LM24: Ford, Porsche highlight Scrutineering Day 1

Heavy showers and mostly overcast skies dominated the first day of official 24 Hours of Le Mans activity as 22 of the 60-car field was scheduled to participate in pre-race technical inspection and driver registration at scrutineering in the Le Mans town center.

Among the entry highlights on Sunday, defending overall race winners Porsche rolled out both of its 1000hp 919 Hybrids, Ford made its public return with four of its twin-turbo V6 GTs, and the Garage 56 P2 entry for driver/multiple amputee Frédéric Sausset was presented.

The rain forced most photographers and reporters under the tent provides for driver photos and interview, and with the jam-packed space less than accommodating for the unexpected mass of life, grace and courtesy were in short supply.

Click on the thumbnails below for larger images:

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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:

· ACO technical director Vincent Beaumesnil told RACER his boss, ACO president Pierre Fillon returned home from the 100th running of the Indy 500 with rave reviews of the event and suggested Beaumesnil add it to his calendar for 2017.

· Ford driver Ryan Briscoe is on baby watch with his wife, ESPN anchor Nichole Briscoe due in a few weeks.

· The Thiriet by TDS P2 drivers went full Stig for a special photo after the group shot by donning their helmets.

· With a marked increase in Japanese drivers for the 84th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the pool of Japanese reporters has also risen. Toyota drivers Kaz Nakajima and Kamui Kobayashi, in particular, were surrounded for quite some time, and didn't seem to mind.

· Porsche LMP1 driver Mark Webber was all business on Sunday. After completing his driver checks, the Aussie answered one or two quick questions from the media and was off to a closed ACO office while his teammates spent 20 minutes in the scrum, and later, for the group photo, legions of fans called his name and asked for autographs, but he stayed focused on the task at hand and let his teammates handle most of the posing and signing for the crowd.

· One person in the crowd must have posed for 20 selfies with drivers. His Twitter feed is surely filled with more than any of the hundreds that lined the group photo staging area.

· With racing falling until the final hour of scrutineering, some drivers came prepared. Toyota LMP1 driver Anthony Davidson was one of a handful of pilots sporting neoprene booties to cover his racing shoes and prevent them from getting wet.

· Porsche GTE-Pro driver Earl Bamber mentioned reader a recent story on the various buttons found on the steering wheel of the Porsche 911 RSR he races for a living and learned about a few new functions that are/have been at his disposal...

Up next: Scrutineering Day 2, which features Audi and Corvette Racing, among others, and completes the process.