24 HEURES DU MANS | 13:00:00

Here at The Secret Base, we reserve the word triskaidekaphobia for posts about death in motorsport. However emotionally wrenching this 24 Hours of Le Mans has become, it's not as if a man has lost his life; this far, praise God, no one has even been seriously hurt. But with thirteen hours left to go, with fully half of the P.1 field retired & Toyota's hopes for redemption dashed almost as cruelly as in 2016 (Toyota-link), I regard what the next thirteen hours might hold with a certain dread.

The № 13 Vaillante Rebellion (Oreca-Gibson) is currently running second in class (P.2) & third overall. Such is the vague but widespread superstition about the number thirteen (triskaidekaphobia-link), that the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (F.I.A.), the world governing body for motorsport, only allows cars to sport the № 13 if a team specifically petitions to do so. This year, the № 13 alludes to ts frequent use in the Michel Vaillant comic books. (Life imitating art, thanks to clever marketing.)