Then it was time to get dead serious, as the first of two days of official practice and ultimately qualifying began bright and early Wednesday morning, June 13th. In keeping with the round-the-clock nature of the Le Mans race, practice sessions were run both in daylight and well into the night. The sessions went well for Team Corvette, with both C5-Rs getting dialed in and running very well. Ron Fellows in No. 63 managed to run a fraction of a second quicker than Andy Pilgrim's best in No. 64. But, once again, the No. 60 Saleen with Borcheller driving was the fastest GTS racer, and the Larbre Viper GTS-R was also quicker, again. Next door, in the Cadillac garages, there was an air of cautious optimism. Neither Northstar LMP was turning the lap times that the team had hoped for, and both cars were 5-7 seconds off the blistering pace set by the works Audi R8s, but the cars were responding well to adjustments and, all things considered, the Cad drivers were fairly pleased with the "new and improved" racers.
Thursday, June 14; day and night practice, and final qualifying. Once the checkered flag fell on the final night session, well, that would be it until 4 p.m. Saturday, when the green flag would be waved-the start of the 69th 24 Heures du Mans. Friday would be a day off of sorts, a drivers parade in downtown Le Mans, and a lot of hours for the crews to give their steeds a final going over.
It was mid-morning when Ron Fellows, striving to wrest every iota of speed from No. 63, pushed just beyond the envelope and lost it in a big way in the Michelin chicane. The Corvette backed into a tire barrier, causing fairly extensive damage to the aft end. By late afternoon, the Pratt & Miller crew had managed to completely reconstruct the shattered C5-R.
Except for the fact that everyone seemed to be turning quicker laps, there was not a lot of shuffling of the grid in the final session. The Audis were the class of the field, with the No. 1 R8 cranking off a phenomenal 3:32.429. The real shocker was when the No. 5 Cadillac edged ahead of the Bentleys. In GTS, it was still Saleen (with Borcheller in No. 60-again!) recording a superb 3:52.849 lap, three full seconds ahead of the Larbre Viper, followed by the other S7-Rs, the two Millennium Yellow C5-Rs, and the other Vipers. Another stunner was the Aspen Knolls Callaway C12-R nabbing the pole for GT-ahead of all 10 of the Porsches!
I arrived in Le Mans Thursday afternoon and got out to the circuit in time to see no. 64's engine swap performed and to look around a bit. Then, after a highly enjoyable dinner at a country auberge with several other US media types (Matt DeLorenzo of Road & Track, Jack Keebler from Motor Trend, and actor/writer Tim Considine, who was on hand for Corvette Quarterly) and GM "brass" including Dave Hill, Rick Baldick, and Lisa Stanick of Corvette Brand Management, Chevrolet Communications Director Tom Wilkinson, GM Racing's Executive Director Herb Fishel, and Cadillac's Director of Communications Jeff Kuhlman, we returned to the circuit to watch the final night practice and qualifying.
The sights, the sounds, the sensations of the cars streaking out of the blackness, across the start/finish line and past the pits and garages, and off into the inky night is incredible, almost sensory overload for a racing fanatic like myself. I finally gave in to fatigue and caught a ride back to the hotel some time after midnight, having already been in France for nearly 13 hours following an 11-hour nonstop flight from Los Angeles-and really hated to leave. There's an incredible sense of history about the facility. I think you really have to be here to fully comprehend; it's like no place and nothing else.