Le Mans teams take stock as Scrutineering concludes and Test Day beckons

Le Mans Scrutineering came to a close this afternoon in the city center, after the final 23 cars underwent technical checks, including those from the two most successful Hypercar factories, Ferrari and Toyota.

There’s much chatter about Ferrari’s push for four consecutive wins at La Sarthe and the impact it would have on the category's future and its governance should the Prancing Horse succeed in its mission. But the team and its drivers, who expect this to be the toughest edition for them yet, are out to make history.

“We are confident; we did a good job to prepare for this race,” No. 50 driver Miguel Molina says. “We are here to win, nothing else, but we don’t know if it’s possible this time. We need to wait until the race. I think the battle will be as tight as the first two races.

“What is clear is that we put 100 percent effort into every race. There are some manufacturers that won more races at Le Mans in a row than us – we are here to catch up.”

All eyes on Ferrari. DPPI photo

A third team racing in red, AO by TF, also attracted plenty of attention from the packed spectator areas. The team is here with its new "Rockie the Pegasus" mascot livery, and a revised driver line-up featuring late addition James Allen alongside defending LMP2 Pro/Am winners PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron.

“To go from looking like I’m not going to be racing here this year, to one of the strongest teams, is really exciting!” Allen, who is racing in the seat originally filled by JOTA stand-in Louis Deletraz, told RACER.

It was such a late call for Allen that he hasn’t had time to test with his new team or teammates. However, he does have almost a decade of experience racing with the ORECA 07 platform to draw from.

“I was told by a friend of mine to call Tom (Ferrier) about Le Mans, and Gunnar (Jeannette) texted me asking for a chat. I went to do a Le Mans test with Nielsen Racing in Motorland to help them with their preparations, and got a call while I was there to drive with AO.

“I’ve done a seat fit, and that’s it to this point. I know the engineers who worked with me in Duqueine before, which is good. Everyone else seems really friendly.

“It’s going to be really interesting. I have a dragon on my helmet so I hoped Spike would stay, but the hype around the new Pegasus is great. I’m looking forward to the atmosphere; it’s something I’ve not experienced before. There are so many good driver line-ups too, and I’m excited to put myself against a lot of big names.”

One of those teams is the Rolex 24 LMP2-winning Crowdstrike Racing by APR, which brings George Kurtz, Peugeot development driver Alex Quinn and Porsche GTP ace Laurin Heinrich to the fight. The trio, who are high on confidence, chose to test at Watkins Glen to prep for the race.

“It went really well,” Quinn noted. “The team has also tested at Ricard and Aragon, so they have a good understanding of the car in this spec. We’re just really confident.

“I’ve known Laurin for a bit now – I was teammates with him at AO (in different cars), we knew each other a bit there, and now being in the same car as him is cool. He’s a very impressive driver.”

McLaren’s Hypercar service provider, United Autosports, is expected to be another contender in both LMP2 Pro/Am and LMP2.

“Everybody is working together so well this year, we’ve had a really positive start to ELMS, a 1-2 in Sebring and we’ve had good Hypercar tests. We have representation in both classes and our target is to be on the podium or win in both,” team manager Max Gregory told RACER.

“We had a planned test at Spa a couple of weeks ago with the Le Mans kit, which we had to cancel. But we’re celebrating our 10th Le Mans, so we’ve got a good starting position. Our drivers have also done lots of pre-event preparation, and the drivers are all familiar to us, even though the line-ups differ from ELMS.”

This year’s race comes at a hugely busy time for the Yorkshire-based team, as it builds up to its Hypercar debut with McLaren in 2027. In addition to prepping for Le Mans and competing in the ELMS, IMSA and historic racing, the team has also begun track testing the MCL-HY LMDh, adding to its packed schedule.

“It’s been challenging for a few of us, including me because I have a handle on all of it,” Gregory added. “But we’ve worked to hire people, we know the magnitude of the project, and we’ve rearranged the company a bit. Tom Hodgson is here now and is head of customer racing, and Jakob Andreasen has been moved around to factory racing director. The company is split in two in some ways.

“It’s super exciting, and when we saw the Hypercar rollout for the first time it was quite emotional. And then we moved to Imola and had a really strong test. The core basis of our previous WEC team, which was high functioning, has made the base of our Hypercar team, and we’ve added some really good people. The bit I am most proud of is gelling people together because it’s been really well.”

A surprise addition to United’s team this weekend is Laurens Vanthoor, who adds to the list of Porsche GTP drivers that will turn laps during testing tomorrow. The Belgian had previously ruled himself out of racing at Le Mans and, as it stands, he still won’t be driving next weekend.

Instead, he’s using Sunday's Test Day opportunity to spend more time with the team he will be racing with next year in the WEC, when he becomes a McLaren Hypercar driver, and make himself eligible to step in to race if needed on short call.

A number of LMGT3 teams hit the town today too, including category newcomer Garage 59, which is fresh from its Spa victory with McLaren, AKKODIS ASP, ahead of its final Le Mans start with the Lexus RC F LMGT3 and Team WRT, with its colorful pair of BMW M4s.

Team WRT brings splashes of color to Le Mans with its BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo entries. Andrea Lorenzina/DPPI

Among the drivers in the class that spoke to the media was Ben Keating, who arrived a day late after two cancelled flights prevented him from joining his No. 33 TF Sport Corvette teammates during Friday’s festivities.

“My third flight finally made it, but I had to go through Minneapolis, Minnesota, a place I’d never been. But I’m happy to be here!” he explained.

Keating is not only a late arrival at Le Mans, but also to the WEC season, after an injury sustained in a mountain bike incident left him requiring surgery before the delayed opener in Imola. It won’t be an easy week for the Texan, who will need to manage his time behind the wheel carefully and lean on his teammates Jonny Edgar and Nicky Catsburg, but he says his presence at this event was “never in doubt.”

“My surgery was March 26th, so I’ve had nine or ten weeks to recover,” he added. “The doctor says I am completely cleared; I can’t hurt it, but it might not feel good. I’m doing some training to get muscle back in my arm and shoulder and chest, but it will be a long time before I have the endurance.

“I did four hours in the sim with high force feedback, and I was sore. I feel capable of doing the race, but I will feel sore on Monday, and that’s fine. I suspect my program will be different. Last year I did five stints at the beginning of the race; this year I won’t do that. I’m also not playing paddle or riding a bike, trying to take care of it.

“It was never in doubt though: I was going to be here regardless!”

With scrutineering in the books, 19 cars from the four classes took part in the now-annual road run for the fans. The weather was gloomy, with intermittent rain showers, but that didn’t deter the local fans and early arrivals from turning out, lining the streets to get a rare opportunity to see the cars run at speed up close.

The time for talking, debating and theorizing is almost over; track action at the Circuit de la Sarthe gets underway tomorrow with the Test Day.