RETRO: The day Porsche GT Team won overall at Petit Le Mans

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emailBy Marshall Pruett | October 17, 2020 1:31 PM

Porsche is responsible for two of the biggest upsets of the century in North American sports car racing. The first, at the 2003 Rolex 24 At Daytona, was produced as the former Grand-Am Rolex Series introduced its new Daytona Prototype formula which, thanks to absences of speed and reliability, made an overall win possible with a Porsche 966 GT3-RS.

As DPs faltered or failed, second-tier GT cars moved up the running order until The Racer’s Group held a commanding lead and won with a 56-mile margin of victory to the closest prototype. And while Daytona 2003 is remembered for the alarming overall win for a GT car, it also came at the dawn of a new prototype category, where struggles for the unproven DP models were anything but a surprise.

The second overall win, taken five years ago at Petit Le Mans, was the real shocker as the factory Porsche GT Team mollywhopped the entire field with sheer pace. Run under heavy rainfall for most of the 10-hour contest, the rear-engine Porsche 911 RSRs were perfectly suited for the treacherous conditions. And thanks to Michelin’s presence in IMSA’s GT Le Mans class, the rest of the grid — saddled with uncompetitive rain tires from official series supplier Continental — were in for a humbling day and night at Road Atlanta.

So, with the 2020 edition of Petit Le Mans here to enjoy, let’s take a long and detailed look back at the 2015 race where England’s Nick Tandy, France’s Patrick Pilet, and Austria’s Richard Lietz made history while embarrassing DPs, LMP2s, and 30-plus entries who were helpless to stop the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR from conquering all comers.

NICK TANDY: “Obviously, we had the forecast and we could see there was a likelihood of rain for the race day, same as everyone else. But going through practice you tend to always try to set a car up for dry conditions, mainly. Because you never know how the forecast can change and you can always run a wet race with a dry setup, but it’s very difficult to be competitive in a dry race if you’ve got a full wet setup on the car.

“We planned basically for setting the car up for a dry race, and (at) the (wet) night (practice) session we got some running, but we knew from previous times that we’d run in the wet that year, on the tire that we had, that basically going out and putting a wet tire on a dry set up, the car was always pretty good. Which is obviously what you want your wet tires to be, to work at, so we got a bit of practice.”

Porsche was one of few teams to use the rainy night practice to work on rain chassis setups.

PATRICK PILET: “(It was) confidential tires like we use in WEC, because at this time it was these kinds of tires we use for all GTLM. This tire was mega in the rain — it was really, really good. We had a night practice and I remember at this time it was pouring a lot and there were not so many cars driving because it was a lot of aquaplaning. I remember at this time we decided to cut the tires because we can make extra grooves when it’s a lot of water just to get a less aquaplaning.
Porsche’s night setup work was put to good use. Image by Marshall Pruett

“I was in the car at this time in the night just at the end — nobody once really asked to drive because it was really difficult conditions. We just say, ‘OK, let’s just try to see if it’s really efficient or not’ and it was — it was really good. So we kept this in mind this, and later in the race it was something really important.”

With a two-car team to prepare for the race and a GTLM championship on the line, a hard crash by Earl Bamber in the sister No. 912 RSR in qualifying stressed the teams resourced prior to the race. The No. 911, with Tandy on board for qualifying, also faced adversity when in post-session technical inspection, the car’s front ride height was found to be below the minimum allowed in the rules. Despite showing front-running pace, both cars were sent to the back of the field for the start — one for an infraction, and the other due to a chassis change as a result of the damage done to the next to the No. 912.

PILET: “Just to qualify was also in difficult conditions. If I remember well, Earl (Bamber) was on the pole, Nick was P2; unfortunately Earl had a big crash. To be honest, at this time in qualifying, it was more or less the guy would take the most of the risk (would take pole).”

With Petit Le Mans serving as the 2015 season finale, Porsche’s IMSA program manager says the only matter of interest entering the event was securing the drivers’, teams’ and manufacturers’ championships. Holding a tiny advantage over the BMW Team RLL outfit and the No. 25 BMW Z8 meant any issues in the race for the No. 911 RSR crew would hand the titles over to their German rival.

STEFFAN HOLLWARTH: “It was not only the weather forecast that was a concern, but also all the three championships were still not decided. And we headed into the weekend with only a three-point gap to BMW and the 25 car. This is something where everybody was a bit nervous before getting into the event.”

TANDY: “Well, yeah, this is it. So we had all the stress on, it must have been the Friday night after the qualifying, because the team had to re-tub the 912 car, so it was late and stressful for them. And then basically as soon as everyone got up early on the Saturday for the race, it became pretty clear that it was going to be pissing down all day, which is how it turned out. Road Atlanta is one of those tracks where you make a small mistake, you have a huge accident. You don’t often see small crashes at Road Atlanta.

