Saturday 62 cars across 5 classes will fire up their engines and begin 24 arduous hours of racing at Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, France. The 13.6 kilometer, 8.5 mile track will be lapped over 350 times by the front-runners, challenging the drivers and mechanics to keep their cars running as fast as possible while avoiding costly mechanical failures or on-track incidents.
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This will be the first time the Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) class takes to Le Mans. The Hypercars are the new top-tier cars at Le Mans, taking the place of the LMP1 class. The new Hypercars will reduce the budget of the teams by about 80% versus the LMP1s, and are expected to still be faster than the still-active LMP2 class cars by a few seconds per lap.
The weather for the event is expected to be mainly calm. Dry weather is in the forecast for most of the race, with high temperatures during the day in the mid-to-high 20's. There is a chance of a thunderstorm on Saturday evening. The race will begin at 16:00 local time. Sunset in Le Mans, France comes at roughly 21:00 on Saturday, with the sun rising again at 07:00 on Sunday.
Ex-Formula 1 drivers Robert Kubica and Kevin Magnussen are among the many high profile drivers at this year's event, with each of them making their Le Mans debut this year. Recent Indianapolis 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya will be on the grid this year in the #21 DragonSpeed USA Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 car. At 45, JP seems ageless, but his age of 45 years pales in comparison to Dominique Bastien, who will drive a Porsche 911 RSR-19 for Dempsey-Proton Racing at 75 years old.
Other familiar names include last year's overall winners Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima. Their reigning champion car, the #8 TS050, will be replaced by the Toyota GR010 Hybrid in the Hypercar class. Testing this week has shown Glickenhaus' Hypercar to have a pace advantage, but Toyota will be relying on the experience of both drivers and mechanics from previous Le Mans wins to gain an advantage over the long timeline of the race.
A special car to watch for in this race is the #84 Association SRT41. The car is a special class entry this year, featuring drivers with disabilities including quadruple amputee Frédéric Sausset. The team will take to the track in an Oreca 07-Gibson, and it's safe to say that this will immediately become a fan-favourite team.
In the GTE cars, the Pro category has seen promising results from the Porsche entries in practice runs. The Chevrolet C8.R makes its Le Mans debut this year, and expectations are high based on strong results in the 24 Hours of Daytona race at the start of this year. In the Am category, familiar names from the sim racing world like David Perel and Nicki Thiim. F1 test driver Callum Ilott will also be on track in the #80 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo GTE Am car.
Introducing the Le Mans Hypercar
The 2021 24 event will be the debut of the Hypercar at Le Mans. Below are some interesting facts and specifications of the cars.For the first time at Le Mans, the Hypercar class will compete as the top-tier car category at the legendary endurance event. Five teams are set to compete at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on August 21st and 22nd.
The outgoing LMP1 class had reigned as the fastest endurance race cars in the world in recent years, but they have now been replaced by the Le Mans Hypercar, or LMH class. So far only Toyota Gazoo Racing and Glickenhaus Racing have answered the call to field a new Hypercar at Le Mans, with these teams competing in the Toyota GR010 Hybrid and the Glickenhaus 007 LMH, respectively. Alpine Elf Malmut is also competing in the Hypercar class, though their Alpine A480-Gibson is a repurposed prototype from previous years.
The Le Mans Hypercar regulations include a power output limit of 500 kilowatts or 670 horsepower, and a minimum weight of 1,030 kilograms or 2,270 pounds. The lap times for Hypercars are expected to be in the 3:30.000 range at Le Mans, or roughly 10 seconds slower than the outgoing LMP1 class cars. The costs associated with the Hypercars is estimated to be 80% less than LMP1 cars.
The current field of 5 cars should be expanded significantly next season, as Peugeot and ByKolles are expected to enter Hypercars, with Ferrari joining the field possibly as early as 2023.
The #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing team of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima, which claimed the overall win in last year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, will be taking to the track again the the #8 car, though this year in the GR010 Hybrid instead of the retired TS050 Hybrid.
When is the Le Mans 24 Hours?
Wednesday 18 AugustQualifying | 18:00 BST / 19:00 CEST / 20:00 EEST
Thursday 19 August
Hyperpole | 20:00 BST / 21:00 CEST / 22:00 EEST
Saturday 21 August
Race | 15:00 BST / 16:00 CEST / 17:00 EEST
Free-to-Watch Le Mans Movies
In the days leading up to the most prestigious endurance race in the world, there are free movies about Le Mans you can watch to help you get hyped for the race.If you're not already excited for the 89th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, we've linked to some videos below to help build the anticipation. Note that not all of these videos will be available in all regions worldwide, and some may be age restricted.
"Le Mans"
Steve McQueen stars in this 1971 film, considered by many fans of endurance racing to be the greatest film ever made about the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The roar of the classic endurance cars, now 50 years old, is enough to make any racing fan happy. You'll need to sit through commercials with this recording, as it was recorded from SpeedVision in the early 2000's. Watch "Le Mans" here
"Journey to Le Mans"
Sir Patrick Stewart narrates this documentary which follows the Jota Sport team as they attempt to put their car through a grueling endurance racing season and onto the grid of the 2014 Le Mans race. Watch "Journey to Le Mans" here
"2019 Le Mans 24h Onboard with Fernando Alonso"
In this video we're given a virtual ride-along with Formula 1 and Le Mans champion Fernando Alonso in his #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050 during his night sting in 2019. Alonso, along with teammates Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima would go on to win this race. Watch the "2019 Le Mans 24h Onboard with Fernando Alonso" here
Watch the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans livestream
When you are not among the many fans that spectate the biggest endurance race of the world live from the track you can stay in your seat behind your PC, Tablet or Mobile phone and enjoy the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2021 from the comfort of your own home as RaceDepartment will embed various live streams from various teams and cars.The race is aired exclusively in Europe on Eurosport television and make sure to support the amazing FIA WEC series by purchasing the FIA WEC app for a few bucks.
Continue reading
During the course of this week you'll find links for car and driver lists, results, livestream links, related movies, and more information on the 89th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on the next pages of this article.Be sure to let us know in the comments below what you think of the race, your favorite teams and drivers and of course feel free to contribute to the longest chat of the year.
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