Spirited Effort at 24 Hours of Le Mans 2019 Ends During the Night For FAI
The FAI-sponsored DragonSpeed LMP1 challenge at the 2019 Le Mans ended during the night, despite a huge effort to keep the car running to the finish.
The Gulf-liveried and FAI-supported DragonSpeed LMP1 effort to emulate a win, 50 years on from the legendary 1969 Le Mans victory, came to a premature end with around nine hours of the race run, as the striking-looking blue and orange machine was stranded out in the Le Mans countryside with a gear selection problem.
The 87th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours had started well for DragonSpeed and FAI, with Indycar racing star, Ben Hanley, comfortably holding his seventh-place from the grid and looking to move up the order; however, the car suffered a freak rear diffuser issue, which meant the car had to come into the pits and change the rear bodywork (top and bottom) in order to keep the car running within the regulations.
The stop cost the car six laps and dropped it down almost to the back of the 61-car field. A strong drive from Henrik Hedman, though, moved the car up from 59th to 29th within an hour. Renger van der Zande then took over and was heading further up the rankings when a gearbox actuator failure brought him back into the pits.
A repair seemed to have cured the issue, but, frustratingly, the same problem re-occurred forcing the #10 blue and orange, Gulf-liveried car, back into the pits. Over two further intense sessions, the team worked vigorously to get the FAI machine back into the race competitively, but, ultimately, Renger lost gear selection completely out on the circuit, and he was forced to abandon the car two thirds of the way around the lap, when the time was close to midnight.
FAI Automotive Managing Director, Sean Walker, was quick to applaud the team and its efforts: “As a racer, I know that you don’t always make it to the finish line, but you can’t fault the effort the DragonSpeed team put in, so I understand the determination and passion of the team by trying to get the car to the end of the race. It was an exceptional endeavour.”
“It is a great pity, for everyone concerned,” said DragonSpeed Team Principal, Elton Julian. “The car looked great and had won the hearts of many – the Spirit of 1969 concept attracted massive global coverage across social media, and it is just desperately disappointing, especially after the incredible effort the entire team put in, that we couldn’t deliver a finish.”
This weekend, FAI continues its motorsport programme in the Superbike World Championship, with the factory Ducati team ready the Pata Riviera Di Rimini round, as championship-leader, Alvaro Bautista, and Chaz Davies look to continue their fantastic form.
To request more information about FAI’s presence at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2019 or request high-res photography, please contact Gary Barak at Chicane on +44 (0)1923 269490 or email: gary@chicane.marketing
About Us
About FAI
FAI, based in Leighton Buzzard, England, is one of the UK’s leading independent distributors of replacement automotive parts. FAI offers an all-makes programme covering European, Japanese and Korean passenger cars and light commercial vans.
FAI distributes throughout the UK to the garage industry, via a network of local stockists (motor factors) together with direct supply to engine re-conditioners.
FAI also has a growing export division working in over 55 countries around the world.
Operating out of premises covering 67,500 square feet in total, FAI’s current range of products consist of over 40,000 part numbers, covering 100+ vehicle manufacturers and at any time, its average parts inventory totals over 5,000,000 items.
FAI’s motor racing and manufacturing background, together with 40 years’ experience of supplying engine specialists and distributors in over 50 countries worldwide, has enabled it to produce a true all makes range for European, Japanese and Korean cars and light vans.
About the Walker family motor racing pedigree
FAI Automotive plc has evolved out of motorsport, with its attendant high standards of technical, logistical and administrative efficiency. Ian Walker, its founder, was a semi-professional racing and rally driver from 1956 to 1962, when he retired from driving and formed Ian Walker Racing (IWR).
This was a fully professional four-car race team, which campaigned all over Europe and North America with considerable success. The team was fortunate to have the services of such drivers as Jimmy Clark, Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart as well as many others. When IWR was closed down in 1968, its assets and some of the personnel were integrated into Ian Walker Service – a garage business – which specialised in the sale and service of high-performance cars, particularly Lotus. It also produced and marketed performance conversions, such as camshafts, cylinder heads, inlet and exhaust manifolds and eventually competition engines.
In 1974, the company commenced engine reconditioning for road cars and, consequently, were regrinding road camshafts and, due to the cost of engine parts prevailing then, began sourcing outside of the franchised networks, and soon after, the small range included re-profiled camshafts, followers, tappets, rocker shafts, oil pump repair kits, timing chains and core plugs and the beginning of the FAI empire was born.
The Walker racing dynasty is now into its third generation with MacKenzie Walker, following in the footsteps of father, Sean, and grandfather, Ian. MacKenzie is racing in the Radical SR1 series currently and his ambition is to race competitively at Le Mans.
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