The clouds were just beginning to gather over the Place de la République in the centre of Le Mans as the first day of scrutineering for the 24 Hours of Le Mans drew to a close.
Ten entries from the FIA World Endurance Championship presented their cars and drivers today under blazing sunshine, including LMP1-H contenders, Porsche Team and Toyota Racing. Timo Bernhard (No.20 Porsche 919 Hybrid) and Neel Jani (No.14 Porsche 919 Hybrid) took the opportunity to talk about their hopes and thoughts for the coming week HERE and HERE.
Towards the end of the afternoon it was the turn of World Championship leaders Toyota Racing to face the officials, the fans and the media all assembled in Le Mans. Anthony Davidson is one of the three drivers to have won the first round races of the year, the 6 Hours of Silverstone and WEC 6 Hours of Spa, and he talked HERE about the team’s views for the race and what happened at the test day.
First through this afternoon from the LMP2 category of the WEC was G-Drive Racing, the No.26 Morgan Nissan having won the first two rounds of the world championship. Roman Rusinov shared his thoughts with the WEC, HERE.
From the LMGTE Pro class, Portugal’s Alvaro Parente of Ram Racing and Jörg Bergmeister of Porsche Team Manthey will be battling for honours and double points in the category in the No.52 Ferrari 458 Italia and No.91 911 RSR respectively. The two drivers talked about their aspirations and feelings about the test day and the race HERE (Parente) and HERE (Bergmeister).
One of the many rookies taking part in this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans is Porsche Junior driver Klaus Bachler, the young German driving for the No.88 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR. He describes HERE his first experiences at Le Mans.
More interviews and news will be found here tomorrow, with a full day of technical and administrative checks due to take place. The full list of timings can be found HERE.
Fiona Miller
