24h Le Mans
Eduardo Freitas is Race Director at the FIA (Fédération Internationale Automobile) and is officiating in this role at the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans. He explains the whys and wherefores of one of the lynchpins of the race regulations.
"Well, everything has to have a beginning and an end. Under the FIA’s code of driving, cars should be contained between the two white lines,” states Eduardo Freitas, making the boundaries clear from the outset. "A driver is free to develop her or his own style and technique, within those limits. Abusing a track limit is gaining a sporting advantage, otherwise drivers wouldn't do it. If it's a mistake it's a mistake, but in certain places, the way that they do it, you can clearly see it's not a mistake. However, from where we stand, they are treated as mistakes because if we treated them all as track limits, we would have to report all of them to the stewards."
Freitas explains: “Coming back to the white lines: we do simulate speeds of the cars on track. So, if you allow a car to start cutting on the inside of a turn and going wide on the exit of a turn, the speed will obviously be faster. Then we calculate runoffs. And in the runoffs, you will see tyre barriers, high speed barriers, and so on. The idea is to dissipate energy [to slow the car] if things go wrong. On one hand we're trying to create runoffs long enough to accommodate a car that loses control, but if we then allow cars to go faster than we accounted for, by cutting corners, then we have a safety issue.” The Race Director adds that the calculations include a margin for error.
"There was a mutiny a few years ago here in Le Mans. I found out which driver, a GT driver, was the leader. I believe in discussion, so I called the driver to my office. I said, listen, do you know why we monitor track limits? and he replied that it was a pain, so I asked again. Do you know why we do it? ‘Yeah, it's because of the lines.’ I said, it’s not just that. Here, this is a simulation of a GT car on this circuit. We know that the GT will be doing this racing line, if he loses control here, he will be at this speed, correct? Yeah. What happens if he cuts here and I let him go wide there, he'll be faster, but look at his impact. Energy. If I allow him to go faster, his impact will be bigger, correct? There was a moment of silence and then ‘Ah. We didn't know that.’ Once he understood why we monitor track limits, he totally changed his attitude."
So how does the Race Director monitor track limits? "There are several ways. We have judges of fact, which is a role given to some of the marshals stationed all around the track. Each time a car crosses the line, they note, with pencil and paper, the number and time of day and report it to race control. Another method is by GPS, which is less reliable. We use a combination of GPS and camera in our track limit analysis system. With the camera, we can immediately identify the car and wipe the time for that lap."
The Dunlop Chicane is a sticking point. “Since we did away with tyre warmers, there’s a tendency to cut the right-hand corner.” It’s hard not to make mistakes with cold tyres. But the Race Director could see it wasn’t always a mistake. We gave ourselves a year to find the solution. We came up with GPS geo fencing. We take a close look every time we see that someone has gone wide."
Alterations have been made to the end of the last chicane on the left. Kévin Estre’s 2024 pole position was the subject of debate because the Porsche driver had brushed the boundaries at that spot. "The car was on track, but to be able to ascertain that the car was on the track, you need to zoom in, you need to expand, compensate the pixelization of the image." Freitas took the issue to the ACO. “Between the white line and the edge of the asphalt, you can clearly fit a car." So, they decided to put the white line behind the kerb. It was not so for Test Day, but will be repainted today, assures Freitas. "Would I do the same in Tertre Rouge, for example? No, it's totally out of the question. At Tertre Rouge, we have a different solution to make it dissuasive to go out. At Tertre Rouge and Karting, it's not just a matter of moving a line. You need to keep the line where it is and create a deterrent because they are fast corners. Very fast corners. For the runoffs we don't have a lot of margin to play with. So we need other deterrents. Gravel strips do a magnificent job of that."
Race control detects offences. We report them to another body, the stewards, who decide on the penalty. They take time to refer to the rulebook and look at the driver’s record. How many times has she or he done this during the season? A “regular customer” will face a stiffer penalty. During Free Practice all infringement penalties are cancelled. However, extra penalties can be added for repeated infringements. For example, on Test Day, if a driver carries on after the black/white flag (4th track limit infringement) he or she will be handed a 5-minute stop and go. In the race, drivers have 10 credits. On the 11th they get a warning, and at 12, they are reported to the stewards. From experience, the Race Director knows that drivers will use up all their credits. The aim is to cut corners, but avoid penalties.
