The week that will lead us to experience the emotions of the 24H of Le Mans officially began on Friday 7 June. There will be days full of events, inside and outside the circuit which will accompany the fans arriving in Le Mans until the start at 4pm on Saturday 15 June. Let's see the program in detail.
At the beginning of the week the teams began to arrive at the circuit to set up their Motorhomes and prepare the cars for the technical checks which began yesterday in the city center and which will continue on the morning of Saturday 8 June until 3.00 pm.
Then the nine brands of the premier category, together with one LMP2 and seven LMGT3, will parade along a two kilometer route in the city center of Le Mans, giving fans the opportunity to see them up close along the entire city route.
Activities on the track will begin on Sunday 9 June, with a very full day. In the morning there will be space for the Ligier European Series, with a free practice session, followed by the qualifying session. Then you will enter 24H climate. In fact, the program includes two test sessions of three hours each in which all 62 crews will be able to start testing the circuit.
The first will start at 10:00 am and end at 1:00 pm, while the second shift will take place in the afternoon from 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm. These six hours will be important for the teams, but they will be equally important for the Federation which will be able to verify whether the changes made to the BoP (read here) will have to undergo adjustments or not.
Tuesday will be dedicated to the fans with the Pit Walk. The pit lane will open at 2pm and close at 6pm. During the four hours of opening, fans will be able to meet the drivers for an autograph session. They will also be able to watch the pit stop challenge in which the mechanics will compete with the tire changes.
24H Le Mans: the official rounds start on Wednesday
The first official sessions will begin on Wednesday 12 June. In the morning there will be free practice for the Lamborghini Super Trofeo and those for the Road to le Mans (championship reserved for the LMP3 and GT3 categories).
FP1 will start at 2.00 pm, the three-hour session will end at 5.00 pm and it will be a very important shift for all the crews because they will only have this free practice session available to put the set-ups in place before the qualifying round which will start at 7.00 pm.
In this session, 8 crews per class will be selected and will then take part in the Hyperpole round which will decide the leading positions of the starting grid.
The two-hour Fp2 races will start at 10pm. This will also be a fundamental free practice session for all the teams. The night at Le Mans is a crucial moment for the race: conditions change, temperatures drop and tire strategies undergo changes. Visibility, despite the cutting-edge light systems that all cars adopt, decreases and testing in these conditions helps drivers to become familiar with braking points and lapping.
Thursday 13 June will be the day of the Hyperpole. From 9:00 to 14:00 there will be free practice sessions, qualifications and races for the related categories. From 3.00pm to 6.00pm the 62 WEC crews will take to the track for the third round of official free practice.
At 8.00 pm the Hyperpole will start, with the 24 crews (8 Hypercars, 8 LMP2 and 8 LMGT3) who will compete, divided by categories, to obtain the fastest lap along the 13.626 km on the circuit de la Sarthe. The awards ceremony will follow on the straight in which prizes will be awarded to poleman of each category. The second round of free practice at night will be held at 10pm, this time lasting an hour.
Friday 14 June. This is usually a day that doesn't include much activity on the track, with the exception of the FunCup race from 9am to 1pm. From 3.00 pm the track will be open to the public. The public will be able to explore it on foot or using any mobility device eco-friendly such as bicycles, scooters, skates etc.
The activity for the 62 crews who will race the 24h will move to the city center of Le Mans. All the drivers will parade aboard vintage cars, accompanied by the sounds of various musical bands. For the centenary, the event attracted over 200,000 people to the streets of the French town. The event will begin at 4pm and is expected to last three hours.
Saturday 15 June. Track activities for the WEC crews will begin at 12:00 with a warm-up of 15 minutes. One last trip to check the final details before departure. The Gridwalk is scheduled from 1.35pm to 3pm: the event will be reserved for holders of the necessary bracelet.
The official departure ceremony will begin from 3.30pm and will end at 3.50pm. The grid will empty, the cars will start for a few laps behind Safety Car, and the race will start at 4:00 pm.
For those who attend the race on the circuit, many side activities will be available throughout the week. In fact, various Fan Zone areas will be set up:
- Fan Zone Family;
- Fan Zone Panorama;
- Fan Zone concert.;
- Fan Zone Pore Est.
Furthermore, three villages will be set up outside the circuit:
- Beauséjour village;
- Village of Clos Feuri;
- Epinettes village.
There will also be a producers' village with displays of the different brands that will compete during the 24H. A Village dedicated to hydrogen prototypes and the karting circuit within 13 km open from 12:00 to 18:00.
At the end of the race, on Sunday 16 June at 4.00 pm, there will be an awards ceremony for the different classes, fans will be able to invade the track to witness it.
Here the complete program.
Cover photo credits: Luca Cappelli