Rossi, Schumacher out of Le Mans after teams suffer crashes, engine failure

The 24 Hours of Le Mans saw two of its biggest name contenders drop out overnight as former Grand Prix motorcycle World Champion Valentino Rossi and Formula One racer Mick Schumacher’s teams forced to retire.

Rain slicked up the course in the early hours of the race, with Ferrari’s #54 being the first team to retire after an accident.

The remaining Ferraris and the Porsches were leading the field after the first four hours.

Alpine Endurance team lost both its hypercars – #35 and #36 – including Schumacher’s within an hour late on Saturday evening.

The team’s #35 car caught fire with Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen behind the wheel. No one was injured in the incident, but the vehicle was unable to continue.

Within 40 minutes, Schumacher’s car suffered engine trouble and was forced to abandon its assault on the great race.

The team put out a statement shortly afterwards, confirming that both cars had retired. The press release referred to the “steep learning curve” of endurance racing and promised to come back stronger for next year’s edition.

Meanwhile, Rossi’s team was leading the way around 22:30 UK time, with about one quarter of the race completed but the rain was beginning to fall harder.

Many teams were struggling with the surface, but Rossi’s team-mate Al Harty lost control of his #46 BMW in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The Omani racer skidded into the gravel between the Dunlop chicane and the Tertre Rouge “S”.

Following the crash, Al Harty was seen smacking the wheel in frustration and on the team radio, he said: “Oh I lost it! I lost the car!’

Rossi’s other team-mate Maxime Martin had driven brilliantly in the wet to put the team in a strong position. Al Harty had matched Martin’s performance at first, but he ran off the track and struck the barrier.

While he was able to bring the car to the pit, there was little hope of getting it back into racing condition.