With the new safety car regulation at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, many purists fear that the race will be Americanized with a sprint finish. Reactions to this have been mixed.
The American side, where motorsport is more for entertainment, tends to welcome the measure, while those who see racing primarily as a sport turn their noses up. But the question remains: will the safety car be used at all in the final phase?
Rene Rast, who starts in the TDS-Oreca #13 (Thomas/Taylor/Rast), doesn’t believe in it: “Of course, that could happen with the new safety car regulation. If we’re a lap behind, there are with the new rules the opportunity to get the round back in.”
“But I heard from the race director that it is very unlikely that these safety cars will be used. But if he uses a lot of safety cars, there is of course a chance that we can catch up again.”
Such a promise to largely do without safety cars has been made again and again in recent years, but they have been used almost every year. However, SC appearances in the second half of the race have so far been rather rare.
Vasselon: Against the spirit of Le Mans
Heavy criticism comes from Toyota. Head of Technology Pascal Vasselon: “We are of the opinion that the new safety car rule is absolutely not in line with the spirit of Le Mans. And very, very clearly.”
“If you think about what made Le Mans so great, it’s the complete opposite of that kind of trickery where it doesn’t matter if you don’t pit well or make a mistake in strategy, because the safety car brings everything back together.”
“This new rule poses a problem for us because it goes against the values that brought us to Le Mans and, more generally, it goes against the image of Le Mans that has always distinguished this race.
“It’s a big step towards Americanizing Le Mans and we believe Le Mans shouldn’t be Americanized. If it does, it’s not Le Mans anymore.” The approach to racing will change. It no longer makes sense to drive away from the front from the start. Everyone would just wait for the safety car.
Toyota with their own proposal
And what about the suggestion from ‘Motorsport-Total.com’ to completely abolish the safety car and to fully rely on full course yellow and slow zones? “The introduction of the VSC in Formula 1 is a clear step forward in race control. It offers the possibility of slowing down the race by freezing positions without interfering with the current course of the race. That’s perfect.”
“The problem is that sometimes it’s not possible to have a continuous stream of cars depending on what’s happening on the track. Then a safety car is better because it collects the cars and there are gaps where to For example, a truck can reverse.”
According to Vasselon, Toyota has made its own proposal to use six safety cars. “It’s very simple: to ensure that the safety car disrupts the race as little as possible, we have to divide the track into sections that are as short as possible. Six safety cars are much better because they neutralize the race much better, but it is of course logistically very complicated.”
IMSA pilots defend new rules
The drivers who grew up with the system that has now been introduced in the IMSA SportsCar Championship see things quite differently. “I think it will be more exciting when they bring the cars together,” says Cadillac driver Alexander Sims.
It is reminiscent of the old problem with the three safety cars, when Porsche was the last car to catch an SC train in 2018 and everyone else ended up first behind another SC train. This gave the “pig” 1:15 minutes that could not be made up.
“One year we had the problem that one of the Porsches, the pink pig, won a lap in the first or second stint because of the safety car, just because he drove an extra lap before his pit stop. That was the end of the race,” he says. At that time, Sims drove for BMW in the GTE Pro.
“I can understand some of Pascal’s comments about the spirit of Le Mans. That’s how the race has always been, the fastest car keeps pulling away and you see the race develop overnight and into the morning.”
“But I’ve seen so many races in IMSA where a deficit has been caught and racing has resumed and that’s so much more exciting. That can work for or against you, but at the end of the day you accept it and it makes for exciting races.”
“I think that’s one of the reasons IMSA is one of the best championships in the world from a driver’s point of view. It’s a nicer system for the show, but it’s also changing the way compared to Le Mans in the past.”
Roger Penske is positive
Porsche works driver Nick Tandy, who was also in the GTE Pro for a long time, finds the new system even better: “What I’ve seen is the failure of the old system. And it’s not the overall winner who gets screwed. “
“It’s not often that in the top class the cars are separated by the safety car because the safety car catches the first car in the class. But in the other classes the safety car just doesn’t come out before the leader . Therefore, the likelihood of these classes being separated is much higher.”
For a long time, a minute’s loss of time at Le Mans didn’t matter much, as the race was often won by a lap advantage. But at least since the introduction of the BoP in the GT classes and the conversion of the LMP2 into a quasi one-design class, time has overtaken the old rule.
“We’ve seen it many times and I’ve lost races because of it. If I’ve worked tirelessly for 12 hours to get a 30-second lead, then of course I don’t want that lead to be lost. But I can see that from the Perspective that it’s not about the overall win and it’s much more likely that the LMP2 or GTE races will be ruined.”
Tandy doesn’t expect a Daytona-style final sprint either: “That’s unlikely. Last year there was only one [Gelbphase]. It’s pretty rare that we have a safety car here. And if so, it’s only because there have been many incidents and the track needs to be cleaned up.”
“I’m a bit ambivalent, because I can understand both points of view. From the point of view of the hypercars, the race can be influenced. But from the point of view of the other classes, the new rule is designed in such a way that it does not affect the race.”
“I think the chances of hypercar racing being affected by the new rule are much lower than the chances of GTE or LMP2 being affected under the old system. So all in all I think it’s a good thing .”
Even the “Captain” interferes in the discussion. Roger Penske, who traveled to Le Mans to support his team, said: “It will make the race a lot better because if you have a problem in the first hour you can now fix it and get back in the group, eh gives you another chance.”