“You put a couple of wheels onto an exit curve, something like this early in the race, it’ll be game over for sure. So, yeah. Going into that race, our mindset was to get through the first eight hours. And we knew from previous experience that our car and our tire was good against our GTLM opposition. Even though we were starting right at the back, there wasn’t really a lot of stress. We were just cruising around. And, as Patrick mentioned earlier, even driving on the straight and the aquaplaning, it was the risk of something happening or making a mistake was huge all the time. Even if you’re just driving around at 90 percent, the concentration needed to keep the car on track and make sure that nothing happened was huge. So it was not your typical start and preparation to a long endurance race.”
1 2 3Petit Le Mans, Porsche, IMSA

 

With their Michelin rain tires at full force, the GTLM field motored forward as soon as the green flag waved. The Prototype class, the LMPCs and the GT Daytonas appeared helpless in the driving rain, and only one outlier — a GTLM Porsche 911 RSR sponsored by Falken Tire — was able to keep up with the factory Porsches, Corvettes, BMWs, and an independent Ferrari.

PILET: “The Falken (car) also was quick at this time. And I remember our engineer Gary (Davies) just tell me, ‘Oh, let the Falken go. You attack the (BMW)’ because the (BMW) was just in front of me. I knew it was not the moment to take any risk because the race will be long, it will be a lot of cautions and everything. And at one point I see the Falken struggling and I say to Gary, ‘OK, now I go,’ then I overtake the Falken. I overtake the (BMW). I just open the gap to him and I keep pushing. I overtake many cars, also Prototypes, because it starts to rain more and more. And the aquaplaning was even worse. And our car was OK — it’s still super difficult to drive because you can lose a car every moment.”

In a car filled with rainmeisters, Pilet kept charging until the only thing in front of the No. 911’s windshield was traffic to lap. It was at this point where the first thoughts of being able to capture an overall victory appeared.

PILET: “I was still pushing because if you don’t push, you are losing temperatures and it’s even more difficult. At one point, Gary said, ‘Patrick, how do you feel? You’re leading the race overall now.’ And I was like, ‘Gary, I don’t care about leading overall. I just care about where is the (BMW)?’ Because the (BMW) was also super quick. They are P3 or P4 overall at this time. But at this moment after the stint, when I jumped out, I realized, for sure the car was mega. But I realized that maybe there is a chance to win overall.”
The conditions not only made it impossible for the drivers to relax, but essential for them to keep pushing. Image by Marshall Pruett

With most of the opposition holding on to the best of their ability with inferior rain tires, spins and crashes became a routine part of the race. More than 35 laps were run under caution periods during the first 100 tours as the pace car was pressed into service five times. For the leading No. 911 Porsche, the prolonged cautions meant IMSA was obligated to run through a complex pit stop procedure where prototypes were given first access to pit lane, and once they were finished, GTs were allowed to complete their stops. Despite being at or near front, the wonky pit sequence rules, which did not account for GTs leading, meant Tandy, Pilet, or Lietz were forced to take the restarts behind all the prototypes they’d passed before the caution.

PILET: “Every time you have a safety car, the prototypes restart in front of you, in front of the GTs. So we have to overtake them again and again, every caution. So it was nearly impossible on paper, even if we are faster, because with the spread, with everything to overtake, it’s quite difficult. But I think after this first stint, I realized maybe there is a chance.

TANDY: “For me, it was more when we were passing prototypes, say, for the first three or four stints I was in the car, they were just a nuisance, because I knew I was just trying to get a gap to the GTLM cars that we were fighting for the championship. And yeah, there were two or three decent speed prototypes — I think there was a couple of the Action Express (Corvette DPs). But a lot of the time, you’d come up to a car, maybe it’s got a new driver in or something. And they were five, six, eight seconds a lap slower than we were, trying to find their feet. And of course, you’ve got to appreciate that as well. A lot of them, they were just in the way.

“So then you restart after the caution, there might be 10 or 12 of these really much slower cars in front of you. And the restarts are where it was really difficult. I remember getting stuck behind one guy. He was doing a fairly decent job, but we clearly had a lot more pace in the slower corners, but I couldn’t get past him. And then every time he got to the straight, coming out of Turn 7, he’d have enough speed down the straights to be able to pull past. And all the time, I’ve got the BMWs behind, trying to keep them behind. So, that there was still a focus for me up to right up towards the end. But we were still racing the GTLM cars, not the prototypes.

PILET: “Our job was just to stay focused, to avoid (the worst parts of the) downhill sections where every lap, you lose the car without aquaplaning. For me when I was in the car — and I think it was the same for Nick — there was no, GTD no GTLM, no prototype. It was just cars. And we just tried to move forward all the time, all the time, all the time.”

