FORTY YEARS AGO EXACTLY, THE PRELIMINARY TESTS IN APRIL FOR THE 24 HOURS OF LE MANS 1971 WERE MARKED BY AMAZING PERFORMANCES OF THE PORSCHE 917.

The British team has announced the recruitment of three drivers who will take the wheel of its two Porsche 963 hypercars next season.

Hertz Team JOTA revealed the identity of not one, not two, but three of the six drivers who will defend its colours next season. The British outfit has hired 31-year-old Norman Nato,&nbsp;Phil Hanson&nbsp;(24) and Callum Ilott&nbsp;(25) for the 2024 season.

After competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for teams such as SMP Racing, RLR MSport, Rebellion Racing, Real Team Racing and AF Corse,&nbsp;Norman Nato&nbsp;(six starts, including a second place in 2020) joins the Hypercar class. The Frenchman took the wheel of the #38 Porsche 963 of Hertz Team JOTA at the FIA WEC Rookie Test held the day after the 2023 8 Hours of Bahrain. Nato is also involved in the MissionH24 development programme, a joint venture between the ACO and H24 Project to promote the use of hydrogen in motor racing, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Phil Hanson, meanwhile, has ended a five-year partnership with United Autosports to join JOTA. The young British driver learned the ropes in the highly competitive LMP2 class with the Anglo-American team winning the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans in the category. He will drive the #38 Porsche 963 alongside Oliver Rasmussen.

Callum Ilott&nbsp;is no newcomer to endurance. He raced in the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans at the wheel of the Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GTE Evo (third in the LMGTE Am class). He is also a former member of the Ferrari Academy and the Red Bull driver development scheme. Ilott gained experience in GP3 and Formula Two before switching to IndyCar for three seasons. He will share the #12 Porsche with Nato and Will Stevens.

We now know who five of the six Hertz Team JOTA drivers will be for the 2024 season. The name of the sixth will be revealed&nbsp;very soon.&nbsp;

Hertz Team JOTA reveals three new drivers for 2024

At the 24 Hours of Le Mans Centenary in June, Fabio Scherer representing Inter Europol Competition in the LMP2 category proved determination and daring can overcome pain and adversity.

Fabio Scherer, the Swiss driver of Inter Europol Competition&#39;s ORECA&nbsp;07-Gibson, knows a thing or two about rising to the occasion. To <a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/despite-getting-off-on-the-wrong-foot-inter-europol-competition-secures-a-well-earned-win-57674" target="_blank">win the&nbsp;LMP2 category</a>&nbsp;at the 24 Hours of Le Mans Centenary, he achieved the extraordinary:&nbsp;&quot;The race started really bad for me. At the first pit stop after 50 minutes, the Corvette (#33, Ed.) ran over my foot, and I knew straightaway something was quite bad, but I wasn&#39;t allowed to tell anyone, otherwise I couldn&#39;t finish the race. So, the first job was to look that the foot doesn&#39;t swell up, and after that it was just to control the pain and go through it. That somehow worked quite well because of quite a hard treatment. During driving, I didn&#39;t really feel anything. After that, I knew we could win this race, so I forgot for sure everything about the pain. I was even capable of kind of walking. But Monday after the race, I wasn&#39;t able at all to put any pressure on the foot. The first thing I did was to go to the doctor in Switzerland to see what happened.&quot; Scherer was diagnosed with a triple heel fracture!

<h2>An Epic Victory despite&nbsp;Technical Setbacks</h2>

In addition to the injury, the #34 ORECA presented another hurdle&nbsp;near the end of the race. &quot;At the end of the race, the&nbsp;radio failed and I had no radio. I had to watch the big TV screens to see the gap because our car was quite damaged, so&nbsp;I knew I needed to push like hell and that paid off really well and I think that made it evern more epic.&quot;

Scherer, with&nbsp;teammates&nbsp;Jakub Śmiechowski and&nbsp;Albert Costa, pulled off an upset in a category more competitive than ever. &quot;I think it was&nbsp;the hardest LMP2 field ever. And to win [the race] against all these big names is insane with the smallest team on the grid and with a broken foot, it was three-times broken. For me, the best part was when I overtook Kubica in the morning. I think the party was jumping [because of that]. [The celebration]&nbsp;was a really big party so it was quite intense.&quot;

Antonello Coletta, the head of Ferrari&#39;s&nbsp;endurance racing programme, while attending a&nbsp;screening of the official&nbsp;Centenary film, was asked about Scherer&#39;s outstanding&nbsp;performance and possible recruitment by a team in the Hypercar category, like&nbsp;Ferrari. He responded: &quot;I hope so for him!&quot;

Fabio Scherer: a triple heel fracture for the win!

Ferrari’s historic win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans Centenary might well have been scuppered by an electronic issue. Fortunately for the Italian manufacturer, a close-knit team and a trio of determined drivers saved the day.

Sunday 11 June 2023, 10:32. Ferrari AF Corse driver Alessandro Pier Guidi brings the #51 Ferrari 499P in for fuel. But something was awry. The pit stop dragged on and on. The onboard camera showed Pier Guidi pressing various buttons but the Prancing Horse refused to budge.&nbsp;Then, as if by magic, the twin turbo-powered V6 sprang into life. The Italian camp breathed a collective sigh of relief! However, on the final stop for fuel, 25 minutes from the chequered flag, the gremlin reared its head once again. Would the problem quash the Italian manufacturer&rsquo;s dream of victory? Not at all! Pier Guidi repeated the procedure and set off again on his quest for a historic success.&nbsp;&ldquo;It was more stressful the first time the car failed to restart,&rdquo; said Antonello Coletta, Head of Ferrari Attivit&agrave; Sportive GT. &ldquo;As it didn&rsquo;t reoccur on the following two refuelling stops, we&rsquo;d almost forgotten about it when it happened again on the final pit stop.&rdquo;

