KC Motorgroup Ltd’s (KCMG) bid for class victory at the 82nd running of the Le Mans 24 Hours came to a premature end on Saturday evening when the Chinese squad’s #47 Oreca 03R Nissan sustained irreparable accident damage after suffering driveshaft failure.
Alex Imperatori was uninjured in the hefty crash that occurred on the exit of Karting Corner at the six-and-a-half hour mark, but was unable to recover to the pits and forced to retire from the season’s only double points-paying FIA World Endurance Championship round.
That brought to a close what had been a hugely encouraging but also unfortunate start to the world’s greatest endurance race for KCMG, who led early on before being caught out by freak weather conditions.
Having qualified only a second from pole, Imperatori made a stunning start on Saturday afternoon to climb from seventh to first during his opening 45-minute stint. Indeed, the Swiss ace had pulled out a 20-second advantage over his closest pursuer when he pitted for a second time and handed over to Richard Bradley.
But the Briton had barely completed a lap when, from nowhere, a short sharp rain shower soaked the 8.4-mile-long Circuit de la Sarthe. On slick rubber Bradley was powerless to prevent the Oreca from aquaplaning into the tyre barrier at the first of the Mulsanne Straight’s two chicanes. Fortunately the damage wasn’t too severe and, having limped back to the pits for cosmetic repairs, he returned to the track under Safety Car conditions in third.
A second pit visit in quick succession to check the rear wing would subsequently drop Bradley down to 11th, before he and Matt Howson set about recovering the lost time. A combination of their good work saw Imperatori running seventh in class when his race-ending accident occured.
"Obviously it’s a very disappointing result" said KCMG Managing Director Paul Ip. " We had the pace to be on the podium or even win and were catching the guys ahead. But of course over 24 hours anything can happen. Hopefully we’ll have better luck next year. For now all we can do is focus on the remaining WEC rounds and try to repair the damage done to our championship hopes.”