The 24 Hours of Le Mans Felt Different 

Lack of GT coverage was a major bummer

The coverage on other categories was abysmal. I had no idea that both United Autosports McLarens had DNFed until I checked the overall standings some hours later after the race.

I think I watched about 21hrs of this race. It was awesome, except for the 4.5hrs of straight safety car.

Yeah, I’d say it was the safety car. Although closing off the pitlane in extreme rain seems like a bad idea.

I really wanted more coverage of the GT3s, but overall I was a lot more hyped than in previous years - this was the most time I’ve watched live at Le Mans since 2014. There are problems to address, but zooming out to a broader view, things are going great

Lacking GT coverage, like I was at the Iron Dames onboard and they had risk taking overtakes and when I go back to broadcast there's none of it. The only time I remember them show Iron Dames when they got spun by #4 Penske Porsche Hypercar....

The safety car was definitely bad for so many hours, also being at night didn't help. For me night is the highlight of any endurance race. This is when the drivers need their skills the most. And we didn't see any night racing

This was the first Le Mans I've ever watched and honstely, apart from the safety cra it didn't disappoint at all!

At least it is not like 24H of Nurburgring this year because that is even worse!

Le Mans has been a sprint race for years because reliability on the whole is so much better

It would be great if there were 3x parallel live RU-vid channels that broadcast the entire race - each channel would cover a single class. Commentary could then focus on that class' background, infos & dramas.

Can say it's both the unusually long safety car and probably the crowdiest grid in the last 20 or 30 years that makes this le mans feel different. Also yes, this is a certified Alpine and Mechachrome moment.

It felt different at the track aswell (for me). First of all, it was cold as shit in the evening and there was a lot of wind. This made watching at the track not as enjoyable. Further, the GT3 cars make less noise than what i remember from GTE. Them being privateer teams instead of manufacturer makes people less likely to root for a team or car aswell. LMP2 just felt a bit forgotten during this race. Hypercar was the class to watch. Battles for the overall lead were probably the reason why broadcasts were focussed on this class.

My problems this year: 1. Useless safety cars. It could have been less than 5h of safety cars in total but it looks like we have hired an f1 race director. Not enough lmp2 and gt coverage. I can understand the lack of gt focus, because ⅔ of the time there were ams driving. But lmp2 should have gotten much more attention.

I might agree a BIT with the sc thing. BUT, i think its important for the marshals to know at all times where the pack is. Not just random cars going by. If they dont know where the cars is it might cause an accident. 60kmh is not slow.

Respect to Issota Frascini, they have proven their reliability, they just need to figure out their speed. Personally i wouldve loved to see the cadillacs ahve a better run, but with the 3 having mechanical issues and the 311 hitting the wall, they just got taken out of contention with 2 of their cars. Had the 2 not gotten the penalty from SPA (which i think was not 100% fair), they also didnt get to race the way they wanted. Granted it mostly came down to strategy. Good video!

Theres 2 issues with getting rid of the SC, FIA Regulations permit that any car with a hybrid issue that is stopped on track and needs intervention must be covered with a Gap of over 1 minute (Only possible under SC Mid Race. 2 Torrential rain, You need the SC Procedure to help build up tyre temp for the drivers before going back to green flag, you dont want cars that are on ice cold tyres in heavy rain just as conditions are safe. The fact that cars were complaining of AquaPlaining during the night when behind the SC Shows that it was the right decision.

Great video. It definitely was more fun when there is no clear winner. The safety car was good time to sleep and rest for when the race restarts.

It felt different because when I woke up after a sleep of regular length, the running order felt familiar.

I was gunna say we had no idea who was going to win at the 23 hour mark but you covered that too, one of the best races i have seen in my 20 years watching

When the nurburgring 24h can do barrier repairs with just 1 slow zone and night time says enough to how achievable your proposition is. Two fcy is extreme compared to the green hell!

Loved every word of this video. Just perfect coverage

As someone who considers herself a fairly casual viewer of endurance races, I really appreciated your summary and insight on the race! I personally felt a bit mixed on the safety car phase; after the race at the Nordschleife, I was happy to see them at least on track, but visibility was very poor during the night with the almost torrential rain. Considering the race is also about safety of the drivers and marshals, I think calling it was the right call. But the safety car procedures took way too long imo, especially considering they started a while after the visibility has vastly improved. But even as a fan of the entire Hypercar class itself, I was really confused about the lack of coverage of the LMP2 and LMGT3. It was certainly a very exciting race for the Hypercars, but considering how close together the other categories finished, they have been shown way too little either. And of course, I was really miffed about the lack of transparency for the decision by the stewards and in my opinion, if a sister car has gained an advantage from a car breaking the rules, I think the consequences should be much higher (referring to the incident with the #8).

