Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, in their No. 50 Ligier JS P2 in the LMP2 category. … No one could have predicted the view on race-day morning: Drivers and teams awoke to a layer of snow, which covered the trees on the way to the circuit and which continued to fall. With the race set to start at noon, drivers and teams were equally surprised to see the sun eventu- ally come out and quickly melt and dry the circuit. … Boulle’s European teammates would take the green flag before hand- ing the car off to him, to run a triple stint around the demand- ing circuit. During the race, the competitors would each face the infamous Eau Rouge and Raidillon corners, running up the blind, steep and fast set of corners — taken flat-out at close to 250 kilometers per hour — in dry, raining, sleeting and even snowing conditions. (Boulle himself saw the track go from wet to completely dry and back to wet again.) The team fought on, and wound up in eighth The grandest race of the sea- son for any racing team, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and its Cir- cuit de la Sarthe are always a test. Cars reach extremely high speeds, must deal with mas- sive deceleration under braking and be comfortable for drivers in first-gear corners as well as corners with minimum speeds that are as high as 155 mph. … Much like the racing, the sched- ule for Le Mans is very demand- ing: Two weeks before the race, teams arrive to set up. The fol- lowing Sunday and Monday, Le Mans week begins with the Pésage, wherein the teams’ cars are gone through by officials. Tuesday marks the beginning of test day, with roads shut down for several hours of testing, which continues into the dark- ness. Wednesday and Thurs- day are for qualifying sessions, wherein drivers race into the night. Friday is a day to recov- er and rest — but only until the afternoon, when drivers are pa- raded through 70,000 screaming place in their category. LE MANS, FRANCE — JUNE 2019
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fans, over several miles of road, stopping for interviews, selfies and pictures. And then, Satur- day, the big race begins at noon. … Boulle took the start for team and ultimately advanced sever- al positions. Boulle and team- mates Irwin Creed and Roma- no Ricci switched and ran well through the evening, steadily making up more positions. They pushed into the top 10 at times, in the 25-car LMP2 field, but, in the end, finished 12th. WATKINS GLEN, NEW YORK — JUNE 2019 After Le Mans, it was back to work, this time at the Six Hours at The Glen, at the famous Wat- kins Glen International track in New York state. Boulle was back with the Porsche Patricks — Long and Lindsey — again, for Park Place Motorsports, for the third round of the IMSA Mi- chelin Endurance Cup. Watkins Glen is a technically challeng- ing and extremely fast racetrack that pushes cars and drivers to their limits, through some of the highest grip levels for GT3 cars and prototypes alike. The week- end was short-lived, though, as the team faced technical issues that led to an early retirement, after Boulle ran his first stint and Lindsey drove just a por- tion of his first run in the car.
Kirk Franklin
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