24 Heures du Mans | 13:59:00
The death of Allan Simonsen has cast a pall over the proceedings around the Circuit de la Sarthe, but are all mindful of the fact that he knew what he was doing, he knew that he was chancing his life in the pursuit of honor & glory. To continue the race is the best way to honor that for which he died, & so the race continues.

As ever, once darkness descends upon the French countryside the race changes in more ways than one. This is the coldest, wettest 24 Heures du Mans in my short time as a fan. The rain was off-&-on throughout the first few hours, but the circuit has been dry some several hours now. Normally, the cars run fastest at night, both because the cooler temperatures allow the engines to be run harder without as great a risk of overheating & because cooler air is that much denser than warm air, allowing more to be packed into each cylinder, thus increasing engine power, however marginally. To-night, those advantages might be cancelled out by the cool, arguably outright cold temperatures, which lessen tire grip, meaning the cars have to slower down slightly more going through each corner & are slightly slower to accelerate out of those corners. More rain is expected in the morning, after sunrise, & then again in the afternoon (local time) for the race's conclusion.

Another change is in the television coverage. The world television feed is supplied by French television, French television with a heavily unionized workforce that doesn't like working at night. Views of the track are limited to the permanent parts of the circuit, the Bugatti Circuit. For the vast swaths of the circuit that are public roads the majority of the year, the only regular looks come from the cameras on board the cars. I am grateful for the perspective that those cameras provide, but the view is limited to the cone of light illuminated by the car's headlights. That is the same view the drivers have, but at least they are also busy making sure that they don't run off the track, that they neither run into nor are run into by any other competitors, & monitoring their vehicle for any signs of trouble. The viewer at home has fewer things to occupy his attention during these nighttime hours.

In L.M. P.1, the race for the overall victory, the № 2 Audi is running in first, followed the the two Toyotas, №s 8 & 7. The № 3 Audi spun & cut down a tire going through the Dunlap Chicane, & then had to circle the remaining eight-mile length of la Sarthe at a snail's pace to get backto the pits; it currently runs two laps down to the leader, one lap down to the Toyotas. The № 1 Audi, driven by the reigning double race-winning trio, suffered a severe electronic malfunction that required a lengthy pit stop to repair; they are back up & running, but eleven laps down, the last car in class, with all hopes of a third consecutive victory dashed.

L.M. P.2 is a dogfight, with twenty-two cars in class & twenty of them still running. The first six cars are all Nissan-powered, but no single car has been able to establish a lead, which is traded back & forth between three cars according to the pit stop rotation.

G.T.E. Pro. is a two-way fight 'twixt Aston Martin & Porsche, those two factory squads supplying the top four cars. The S.R.T. Vipers are struggling on their Le Mans debut, which was to be expected. More unexpected is the relative lack of pace of the quasi-factory Ferraris & the factory Corvettes. Those cars are effectively fighting for fifth-place honors against the third & slowest of the Aston Martins. This will be the final year for the all-conquering Corvette C6.R before next year's introduction of the race version of the new Corvette C7 Stingray, & though the race is far from decided this is not the sendoff that the any of us who root for Corvette Racing desired.

The biggest story in G.T.E. Am. is that the Porsche co-owned & co-driven by Patrick Dempsey is altering between the lead & second place with the fastest Ferrari. The famous actor wishes to be regarded as a racer by his colleagues & competitors, & in this I respect his wishes. At the same time, if his celebrity can help to grow the popularity of endurance racing here in the U.S.A., then by all means shout from every available media outlet that Dr. McDreamy (or was he McSteamy?) is a race-car driver.

That's where things stand less than halfway through the twice-around-the-clock classic.