Mechanical Failure To Porsche's Advantage.

By: P. Michael Clarke

The Courage Nissan C-51 LMP 1 car that had been running so well just suffered a mechanical failure to PorscheÕs advantage. A disappointed Yves Courage just informed us that the # 13 car had a broken throttle cable and that the repair would probably be too complicated for the driver to fix on his own. Just as a reminder, according to Le Mans rules and regulations, a driver is entitled to perform a repair on his own car by himself. He may receive technical advice from his crew but no assistance or tools. If the driver is in a position to do a temporary repair which enables the car to be driven back to the pits, the team may continue. American Johnny OÕConnell did perform such a repair on his Panoz GT1 earlier in the race which allowed the team to stay in the running.

This situation is to the advantage of the # 8 Joest/Porsche which is now back in first place in the LMP 1 category. The Joest/Porsche was slowly catching the Courage, so this rupture of the throttle cable only sped up the inevitable.

The rain continues to play havoc with pit stops as isolated scattered showers seem to affect different areas of the track. Most of the teams are on rain tires, but some have elected to remain on slicks, each gaining a slight advantage over the other, depending on where they are on the track. Hot slick tires are actually quite efficient as long as water does not accumulate on the track surface to induce aquaplaning. Toyotas should have an advantage if the rain persists as their cars are equipped with traction control. Porsche chose not to install such a device on their racecars.

The two Porsche GT1 continue to dominate the overall standings and remain 4 laps ahead of their nearest competitor the #29 Toyota GT One. In the GT2 category, Porsche has gained two laps on the Viper and is only two laps down at the moment. Seems the Hurtgen/Ligonnet/Nearn trio enjoys driving in the wet...

Just before posting this report the #13 Courage Nissan C-51 was able to drive back to the pits, the repair was done and it is back in the running, 3 laps down on the #8 Joest/Porsche.