Both Alpines retiring due to the Mecachrome engine Mecachroming was not a surprise at all.

I've always followed the races but never actually tried to watch endurance racing for too long. Needless to say this was my first 24 hours of Le Mans and I loved it. Can't wait for next year.

"there were 3 controversial decisions: Ferrari, Ferrari, Ferrari.. ehm.. well.. O.O

I really like this Le Mans I don't know why but I still enjoyed it even with the SC being there for so long.

I've been at the race for 3 years now, and this year felt less exciting than last year, and I slept through the long SC so I didn't even know it happened. It was still far more interesting than 2022

Tbh it was a mix of the new safety car rules and the terrible tv coverage. 99% of the major incidents uploaded to RU-vid by wec were just shots of the stationary cars post crash. It's like they just weren't recording. I missed the first half hour and I literally didn't know that the LMP2 category was there for like 2 hours because they were hardly covered. Finally, safety car rules: The rules are more IMSA-esque now, there's 3 safety cars spread out across the track, which makes sense, it's a huge track. BUT, If the SC period is long enough the cars all form up on one SC AND EVERYONE IS UNLAPPED. this kills all long-game strategies and as you said, it felt more like a sprint race. Because it pretty much was.

I fully agree - the Nurburgring, even with relatively rudimentary signage and a much longer, more complicated course, works flawlessly using slow zones and full-course-yellow operation. Even in the middle of the night there will be sections of the track at full speed and sections of the track where there's literally a tow truck picking up a stranded car and it works without failure. Le Mans, a track that has F1 level signage, should not be so inefficient at keeping the racing going as much as (still very safely) possible.

Needed more GT coverage 🤙

Yeah, this year was a good one. I was constantly checking and trying to find different streams to watch it on because it was so good. You will go to sleep and immediately wake up and check the results to see what happened.

Remember 2011? McNish and Rockenfeller had massives crash so it was Fässler, Lotterer and Treluyer who were behind around a lap against three Peugeots with like 15h to go. There was also like 3h Saftey Car just after midnight and I feel like it was similar sprint race back then...

I had the good fortune of being at Le Mans this year, and also last year for the centenary. From a spectators viewpoint, this year was pretty bad, in terms of crowd management. The layout of the spectator areas was really poor, with crowds being herded around like sheep through various bottlenecks and forced to queue for ages in a dense crowd to go over newly constructed footbridges over access roads etc, whereas last year, you could just walk across the road at pedestrian crossings. There was the legendary "Piss-Tree"; a small weeping willow that became the main urinal for tens of thousands of blokes (yes, it stank) because there simply weren't enough toilets. The queues for all the toilets were insane. One main difference between this year and last year, is that, in the early hours of the morning, the main grandstands and seating areas are 90% empty as people have gone to bed etc, but there are still thousands of diehard fans/spectators that stay up through the night in solidarity with the drivers/teams. Last year, if the seating areas were empty you could go and sit up in the grandstands if you didn't have a ticket for a seat, which was great, especially around 2-4 in the morning. This year, they stopped that with a very firm "NO!", so even though the grandstand was empty, and there were loads of fans happy to stay up through the night, they were turned away. This was especially bad IMO as it rained very heavily and the roofed grandstand/seating stands offered shelter, so many people called it a day and left because we were getting soaked through to the bone. However, believe me, these are minor moans really. On the whole it's a fantastic experience and we adapt to what's thrown at us; Piss-Tree being the perfect metaphor. Even though the stands were off limits to none seat-ticket holders (fair enough, but a bit "meh" at 3am in the pouring rain), it was a real adventure and all around the north and west side of the track there are amazing views. In regard to the actual racing, yes, it was different; it was exciting and kept you on the edge of your seat, there were no clear favourites out of all the hyper-cars. Let's not ignore the P2 and GTE classes either, in fact, I got quite into the P2 / Oreca07 cars this time, and the GTE cars are classy as hell. But for me, it was all about the hyper cars, and no amount of rain or overcrowded toilets can overshadow what was an amazing weekend.

One thing you can't take out of an endurance race, the safety car. Shezz!!!!!

6:18 I like the idea the only issue I could see is if the slow zone ended up being on like a long straightaway. Something like that could really impact the outcome of a race.

