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Safety Car driver pulls off ridiculous drift during Le Mans rain delay


Safety Car driver pulls off ridiculous drift during Le Mans rain delay

Rain interrupted the second and final day of qualifying this year, turning the four hours of Thursday running into a battle against the elements. During the night session, a deluge descended on the track and with the FIA World Endurance Championship’s race director Eduardo Freitas not wanting any cars getting bent up unnecessarily before the race, a red flag was issues to stop the race. During that hour-long red flag, Freitas sent the Audi R8 Safety Car out to inspect the track condition.

On its first lap out, the Safety Car driver was absolutely caning the Audi and soon found one of the many sections with deep standing water. The R8 pitched sideways hard and like a professional drifter, the Safety Car’s driver hung the tail out before reining it in. With the drivers all in their respective garages watching the TV feed, a cheer went up in the Le Mans pitlane as the driver pulled the Audi back straight and continued flogging it around the damp circuit. After an hour’s delay of hot laps, the Safety Car driver reported conditions good enough to resume the final qualifying session and Freitas gave the command for the track to return to green flag conditions.

So just who was this mystery Safety Car driver? It turned out to be someone with a bit of experience at the famed Circuit de Sarthe: French driver Yannick Dalmas. If you didn’t know, Dalmas won the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times with four different cars: Peugeot 905 (1992), Dauer-Porsche 962 (1994), McLaren F1 GTR (1995), and the BMW V12 LMR (1999). Dalmas also occasionally gets mentioned for his crazy airborne excursion at Road Atlanta during the first Petit Le Mans. This drift was a considerably more grounded moment and one of the big highlights of an otherwise-dour day at Le Mans.

By the way, the world’s biggest race gets big-time Safety Car drivers: One of the other licensed drivers for the Audi R8 is none other than Mr. Le Mans, nine-time winner Tom Kristensen.


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One thought on “Safety Car driver pulls off ridiculous drift during Le Mans rain delay

  1. Chevy Hatin' Mad Geordie

    So does the safety car has its own safety car for conditions like this?

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