10 reasons why this Le Mans 24 will be different

Porsche has an unrivalled history at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. No other car brand has run and won more races at the French road-based track.

So, when Porsche talks about Le Mans, everyone listens...

The 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans has been delayed due to the global coronavirus pandemic. Instead of its traditional mid-June date, this year it will run September 19-20.

There has only been one other delayed start in the almost 100-year history of the race – 1968, when the race was run on the last weekend of September after riots in Paris.

Porsche says the postponement of this year’s race “has wide-reaching consequences” for its team.

Indeed, it has nominated 10 reasons why the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans will be a very, very different event for its drivers, including Aussie Matt Campbell.

In mid-June, days are at their longest in the northern hemisphere. On the originally scheduled June 13-14 date for the 88th edition of the endurance race, only 8.02 hours would have been driven in the dark.

On the new September date, the sun sets on Saturday evening at 8:01pm and sunrise is at 7:44am. That’s more than three hours of extra racing with the lights on.

A longer period with cooler track and air temperatures is a given. As a result, the engines of the Porsche 911 RSR GT-LM cars can run harder for longer.

Cooler air means more oxygen saturation and thus better and more efficient burning of fuel in the six combustion chambers.

A good rule of thumb: If the ambient temperature drops by five degrees Celsius, the output of the engine increases by one per cent. Hence, in the long night of the 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours, a higher average pace can be achieved in the race.

“If the weather conditions are good, we’ll witness a significantly faster race compared to June,” says Pascal Zurlinden, director of factory motorsports at Porsche.

The cooler night-time temperatures also have the advantage that the soft compound of the Michelin tyres can be run over longer periods. This rubber not only offers more grip but also more consistency when track conditions are good.

“Unfortunately, we’re not permitted to drive triple or quadruple stints in the GTE-Pro class,” explains Zurlinden.

After two stints, the GTE vehicles must be fitted with new wheels. “The changed regulations no longer allow refuelling at the same time as a tyre change, and every tyre change costs additional time,” says the experienced engineer.

“We’ll definitely see more double stints. That’s why we have to keep our pit stops as short as possible.”

The weather statistics over the past three decades show that the highest and lowest temperatures during the day and night hardly differ between June and September.

However, the data also clearly shows that although there is less rain in September, the showers are heavier than in June.

There is the old saying: It always rains at Le Mans. The big question is: At what stage during the race?

“The possibility of rain plays an important role in the teams’ tactics – especially if the car isn’t 100 per cent competitive in the dry,” explains Zurlinden. “In the wet, the cards are reshuffled – and that opens up new opportunities.”

During dusk and dawn at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, drivers often have to contend with sunstrike.

At sunset on Saturday evening, the light shining through the windscreen at a low angle can blind the drivers, especially in the Indianapolis and Arnage passages. At sunrise on Sunday morning, this phenomenon occurs in the famous Tertre Rouge.

Zurlinden: “Our seasoned works drivers are very familiar with this problem. As the sun is generally lower in early autumn compared to the summer months, our boys will just have to squint a little more often.

“It’ll be okay. They’re professionals after all,” the Frenchman smiles.

Unlike in previous years, the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2020 will start at 2:30pm local time. One of the reasons for this is that the final stage of the Tour de France, the famous road cycling race through France, ends in Paris in the late afternoon on September 20.

To avoid a clash with this event, the 88th edition of the long-distance race as part of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) will finish on Sunday at the earlier time of 2:30pm.

“From the outside, this slight adjustment may seem insignificant but it has a major impact on our team,” says Zurlinden. “We have to finish our preparations even earlier for the start on Saturday. This means shorter breaks and even more stress.”

That allows only four hours between the end of the warm-up and the start of the race to complete the final preparations.

For motor racing fans, the 24 Hours of Le Mans event is high on the list of favourites.

Every year, around a quarter of a million people flock to the track to watch the race. Once a year on this occasion, the capital of the French Departement Sarthe with its 150,000 residents bursts at the seams.

But not this year. The organiser, ACO, has prohibited spectators at the racetrack.

“Fans always give us huge motivation,” says Zurlinden.

The large grandstands opposite the pitlane are usually packed out, especially at the start on Saturday and the finish on Sunday.

“When I look at the spectators from my gantry at the pit wall on Saturday and Sunday, I basically see the same faces,” he says.

“These euphoric fans always give me an additional boost when energy runs low after 24 hours. That’ll be different this year. Still, despite the restrictions, it’ll definitely be another great experience for the spectators watching from home.”

The official one-day pre-event test held a fortnight before the race is a traditional part of the Le Mans 24-hour event.

It is the one chance for manufacturers, tyre partners, teams and drivers to prepare for the unparalleled quirks of the 13.63km racetrack prior to the greatest classic of the year.

The Circuit des 24 Heures is a combination of the permanent Circuit Bugatti and public roads. Such a constellation is virtually unique in the motor racing scene.

Moreover, there are no other chances to test on this circuit outside the race week.

“The elimination of the pretest is a big challenge,” says Zurlinden.

“This is the first time we’re fielding our latest 911 RSR there, so we have some unanswered questions about the set-up. We would’ve liked to have done this work during a test so that we could analyse the results and arrive at the official sessions as well prepared as possible.

“We would also have preferred to check out the handling of the tyres during test drives. Now we only have the practice sessions just before the race to do this work.”

This year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans deviates from the well-established time schedule.

The practice sessions, which in the past were held alongside qualifying on Wednesday and Thursday, are now scheduled for Thursday (10 hours free practice plus qualifying) and Friday (free practice and hyper-pole).

“The longer practice sessions allow us to do extensive work on the set-up and tyre management,” explains Zurlinden.

“We can complete a lot of tasks, but compared to the usual pretest, we are disadvantaged in that the breaks are no longer sufficient to conduct a really detailed analysis.”

The Friday before the start of the race was always the last chance for drivers and team members to relax and catch their breath before the biggest race of the year.

The so-called ‘Mad Friday’ was normally all about the fans.

The ‘Le Mans holiday’ on Friday before the race traditionally ends with the famous drivers’ parade through the town centre.

Not so in 2020.

The spectacle with pilots driving classic cars from the Place des Jacobins to Place de la République has been cancelled.

“It’s a real shame for the fans, but there’s no other way around the restrictions required to contain the coronavirus,” says Zurlinden.

“We’ll try to offer our passionate Le Mans fans the same gripping and spectacular program via our social media channels.”

– with Porsche