The only all-British line-up at the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans will make the start of the race, following a complete overnight rebuild of the Strakka Racing Honda Performance Development ARX-03c.
Jonny Kane, Nick Leventis and Danny Watts‘ race was in jeopardy when Kane hit a damp patch of tarmac whilst under braking for the second chicane on the Mulsanne Straight, spinning heavily in to the crash barriers.
The impact destroyed the LMP1 car’s only spare front bodywork panel and engine cover, and leaves them with just one spare rear assembly. Kane was uninjured in the accident.
Qualifying didn’t go well for Strakka up to that point, either, with electrical issues and a lack of dry running meaning the team could only manage eighth in LMP1. Watts will start the race from 36th on the grid, though, owing to a grid penalty for failing to qualify within the 110% rule.
“As soon as I braked for the second chicane on Mulsanne, both right hand wheels locked up on a damp patch and the car turned left so quickly that I couldn’t catch it,” explained Kane. “It was a pretty hard impact with the barriers and there was a lot of damage. I’m just massively disappointed for the team. We’ve had two hard days at Le Mans, the boys had already been working extremely hard and this was the last thing we needed. With the weather against us in every test and practice session we’ve done this year, it’s certainly not the run up to my tenth Le Mans that I was hoping for. But hopefully all our bad luck is out of the way now and we can have a trouble-free run for the rest of the weekend.”