Conditions worsened as the day went on, and by the halfway point, the grass and dirt lining the 2.5-mile circuit surrendered. With the sides of the track unable to take on and hold more water, rain landing on the racing surface stopped draining away, which led to big rivers flowing across the tarmac. IMSA race director Beaux Barfield called for the first red flag, lasting nearly 90 minutes, to try and implement a few fixes.

TANDY: “When it becomes difficult and dangerous in the rain is when you have the standing water. And I absolutely remember watching folks going out and doing their best to try and clear the water and digging these great ditches. At one point the area around the track, it was completely waterlogged and there were places, like Patrick said earlier, down the esses, the water’s just running off the banks.

“And when you’ve got rivers all over the place; there was three or four on the back street, there was a big old river between Turn 5 and 6 over the crest and down in the dip. At that point, the speed that you can go is kind of out the window. It’s more about just trying to keep the car on the track and to be really fair, they did a good job and they red-flagged the race for a reason. It was time to do it because I think if they’d left it much longer, there would have been big crashes and probably half the field off the track.”

PILET: “I agree with Nick. I mean, it’s not so often you see a race director or going on track and checking by himself with a car, driving on track with a normal car to see the amount of water.”

 

RETRO: The day Porsche GT Team won overall at Petit Le Mans

Image by Marshall Pruett
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emailBy Marshall Pruett | October 17, 2020 1:31 PM

Following four more cautions periods that led into the extended red flag, IMSA prepared to wave the green flag after six hours and 37 minutes of the 10-hour race had elapsed. With sunset on the horizon, the daunting task of night racing, with heavy water spray and a slippery racing surface to contend with, became a factor for the remaining survivors. As the field prepared to go racing again, some began to wonder if the event would reach its intended 10-hour distance. For Tandy, whose No. 911 Porsche was shuffled behind a pair of GTLM Corvettes, and the No. 31 Action Express Corvette DP, a sense of urgency was felt at the Lap 178 restart.

TANDY: “We could see what was happening and the fact that we have this red flag and the fact that there was another caution and another caution. I was in the car at the time and I do remember thinking this could be ended at some point soon. I’ve got no idea how the two Corvettes ended up in front of us. Maybe there was a pit cycle. But then, we’ve got this (BMW) behind us that we’re fighting for a championship. So for example, if we go green and I get caught up with the Corvette, and the BMW gets past us, it could be the end of the race. It could be the end of a year, because that’s the end of the championship. So we managed to get past both Corvettes. And yes, you know the race could be ended anytime soon, but at the same time it could have gone on for another two hours.”

After quickly clearing the Corvettes, Tandy set his sights on whomever was next. It happened to be overall leader Eric Curran in the AXR Corvette DP.

TANDY: “The plan was we go as fast as we can, try our best to do our best to beat the cars that were (in) our championship, and if we happen to be quick enough, to pass prototypes and move up the overall order, great. You know, if we get an overall podium, great. As long as it helps our chances of winning (the three GTLM) championships.”

By the end of Lap 180, Curran’s prototype had 8.1 seconds over Tandy’s Porsche 911 RSR. Seven laps later on the 187th tour, the GT car swept by in a daring pass to reclaim first, and by Lap 190, an advantage of 9.9 seconds was built to the plummeting DP.

TANDY: “We were catching, catching, catching and luckily, we were able to go flat out, down the back straight. I managed to get close enough under braking, and with our traction, I was able to get on the inside on the exit of Turn 10, because this is where we were really strong. So I just managed to get it done. So yeah, this was pretty cool. And then you start to realize, well, yeah, now we’re actually at the head of the field. This is good, but let’s see what happens. There’s potentially another two hours still to go.”

Owing to the race moving into the final hours, and the rainfall refusing to slow, taking the No. 911 to the top of the timing and scoring screen held a new significance for the Porsche GT Team. Despite leading a few times earlier in the race, Tandy’s charge to first after the red flag let his teammates and pit crew start to dream of an epic upset.

PILET: I was in the driver lounge — I was not in the pit because it was pouring and I just tried to relax, because I was supposed to jump in the car after Nick. So I was with Nick’s wife, Brittany in the lounge, and the moment Nick takes the lead and I hear everybody so happy from (the pit box) who is like 100 meters away. And also, on the radio, Gary comments, ‘Good job, keep going and stay focused’ and everything.

“A few laps later, when there is another caution, and I was like, ‘Ah, again. We did all the job and we have to do it again and again and again.’ And I stopped to think, OK, I need to be ready, because maybe in a few laps, I will have to jump in the car again. And then this magic flag arrived.”

Expecting more cautions and more restarts behind prototypes in his future, Pilet was stunned as the race’s next development was revealed. Tandy’s push to take the lead by Lap 190 would prove fateful; after seven hours and 51 minutes, IMSA unfurled the checkered flag to wave on Lap 199.

