Le Mans 24 Hours: Thursday Paddock Notes

The shape of things to come

With the sport in peak condition there’s no shortage of headlines from this year’s edition of Le Mans.

This silent but unmissable obelisk is a centrepiece of the Manufacturers Village, a forebearer of big news for Saturday race day. You’ll hear it here on DSC.

#6 Porsche prospects

Whereas the situation may have been somewhat played down, Porsche Penske Motorsport’s #6 entry’s demotion to the back of the Hypercar grid last night due to a qualifying session weight infringement may not so bode so well for a recovery drive. History shows that in the 60 years since qualifying was introduced, there have only ever been five winners starting outside the Top 10 on the grid:

But… as we are repeatedly told, anything here can happen, and after this evening’s front row Cadillac lock-out, these numbers make additionally interesting reading.

GRID POSITION FROM WHICH RACE WAS WON, 1963-2024

Team WRT – young driver presentation

Team WRT is continuing its commitment to meaningful, human initiatives. After winning the 2024 ACO ‘Coup de Cœur’ Award for its project with the Fondation Arthritis, the Belgian team now shines the spotlight on a young driver with an extraordinary story: Gabin Léger.

The nine year-old from Guérard in Seine-et-Marne, France, is a passionate motorsport enthusiast with an unbreakable spirit. At just six years old, he was diagnosed with Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease, a rare hip disorder that forced him to stop walking for many months. Two years in a wheelchair, sleepless nights wearing orthopedic braces and daily rehabilitation, and yet Gabin never gave up on his dreams.

Since karting was one of the few sports he could practice while sitting, a position that suited his condition, Gabin naturally turned to it, and it quickly became his escape. The results were astonishing: two Ufolep championship titles, a win in the French Cup for Karting Schools, and podium finishes against older competitors, sometimes even racing under exemption, as he wasn’t yet old enough to compete officially.

Despite all his success, Gabin has never had the means to afford a custom-painted helmet, like the ones worn by the top drivers he admires. He has always raced with a plain white helmet. That’s why Team WRT, in collaboration with BELL Helmets, decided to gift him a very special one.

For the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Léger family has been invited to experience the event from the inside Team WRT. Gabin, who doesn’t know this yet will meet Belgian artist Pieter Van den Bergh, known as PIROEH, who will paint his helmet live on the WRT hospitality terrace on Saturday, after the race start. Surrounded by his family, the WRT team, and all those moved by his journey, Gabin will receive much more than a helmet. It will be a powerful symbol of his resilience, passion, and strength.

Days of Thunder

The Group C era, in its pomp in the 1980’s and, for many, the preceding Golden Era of endurance sportscar racing, is well represented at Le Mans. Aside from a mouth-watering display of machinery resident at the circuit museum, this particularly striking example will resonate (literally) with those DSC readers having had the privilege of witnessing the thunderous Sauber Mercedes C9 at Le Sarthe in 1989.

During qualifying, this Mauro Baldi/Kenny Acheson/ Gianfranco Brancatelli crewed car delivered a speed of 400 km/h (248 mph) on the pre-chicane Mulsanne Straight from its 5.0 litre twin-turbo V8, one of the highest recorded top speeds for the event, even though pole position and indeed the win that year went to its team mates.

In a Mercedes 1-2, the car limped home in second to the #62 C9 of Jochen Mass, Manuel Reuter and Stanley Dickens, running in the final hour on one functioning gear (fifth) that would carry it down the straights but crippled it in the slow corners. Different times…