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At the age of just turned 20, Gunnar Jeannette drove in the top category for the first time in 2002, having already finished the event twice in 2000 and 2001 (2nd in class and 7th overall!). Driving with fellow Americans Bill Auberlen and David Donohue in car number 12, the "Spirit of America" entry looked strong.
Wednesday qualifying went without trouble as Panoz concentrated on banking a time for each car and getting all six drivers through their minimum lappery, including 3 night laps each. On Thursday, Panoz number 12 improved by a shade under four seconds, to line up 17th on the grid, but not without the slight drama of a cut tyre. A steady race start brought the car from 17th up to 14th by the four hour mark. Gunnar started his first stint just before that point and went on to complete a fast and trouble free double stint for his first Le Mans race experience in the top category. But just before midnight, the car came in for a power steering repair. Gunnar went out again in the early hours for another double stint but just before the half distance point of 4am, Gunnar suffered an input shaft failure. He was fortunate to roll to a stop just at the entrance to pit lane and after the Panoz crew pushed the car up to the pit garage, the team changed the complete rear end of the car and sent Bill Auberlen back out onto the track in only 22 minutes. "We were really unlucky to have the problem, but really lucky for it to happen where it did," Gunnar said. "If it had happened anywhere else out on the track we would have been out of the race. These guys are just amazing. They have worked so hard this week and to do a complete rear end change and send the car back out again so quickly was incredible. Whatever happens in the rest of the race, our guys have still proved they are the toughest in the business." "Despite the problem we had, the car is still running really strongly and we remain totally committed to making sure we get to the finish and pull out the best result we can." Unfortunately it was not to be three finishes out of three for Gunnar. Panoz Motor Sports attack on this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans came to an end at 10.45am when car number 12 succumbed to overheating problems. With Gunnar Jeannette at the wheel, the number 12 machine was wheeled into the garage to join the sister car in which Bryan Herta had taken the final exploratory lap moments earlier. Both cars suffered terminal cooling problems, shattering the dreams of the Panoz crew which had put up an amazing fight to keep the cars in the race. "We may not have won the race, but I could not be more proud of the effort our team put in," Team owner Don Panoz said For more information on Gunnar Jeannette, go to www.gunnarjeannette.com. |
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