Philippe Cimadomo's dream of taking part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans was shattered overnight from Thursday to Friday when the decision of the track marshals fell, excluding him from the event.
An extremely rare sanction which fell the day before the event and which follows a succession of accidents during the tests.
A member of the No. 13 TDS Racing x Vaillante crew, Philippe Cimadomo, aged 62, has limited racing experience.
He was the victim of a spectacular runway excursion, caused an accident and almost caused another.
A behavior on the track which pushed the race direction to carry out its investigation by viewing the images.
The conduct
"does not meet the criteria required to participate safely in the rest of the competition
", estimated the commissioners to explain this decision.
"
He's a very good driver but he still needs to work
," said Pierre Fillon, president of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), organizer of the race, interviewed by AFP.
“
There is no age limit for doing Le Mans, after that obviously you need a physical condition compatible with racing.
It's an extremely demanding, extremely difficult race, with cars that have different speeds between the
prototypes
and the
GTs
, so it's safety first
,” added the manager.
The ten biggest accidents in the history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans
Go to slideshow (10)
The 24 Hours of Le Mans have the particularity of putting professional drivers on the track but also amateur drivers, called gentlemen drivers.
These participants, who have excellent driving skills, integrate the crews by bringing a budget to the team.
The pilot speaks of “momentary failures”
Philippe Cimadomo is precisely part of this class of pilots who have practiced driving racing cars in secondary championships before wanting to invite themselves to the biggest Endurance event in the world where the pressure is inevitably heavy.
The step was, it seems, too high.
He explained to the marshals that he had "
already raced in LMP2 cars (the category of prototypes at Le Mans under the premier category, the Hypercars) in ELMS without incident, and that the incidents during FP1 and FP3 represented momentary failures
", reveals the site endurance.info which adds “
He said he felt he had gained experience during the practice sessions and that he was more confident in his ability to compete.
»
Read alsoSébastien Ogier, a rookie attacking the 24 Hours of Le Mans
Replaced by a Formula E world champion
A dream is shattered for the Grenoblois but his team will recover an excellent driver.
He will be replaced by the Dutchman Nyck de Vries, 27, an experienced driver, a reserve at Toyota who already has three appearances at Le Mans.
Formula E world champion in 2021 with Mercedes, he had even obtained the status of reserve driver within the prestigious Mercedes team in Formula 1. Sacred references.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/SIL73HWCGXKSZBZRANYT36EZLI.jpg)