Legends of Le Mans
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In with the New
The first rounds of this year’s World Endurance Championship have seen a further addition to the growing number of historic races accompa- nying top-line modern events. Jurriaan Tas went to investigate…
The Legends of Le Mans series run by Peter Auto, a new supporting act to the WEC for relatively recent Le Mans machinery, kicked off at Imola on April 18-19 and Spa on May 8-9. Bob Berridge Motorsport is running three mighty Peugeot Turbodiesels for Shaun Lynn (in evocative Oreca livery), ELMS LMP2 driver Kriton Lentoudis and Stuart Wiltshire. Bob has long been a key figure in historic racing and was instrumental in the creation of Legends of Le Mans. “I wanted an organisation that would be strict on the integrity of its regulations rather than maximimum entry fees.” he explains. “These cars are very expensive to buy, but com- paratively cheap to run. Their value is likely to rise as they appear more frequently, so I expect grids to grow.” According to Bob, promoters of modern races such as the ACO are keen to showcase their history to their fanbase, who relate more to these recent cars than those from, say, the seventies or eighties. “It’s not only about racing them, but also getting close to them.”
Christian Albrecht won both Imola races in his Gulf-liveried Lola-Aston Martin
Photo Alberto Vimercati/Peter Auto
The 16 entries do not compare unfavorably with recent similar Masters events. The series fits in a growing trend of historic races as curtain raisers for high-profile modern championships including F1. According to Peter Auto’s Chiara Viani-Pericchi, who is in charge of both Legends of Le Mans and the SRO GT3 Revival series, “The response from the fans has been great”. Competitors have been equally enthusiastic, she claims, although grid sizes for Legends of Le Mans are not yet where she wants them to be. “The owners want more track time than they could get until now, so that’s what we give them. We also get lots of support from the ACO and the WEC manufacturers. We’ve been surprised that only two GTE cars have shown up, but we’re hoping we can get some WEC manufacturer teams to enter older cars, similar to what has happened in GT3. We also want more prototypes, but we want them to commit to the full season out of fairness to those who have joined us from the beginning.” Currently, the series format provides an hour’s practice, an hour of qualifying and two 40-minute races divided over two days.
“A truly memorable experience.” said a beaming Kriton Lendoudis after winning race 2 Photo Marius Hecker/Peter Auto
Imola saw Christian Albrecht’s Gulf-liveried Lola-Aston Martin win both rounds. He ran away with Saturday’s race, but faced a strong challenge from Lynn on Sunday. Wiltshire finished on the class podium twice, but ended up behind Francois Perrodo’s rapid LMP2 Porsche RS Spyder overall on Saturday. Swiss drivers Marcel Aebi and Michel Frey also featured strongly sharing an LMP1 Lola B06/10. Aebi finished fourth on Saturday and Frey ran up front on Sunday until losing the right rear wheel.
Unfortunately, Albrecht was absent at Spa. In Friday’s race, polesitter Kriton Lendoudis (Peugeot 908 HDI) was taken by surprise by Michel Frey at the start and needed several laps to find a way past the Lola and disappear into the distance. Behind them, Aebi – now in an LMP2 Lola – seemed destined for the podium until Perrodo stormed by in the dying minutes. With the Porsche Spyder having started from the back of the grid, the triple WEC GTE LM world champion was quite happy. “I really had to hustle,” he said, eyes wide and arms flailing with excitement, ”the front runners in this series are really pushing.”
Saturday saw Lynn jump into the lead as Lendoudis was again surprised by a fast-starting Frey. Lendoudis passed the Swiss onlap4andwasonLynn’stailbylap8. Attheendofthelap, Lynn – who had been unhappy with his rear brakes all weekend – spun on the entry of the pit chicane. He was able to hold on to second, but his Greek rival had disappeared over the horizon. Jean-Baptiste Lahaye (driving a works liveried Pescarolo LMP2) and Perrodo fought out an almighty battle for the final podium position. The Porsche seemed to have the edge under braking, but the Pescarolo edged away out of the corners, leaving Perrodo with few opportunities to pass. Lahaye finally beat his countryman to the line by less than a second. Lendoudis was obviously a happy man after this weekend, “It is really an amazing car. It’s got huge amounts of power, much more than a modern LMP2, but is less stiff and therefore more pleasant and comfortable to drive. A truly memorable experience.” he said, beaming from ear to ear.
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