Le Mans gets serious from the off
Le Mans, 11 June – The 79th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours got underway at three this afternoon. Guest starter for the famous event was FIA President Jean Todt, who waved the field off the grid.
In the LM GTE-Pro class, as predicted the fight got underway immediately with AF Corse’s Gimmi Bruni in the 458 Italia holding off the Corvette Racing Corvette of Oliver Gavin, who was fighting Augusto Farfus in the BMW Motorsport M3 GT of Augusto Farfus, the latter finally getting past to set off in pursuit of the leading Ferrari. In GTE-AM, a strong showing from the Italian team’s F430 GTC driven by Marco Cioci leading the first of the Porsche Larbre Competition car driven by Jean Belloc and the Aston Martin Vantage of Fabien Giroix (Gulf AMR Middle East.)
The marathon race did not take long to deliver its first spectacular accident when, after just 50 minutes, Allan McNish in Audi Number 3 collided with the Luxury Racing 458 Italia GT2 driven by Anthony Beltoise. Fortunately both drivers were unscathed and the Ferrari was not badly damaged. However, the Safety Car was required for an hour and eleven minutes, thus freezing all the positions.
Credit: Ferrari S.p.A. (www.ferrari.com)
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