June 11, 2008
The Corvette vs. Aston Martin rematch at Le Mans will be worth the wait.
By Peter M. De Lorenzo
Detroit. For road racing enthusiasts, the 24 Hours of Le Mans represents the racing season's premier event (the 8.48-mile course plays out literally on country roads) and sports car racing's ultimate challenge, and the effort it takes to run there - and win - is daunting. For manufacturers, the prestige that comes with a winning effort at Le Mans is something to covet, and one that reputations are built on for years.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans didn't end right last year in Corvette Racing's estimation, and this year they're out to rectify things at the world's most prestigious endurance race.
Last year, the No. 64 Compuware Corvette C6R lost a driveshaft - a highly unusual failure for the disciplined and multi-Championship-winning team - only two hours in to the event. Then rain and a lengthy (some say too lengthy) caution ended the No. 63 Corvette Racing team car's chance at running down the GT1 class-winning Aston Martin.
This year - the 76th running of the race - everyone expects things to be different with a straight-up, balls-to-the-wall fight for the GT1 class over every minute of the 24 Hours.
Corvette Racing doesn't like to lose at Le Mans, and you can see why. The team's entire year hinges on this one event, a race they've won five times in the last seven years. And when things don't go well or as planned, like last year, it sticks with them all year long. This year, the fight for GT1 class supremacy at Le Mans expects to be the toughest fight yet. Corvette Racing will face-off against four Aston Martin DBR9s (two of which are factory-backed) and four other GT1 class competitors (including a two-car team of privately-entered C6Rs). But it's no secret that the most intense action will be between the Pratt & Miller-prepared, factory-backed, screaming yellow Corvettes and the top-ranked Aston DBR9s in their "throw back" Gulf Oil livery.
The overall action, of course, will be between the all-conquering factory-backed turbo-diesel Audi R8s and the factory-entered turbo-diesel Peugeot 908s. Everyone expects this to be the year that Peugeot captures the win in their home country, but then again that's why they run the race. Anything can happen at Le Mans, and right up to the last minute too.
So tune-in this Saturday morning at 8:30 EDT on SPEED to catch all the action. It should definitely be worth the wait.
SPEED will televise the start of the race live on June 14 from 8:30 a.m. EDT to 12 p.m. EDT, and the finish from 9 p.m. EDT on June 14 to 9:30 a.m. EDT on June 15. The 24 Hours of Le Mans starts at 3 p.m. local time (9 a.m. EDT) on Saturday, June 14 and finishes at 3 p.m. (9 a.m. EDT) on Sunday, June 15.
Publisher's Note: In our continuing series celebrating the "Golden Era" of American racing history, here is another image from the Ford Racing Archives. - PMD
(Ford Racing Archives)
Dan Gurney hitches a ride on the front of the 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning Ford GT MKIV as A.J. Foyt wheels it into the pits. Gurney and Foyt's triumphant run was the second of four consecutive victories ('66-'67-'68-'69) for Ford in the world's most prestigious endurance race. No American manufacturer has won the race overall since.