24h Le Mans
Christophe Hamon and Lonni Martins of Duqueine Engineering will be driving a Ferrari in the new “Road to Le Mans” race, the curtain-raiser to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Gentleman driver Christophe Hamon tells us how he feels about racing on the full circuit at Le Mans for the first time.
As soon as Road to Le Mans was announced, Hamon and his teammate Lonni Martins jumped at the chance to drive on the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours circuit. “I think we were among the first to sign up in January. I got the finances sorted out quite quickly. As soon as I heard about it, I wanted to take part!”
Hamon began racing a Porsche 996 GT3 in 2010 and then moved on to the Porsche Carrera Cup and the GT Tour and then the Renault Sport Trophy this year, a championship that runs alongside the European Le Mans Series. Is it a dream come true to drive at Le Mans?
“It’s amazing! I’m really happy to be doing this with Lonni Martins who finished third in the opening round of the Porsche Carrera Cup two years ago.He knows the circuit well. It was important to me to be able to do it in the right conditions. This is the first time GT3s will have driven on the full circuit at Le Mans, which means we’re all in the same boat. We’ve started looking at the driver line-ups. We’re going to enjoy ourselves, but we’ll also be out to get a good result. We’ll be training hard, especially on the simulator.
Do you see this as practice on the circuit with a view to moving on to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in LM GTE Am?
"Absolutely! I’ve wanted to race the 24 Hours of Le Mans since I was a kid. In 2014, I got an insider’s view with IMSA and that confirmed that Le Mans had to be the ultimate target. I mean, honestly, what driver doesn’t want to do Le Mans? Opportunities often come my way, in my professional life and as a racing driver. I haven’t put a time limit on it, but if I get the chance, I’ll grab it with both hands. Although that will mean doing a lot more fitness training (laughs).
The first edition of Road to Le Mans will take place on Saturday 18 June on the 13.629km Circuit de la Sarthe. The hour-long race is for LM P3 and GT3 cars and is the ideal way for drivers to test the circuit for the first time. It enables competitors in the feeder classes to get a feel for the circuit before moving up to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Photo: Christophe Hamon started out in Porsche Carrera Cup and has raced with Sébastien Loeb Racing. He’ll be experiencing the atmosphere at Le Mans for the first time this June.
