Celtic Speed team boss Tommy Dreelan achieved his primary objective in a rain-lashed 45-minute Group C race on the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe.
Celtic Speed team boss Tommy Dreelan achieved his primary objective in a rain-lashed 45-minute Group C race on the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe.
"My goal was to finish ahead of five-times Le Mans 24-Hours winner Derek Bell," Dreelan, who was piloting his Spice SE86 and qualified 19th out of the 31 cars, admitted, "and I achieved that."
What should have been the perfect warm-up for the start of the 80th running of the world's most famous 24-hours race instead turned into a battle of attrition and survival.
The torrential rain, which had started on the Friday evening, continued into the Saturday morning making the ultra-fast 8.46-mile La Sarthe circuit treacherous.
With even darker clouds approaching the track as Gareth Evans' Mercedes C9 led the field away behind the pace car for the rolling start, the signs were very ominous.
Conditions didn’t seem to bad along the Mulsanne Straight and through Indianapolis and Arnage, but as the field negotiated the Porsche Curves and approached the Ford Chicane for the start the heavens opened.
The pace car nevertheless pulled off and the race was on. But with blinding spray and misting windscreens making life very difficult for the intrepid drivers – Bell, described the conditions as the worst he’d ever seen at Le Mans — a crash on the opening lap triggered the appearance of the Safety Car.
After lengthy repairs to the armco, the race was restarted in the ever-worsening conditions. Dreelan coped admirably with the demanding conditions to bring his Spice home second in the C2 class behind Pierre-Francois Rousselot, and 12th overall.
"Considering how treacherous it was out there, I'm delighted with what I achieved," Dreelan said, "and to finish ahead of Derek was just the icing on the cake.
"At the restart there was zero visibility, but all credit to the guys. I think most people were sensible and drove within their limits; it was a case of driving to survive.
"When I drove my March F1 at Monaco in the rain recently, my driver coach, Aaron Scott, told me to make sure I could see the red light of the car in front as then I at least would know what's in front of me," Dreelan explained. "I followed his advice again here, and it worked.
"Standing on the podium was fantastic and I could not have done it without Arron, Pohl, Dave and Vic. Thanks for all your help guys."
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