Non avevamo mai visto dal vivo la 24 Ore di Le Mans fino allo scorso weekend. Adesso abbiamo una certezza: che il boss tecnico della Lotus Nick Chester non ha la più pallida idea di cosa stia parlando, se no non se ne sarebbe uscito con questa assurdità… E sul fatto che potrebbe far bene alla F1 siamo ancora più dubbiosi: 1) la F1 deve vivere sulle proprie gambe e attrarre pubblico con ciò che offre, senza appoggiarsi a mò di sanguisuga ad altri 2) ne uscirebbe distrutta, rischiando una “magra” non completando neppure il primo stint di 4 ore…
3) Hulkenberg ha fatto una gran gara, ma tutti parlano di lui, continuando a dimenticarsi che la vittoria è arrivata grazie a una gran macchina, la Porsche 919 Hybrid, e a tre piloti, Nico (che adesso d’improvviso diventa un eroe e sarà anche in conferenza stampa giovedì), Earl Bamber e Nick Tandy. Piuttosto i vertici dello sport dovrebbero farsi un giro a Le Mans, per prendere esempio a 360°, dalla tecnologia all’approccio col pubblico, all’organizzazione, al contorno, ai prezzi dei biglietti. Lì si respira ancora passione, incontaminata dal business sopra ogni cosa. Non andate a cercare di rovinarla…
Barbara Premoli
Lotus’ technical boss thinks a formula one car could win at Le Mans. The fabled 24 hour sports car race is in the headlines at present, after full-time Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg won on Sunday for Porsche. Not only that, former grand prix winner 
Mark Webber has switched full-time to the ever-burgeoning world endurance championship and thinks it may have taken over from F1 as the most challenging category.
“I mainly think about the drivers,” Webber told the Telegraph. “If they’re happy, and on the edge, and it’s risky, pushing the boundaries, then the fans love it. At the moment it’s not like that.” On the other hand, the former Red Bull driver said, the top Le Mans cars today are “extremely futuristic, sexy – beasts to be tamed”.
But Nick Chester, the technical boss at Lotus, thinks the regulations shift in F1 in recent years means he can now imagine a grand prix car winning at Le Mans. “The current engine regulations mean we have an engine and gearbox which could cover the race distance and that certainly wasn’t the case in the past. The current F1 car could go in an endurance race such is the performance life of so many of the parts these days. In the past with the V8s and older gearboxes, you wouldn’t have the durability. Maybe it’s something we should talk to the ACO about,” added Chester, referring to the Le Mans governing body. “It would be a lot of fun,” he said, “and I’d love the challenge of engineering an F1 car for a 24 hour race.”
Respected F1 correspondent Kevin Eason thinks that, given formula one’s current problems, Chester’s idea could be an ideal opportunity for the sport. “Instead of a driver (Hulkenberg) getting a day off to compete at Le Mans, give a team the funds and the time to develop a formula one car to compete at Le Mans,” he wrote in the Times. “Prove that F1 is still the greatest of them all.”
www.gpguide.com
