Back in June, an invitation was extended to CCK Motorsport: come to Le Mans and compete in the opening race of the 89th 24 Hours in a grid of sixty Porsche 911 GT3s - The Porsche Sprint Challenge. At the time we were at Brands Hatch and riding high on our first category win in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB. Driver (and occasional ringer for the PH EnduroKa team) Charles Rainford had dominated in qualifying the day before and had raced hard that morning to maintain his position and take the top step on the Pro-Am podium. We didn't have a chance to properly consider the invitation until we arrived back at the workshop the following week.
We mulled it over, but the odds quickly stacked up against the idea of going. Granted, it would be an incredible opportunity for Charles to gain experience at the fabled Circuit de la Sarthe so early in his career, but adding up the costs combined with Covid-19 restrictions and the new border controls following Brexit, it seemed nigh on impossible. Plus, the weekend before the Le Mans race, we were due to be racing in the Porsche Carrera Cup at Knockhill in Scotland, giving us just two days to navigate our way south through England, across the Channel, down to Le Mans and set up in our paddock at Maison Blanche. But you know what they say, it's the challenges that make life interesting. So, despite the complications it was decided: we were going.
Fast forward to August. With many, many weeks spent planning this logistical nightmare, completing carnet forms for the border crossing, researching the ever-changing travel restrictions and preparing the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car for double-header race weekends, we were off to Scotland. We just hoped for a clean race at Knockhill and that we'd ticked all the right boxes before reaching the French border.
Knockhill proved to be a great weekend. It was Charles' first time at the circuit, its tight and twisty layout suited his driving style and he qualified on Pro-Am pole position. Race 1 went without a hitch, he maintained position and built a gap behind to take Pro-Am victory. One race down, one to go. Race 2 started well and we thought we were in for another category win. Then Charles dropped off the timing screens. We feared the worst: any major damage and our trip to Le Mans would be over. The TV cameras panned across to show our stricken race car at the side of the circuit. Charles was getting out and from what we could see, the car was intact. The retirement was due to a driveshaft failure following contact with another car earlier in the race. Replacing the driveshaft we could manage; Le Mans was back on...
We loaded up Sunday night and hit the road, driving as far south into the night as we could manage, before dropping the race car off with a transporter and carrying on to Le Mans in a pair of transit vans. We'd be hitting the road at 6am on Tuesday to catch a 9am ferry.
We made the boat. The crossing to France was smooth and, so far, all of our paperwork seemed to be in order. Carnets were stamped, vans were searched and vaccination records were scanned. Welcome to France! On continental time it was now 1:30pm and we had a 3.5-hour drive to Le Mans. We had to get to the accreditation centre to pick up our passes before heading to our paddock at Maison Blanche in time for the team managers meeting at 6:30pm. We made it with minutes to spare. Now all we had to do was meet the transporter over by the Bugatti circuit and pick up the race car. We had made it to Le Mans.
Wednesday was set aside for driver's briefings, coaching with two-time Le Mans winner Sascha Maasen, scrutineering and any leftover preparation work required. Most other teams arrived ready to go, but we arrived with a filthy, broken race car that was set up for the very short and twisty Knockhill circuit. Free practice one was 9am Thursday, giving us one day to make the repairs and change the setup. We had our work cut out. First things first, changing out the broken driveshaft. Once we had a working car we could move on to the setup. Due to the high-speed nature of Le Mans, Michelin had dictated maximum camber limits so as not to overheat the tyres. The other mandate from Michelin, on the grounds of safety, was that the car had to have a brand-new set of tyres every time it hit the track.
In the end, fifty-six Porsche 911s turned up to race, about half of which were French entries and the others international. The largest class by far was our class, for 991-generation GT3 Cup cars. There was also a class for the 992 Cup car and for 997 and 991 GT3 Rs. At 8:45am Thursday, we headed across the track to the magnificent Le Mans pit lane for free practice one. We had no expectations; Charles had never driven the 13km circuit before and he'd only ever raced against one of the other fifty-five drivers. We stood on the pit wall watching the lap times come in on the TV screen. We could hardly believe it when after only a couple of laps, Charles Rainford jumped to the top. He finished the session in P2 overall as the fastest 991 GT3 Cup car with a lap time of 4:10.8.
Friday was a busier day with free practice two in the morning and qualifying at noon. Charles had the benefit of spending more time with Sascha Maasen and comparing data with a professional lap in a 991 GT3 Cup car. The professional lap time was 4:04; Sascha, having recognised Charles' abilities, gave him some pointers and challenged him to do a 4:06 lap time. In free practice two, Charles was immediately at the top of the timing screen again. After a short while he bettered his previous best lap time by a whole two seconds and once again claimed the top spot in his class. It was a short turnaround ahead of qualifying. We quickly refuelled, prepped the car and fitted fresh rubber. Confident with our pace, we headed back to the pit lane ready to qualify. The trend continued, Charles' lap times improved again and on his third time around, he nailed a 4:06.8 to take class pole position and 6th on the grid.
Saturday was race day. Our race was due to take place in the morning before the main event, the 89th Le Mans 24 hour. Charles was confident with the car and the circuit, his only concern was having a clean first lap without any contact. Once he was through the Dunlop Curves, past Tertre Rouge and onto the Mulsanne, he knew he could get in line and create some space. Like the 24 Hours, the Porsche Sprint Challenge had a rolling start behind the pace car. Overtaking is only allowed once the start lights on the gantry go out. The pack roared past the pits, but it was impossible to see what was happening over the wall. We had to wait for the pack to clear before we were allowed on the pit wall. Finally, we could see the timing screens. We looked for Charles on the screen. He was there, he had made it through the first few corners and was about to hit the Mulsanne. We breathed a sigh of relief. Now it was a waiting game. It would be another 3.5 minutes before he'd come back past the pits.
A couple of laps in and his pace was good. He was changing places with the GT3 R that was next to him. Charles was quicker in the corners but the R could get him back on the straights. He was still leading the class though, and that was what was important. The next 991 GT3 Cup car was behind him but with a reasonable gap. Then the yellow flags came out. We are scanning the timing screens to try and determine which car had dropped off. Then the safety car was deployed. Lap after lap they circulated behind the safety car as the clock ticked down. 15 minutes remaining, 10 minutes remaining. The cars were all bunched up behind the safety car as we prepared for a one or two lap sprint to the finish. But it never happened. A car had gone into the tyre wall along the Mulsanne and it took too long to fish it out and repair the wall. We were a little disappointed to finish the race under the safety car but utterly elated that Charles took the class win. His first trip to Le Mans and he'd be taking the top step on the Rolex podium.
Le Mans truly is a majestic place, steeped in so much history. For Charles to take a win on his first visit is remarkable. Hopefully it's his first of many. We'd been on the road for nearly two weeks, we'd driven hundreds of miles, and had minimal sleep, but we were going home with the silverware.
(Words by Daniel Lackey, Team Manager for CCK Motorsport
Photography by Gun Hill Studios)
1 / 20