Forzday Racing League: 1 Hour Le Mans Recap

The one thing about racing is that you can never really know how things will turn out in a race until after it is finished. That fact was highlighted in big bold letters at the running of the 1 Hour of Le Mans last night. The weather would not cooperate and the race was run in the rain. Already a complex track to navigate in the dry, the wet conditions would create an added level of frustration and annoyance for the drivers.

A clean start to the 1 Hour of Le Mans

Allen Ruff served as marshal for the start of the race and it was a clean start to get the field of 10 cars rolling off the grid. The MBR Porsche's of Paul and Ethan Maestri would make the most of their rear-engine advantage here and shot out to P1 & 2 at the outset. Even rookie Drew Dilbeck would make a splash in the opening corners, getting his 911 up toward the front of the field as well.

Diving into the chicane on Mulsanne proved to be more hairy than usual in the wet conditions

The clean start would only last as far as the Dunlop chicane though as wet tires struggled to keep their machines on track and out of each other. Drivers Daniel Fleischmann and Tony Tyree bumped and tiptoed around then out of the chicane. Paul Maestri over-sped into the Esses and ended up out in the grass loosing several positions. Into the first chicane on the Mulsanne Straight, Bryan Dean was working hard to make ground on the leaders, but hit a puddle and looped his car in the middle of the apex, costing him precious time and track position. Then, coming out of Mulsanne Turn, Drew Dilbeck hit a puddle and worked desperately to keep the Porsche from swapping ends at 100+ mph. In the end the car looped up onto the track and right into the path of Matthew Smith in his Audi R8. Allen Ruff swerved to avoid the carnage and would end up in the railing as well.

The incident on lap 1 after Mulsanne involved the most cars and held up many others

While Ethan Maestri and Andrew Steppat were battling for position at the front, Travis Billingsley was quietly gaining ground. On lap 2, coming out of the Porsche curves, Ethan would slide out onto the bumpers and got speed checked. Travis' Z4 had a great run coming out of the same corner and was unable to avoid the slower 911. The resulting hit did little damage to the Porsche, but Travis had to take the BMW into the pit early for a third straight race.

The #1 & #3 cars would swap P1 for several laps, until lap 4 when Andrew was able to pass and keep the position. After mid-race pits, it looked as if Steppat Racing was poised to march on to its 5th FEC victory, but equipment malfunction bit the C7.R and Andrew retired early from the race. Ethan Maestri would inherit P1, and though loosing ground to Travis in the late stages of the event, was able to bring the MBR Porsche home for the win.

A great battle for P1

Travis Billingsley, although snake bit a third time, was once more able to recover well enough and brought the #18 Team BMW across the line in P2, his second podium finish in his rookie season. Bryan Dean struggled with the puddles throughout the race, getting turned around and working to avoid other cars accidents as well. Despite his frustration at track conditions he was able to get the Aston Martin across the line in P3, no small feat for such a difficult race.

It ended up being an unusually good weekend for the MBR garage. Both Ethan and Paul felt their cars were really going to show their weaknesses here. But with Paul bringing his #86 Canon/Elf machine across in P4, the team maximizes their points in the manufacturer battle and splits the strangle-hold of Aston Martin and Chevrolet at the top of the order.

For Tony Tyree, this race was a return to form as he was able to shake off some of the early season problems that have plagued Geekly Retrospect Racing and was able to net a Top 5, which also secured him in the sixth position in points over Allen Ruff. For Allen, a P6 finish should perhaps feel like a win. Despite several off's and being involved in a few altercations with other drivers, he was still able to bring his DNR Aston Martin home in descent position.

Drew Dilbeck makes his driving debut in the FRL here at Le Mans. I can think of no more difficult track or conditions to make a rookie start in. Despite that, the young man was able to pilot around several trouble spots at times to bring his MBR-aligned 911 in P7. Daniel Fleischmann made an incredible debut at Laguna Seca, and it was expected that he could do well here also. But the rain would prove to be a factor early, and indeed throughout the race for him. In the closing segments of the race, his #43 Ferrari would run out of fuel and he would have to settle for P8. However, with the fifth best time on the track, shows the spark of a great driver still.

Matthew Smith also makes his debut drive in the FRL here. No podium finish for this rookie, but that isn't saying anything about the potential for this driver, not with these conditions and this track. He had to settle for P9. Finally, what can we say about Andrew Steppat? He had the dominant car for sure, both in the wet and dry. He put the Corvette up front early and battled hard to control the position. By all rights, the victory would have gone to him. So it almost seems unfair to record him in P10, but that's the way the run ended for the FRL champ. It happens sometimes.

We look forward to Road Atlanta now, the next stop in the FEC on May 29th.

Results:

Position:	Driver:	Points:	Lap Time:	Lap Points:	Total:
1	Ethan Maestri	25	4:13.214	9	34
2	Travis Billingsley	18	4:11.181	10	28
3	Bryan Dean	15	4:14.729	8	23
4	Paul Maestri	12	4:17.721	6	18
5	Tony Tyree	10	4:21.840	3	13
6	Allen Ruff	8	4:24.338	2	10
7	Drew Dilbeck	6	4:19.571	4	10
8	Daniel Fleischmann	4	4:18.124	5	9
9	Matthew Smith	2	4:27.476	1	3
10	Andrew Steppat	1	4:16.076	7	8

Points:

Position:	Driver:	Points:
1	Ethan Maestri	174
2	Andrew Steppat	173
3	Bryan Dean	133
4	Paul Maestri	102
5	Travis Billingsley	97
6	Tony Tyree	51
7	Allen Ruff	49
8	Chris Rader	34
9	Daniel Fleischman	30
10	Andy Capshaw	23
11	Mikey Collins	23
12	Carter Merkling	11
13	Drew Dilbeck	10
14	Chris Dilbeck	9
15	Matthew Smith	3