Just hold on tight to your underpants. “If the fans could get hold of them, they would take them,” says René Rast. He laughs, but he’s serious. This Friday, the BMW driver will be bathed in the crowd in a way that a racing driver can only experience on the Sarthe: at the “Grande Parade des Pilotes” through the streets of Le Mans. The parade is like a triumphal procession of the helmsmen. The next day, they will plunge into the unique engine battle – for 24 hours.
According to the organizers, 200,000 people lined the streets last year. That will be the case again. They want to get their hands on their heroes. Yelling, cheering, begging, with arms stretched out even further. “They’ll tear everything off your body if they get hold of you,” says Rast. This is his sixth time competing in Le Mans.
“Like Michael Jackson”
The Steyerberger and his 185 colleagues are chauffeured through the town in open cars. The procession lasts at least two hours. After that, it’s time to sign autographs and pose for selfies. “You feel like Michael Jackson in his prime. You don’t get that anywhere else,” says Rast. The procession takes energy and gives the pilots headaches. But the adrenaline rush makes up for a lot.
René Rast is taking part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the sixth time.picture alliance / DPPI media
On the track, the aim is to merge with the machine until the starting gun this Saturday (4 p.m. live on RTL Nitro and Eurosport). “You need the confidence, the feeling for the car, so that you are able to drive through the bends so quickly,” says Rast. He is thinking of the two Porsche bends that he will take at 270 km/h. If you want to keep up, you must not hesitate, must not hesitate. The modern hybrid racers reach speeds of up to 350 km/h on the Circuit de la Sarthe.
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Enable external contentBMW said goodbye to Le Mans in 1999 with the Bavarians’ only overall victory and is now returning. Rast recently drove the iconic roadster that won 25 years ago for an advertising shoot. “Unfortunately, I was only allowed to drive at 100 km/h,” says the three-time DTM champion regretfully.
It was enough to feel the leap that technology has made since then. “The old car is much easier to understand, you always notice what it is doing,” says Rast. “A lot of what is done electronically today was done mechanically back then.” The gears were changed using a gearstick.
“Just make sure everything stays intact”
His BMW M Hybrid V8, on the other hand, has more than a hundred different functions that he has to monitor and understand at the wheel. During the recording, Rast met Pierluigi Martini, who formed the winning trio with Yannick Dalmas and Joachim Winkelhock. The 63-year-old Italian told him that the character of the race had also changed.
“In the first twenty hours they just made sure that everything stayed intact. Then in the last four hours it was ‘full throttle’,” says Rast. Today everyone has to “push forward” from the first lap, like in qualifying, he says: “If you lose five seconds, they’re gone. You’ll never get them back.”
Quite a lift: The BMW roadster with the number 15 races to victory in 1999, the Silver Arrows learn to fly.picture alliance / DPPI Media
The classic is more popular than it has been for a long time. In addition to BMW, two other manufacturers, Alpine and Lamborghini, have joined the ranks to challenge the established ones: Porsche, Toyota, Peugeot – and last year’s winner Ferrari. “Our goal must be to get both cars to the finish line,” says Rast, who takes turns at the wheel with Sheldon van der Linde (South Africa) and Robin Frijns (Netherlands).
“This will be very critical”
He sounds modest when looking at the goal: “We’re not talking about victory or a podium finish. Hopefully we can finish in the top six.” In the World Endurance Championship, which includes Le Mans as the highlight of the season, Rast and his colleagues’ sixth place in Imola was their best result so far. The competition has an advantage in terms of knowledge. “Porsche has been strong in every race in recent weeks,” says Rast.
Winning trio: Joachim Winkelhock, Yannick Dalmas and Pierluigi Martini 1999 (from left)picture-alliance / dpa
Toyota and Ferrari are also among the favorites. “We have the least experience,” says Rast, “but we will get that.” In qualifying on Wednesday evening, Rast and Co. started 16th. Belgian Dries Vanthoor set the best time in the sister car and moved into the final for pole position. However, after he went off the track in the Indianapolis corner and slid into the barrier, the second BMW also only started from sixth place on Saturday. As Rast expected, a Porsche started from the very front.
Rast is skeptical about a new development this year. The teams are no longer allowed to preheat the tires. With cold tires, the drivers will stagger out of the pit lane and back onto the fast lane: “That will be very critical. On cold tires, the cars are sometimes uncontrollable.” He fears dangerous scenes when cars with fresh, cold tires collide with cars with heated, well-gripping tires: “That has the potential for collisions.”
