OUR PERSPECTIVE // AS THE CHECKERED FLAG WAVES AT LE MANS

After a few hours sleep Saturday night, we left our Chateau and headed to the Le Mans circuit rather early Sunday morning. Our grandstand seats sat right above the Audi pits and a stones throw from the start finish line so we knew that was the place to be when the checkered flag waved. However, with a few hours to kill, we decided to check out the Mulsanne straight and the last two chicanes that now limit its speed... [read more]

Having found parking, we marched the quarter mile back to the gate at the Mulsanne corner, just outside of Arnage. Some three miles in length, the Mulsanne straight was once the temple of speed, however with two chicanes now added to help limit the speed, the cars never really see top speed. That said, the Mulsanne corner was still a great place to watch the race and having steaked out a little piece of real estate along the fence, I was able to snap a few shots just before the cars tucked behind the tire barrier.

With only a couple of hours before the conclusion to this years 24 Hours of Le Mans, we made our way back to our grandstand seats. From our vantage point you could see the competitors as they rounded the final corner and collected the checkered flag. A great place to witness the final moments of the race, we and a handful of other Team Seattle supporters eagerly awaited the clock to strike three.

With Team Seattle principal Don Kitch Jr. having become rather ill early in the race, it was up to his teammates, Joe Foster and Patrick Dempsey, to finish the race. And finish they did. Placing 9th in the GT2 class, it was Patrick Dempsey that brought the Team Seattle Ferrari 430GT across the line.

Another surprise in GT2 was the Dutch build Spyker that managed to finish fifth in class.

The biggest surprise was the debut effort of the 007 AMR Eastern Europe Lola Aston Martin. Placing fourth in the LMP1 class, the Gulf liveried Aston Martin was certainly a fan favorite.

Here is a shot of the two remaining Aston Martin LMP1's as they crossed the finish line just behind the Audi R15 of Tom Kristensen.

Finishing 9th in class and 30th overall, Team Seattle and their three rookie drivers not only surprised the Le Mans crowd, but raised over $250,000 for Children's Hospital through per-lap pledges and donations both before and during the race.

Having slowed to allow his teammates to catch up, Sebastien Bourdais and the other two Peugeot 908HDi's crossed the finish line three abreast. The French crowd went wild as Peugeot claimed victory at the 77th running of the 24 Heures du Mans, a fitting end to their tireless campaign against the reigning Le Mans champion Audi.

For complete results from the 24 Hours of Le Mans, click here

For additional photos from our visit to Le Mans, click here

Photo/Editorial: Justin Coffey