The DragonSpeed team is ready for this years 24 Hours of Le Mans.
That doesn’t sound like news, since they were selected to participate in the FIA World Endurance Championship, including the 24 hours race, back in February.
But the team had a serious accident with their LMP1 car during the qualifying for the 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps three weeks ago.
That put the entry in doubt for Le Mans, since their BR1 Engineering LMP1 car was so heavily damaged in the accident plus the exaction of Pietro Fittipaldi, who suffered injuries to both legs, that it’s not longer possible to use.
Photo: JJ Media
The car is different from the two that SMP Racing uses, since DragonSpeed runs with a Gibson engine, while SMP runs an AER. SMP Racing themselves will use a spare chassis, since their #17 was damaged by Matevos Isaakyan’s aerobatics, so they need a new chassis too.
Elton Julian, team owner of DragonSpeed, has announced today Friday, that they are working together with Dallara to build a new BR1- Gibson, so they can participate at the Le Mans test day, which will be run on Sunday next week. It’s a battle against time, but the team is optimistic about being ready.
Pietro Fittipaldi is currently undergoing recovery and rehabilitation in Indianapolis, but he wasn’t part of the Le Mans anyway, where Ben Hanley, Henrik Hedman and Renger van der Zande will run the French classic.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans will be run on 16-17 June at Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans in France.
