Panoz Motor Sports attack on this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans came to an end
at 10.45am on Sunday morning when the team's last remaining car succumbed to
overheating problems.
 Gunnar Jeannette, shortly before number 12 cried "enough" .. photo copyright © Rick Wilson / Maison Blanche With Gunnar Jeannette at the wheel, the #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. "The effort to simply make the race was amazing. After the fire on Thursday night most teams would have thrown in the towel, but these guys are incredible. "The fighting effort our guys put up is a real credit to them. As a team we are now even more determined to come back next year and give this race our best shot." Overheating problems initially caused the demise of the #11 car of Herta, David Brabham and Jan Magnussen on Saturday night. After overnight repairs, Herta made one final lap aboard the car on Sunday, but the overheating problems proved to be terminal. The #12 car of Jeannette, Bill Auberlen and David Donohue endured a tough night. Power steering failure struck during the evening and the Panoz crew also had to do two complete rear end change - a task they completed in only 20 minutes each time. "The real positive we take away from Le Mans is the great effort that the crew put in," Herta said. "I have been with a lot of different teams and these guys are as good as anybody. No matter what happens and what the car throws at them, they will not give up. "Unfortunately, they had a lot more thrown at them they what we really would have wanted, but the entire team really rose to the occasion."  Bryan Herta on that last exploratory lap on Sunday morning .. photo copyright © Rick Wilson / Maison Blanche Qualifying was a "game of two halves"; in a dramatic turn-around from the opening night qualifying sessions, Panoz Motor Sports made dramatic improvements aboard the two "Spirit of America" machines in the final qualifying sessions. The team made major changes overnight which greatly improved the Panoz LMP-01 Evo machines, with David Brabham pushing the #11 car onto 9th place on the grid. Brabham's time of 3:34.824 was nearly 1.5 seconds faster than what the team achieved at the preliminary practice session at Le Mans in May and five seconds faster than Wednesday night. The #12 all-American car of Bill Auberlen, David Donohue and Gunnar Jeannette also improved four seconds from Wednesday night. They qualified in position 17 on the grid. While the team was pleased with the improved pace, the evening was not without problems with the #11 car suffering a fire towards the end of the evening. The car punctured an oil filter after on-track debris punched a hole in the floor. Car #12 also had problems with debris, suffering a cut tyre with 30 minutes remaining. Once the car returned to the pits nearly one hour after the conclusion of the 10.00pm to midnight qualifying session, the Panoz crew discovered the extent of the damage. Not only had the fire destroyed major electrical wiring and damaged bodywork, the car's carbon fiber tub also appeared to be damaged. After two hours of inspecting the damage, the team headed back to the hotel with the disappointment of being one car down before the race had even started. But a handful of crew members were not about to give up without a fight. Five crew members returned to the track for "one last look". They started pulling the car apart to get a closer look at the damaged section. Within an hour, the chances of repairing the car remained slim. Within two hours, the outlook began to brighten and within three hours, their fierce determination began to look like it was going to pay off. By the time the rest of the crew returned at 9.00am, car #11 had risen from the ashes and was set to take its place on the grid. After working through the night, the five crew members, Scott Naish, Rob Taylor, John Baggot, Kent Moon and team manager Andy Waldrep headed back to the team hotel for a shower and a couple of hours sleep. The work was far from over, the remaining crew (later rejoined by the "all-nighter five") would work until 2.00am to complete the preparation. "I am incredibly proud of what our guys have achieved," Team owner, Don Panoz said. "Everybody was pretty shattered on Thursday night but this team is a bunch of fighters. This is what this event is all about. We all know the race is going to be very tough but the sheer determination of our guys in amazing." For Bryan Herta, the roller-coaster ride of his first Le Mans 24 Hour was a dramatic experience. "After I got to bed on Thursday night I still couldn't sleep. The fact I was going to miss the race was a pretty gut wrenching feeling," Herta said. "I didn't find out we would be back in until about 10.30am on Friday morning. I feel on top of the world now. I can't thank the guys enough. The effort they have put in to getting this car onto the grid is just incredible." |