I was there watching it live, and the only good thing about that crazy long safety cars was I went to sleep instead of being soaking wet watching the cars from trackside :)

I think the reasoning behind the safety car changes from the simple three-car system was to avoid giving advantages to the leader of any class - and the problem with a slow zone is that this can still happen, you're generally going to end up randomly handing some degree of time handicap to some people at random depending how many times people pass through that slow zone. Add to that there are situations where an FCY doesn't necceasarily cut it if you need a long period with guaranteed zero traffic for course workers and there's still situations where you do need to go SC. I think what i would go with is, for long situations that do need an SC, a similar system to the one in the video but, to keep the incident area slow zone in place under the SC, and do the merge and passaround while the work is ongoing. From a racing perspective you still end up with the same single train, and from worker safety perspective you get the big working gap nice and quickly. Then, once the work is done you can just let them go because they're already stacked the way you want them like you want them. However the biggest thing that set the shape of an odd race for me that we had a long green stretch before that first safety and the frontrunners weren't putting laps even on the midpack, that meant that when the safety cars did come out it all came back together. if you're only 45 seconds off the lead you can lose two minutes to a fuckup (like the red ferrari tyre choices in the early showers) but come back from it when the safety car appears. it's insane how narrow the performance range of the hypercar field is.

I luckily managed to get back into my tent at 3am before 🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧 The rain got so heavy at 5:30am I woke up in sheer panic and put radio Le Mans on to see if any cars had survived, only to find out they had be trundling behind the SC for hours already!

I couldn't agree more on your point about the safety car

I never thought I would agree 100% with an American on the matter of European racing. 😂Great valid points brought up there sir, well done.

my favourite part of lemans is that it turns into a 24h motorsport podcast, so that safety car, although it was very boring, its still fun.

Yea we needed that garage 56 car

That Lamborghini SC63 is going to be dangerous next year

Had a fantastic 11 days at the Sarthe this year, the BOP this time was the most accurate it's ever been I think. FCY into local slow zone into FCY to finish would I'm sure work from the point of view of both safety and keeping the racing action. On site what many spectators do is use a short safety car period for a break for food/drink/toilet. Going to be great to see Aston in the top class next year, but I'm suspecting Peugeot to pull the plug the back end. GT3 and LMP2 were also close run affairs, rejoined as an ACO member at the circuit to guarantee 2 tickets for next year's race, hotel already booked as well. The World's greatest motor race is most definitely not the Indy 500.😉

Enjoyed it

Alpine retiring from the race with both cars highlights just what an incredible job Ferrari did last year when they won the Le Mans 24h on first try after only like 7-8 months of development work on the 499P. That's an absolutely fantastic achievement. And winning it twice in a row against tough competition is an even more amazing achievement.

The N24 and LM24, while different orgs, both seemed to have a change in operations. As well as being oddly scared of running in tricky conditions.

I was there in person, and yes, the safety car procedure were really long, and they definitely need to do something to shorten them up. The commentators on radio Lemans a couple times, said that it was raining heavily or raining cats and dogs, and I don’t believe that it was Where I was ever sitting, was raining that hard, sometimes the rain was light and misty and sometimes it was just a tad bit harder, but all in all it was not “heavy “rain like a downpour or a thunderstorm. Maybe it did do that a little bit of the Porsche curves when I wasn’t standing there.

I liked your proposal. Take the Slow Zones from Nürburgring and this is going to be much better for the viewer already. 👌

Really strong showing from the mustangs here despite being at a BOP disadvantage. Looking forward to them winning next year hopefully.

The thing that i think was really lacking also this year was the hour updates, showing the time gaps, pit stops and what happened in the last hour. Other than the only thing was the lack of GT coverage, because it was a great race to watch

Yea we get it. The safety car was long. The only other option at that point was a red flag and they dont do that in Le Mans

It did have its downfalls this year but compared to previous years it was still brilliant!

