Dunlop with 34 triumphs in the race.

***It has brought 3,600 tires from Clermont-Ferrand to equip the top class, and is based in a nearly 10,000 square-foot workshop inside the circuit. More than 100 Michelin personnel are on site, including 44 tire fitters that will be working around the clock in a three-shift rotation during the event, 12 technical advisors embedded with the teams, 16 development and performance analyst engineers, as well as specialists in chemistry, data analysis and tire diagnostics.

***Ferdinand Habsburg, who is making his sixth Le Mans start, is raising funds for ‘Mary’s Meals’ to help feed children living in some of the world’s poorest communities. The Austrian driver launched the ‘Race for Meals’ initiative last year, where the campaign raised €38,764 ($44,673 USD), enough to provide daily school meals for 1,760 children in Malawi throughout an entire school year. Habsburg visited both the Nanjere and Mchenga Primary Schools last summer.

***Ben Keating was presented with an actual hobby horse by co-driver Nicky Catsburg during Corvette’s annual group photo at the track last weekend. Catsburg spread a fake rumor throughout the opening two WEC events that Keating’s elbow fracture was sustained while the Texan was in a hobby horse competition. The hobby horse has been hung up in TF Sport’s garage for the remainder of the event.

***Keating revealed that his injury, which was actually sustained in a mountain biking accident, occurred on what would have been the same weekend as the originally scheduled Qatar 1812km, which was postponed due to the Iran war.

***The color change on the No. 33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, which is now sporting a more traditional Corvette yellow, is actually the result of a new vinyl wrap that has all of the car’s stickers printed directly on the vinyl, something Keating is hopeful that would make the car more aerodynamic.

***Keating told Sportscar365: “I’m looking for small fractions of km/h. If this could get me one-tenth, maybe something else gets a tenth and something else gets a tenth. I’ve done a lot of work since last year to try to figure out what I can do to find 2 km/h (1.5 mph) because I believe is seven-tenths of a second. I’m throwing everything at it, including the wrap.”

***The No. 33 Corvette was the third quickest in the speed traps at the test day, with Keating clocked at 295.4 km/h (183.5 mph), 0.8 km/h slower than joint leaders Lars Kern and Salih Youluc, also both in Corvettes.

***Lorcan Hanafin was a late addition after only being announced as taking the place of Afiq Ikhwan Yazid at the wheel of the JMR/TF Sport Corvette only eight days ago. The 23-year-old Briton made his Le Mans debut last year with the Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG squad but has previous experience of the Corvette from racing for Steller Motorsport in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS last year.

***Hanafin’s arrival was so last-minute that he appeared at scrutineering and the test day in borrowed team overalls. He was boarding a flight to the recent Canadian Grand Prix when he received the call to say he had secured the drive. “It was the Thursday after the Spa test I got the call saying, ‘Would you like to come on a week’s holiday in France?’ And I agreed,” he told Sportscar365. “It’s the fastest I’ve ever replied to a message. I’m super honored to get the call-up.”

***Hanafin, who was due to contest this weekend’s GT World Challenge America powered by AWS round at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in JMF Motorsports’ Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, said he feels a bit like the team leader because neither of his stablemates, Prince Jefri Ibrahim and Ben Green, have previously raced at Le Mans.

***More than 25 percent the total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing entries since its inception (492,876.61) have been completed at Le Mans (124,247.94). With four cars in LMGT3, the program is expected to surpass the half-million mile mark this weekend, the equivalent of more than 125 flights from Detroit to Paris.

***General Motors’ expansive two-floor hospitality unit, which spans the length of six spaces in the support paddock, at 16,000 square-feet (1,500 square-meters), is understood to be the largest-ever temporary structure in the Le Mans paddock. Inside, it features 21 fully equipped bedrooms for all Cadillac and Corvette drivers, various meeting rooms, physio and engineers meeting rooms, a media office, a soundproof phone booth, sponsor lounge, team restaurant, coffee corner and terrace.

***A total of eight GM-backed or customer entries (four each Cadillac V-Series.Rs and Corvettes) are in this year’s field, with 13 Autosport and AO by TF having their own hospitality units directly across the aisle.

***The Hydrogen Village returns again this year, with an expanded list of participants and activities. The official inauguration, led by Fillon, is set for Wednesday at 10:30 a.m., where hydrogen prototypes will be on display, vehicle refueling demonstrations (Wednesday and Friday evening), as well as technical and interactive sessions, all open free to the public.

***Additionally, as previously announced, the newly renamed Toyota Racing LH2 Racing Prototype will conduct demo laps of Circuit de la Sarthe on Thursday (12:50 p.m.) and Saturday (12:45 p.m.), in dedicated track sessions that will also include the Alpine Alpenglow and Ligier Bosch JS2 RH2. A Sustainable Innovation Series by the FIA, with two hydrogen-themed roundtables, will be held on Thursday at the newly opened M24 Museum.

***Official track action for the 24 Hours of Le Mans kicks off on Wednesday with a three-hour Free Practice session starting at 2 p.m. CET (8 a.m. EST), followed by two 30-minute qualifying sessions split between LMP2/LMGT3 (6:45 p.m. CEST/12:45 pm EST) and Hypercar (7:30/1:30 p.m. EST) and Free Practice 2 from 10 p.m.-12 a.m. CEST (4-6 p.m. EST).

***Every session this week can be streamed live and ad-free on FIAWEC+, the official streaming app, for €19.99 ($23 USD), which also includes enhanced live timing and scoring, on-board cameras for 39 entries, including every Hypercar and LMGT3 entry, as well as access to exclusive content such as ‘WEC Full Access’ and behind-the-scenes series focused on Genesis and Ford. As has been the case in the WEC this season, the service is available to U.S. viewers.

***Coverage is also available on HBO Max in the U.S., along with MotorTrend and TruTV on linear television, with TNT Sports in the UK, Eurosport throughout continental Europe and streaming on Stan Sport in Australia.

***Radio Le Mans, meanwhile, is available trackside on 91.2 FM and online on RS1, featuring the commentary team of John Hindhaugh, Jonny Palmer, Peter MacKay, Bruce Jones, Paul Truswell, Neil Cole, Duncan Vincent, Nick Daman, Joe Bradley, Owen Mildenhall and Peter Snowdon.

Jamie Klein & Stephen Lickorish 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