Porsche Driving LeMans Race Coverage Article 19

6/15

5:39 am PST

"Porsche Team Rests Hopes On Joest"

PORSCHE TEAM RESTS HOPES ON JOEST

Submitted by P. Michael Clarke

As the 65th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans nears its conclusion, Porsche's factory team has been ushered to the sidelines by a driver mishap and a mechanical failure that engulfed the #26 911 GT1 in flames.

Just moments before his team's car was eliminated due a suspected problem in the oil system, driver Yannick Dalmas expressed his concerns regarding the vulnerability of the race car during the final three hours of the race. "The car is overheating, so we have to nurse it," he said. "The pace of this race has been so fast that it gave us no chance to conserve the equipment as we normally do in an endurance race."

The Joest car now remains as Porsche's only hope to claim victory and duplicate the team's 1984-85 back-to-back victories. To this point, the TWR Porsche has been running extremely well, and the #7 car has been running more conservatively to preserve its two-lap lead over the second-place McLaren BMW entry.

6/15	5:39 am PST	"Porsche Team Rests Hopes On Joest"
PORSCHE TEAM RESTS HOPES ON JOEST Submitted by P. Michael Clarke As the 65th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans nears its conclusion, Porsche's factory team has been ushered to the sidelines by a driver mishap and a mechanical failure that engulfed the #26 911 GT1 in flames. Just moments before his team's car was eliminated due a suspected problem in the oil system, driver Yannick Dalmas expressed his concerns regarding the vulnerability of the race car during the final three hours of the race. "The car is overheating, so we have to nurse it," he said. "The pace of this race has been so fast that it gave us no chance to conserve the equipment as we normally do in an endurance race." The Joest car now remains as Porsche's only hope to claim victory and duplicate the team's 1984-85 back-to-back victories. To this point, the TWR Porsche has been running extremely well, and the #7 car has been running more conservatively to preserve its two-lap lead over the second-place McLaren BMW entry.