So, what was the problem with the 499P? When questioned at the preview of the official film of the 24 Hours of Le Mans Centenary, Coletta replied:&nbsp;&ldquo;We encountered an electronic problem. When you restart the car, it activates a procedure that inspects the electronic system. If the slightest fault is detected, the car won&rsquo;t restart. We therefore had to find a solution to overcome the issue. Alessandro remained unbelievably cool and simply followed the engineer&rsquo;s instructions to get the car running again. It turned out that it was a small 12-volt battery that caused the problem. The most important thing was that our engineers quickly established a procedure to restart the car. It shows that our victory was achieved by the whole team. Human endeavour still has its place at Le Mans and that&rsquo;s what makes this race so special.&rdquo;

<h2>A win that will remain in the team&rsquo;s heart for ever</h2>

Pier Guidi also said a few words about this incident late in the race:&nbsp;&ldquo;I think it was easier for me inside the car than it was for my team-mates watching! I was just focused on trying to do the procedure. I already did it a few hours before and it worked, so I was just hoping that it would go the same way. When the engine started and I was able to leave the pit lane, it was a relief.&rdquo; 
The Italian racer also admitted that this win on the biggest endurance stage had had an unexpected impact on his life.&nbsp;&ldquo;I had already won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice in LMGTE Pro, but this outright win changed my life. Now, people have started to recognise me when I&rsquo;m out and about. Hardly a day goes by without my thinking back to our win and to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. I have the picture of our win as my wallpaper so I see it every time I open my laptop!&rdquo; he explained.

Ferrari will return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans next June to defend its crown. <a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/antonio-giovinazzi-ferrari-af-corse-the-challenge-will-be-even-tougher-58033" target="_blank">In an earlier interview</a>, Antonio Giovinazzi declared that the team will keep on working &ldquo;flat-out&rdquo;.&nbsp;Ferrari AF Corse is still a young team with room for improvement in several areas.&nbsp;&ldquo;Our strategy will be working every day on improving,&rdquo; he said.

How a 12-volt battery almost put a stick in Ferrari's Centenary spokes

Motor racing fans in France will continue to enjoy full coverage of the FIA World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans following a two year extension deal with French broadcaster, l’Équipe.

The free-to-air media powerhouse has signed a deal with the world&rsquo;s premier endurance racing series to televise the FIA WEC until the end of 2025.

L&rsquo;&Eacute;quipe group which encompasses TV channels, a website, application, newspaper and magazine will publicise the WEC as it takes on eight races in 2024 with 14 manufacturers going head-to-head over two classes. The newspaper and magazine l&rsquo;&Eacute;quipe will also offer exclusive editorial throughout the year covering special WEC-related topics and interviews.

Furthermore, the L&#39;&Eacute;quipe website and app will offer fans real-time race results, rankings and action clips.&nbsp;L&rsquo;&Eacute;quipe live digital channels&nbsp;will broadcast the entire WEC season live, in the TV area of the L&rsquo;&Eacute;quipe site and app.

Round one of the 2024 WEC season will take place in Doha, Qatar (1-3 March).

Fr&eacute;d&eacute;ric Lequien,&nbsp;FIA WEC CEO: &ldquo;As we approach our biggest season yet with 14 manufacturers and the all-new LMGT3 category, it is fantastic to have extended our partnership with l&rsquo;&Eacute;quipe for a further two years. It is our goal to make the WEC as accessible as possible for our fans and being able to watch the events from home is key. L&rsquo;&Eacute;quipe&rsquo;s impressive household reach and high-quality media coverage can certainly help us achieve this goal in France.&rdquo;

Pierre Fillon,&nbsp;President of Automobile Club de Ouest:&nbsp;&quot;In this new golden age of endurance racing, it is crucial to offer our fans and manufacturers as much coverage as possible.&nbsp;L&#39;&Eacute;quipe &nbsp;is a high-quality broadcaster which allows us to offer everyone to experience the WEC and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the best possible conditions. I would like to thank the Amaury Group for its trust and the quality of its offer.

L’Équipe renews partnership with FIA WEC and 24 Hours of Le Mans

&nbsp;

This new long tail version of the 917 was the result of an advanced aerodynamic study. It appeared on track on the 18th of April 1971. At the wheel, Jackie Oliver set a time of 3&#39;13&#39;&#39;6 and over 250 km/h average speed. The British driver reached the same dizzying top speed of 386 km/h on the Mulsanne Straight. In June, his teammate Pedro Rodriguez set the 3&#39;13&#39;&#39;9 pole position time in the 917 (#18). After leading the first eleven hours of racing, the Anglo-Mexican duo&nbsp;retired at 5am due to an oil pressure problem.

On June 11, 1988, Roger Dorchy established a new race record speed of 405 km/h on the Mulsanne straight (Hunaudi&egrave;res) driving his WM-Peugeot, but Pedro Rodriguez is likely to remain for eternity the author of the fastest pole position in the history of 24 Hours. And since April 18, 1971, no lap has been faster than Jackie Oliver&#39;s on the Le Mans circuit.

Jean-Philippe Doret

Photo: 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, 12 &amp; 13 June 1971. This final version of the Porsche 917 LH (#18) is without doubt one of the most beautiful and innovative cars ever seen at Le Mans.&nbsp;

24H LE MANS

18 April 1971 : double record for the Porsche 917

Related News

Hertz Team JOTA reveals three new drivers for 2024

Fabio Scherer: a triple heel fracture for the win!

How a 12-volt battery almost put a stick in Ferrari's Centenary spokes

L’Équipe renews partnership with FIA WEC and 24 Hours of Le Mans

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