Le Mans has been a 24 hour sprint for a some time. Now we just have more cars which can keep up. This year (and last to some extent) did feel like a '24 hour formula ford race' with the way the drivers were racing hard like it was a '24 hour last lap' - usually we get a couple of hours of close racing before things settle down into an endurance race. This year, there was no settling down. As for the stewards decisions - I know some of them had consequence, but they did feel consistent with what we have seen before earlier in the race and previous WEC rounds - for example, at Spa, the #99 Porsche had open door when they were leading. Race control gave them a few laps to try and fix it before calling them into the pits - same as what the did with the #50. The 5 sec extra pit stop for the collision with the #8 Toyota was consistent with the penality for the #4 Porsche when it hit the Iron dames earlier in the race. I don't believe its right to look at a result and then say 'that penality given earlier wasn't enough then' in hindsight.

very interesting comments and ideas here. thank you

No camero thats what made it feel different tbh

Ur so right, great video👍👍 But on the end sprint with the record 9 cars on the lead lap: This only works when it happens like it did. When u force it like sometimes had happend at IMSA it doesnt imo

the safety car period was fine, that late night/early morning racing is usually feels so tame these days anyways. it was interesting to see teams make mistakes, exhausted after 12 hours of hard running but still required to perfectly follow the rules, but not something you could really "watch"

I kind of like the fact that there was a lot of safety since it gave me some time to sleep

Agreed with most things you said, though I think it was still a pretty amazing race, overall. The problem with the safety car's stupidly long procedures could be mitigated by simply allowing everybody to have a pit stop at the beginning of the SC period, and then let them rejoin the track at exactly the same relative positions each car was at the moment the safety cars were first called on track, once conditions are deemed safe enough. This could happen for example by allowing the 2 SCs behind to keep a slightly higher pace than the SC ahead, on those sections of the track which are furthest from the most hazardous zones (differentiating them with single and double yellow flags), such that the cars on the back would gradually catch up with the cars in front lap after lap, and then during the last lap of caution, after 2 of 3 SCs have left the track, the race directors would guide the cars that changed their relative positions during pit stops to go back to where they were before the safety car period. Each car would still remain on the lap they were, and track positions would be preserved. Those who had refueled just before the SC would be penalized a bit strategy-wise, but given that their gap with the cars in front of them would be almost neutralized, and that everyone would be put on equal foot regarding fuel and tires, it wouldn't be that unfair. No unlapping, no super unfair advantages gained due to luck or the stewards timing, much simpler rejoining procedure, no complications regarding what category each car belongs to, or if they are ahead or behind their category leaders. Extra pit stops could be allowed to change from slicks to wet tires, if the conditions on track change significantly during the SC period. Giving everybody the opportunity to go back to the pits and change the tires immediately, or every time the conditions change, without the risk to lose position, would also remove an element of risk for the drivers, as nobody would need to risk driving with slicks on a damp track in the attempt to stay ahead of their rivals. This would also lead to less frequent accidents during variable conditions, likely reducing the need to deploy the safety cars and shortening their duration on track (as they are often kept on track over and over due to a chain of bad events on tracks).

I agree with the safety car rain issue. Let them race in the rain. They are supposed to be professional drivers. Also, bring back the local yellow.

this race was the 24-hours of hypercar because the other classes had little to no coverage.

A problem I see with a localized slow zone for barrier repairs is when two cars are battling for position as they come to the slow zone. The car in front slams their brakes as late as it can in order to defend its position while complying with the speed limit. However, the car behind can never react instantaneously to such an action and might crash into the car in front, putting all the unprotected vehicles and marshals repairing the barriers in huge danger.

I'm of the opinion that if the track is clear they should allow the cars to race, regardless of the weather. Let the drivers determine their own pace.

F1 has the Virtual Safety Car. There's a precedent!

this was my first Le Mans 24 and it was fun but I fell asleep by accident under that 4 hour safety car 😭 (since I live in America it was 5am and I had been up watching the whole race up until that point )

About the safety car procedure: I understand the format you suggest but that would mean that going a lap down is a race ender, more so with the close field. I think it gives opportunity for those a lap back to catch up with the queue

To me it felt the same, no video/love coverage of GT class.

The Nordschleife no safety car but slow down zones idea is a no brainer. Hope to see that in '25.

They didn't race nearly long enough, though this is not the racecar drivers' fault. That safety car kinda put a damper on my spirit.

The safety car was on track longer than both the Alpines 😅

Headlights and other car tech has improved so much, even the rear view mirrors have AR arrows over the cars behind you so i dont get pausing races because of weather. I understand why they do it at Nurburg because that track is genuinley dangerous but lemans is mostly flat and wide and public roads. Rain shouldnt have stopped that race.

the english commentators really accentuated the drama in the last stint, if lopez didn’t spin, he probably could’ve won…

As a newcomer, it was awesome. I am hooked and it is specifically because of LMH, not LMGT3.