PILET: “I just didn’t realize at the beginning. Brittany told me, ‘You won, you won overall!’ And I was like, ‘No, no way. It’s not over. It’s not possible.’ You know, like I can believe it. They said, no, look it’s is a checkered flag. I was totally shocked. It was really a magic moment.”

TANDY: So, we had this final yellow, and I get the call, ‘Caution’s out, caution’s out,’ and you’re like, ‘Oh, OK, here we go again.’ And I think I was probably on the back straight somewhere and yet we came around the corner, and we’ve got no idea it was the last lap, no idea the checkered flag was coming out. And the first I knew that the race was being checkered was I came around the corner and I saw the flag man waving the flag, and I think I radioed it to the team and said, ‘It’s over. We’ve won it. We’ve won it.’ Even before anyone else had realized.
The still not quite believing winners celebrate. Image courtesy of Porsche North America

“So then all the celebrations started. We’ve completed our goals for a season’s worth of racing, to go out there and win the manufacturers’ championship, teams’ championship and the drivers’ championship. We’ve completed everything that we’ve set out to do, so the emotion of that is huge enough, but then when you realized that you’ve just won this race overall. This historic race that numerous teams and drivers try years and years to have results in and go there for special reasons to try and win this race. We’ve just gone out and bloody won it in a 911 against all these prototypes! So, it was just amazing and it was definitely the best cool-down lap that I’ve had.

“And yeah, seeing everyone’s faces in the pit lane, it was just amazing. Jumping out of the car and seeing Patrick and Richie, just the faces of people, it was like shock mixed in with pure emotional enjoyment. But also there was this sense of relief that we’d got through this torturous time, this torturous race, cleanly and we’ve managed to come out as the winners.”

PILET: “This year was really special and we called the dream year and the dream team, also. It was just the achievement of so many people working on this and I remember like it was yesterday.”

A conversation with one of Porsche’s legendary drivers helped Pilet to fully appreciate the meaning of their overall victory.

PILET: “The emotion was totally crazy, but to be honest, I still didn’t realize maybe until it Rennsport, I met Vic Elford, and he talked to me about this race. He said, ‘I watched this race, and you didn’t realize because you’re doing your job and then you just winning another race, but it was the one and only overall victory for Porsche at Petit. It was something unique and especially doing it with the GT cars is still something unbelievable and nobody can take this away from us.’ When you have a legend like Vic, to tell you that, you just realize it even more how big was this moment. It was something unique.”

TANDY: “The beauty that we have now is that older races, they’re always going to be available online and I’ve watched the race more than five times. Whenever I’m feeling low for whatever reason, I can always go on YouTube and I can watch the day when we made history. You get to see that we were very lucky, that it is documented like this now. It’s just as Patrick said, you don’t kind of realize the enormity of what happened.”
Spot the outlier. Image by Michael Levitt/LAT

The gravity of Porsche’s 2015 Petit Le Mans win was immortalized by the Road Atlanta circuit when it added graphics along the front straight to honor the event’s overall winners. Among the prototypes, a misfit GT is found.

TANDY: “We’ve got Audis and Peugeots, and then you see a 911 in there as well. There’s just one, just mixed in among all these very different-looking (prototypes), and you look at that and you think, wow! I was part of the thing that did that. It’s something that history can never change. Careers can change and racing can change, but the fact that we were there on that day and managed to complete what we did as a group of people can never be taken away from us. I mean, I can feel the energy now, just talking about it, bringing it all back. The emotion that went into that day and the kind of the effort that went into that race, it was, I’m pretty, sure the most emotional time I’ve had within motorsports.”

 

Only two mistakes were made on Porsche’s perfect day five years ago at the aquatic Petit Le Mans.

HOLLWARTH: “I made a bad decision to bring new shoes to the race. The first thing I did when I arrived at the hotel, I threw them in the trash bin. I wasn’t equipped with proper waterproof shoes, and from my viewpoint, the worst thing that could happen at a racetrack is if you have wet feet. Arriving at the hotel room, I was so mad at this pair of shoes that this was the first thing I did — throw them away!”
A cherished trophy, even if it doesn’t quite tell the story… Image courtesy of Nick Tandy

While Hollwarth’s problem was easily resolved, the Briton and the Frenchman have an enduring gripe to reveal.

TANDY: “Well one point I will say, because I was sorting my trophies out the other day, possibly the only bad thing about the weekend is the fact my trophy says, ‘First, GTLM.’ We never got a trophy that said ‘First, Overall.’”

PILET: “Yeah, that’s true. You’re totally right, I still have the trophy in front of me and they say ‘First Place Driver, GTLM.’”