Porsche Lorient Racing’s Hankook 24H BARCELONA is off to a bad start. Having qualified 2nd in the ‘991’ class, Mathieu Pontais is met only with a shrill monotone as he tries to select first gear on the starting grid. As the green flag flies for the formation lap, the #911 Porsche begrudgingly rolls forward a few feet before grinding to a halt again, the mechanical whir now coupled with furious high revs as Mathieu desperately tries to get his lifeless charge going. Through the windscreen, a flurry of GT4 BMWs swiftly followed by a Porsche Cayenne safety car and the entire TCE field cruise past with almost derisive ease.

Attempts to ‘reboot’ the 911 via numerous switches on the dashboard fail. The Porsche isn’t going anywhere.   

That was over an hour ago, and while the 911 is now finally on-track and up-to-speed, it’s already 27 laps down on the class leader. 

If communications director Aude-Marie Milton is frustrated though – and who could blame her? – she’s doing an excellent job hiding it. Ever the pro, she’s busy coordinating with her team via a headset-mounted microphone as CREVENTIC walks into pit box 27. We’re greeted with a cheery smile and a tentatively raised index finger, indicating she’ll be with us in a few seconds.

Though neither Cup car is in-sight, there’s still a mighty amount of activity in the Porsche Lorient Racing garage. To our right, four packing crates fashion a makeshift half-wall, on top of which sits a spare front bumper and splitter. In front of us, black polo-shirted crew cluster around a bank of TV monitors, two of which show an uninterrupted on-board live stream for each car while another shows the timing screen. We can’t hear their conversation over the engine noise thundering down the pit-straight, but some furious typing on a laptop keyboard suggests this is a chat we shouldn’t interrupt. 

When Aude-Marie joins us a few moments later, we’re met with another smile and a nod towards several mechanics scanning a triple-disc racing clutch on a wooden bench for further signs of failure. Things haven’t gone well so far.

“The 912 had a good start and was ‘P3’ after one-hour. But the 911 had an electronic problem with the… capteur [sensor], which damaged the clutch. So we had no choice but to change it.” Her left hand turns the volume down on her radio set as we talk, while the other moves the right side of the headset away from her ear. “Obviously that’s a problem we’d prefer not to have at all, especially before the race had even started!”

There’s 23 hours of the Hankook 24H BARCELONA left to go. Fortunately the 912 seems to be staying out of trouble, and Lionel Amrouche has already settled into his rhythm after a good start from 4th. It’s going to be a long race for the 911 though – THE Standings leader coming into the event – in a category regarded for its close competition. 

“It’s hard, because we still have 23 hours of the race to go, and we’ve already lost 2nd place. Trouble that early can be very hard for the crew, so we always have to stay positive and keep team morale up,” explains Aude-Marie, who’s not only in charge of the drivers this weekend but also team logistics, all communication across social media, and speaking directly with race control. “It’s really important to stay calm. We have a championship to consider, so the important thing for us is to finish the race and look after our drivers. That’s the most important thing. 

“We say to all of our drivers, keep safe and stay focused, because you never know what could happen. This is the first time we’ve had this problem with the capteur! Everything was fine, and then…was it the heat? We don’t know. Now we just have to make sure we have a clean race, stay out of trouble and no mistakes.”

Darkness has fallen at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and the mercury is dropping, but there’s still a lot of activity in the Porsche Lorient Racing pitbox. Albeit of a different sort. Mechanics are now wheeling blanketed Hankook-clad wheels tyres from the back of the garage while others start stretching. A pit stop is imminent. There’s still a group huddled around the laptop screens and the TV monitors, but foldaway chairs have now been set up for the mechanics to use during their oh-so-limited downtime. 

Past them on the pit perch, sitting arms folded, is team manager Jérémy Mazurais, alongside Jean-François Piget and Patrice Le Plomb, engineers for the 912 and 911 respectively. Behind us in a ‘Lorient et Brest’ pop-up gazebo, the enticing smell of pasta and roast chicken slowly wafting its way into the pit box.

The frustration is back, but again, Aude-Marie refuses to show many signs of it (what would that do for morale, after all?). The 911 has been running smoothly and is now up to 24th overall after ‘starting’ 47th. The 912 though, which had worked its way into the class lead, has been punted off-track by an overly ambitious move from Car Collection Motorsport into turn 13, and Antoine Ettienne is beached in the gravel trap. 

Soon after, a siren alerts everyone to a car moving down pit road. Aude-Marie, an apologetic hand raised, dashes to the front of the garage. The blue lights of the 911 rather than the green of the 912 appear stage left, the mechanics diving in to change the tyres as jacks raise the front and rear of the car simultaneously. Our pit perch trio turn in unison to watch. 

