Le Mans Classic: Anniversary with Swiss highlights 🎥

According to the organizer, the Peter Auto agency from Paris, a total of more than 200,000 spectators came to the tenth Le Mans Classic - the first since 2018 - at the Circuit de la Sarthe on the four days of the event. Where Sébastien Buemi from Vaud had won the modern 24-hour race with Toyota for the fourth time three weeks earlier, around a thousand Historic Racers from all over the world turned their laps last weekend.

For most of them, the focus was on pure driving fun on this legendary race track, but for some it was also on sporting success.

Six times three races in 24 hours
Divided by periods, six racing fields each completed three runs of around 45 minutes within 24 hours. The addition of the laps completed in the shortest time resulted in the overall classification.

Therefore, not only pure speed counted, but primarily the reliability of the more or less old material, which was quite stressed in high summer temperatures.

As in modern races, luck and misfortune played a part, as did the attention of the pilots in the sometimes heavy traffic. Therefore, the error rate also made the difference between victory and defeat in one or the other case.

Podium with Swiss construction
Among the many Swiss who started, a few were able to make a special impression. Beat Eggimann, for example, came in second overall in his 1976 Cheetah G601 - a Swiss design - in Field 6 of racing cars from 1972 to 1981. In the Classic Endurance Racing Series, in which he is entitled to start number 1 (gallery on the left), Eggimann has already brought home several victories and championship titles.

In all three races, the man from Sissach dueled with the Chevron B36 of the same age driven by compatriot Philipp Brühwiler, who in the end lost out by only two seconds in the aggregate and took third place. Considering the many more powerful three-liter sports cars and Group 5 cars, a sensational performance by the two Swiss.

Beat Eggimann: "You just have to be at the front in all three races. That's why it's harder to get on the podium in the Le Mans Classic than in the championship, and this is the biggest success for me so far. I'm also happy for constructor Chuck Graemiger that a Cheetah has finally made it onto the podium at Le Mans."

Ferrari success for Remo Lips despite time penalty
Remo Lips (gallery on the right) also put in a terrific performance at the wheel of the Ferrari 312 P provided by his former boss. Its three-liter twelve-cylinder engine with around 550 hp was built according to original plans in collaboration between Thomas Schnitzler from Edi Wyss Engineering and technical genius Mario Illien. Enjoy the sight and the crazy sound in the following video.

The 39-year-old from Zurich would have decided Field 5 (1966-71) in his favor if an offense in a yellow phase had not earned him a 5-minute penalty. So, with a 13th (instead of 1st), second and first place in the three heats, Lips "only" finished third overall instead of a superior victory, but at least won the index standings.

Remo Lips: "I admit it, it was a stupid mistake, but also my only one. Otherwise, everything went flawlessly. Le Mans is my favorite track, and it's an absolute honor to be able to drive this sensational car. Many thanks at this point to Noldi Meier!"

Complete results on the Internet
From their lap times in training or individual rankings, other fast Swiss would have had chances (Seiler, Traber, Guenat, Scemama, Beck, etc.) on the podium. But just, the technique or error rate made them at some point a line through the bill.

The classifications of all sessions of all races, including those in the supporting program, are available in this Link to take from it. A detailed and richly illustrated report will soon be published on the homepage of our colleagues from intergas.com appear.

Contribution photo Le Mans start: dreams-cars.ch

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