Almost no LMP2 or GT3 coverage, the many hours of safety cars, the lack of coverage when it came to on-boards of accidents and overtakes really messed with me. This race was also tainted by the Ferrari Can Do No Wrong thoughts from our incompetent race director.

Isotta Fraschini uses a PU provided by HWA. These are the guys who developed and managed the whole Merc DTM program and they also build the AMG GT race cars. So I guess that's where the realibility comes from.

I miss the factory supported GT3 cars (Corvette Racing, etc)

It was pretty surprising as a Corvette Racing fan to see just how far the Z06 GT3.R has fallen from the GTE car. Going from a dominant single car entry and a class win last year to all the issues and the poor pace for most of the race has been rough to watch. The switch to GT3 has not been kind to Corvette in WEC or IMSA, and the switch from a full factory team to a factory supported team doesn't seem to help, although TF Sport has been a decently successful team in the past few years. Fingers crossed that next year the issues will be ironed out, and maybe Pratt & Miller can get involved at Le Mans.

It felt less like racing more like just a racing simulation.

Good video, I just have one question: Why is the Ferrari 296 GT3 not competitive this year? They have been off the pace in almost every race.

There should be three official streams, where each one focuses primarily on a different racing class. They could all cut to the same interviews during downtime, so its not completely different.

I don't get the safety car during the rain. I thought the purpose of Lemans was to be the ultimate driving competition, the ability to keep your car on the track for 24 hours regardless of the conditions. I wonder how much pressure the owners of the cars, now costing over a million dollars, put on the stewards to slow the race down to keep their expensive hypercars safe.

Safety car procedures need to be simplified. 200% agree. It's a charade, the way it's done now.

Safety cars are to assure safety. To effectively slow the race to an almost stop if needed. Nothing, not even racing matters a jot, if someone is killed in the name of sport. The VLN races, where the race cars were still going past slower track worker machinery and workers, was insane. I'd rather see a safety car over rule stupidity.

They changed the safety car procedure last year and it really hurts the prestige of the race. Cars getting their lap back and closing the gaps between cars is effectivity a reset of the race. That makes the race only as long as the last full course yellow. The 3 hours of Le Mans is not nearly as impressive as the 24 Hours of Le Mans. But that's basically what we get now.

We definitely don't want it devolving into the shit show that is F1, the pinnacle of motorsports 🙄

Bro the whole world feels different

Idk if it is possible but the coverage on other classes during the race was horrible. But I dont know if it is possible, but it would be cool if each category has its own livestream. So not onboards but a livestream that focuses on 1 or 2 categories. So that you have a stream covering the overall race (like we have now) and that we have a stream that covers lmp2 and LMgt3 (or split these as well). As I said, i dont know if it is possible. But I just think its a cool idea

I watched a few hours of the race and i think the top class coverage was great but if you wanna follow the other classes i think it might not have been as good

Le Man and Indy both felt different, and both of them because of rain

The first safetycar was not long because of the new safetycar procedure, but because of barrier repairs and cleanup...

Yeah, i agree with that fixing barrier procedure, they should copy what the Nurburgring 24 race director, at least at Le Mans which have a very long lap compared to other WEC circuit

For those at the track, how good was RLM? From my comfy chair in a nice warm house, it was as ever, great coverage but not sure how well it translated to the track, but the RLM crew were picking up on things the TV crews missed. Iron Dames are rapidly showing they are there on pace and merit and are adapting well to hypercar. Some of the moves those girls pulled off were absolutely amazing. I was skeptical when they went up to hypercar, but I am very, very impressed with how it's going

I'm just glad the GT3s were fast enough to go sub 4 min. Barely fast enough, but fast enough regardless.

Tbh i think the wec should put some way that lapped cars in class could discount a lap in their class leader It would add a little bit more spice to the race

You failed to mention that under the safety car, Ferrari was able to pit and get the green light for release instead of being held to the next group because the B group had more cars, so they were not affected by it

The 24 Hours of Le Safety Car.

It was like watching Wacky Races with the lead constantly changing it removed the usual suspense, and made me question if I should just tune in for the last hour or so. I remain against safety cars for weather. It's just there to protect rich people from losing their toys - but the weather is part of the race, build the car appropriately. They are gladiators so let them gladiate and any driver who can't hack it should swap out for someone who can.

The Coverage on (Eurosport) was very much scaled down than previous years, Im not sure if this was because it wasnt the world feed or not, also the camera work was abysmal. A lot of action was missed. I have to agree with you, it certainly felt different.