"Happy hour." For those teams that have survived the night, there is a certain euphoria that arrives coincident with the dawn. Light! The circuit is visible again, the shadowy disorientation of the night passes away. Of course, Le Mans being the meat grinder it is, the hope that springs forth from the dawn proves fleeting & false. A new day has dawned, but the race is far from over. There are still nine hours of grueling racing ahead, hours that must be faced by crews with fifteen-plus hours of accumulated fatigue & cars weakened by fifteen-plus hours of pounding abuse. Nine hours is fifty per cent longer than any other race on the World Endurance Championship calendar, & none of those other races are preceded by two & a half full-length endurance races. It is hard to believe that fifteen hours have already passed, hard to believe that nine-plus hours remain ahead.
Fortitudine vincimus, "by endurance we conquer."
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