A mechanic in a green vest gets Frédéric’s belts off and hoists him out of the seat, Jean-Francois going in the opposite direction. The door is slammed shut as a mechanic wipes down the windscreen, Frédéric pulling off his gloves as he walks back into the garage for his “immediate” debrief. In front of him are a few hours of sleep, a bite to eat, and possibly a chat with radiolemans.com’s Shea Adam. I also can’t help but notice the bevvy of ‘24H SERIES’ scrutineer stickers plastered across his helmet. The enthusiasm of the team manager-cum-driver is almost palpable.

We leave the Lanester brigade in peace to get on with their work, but do stop at the ‘Lorient et Brest’ tent for a peruse of the menu. Ooh, chicken and pesto for the drivers tonight!

It’s a very different Porsche Lorient Racing pit box we peek into early the next morning. The 911 and 912 continue to circulate on their respective TV monitors as Hi-Vis-clad crew members dose in chairs or watch the timing screen through increasingly heavy eyelids. The aroma of pasta has disappeared, replaced with coffee and bacon sandwiches. Half-empty Coke cans and a few small water bottles are on a plastic table top nearby, on which sits a now half-empty bowl of fruit. Even our trio on the pit perch seem a little more relaxed, shoulders less hunched than they were 14 hours earlier. Aude-Marie Milton, watching the footage, gets up from her place at the laptop and sidles over. 

It’s a more relaxed communications manager greeting us this morning, albeit one that still hasn’t been to sleep. There’s a Porsche jacket draped around her shoulders to keep out the morning chill, and the headset is now resting on her collarbones. She’s hardly off the clock though: as we chat, a conversation breaks out in French with another crew member, a pointed finger showing that the team banner above pit box 27 has lost one of its zipties. Yes, she’s tired, but Aude-Marie still has a job to do. 

“It was a good night, everything went well,” she continues. “I just kept on moving, making sure the crew was fed, cleaned up, and worked on my report for the race. The strategy changed completely for both cars during the night” – the 911 crew started double stinting while the sister #912 remains on single 90-minute runs – “so it was important to keep an eye on that. It doesn’t leave you much time to rest!”

Given how the race started, a podium finish for the #911 Porsche could – nay, should – be something to celebrate for Porsche Lorient Racing. 3rd in-class is enough to successfully defend the 24H SERIES Europe ‘991’ title, and simultaneously secured Frédéric Ancel and Jean-François Demorge the 991-class Drivers’ trophy. A good weekend’s work…right?

Sort of. 

Heading into the final four hours of the race, and not long after our previous chat (uh oh!), Lionel Amrouche makes a slight misjudgement and the 912 Porsche disappears nose first into the tyre wall at turn four. Lionel is uninjured and the 911-II Cup is recovered to the pits, but the car and body shell are both destroyed. The accident marks the end of both the 912’s race and Lionel’s own title aspirations.  

“We are really satisfied with the work the team did, the mechanics and the drivers,” Aude-Marie explains, the headset gone for the first time this weekend. “They really did their best to keep on going for 23 hours(!) and did their best during the pits stops to stay focused. So yeah, we’re very happy with the work done on the 911. But it’s always hard to lose the lead. 

“It’s heart-breaking for the 912 crew really. They did so well, adapted quickly, and truly deserved that win. If the car had been repairable, we would have fixed it, even with only four hours left to the flag. This is endurance and we are competitors at heart. But this is the strange thing about running two cars: for the 911, the accident put them back onto the podium.”

As we talk, the banner above the garage is being snipped down, ready for the 1,100km journey to join the rest of the collection in Lanester. Crew members walk past wheeling packing crates or carrying boxes. The TV monitors and laptops have been disconnected and stowed, the roof of the gazebo sags as the poles are collapsed, and alongside its fallen sister, the 911 is being wheeled back into the pit box, ready to be prepped for the long drive home. As I peer through the emptying garage, I can see the pit perch. It’s empty. 

“We had a small celebration under the podium but our weekend isn’t over. We need to clear the garage by 8pm tonight. There’s just no downtime!”

This may seem a silly question, given the bronze and European championship trophies sitting in celebratory fashion on a nearby packing crate, but I can’t help but ask anyway. It’s been an exhausting weekend, with few breaks, no sleep, and triumph mixed with heart-ache. Porsche Lorient Racing is no stranger to this kind of weekend, given their tenure in the 24H SERIES, but why do they continue to put themselves through it?

“The 24H SERIES is a hard championship because you’re always busy. We start at 8am, we finish at 1am, if we’re lucky, and you need to check everything if you want to finish. And even then, issues can still happen. So it’s tough, but when you have a car on the track, you have a lot of adrenaline. We’re all like that. It keeps us going! We want to be there for the car, the driver and the team. It’s why we keep coming back. We love endurance racing.” 

There’s another smile from Aude-Marie Milton as she says this, one shared by the Porsche Lorient Racing team personnel around her. 

“It’s hard, but we love it. And we have another title we want to win next year!”