Opinion: Gary Watkins

It may not have been the greatest racing spectacle, but it was vital that the legendary enduro went ahead this year, and the new qualifying format was a positive at least

“No Le Mans would’ve ripped the carpet out from under teams. It could’ve destroyed an industry”

It turned out to be a race to endure rather than enjoy, though I didn’t head to the Le Mans 24 Hours last week with that mentality. I was actually relishing the prospect of another close battle between two Toyotas unencumbered by the success handicaps that have made a mockery of this season’s World Endurance Championship, and perhaps a challenge from Rebellion Racing.

A cracking race at the sharp end of the field would have lifted the mood of the endurance racing community in these difficult times. We didn’t get it and had to make do with some decent action in and among the classes. Yet the quality of the racing last weekend wasn’t important in the big picture. The important thing was that Le Mans went ahead.

Le Mans could have survived cancellation this year. It’s big enough to bounce back from adversity, just as it has in the past. The WEC, however, is more fragile, as are the teams racing in it and the sister European Le Mans Series. Had the 24 Hours been cancelled, it would have been a disaster for what I call the rank and file of the two series, the teams who put together budgets for the most part with paying drivers.

No Le Mans, the race around which the majority sell their programmes, would have ripped the carpet out from under them. It could have destroyed an industry.

That’s why Le Mans organiser the Automobile Club de l’ouest and its Le Mans Endurance Management offshoot (which runs the WEC), the FIA, and multiple governmental departments in the locality and beyond should be congratulated. They made the race happen and, as far as I could see, largely without hitch or hiccup.

The condensed schedule, with practice and qualifying on Thursday and Friday rather than Wednesday and Thursday, was punishing for everyone involved. It was brutal for a journalist, so I can only imagine what it was like for the mechanics.

But it was a price worth paying. As was running the event without spectators. If that was the only way Le Mans could go ahead this year, then so be it.

The absence of fans gave Le Mans a very different feel last week. The thing that struck me most was how quiet it was.

That may sound a strange thing to say given 59 cars were taking part in the main event, but there were times when I felt like I was at a general test day somewhere.

I thought the absence of bodies in the grandstands would make the sound of the cars more painful as it reverberated back and forth across the start-finish straight. That wasn’t the case, so I guess I’ve never realised before how intense the hubbub of Le Mans noise is.

The fans should be back in June 2021 and, when they return, they’ll have something new to look forward to – one of the positives of 2020’s event was the introduction of a new qualifying format. I had my doubts about the Hyperpole system, because it goes against the Le Mans tradition of a drawn-out qualifying process over multiple hours of track time spanning two days. I wouldn’t have missed some of those amazing last-gasp poles on Thursday for the world. Tomas Enge’s efforts in GT1 with Prodrive’s Ferraris and Aston Martins in 2004-06 most readily spring to mind.

And the anticipation as the clock clicked down in the break between the two sessions on Thursday always tingled my nerves. There was a mad 20 or so minutes from 10pm when darkness hadn’t quite fallen but the temperatures had. So often pole position was set at this time.

In keeping with tradition, that’s more or less when the Hyperpole session was originally planned before the race was rescheduled. The difference from days gone past will be that we are guaranteed to see cars going for the pole.

Hyperpole has been a work in progress since last year, and there was a tweak leading up to race week. Two extra sets of tyres were added to the rubber allocation for the cars making it through to the top-six shootout. It would have made absolutely no sense to require teams to save tyres from their quota for free practice and the opening qualifying session. The point of Hyperpole is that you are giving six drivers in each class a more or less clear track to go for a time, so give them fresh tyres as well.

There’s still room for improvement, I reckon. Hyperpole itself worked fine, but the means by which the teams got there could be refined. The 45-minute opening qualifying session exacerbated the age-old problem of going for a time at Le Mans: getting a clear lap. There were 50-plus cars on track – a few didn’t make it – so it was out of kilter with the Hyperpole session itself.

So how about splitting the opening session into two, one for the prototypes and one for the GTE cars? It would undoubtedly be fairer and more in keeping with what happens the following day.

I’m looking forward to Hyperpole as the sun goes down on Thursday, 10 June next year. Just as I’m looking forward to the sights, sounds and smells that come with 300,000 people packed into the circuit. It wasn’t the same without them.