The 62 entrants for the 92nd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans took the start at 4:00 p.m. (local) on the Sarthe circuit (west of France) (AFP / Guillaume SOUVANT)
The start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was given on Saturday by Zinedine Zidane, who released at 4:00 p.m. sharp a pack of 62 cars led by the Ferraris, Porsches and other Cadillacs, favorites of this 92nd edition.
The start was given on a dry track, and no incident disrupted the first minutes of the race.
The Italian Prancing Horse team, victorious in the centenary edition last year, is putting its title back on the line, in a race which has rarely been so indecisive, with nine manufacturers fielding a total of 23 cars in the premier category, the Hypercar.
From the first laps, the Maranello firm wanted to mark its territory: the numbers 50 and 51 took the lead ahead of the Porsche N.6, which had started in pole position.
The rest of this royal field is made up of the two lower categories, the LMP2 and the LMGT3. The game of predictions has never been so difficult, even if Ferrari, Toyota, with these five victories between 2018 and 2022, or Porsche, which arrives launched after dominating the start of the season, are the most often cited, with Cadillac , surprisingly fast in qualifying.
– 87 years for a first –
The Porsche Penske N.6 started from pole position at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 15, 2024 on the Sarthe circuit (west of France) (AFP / FRED TANNEAU)
Since 2023, Porsche has entrusted its factory cars to the American team Penske, which is fielding three this year. The big boss Roger Penske, a historic figure in American motorsport, made the trip, at the age of 87, in the hope of seeing one of his cars win at Le Mans for the first time in his life.
“We have very high expectations this year,” he said on the L’Equipe channel shortly before the start, “it’s an honor to be here, it’s an absolutely legendary race in the whole world”.
A victory for Porsche would be the 20th at Le Mans for the German manufacturer, an absolute record. If the Penske team were to fail, the Stuttgart firm could still count on three other “client” Hypercars, in the hands of the Jota (two cars) and Proton (one car) teams.
Fans will also be able to follow the race of former Formula 1 drivers. Mick Schumacher, the son of the legend Michael Schumacher, will drive an Alpine. Robert Kubica will be at the wheel of a Ferrari and Jenson Button, F1 world champion in 2009, is entered in a Porsche Jota.
But the most popular man of the week was former MotoGP star Valentino Rossi. Hunted by selfie hunters, the Italian arrives at Le Mans in the LMGT3 category, the slowest, on a BMW.
Skewer of stars –
French football legend Zinedine Zidane kicked off the 92 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 15, 2024 on the Sarthe circuit (west of France) (AFP / Guillaume SOUVANT)
Other stars were there without helmets or wetsuits. In addition to world football champion Zinedine Zidane, who came to give the start, the crowd was able to see Alpine Formula 1 drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, or the Le Mans victory record holders, Tom Christensen (9 victories) and Jacky Ickx (6).
The artists Gad Elmaleh, Vincent Cassel, Mathieu Kassovitz also met the former winner of Roland-Garros Yannick Noah and the eight-time world rally champion Sébastien Ogier.
Le Mans, for the world of endurance, is the most important event of the year and the one that all drivers dream of winning one day. “It’s our Olympic Games,” summed up French Alpine driver Paul-Loup Chatin.
The density of the field and the hope of witnessing a spectacular race attracted a huge crowd. The organizers are counting on 325,000 spectators during the weekend, a record according to them.
As is often the case, rain threatens to disrupt the event. Falling heavily four hours before the start, it is announced intermittently during the race.