Dodge Viper GTS-R

Olivier Beretta claimed four of his six class wins at the Le Mans 24 Hours behind the wheel of a Corvette, including three in a row from 2004 to 2006. But it’s another front-engined American muscle car, the Dodge Viper GTS-R, that the Monegasque picks as his favourite, based on his remarkable success with the eight-litre V10 brute.

To a pair of FIA GT2 titles (a third deprived by an erroneously attributed pitlane speeding penalty at Laguna Seca in 1997) and two American Le Mans Series crowns were added two Le Mans class wins and an outright Daytona 24 Hours victory in 2000 – beating scores of faster but less reliable prototypes, and the lead Pratt & Miller Corvette C5.R – all with ORECA-RUN Vipers.

“Daytona overall was totally unexpected at that time, and winning with the GT was something huge, especially against the Corvette,” recalls Beretta, today part of Ferrari’s Competizione GT stable.

Beretta says the Viper was “born with me” – he was involved in its development from the outset in 1996 when it was “not reliable and very super-difficult to drive”. Ergonomics weren’t a priority – “inside, the cockpit was super-hot”, the exhaust situated near the driver’s seat. Beretta recalls “amazing” cockpit temperatures of 43C at 8pm in Texas.

But in a time before Balance of Performance, where the best-prepared crew and fastest car prevailed, the Viper was developed into a formidable force. Paul Ricard tests of 30 hours or more “every month, from January to April” ensured its reliability before Le Mans – in 2000, three of the ORECA Vipers finished in the top five at Daytona.

“We had the money at that time, the ORECA team did an amazing job, and I was there since the first day, so the car was on the development around my driving style,” he says. “In the beginning we were stopping after eight hours, after 15 hours. But at the end of the test, we managed to do 32 hours without stopping and we knew that all the pieces on the car were reliable. And that’s why the Viper at the end was unbeatable.”