On to race day, this Ferrari learnt an expensive lesson in the Ford Chicanes during a support race.
Bump!
The field forms up before the start.
Unscheduled pit stop.
Audi number 1 about to end a lap.
As does the Lola Aston Martin.
The next time past, less of the car arrived at the pits.
Corvette. An incredible sounding machine.
Rebellion Toyota.
Two of the Peugeots under the iconic Dunlop bridge
In to the night now, and rather chilly it was too.
A Corvette takes to the pits.
A bit blurry, but I like the colours!
Rebellion Toyota at Ford Chicanes.
Audi 1, with it's position lights showing third place. This would have been not long before Rockenfeller's terrible accident.
Corvette again.
Rebellion Toyota, with graphics ablaze.
Lola Aston Martin with rear end ablaze! This was normal for this car when getting off the throttle. This is the only time I caught it at night, and I'm rather miffed about the catch fencing in the bottom of the shot.
Audi 2 towards the end of the race.
The last 2 hours had several light showers of rain to liven things up, leading to several spins in the last corner. This Peugeot gets a very clear 'slippery surface' flag, which was quickly furled when the Audi followed.
Being welcomed home by the marshalls after 24 hours and 355 laps. The second place Peugeot followed it home just 13 seconds later. I don't mind telling you that by this point I was in tears. Audi hung on to one of the closest finishes ever, over 3 hours when one slight mistake could have cost them the race. At one point Peugeot had the lead down to 9 seconds. After the horrific accidents, some great stories down the field (look up the Robertson's story, and Lucas Ordoñez PlayStation to podium fairy tale) and a tense finish I was wrung out.
And, after what seems like the blink of an eye, a race that stretched a whole day ahead of us was over. Walking back to camp every other sentence started "You know, what we should do next year....." as already we laid plans for another journey to Circuit de la Sarthe, for what will be the 80th edition of the most spectacular motor race on Earth.
Thanks for looking!