was back to the game battling for Top 3 in LMP2.
Through the small window of the caravan, it was a bright morning. I cannot help thinking it could be the day that would make a new history for China’s motorsport.
It would be the first time that a Chinese driver might stand on the podium at Le Mans since Congfu Cheng finished third with Saulnier Racing in 2008; it would be the first time that a Chinese entrant might claim LMP2 victory since KCMG in 2015. More significantly, the Chinese national flag would be ascending on the overall Top 3 podium for the very first time in the 94 years of Le Mans history.
I dropped by Jackie Chan DC Racing’s hospitality on the Village hill and met two fans taking photos in front of the villa with Jackie Chan’s iconic dragon logo.
All the guests had already been there and were seriously watching TV screens with
two additional feeds for #37 and #38 respectively while David Cheng’s mother Winnie was only too nervous to listen to any shout from the commentator as she feared anything happened to her boy and his teammates.
With four hours to the end of the race, Lady Le Mans decided to play her game again after she had ruthlessly devastated Toyota’s dream.
Soon after I returned to the villa from an interview with Mark Webber, who just had appreciated the hard work done by Porsche, screaming broke out as the Porsche #1 suddenly slowed down when it was lonely cruising to an easy victory given both its sister car #2 and the only surviving #8 Toyota far down the pecking order.
As a result of #1 car’s failure to return to pit, a sudden happiness caught the Chinese entrant founded by David Cheng and Hollywood star Jackie Chan. It was a marvellous opportunity for the Jota Sport-operating squad to become the first-ever LMP2 entrant to win Le Mans despite a 13-lap gap the #38 car would have to catch up.
On one hand, I had a strong desire to see “my team” to win. On the other hand, I could foresee the #2 Porsche , which recovered from a reliability issue in early stage and now was only three laps behind #38, would eventually take the leadership unless it met another big trouble.
Coming to the midday of Sunday, #38 officially moved into the overall lead of the race when the 19-year-old Le Mans rookie Thomas Laurent was behind the wheel making a historical moment: a Chinese entrant led at Circuit de La Sarthe in overall classification. It was nearly 70 minutes later #2 Porsche inevitably got ahead with all additional weapon against the underdog LMP2 car.
Nevertheless, at the final stage, as far as I understood, down in Jackie Chan DC Racing x Jota Sport’s pit box, everyone focused on their main objective: to secure the victory in LMP2 category.
Before the race into the final hour, I went down to the hospitality, which located above the garage of Jackie Chan DC Racing, in order to observe what the atmosphere looked like when a team was en route history-making moment.
The room was full of guests. Again, the crowd shouted in one voice when the TV showed the rivalry #31 Rebellion was pulled into garage leaving the #37 into the third in LMP2 category when Gommendy was in charge of the car.
I quickly returned to Media Centre to prepare a brief race report to highlight the remarkable achievement for Jackie Chan DC Racing and China’s motorsport. And I managed to publish it within five minutes after #2 Porsche first saw the waved cheque flag. It could have been less time if I had not taken photos, from my window-side seat, of the two Orecas with Chinese propitious cloud livery crossing the finish line side by side.
The next thing I did was running down to pit lane and squeezed through the crowd to get as close to the podium as possible. A dozen of Five-starred Red Flags had already been flying under the podium. When waiting for the podium ceremony kicked off, I overheard the winning crew from Aston Martin GTE Pro talking about the successful mode Jackie Chan DC Racing and Jota Sport have presented.
The heat under the podium was as intensive as the starting grid 24 hours ago. Looking up at the podium, it was a surreal. The incredibly long procedure of ceremony was one of the facts I dislike Le Mans though, I had to see Ho-Pin Tung and David Cheng stand high.
Another Le Mans character I am not fancy of is the press conference as the host rarely speaks English. However, the only reason I attended was to give a big hug to “my drivers” because it had kept me waiting for my entire career. And it was a privilege to interview them right after the race in my first language not feeling sorry to keep other colleagues to wait. When saw a friend photographer, I did not hesitate to ask him to take a photo of me and Ho-Pin holding the trophies.
It was 2010 in Spain when I first time met Ho-Pin, who was the reserve driver for Renault F1 Team and racing for DAMS in GP2. The injury he sustained from the collision with Jules Bianchi in Hungaroring did not help him achieve the great F1 dream. Since then, he did races in Super Formula, American Open-Wheel, sport car in Asia, and Formula E before making a new commitment to Le Mans with David Cheng, who graduated from American racing carrying a Le Mans dream for a long time.
Despite the steady growth of domestic racing, to found a private team and to compete in a world championship that is relatively smaller compared to F1 to Chinese public is not the easiest thing in China motorsport industry. However, Cheng did it with the support from Hollywood action hero Jackie Chan, who happens to be a big fan of Steve McQueen.
When David finally came back to the garage from media session, Winnie welcomed him with open arms. As a mother, she keeps supporting her son’s dream mentally and practically as Anthony Hamilton to Lewis and the late John Button did to Jenson.
Jackie Chan unfortunately missed Le Mans this year due to attending Shanghai Film Festival. However, he was on Facetime when Tung and Gommendy crossed the line. And he also sent lovely messages to the team at the post race celebration party.
It was sort of disbelief a Chinese entrant finished in overall Top 3 at the most famous endurance competition. If any thing could have been better, it only would be one step higher, which could have happened had #2 Porsche been delayed longer.
Over 250,000 spectators came to Circuit de la Sarthe to watch the 85th edition of 24 Hours of Le Mans. Three hours after the race finished, the Village was completely empty. I went back to Media Centre to continue my report. When I left, there was no one else except the security. The moon was high; the paddock was quiet; the memories were flashing back.
I woke up early in the morning to catch a train to Paris. Waiting at the station, I sent the Me-and-Ho-Pin photo to Julie because she was the special girl I wanted to share the special moment in my life with.
More surprisingly, it was not the end because the next day #13 Rebellion, which finished as third overall and second in LMP2, was disqualified for a technical infringement, promoting #37 to the third overall and the second in LMP2, leaving Jackie Chan DC Racing to secure double podium overall and 1-2 finish in LMP2.
“Unbelievable”, David replied to my message.
Until today, I still need some time to sink in when recalling that afternoon, which was too beautiful to believe but it DID happen.
Images: Frankie Mao