Our 24 hours of Le Mans
O Four Six
September 30, 2019
iRacing Nürburgring 24, 2021 edition
April 25, 2021The 24 Hours of Le Mans (24 Heures du Mans) is the world’s oldest active endurance race, held since 1923 near Le Mans, France, at Circuit de la Sarthe. It is one of the most prestigious auto races in the world. Our 24 Hours of Le Mans got off to a rough start. O Four Six Racing started qualification with one less driver than intended.
Our first Endurance Qualification
Gino “Ginology” Kelleners put up a great effort and put a time of 3:56:324 on the board. This landed them P40 on the grid. At first, it wasn’t sure they could qualify at all due to connection issues, but the iRacing servers showed their worth.
First stint
Gino was chosen to defend his qualification position, but disaster struck in the first lap. A BMW M8 GTE punted him shamelessly which gave him a 4x incident as if this wasn’t enough another Porsche RSR driver under-steered right into his side. The rest of the stint went well, a few straights were blocked by cars that spun, but Gino kept his cool and just steered around them. He had a few incidents (2x) but he managed his tires and fuel very well. At the end of the stint we had some damage, but nothing a few minutes of repairs couldn’t handle.
Second and third stint
Julien “Dankerzone” Goertz took over from Gino, and right away he made a mistake which will be seen a lot during this 24 Hours of Le Mans, he forgot to put on his pit limiter. This gave him a 26 second stop and go penalty, which he redeemed after his first lap. The rest of the stint went well, he got 3x incidents which were due to off-tracks. A Ferrari 488 GTE also mistook him for a punching bag but luckily he didn’t receive a 4x incident for this contact. He drove two stints back to back with a VR-headset on. He gave the wheel over to Yanick “MrBlockchain” Dols at p34.
Fourth and fifth stint
Yanick began his first stint right after Julien was finished. His goal for this 24 Hours race was consistency. He certainly achieved that when he drove the car back to the pits he only had a 4x incident due to a small contact incident. Afterward, he said that this was his fault, but that doesn’t neglect that he rose 2 positions during his stint to P32. Thankfully the contact didn’t inflict any damage so that Bram could take over without any repairs. Here we see the return of the stop and go penalty for the second and third time. But after those less fortunate penalties, he showed his worth and put in the fastest lap in of our whole 24 Hours: 3:56:987. When Bram finished his stint the team sneaked his way into p30.
Sixth, seventh and eight stint
It’s getting dark at Circuit de la Sarthe. This isn’t dampening the spirits of the O Four Six Racing drivers though. Gino returns at the wheel at dusk and shows everybody on the track how it is done, he drove a flawless stint but on his lap in the last corner he went a millimeter too far into the gravel and lost the back of the Porsche 911 RSR. The result was that the team got 2 extra incident points. Bram took over from him and drove a great stint, but he messed up a little and got slammed with 11 minutes of repair. Gino took over from him and he struggled a bit with his nyctalopia. At the end of his stint, he had a problem with an impatient driver which punted him into the Ford chicanes. Too bad for the 4x incident but the show must go on. After Gino we saw the return of Yanick at the wheel of the Porsche, he also had a bit of difficulty with adjusting to the dark but he pushed through. He finished his stint with 8x incidents, which were largely due to contact from drivers who were inpatient. After his stint O Four Six fought their way back to p34.
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10th, 11th, 12th and 13th stint
Julien started his second double stint with a flawless stint, he drove his way back to p31 and he managed his tires pretty well. His focus dwindled a bit on his second stint though and he got a few off tracks, this did affect their overall track position so O Four Six racing is back at p32. After this double stint, Yanick got back in the driver’s seat and he had a fantastic pace, his computer chose to freeze up on him though which had as a result that he drove off track. OFS racing was very lucky that he didn’t hit anything, he stopped his stint a few laps early just to be sure and Julien took over from him so he could restart his computer. Julien drove a steady pace and got one off track during his stint, after the stint the team’s track position was p27. The team has now officially crossed the 12-hour mark, just 12 hours left to go!
14th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th stint
Bram took over from Julien and started to drive a great pace in his double stint, he only had a loss of control and managed to finish the stint with no further problems. After this, disaster struck hard for Gino, he had to race his stint on 1 monitor, the other 2 seized to work, while disoriented he had an unlucky crash. After some repairs, he finished his double stint without any further problems. After this Bram drove the team to sunrise without any major issues.
19th, 20th, 21th, 22th, 23th, 24th and 25th stint
Bram drove another stint in which he drove a really fast, sub 4 minute pace. After this Gino took over with a blistering pace which wasn’t much slower than the fastest lap. He gave the trusty Porsche back over to Bram for another double stint, where he was assaulted by a Ford GT GTE in the Ford chicanes. After that stint he lost a bit of patience and started pushing more, which resulted in some repairs. Julien took over from him and drove a flawless first stint, on the second stint though he was a bit tired and punted a BMW M8 GTE like it’s nobody’s business (sorry for that), to make matters worse he cut a chicane and planted the Porsche RSR firmly into the wall. Luckily he could continue to race and after 22 minutes of repairs Bram took over from him and drove a great stint.
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Let's finish
Yanick was chosen to finish our first 24 Hours of Le Mans as a team. He drove the car home without any hiccups and finished the race at p32!
