Saturday 4 June 2016

24 Hours of Le Mans 2016 - Saturday grid shot, new spectator zone at Arnage & pictures

A quiet Saturday on and around the track today, with the traditional grid shot on the start/finish straight and a few driver updates. 

First things first, the new spectator zone at Arnage.  






Above is the view from the Arnage corner. The final part of the straight before the right hand corner is now not longer a public road and will be used only at the 24 hours. At the end of the straight, there's still a bit of banking left. The view of the cars braking, going into the corner and heading off to the Porsche Curves is still intact. 


When entering the new campingzone behind the roundabout, you'll see the new road on the left and the new banking at Indianapolis in the back. The old banking disappeared here, a small portion remains in the lefthander of Indy.


 This is the new banking with the view on Indianapolis and the cars coming to you from Mulsanne (couldn't get a better picture, gates were closed). It runs all the way through to the entry of Indianapolis.


 View of the new banking, as seen from the inside of the track. 



And this is why Arnage will become "the place to be" at night. You'll see the cars coming out of Mulsanne, into Indianapolis and the lefthander into Arnage. This is going to be "fingerlicking good"  and a serious upgrade for spectators !!!

Driver updates 

Alex Brundle now has been confirmed by G-Drive Racing as their reserve driver after the replacement of Nathanaël Berthon earlier this week. SMP Racing has also announced a reserve driver, Andreas Wirth will do his 10 mandatory laps around the track tomorrow. Nick Catsburg and Jean Philippe Belloc will drive the #50 Larbre Corvette tomorrow instead of the unfortunate Paolo Ruberti. No decision has been made (yet) abouth the replacement driver for the race in 2 weeks.

Murphy's new livery






The Murphy Prototypes Oreca03/Nissan showed its new colors for Le Mans this afternoon. The #48 driven by Jeroen Bleekemolen, Marc Goossens and Ben Keating will race in the Viperexchange/Gas Monkey colors. A livery inspired by the Viper of Keating and Bleekemolen in the WeatherTech United Sportscar Championship.

Today's pictures









































For more pictures of yesterday's and today's scrutineering, visit the Club Arnage facebook page or the link below :




Kristof Vermeulen.