Mat Fernandez has been keeping a close eye on the French media and again has spotted some significant snippets about the future of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
With the race once again a sold-out event this year, race organiser the ACO has been investigating potential means of upgrading their facility and increasing its capacity in welcoming competitors and spectators.
Back in January, The ACO President Pierre Fillon talked to La Sarthe local newspaper “Ouest France” and hinted at what fans should expect: “We will resume the project of grand stand renovation that we had mentioned in 2019. This project is four years old. We are going to review, modernize and update it. (…) (Works) will last three, four years (…). We will have to work hard over the winters as we can’t stop having events on track. We should be in a position to make specific announcements (about it) during the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2024.”
“(…) Our temporary pits – that are located at the beginning of the pit-lane – will become permanent. (…) We don’t forbid ourselves from building a few additional ones. We are talking about two, possibly three additional garages”.
This would, in turn, suggest that future Le Mans grids could support 64 to 65 entries.
In that article, Fillon also hinted at additional projects that would impact spectators. He indicated that additional fan areas were being considered “between Tertre Rouge and Porsche curves” but that this project would not be rolled out in 2024.
More recently Pierre Fillon provided additional details on this project in an interview he gave to public radio France Bleu Maine.
He confirmed that he was now leaning towards additional seated areas overlooking the Porsche Curves. “The idea could be to build a grandstand and attract spectators there. That means we will have to get the track homologated again… and that’s something we are currently working on (…) We are aiming for 2025.”
There is a short news story of the interview on the France Bleu website (in French) HERE >>
