Le Mans 2021 – World’s most prestigious endurance race

The epic Le Mans is a place where history is made. This year, our “G-Drive Racing” team started searching for history again!

How did Le Mans come about?

It has been almost 50 years since the first Mercedes to the premiere of the “24 Hours of Le Mans” race in the northwest of France. The first race was held in 1923, and the winning vehicle had an average speed of only 92 km / h, covering a total of about 2,209 km, while this year our car Aurus 01 # 26 in the LMP2 category reached a speed of 232 km / h, exceeding the total just over 4,878 km.

The town, devastated by wars, but never lost its passion for fashion and motoring, became the most important centre in modern automobile competitions. Today, everyone whose name means something puts himself on the line and proves not only that he is fast, but also enduring.

This year, the “G-Drive Racing” team was among the favourites to win the biggest award and title on the “De la Sarthe” circuit, which was named after the river Sarthe that flows through Le Mans.

Driver preparations for Le Mans 2021.

Usain Bolt had a famous statement that he practiced for twenty years in order to run the race in less than 10 seconds. Likewise, preparations for Le Mans have been going on for years. Due to the need for endurance and riding up to 14 hours in one day per driver, race participants are prepared by doing sports that require endurance, such as cycling and skiing, and special emphasis is placed on the gym and exercise the quadriceps, lumbar back, abs and neck muscles, so that drivers can endure long periods of sitting in the car.

Fast reflexes are also an important feature of drivers in endurance races. To prepare for this challenge, drivers are intensely involved in sports that require quick reactions, such as e.g. squash and table tennis. Weeks before the “24 Hours of Le Mans” race, drivers engage in more intensive endurance training, such as several hours of hiking or running!

Mental preparation is of great importance, and today’s drivers have the opportunity to access the circuit simulator “De la Sarthe”, where they can get acquainted with the track again and again, before the start of the race, to get to the point where they can visualize the circuit and have good driving access before the start.

Team preparations for Le Mans 2021.

The challenges of our team this season started in Asia, within the ALMS – “Asian Le Mans series”.

The first two races of the season were held in Dubai, while the other two were held in the capital of the United Arab Emirates – Abu Dhabi. The drivers from car # 25 won two other places, once they were third and once they were fourth – and in the overall ranking they were third! In the general classification, crew # 26 won, climbing to the highest podium in both races in Dubai!

We started the ELMS season with: Roman Rusinov, Nyck de Vries and Franco Colapinto (car # 26) and John Falb, Pietro Fittipaldi and Rui Andrade (car # 25). Roman Rusinov is the only Russian in history to win the ELMS and ALMS seasons, while Nyck de Vries is the reigning Formula E champion. Pietro Fittipaldi is an offshoot of the famous family of drivers, his brother Enzo is a successful driver while his grandfather Emerson is a legend of this sport and a double Formula 1 champion – 1972 and 1974, but also the first Brazilian to win prestigious titles and the predecessor of Nelson Piquet  and Ayrton Senna. Rui Andrade is one of the members of the golden generation of drivers from Angola who are establishing motorsport in the second largest country in which the Portuguese language is spoken!

After the races in Barcelona, ​​Spielberg, Castelle and Monza, our team currently takes second place in the general classification with good chances to take the championship place in the general classification of ELMS 2021 races at the end of the season with good editions in Spa Francorchamps and Portimao.

Le Mans Race 2021

Our crew consisted of cars # 26 and # 25. Roman Rusinov, Nyck de Vries and Franco Colapinto took turns in car # 26, while John Falb, Pietro Fittipaldi and Rui Andrade shared car # 25.

The race started at 16.00, and due to the weather conditions, that is rain before the start, an additional warm-up round was held to dry the track. After 37 minutes of the race, the reigning Formula E champion and our driver Nyck de Vries reached the leading position with an aggressive ride. At 17.22, the rain started again, which made the conditions on the already wet track more difficult. After an hour and a half of racing, Nyck de Vries still held the leading position at Le Mans!

The sixth hour of the race was marked by the women’s team “Richard Mille Racing Team”. Sofia Flersch (the first woman to ever compete in Formula 3) was behind the wheel, and the car cancelled obedience and blocked the way for other cars. There was a collision and a slowdown in the race. The most bizarre moment of the race took place in the last minutes when # 41 “Team WRT” (behind the wheel of which was the legend of motoring and former Formula 1 driver – Robert Kubica) stopped for mechanical reasons. Robert Kubica is known to motorsport fans for one of the most terrible accidents that happened in the last ten years on the tracks around the world, when he lost his right hand due to an accident at a race in Italy in 2011. As a great champion, Kubica managed to recover as early as 2012 and even won a small race in Italy, which is why the renowned magazine “Top Gear” named him man of the year. After the accident on Le Mans, Kubica was overtaken by another car from the same team this year, so “Team WRT” certainly won.

Congratulations to Team WRT # 31: Ferdinand von Habsburg, Robin Frijns and Charles Milesi, who won Le Mans in 2021. Our car # 26 finished the race in a satisfactory seventh place, showing huge potential with a lead in the first hours of the race. , while # 25 unfortunately had to give up the race after the eighth hour of the race due to derailment.

Is there adrenaline even after Le Mans?

The next challenge of our team is on September 19 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, where we will be looking for points for the championship position at the end of the ELMS 2021 season!

Our crew, led by car # 26 and Roman Rusinov, Nyck de Vries and Franco Colapinto, has a real chance for the title, and we will see if it will show that on the track in mid-September in the famous Belgian spa!

This race will not be a vacation for our drivers, because it will be of crucial importance for the general placement. For more information about the G-Drive Racing team, as well as endurance races, follow the G-Drive Serbia Instagram page!

While the Sarthe River is still flowing, it is time to turn to new sporting challenges, which will show the octane value flowing in our drivers.

Until the next adrenalin shock,
G-Drive Srbija