24h Le Mans
Again this year, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest partnered with the Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque association whose mission is to provide operations for children afflicted with heart problems from underdeveloped countries. During 24 Hours of Le Mans week, spectators and celebrities made it possible for 13 children to be saved.
Since 2009 and the first participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for actor Patrick Dempsey, representing the association, the ACO has welcomed Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque, and one team at the start has sponsored the initiative (Panis-Barthez Compétition since 2016). Though the American actor was not on the entry list this year, he did take the time to visit the association's booth in the Village, as did Olivier Panis, Panis-Barthez Compétition's team manager, and the outfit's three drivers Fabien Barthez, Timothé Buret and Nathanaël Berthon.
Spectators and celebrities, who could also purchase the association's products, took turns all week pedaling bicycles to turn kilometers into hard cash. The money collected, in addition to partnerships with Carrefour stores and nine McDonald's restaurants in the Le Mans area (owned by none other than Vaillante Rebellion driver in LMP2 Julien Canal), made it possible for 13 children's lives to be saved.
Lastly, the association arranged for sick children to be able to experience the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a welcome ray of sunshine in these young lives, and they left the circuit happy and smiling, full of irreplaceable memories…
PHOTO: Thanks to Julien Canal, driver with the Vaillante Rebellion LMP2 team at the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans, a child was given a new lease on life.
