The sight of Jenson Button going down the gears before diving into Arnage was one of the season’s highlights. It’s not every day you get to the see an actual NASCAR car at the world’s most famous endurance event.
But there he was. Along with Jimmie Johnson and Mike Rockenfeller. And the trio brought the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, complete with working headlights and a bigger fuel tank, to the finish.
Button’s thoughts? “It was awesome.”
We’ll be thinking about this weekend for a LONG time 😁
Thank you for everyone’s support, whether you were at the track, back home, or elsewhere around the world! pic.twitter.com/nCnFDxhd1C
— NASCARG56 (@nascarg56) June 12, 2023
Who are we to disagree? Here at DirtFish, we’re huge fans of Le Mans. If it’s good enough for Colin McRae and Sébastiens Loeb and Ogier, it’s very much good enough for us.
But there’s another reason we’re talking about the US-based Garage 56 entry.
Garage 56 is all about innovation. The race organizers introduced it a few years ago to give the industry the opportunity to innovate.
Nissan’s DeltaWing car ran as the inaugural 2012 Garage 56 entry, but alternative energy sources have also been at the forefront, including hydrogen and bio-methane cars.
Given the regulatory crossroads which sits on the World Rally Championship’s horizon, Garage 56 might not be such a bad plan.
Fear not. It’s already in the works.
The precise details of this all-new WRC category – which would be a support series rather than the headline class – remain firmly under wraps, with some still denying its existence.
DirtFish sources have, however, confirmed it is very much a ‘project in progress’.
Once source said: “The WRC is the most relevant motorsport anywhere in the world. We take cars visibly identical to the ones you and I buy and we test them in the most extreme locations in the world.
“The World [Rally] Championship’s move to hybrid was too late – we know that. I remember reading something you wrote with comments from Toyota reminding us hybrid had been in their range since the late 1990s and we got there in 2022!
“This [Garage 56] plan would give manufacturers the opportunity to absolutely show what they can do. As the automotive industry’s best and, by far, most relatable test bed, we’ve needed this sort of prototype test bed for a while.”
Asked for his thoughts on the introduction of such a class, FIA technical director Xavier Mestelan Pinon offered a guarded response.
He told DirtFish: “If somebody wants to develop a concept, a demonstration car, it’s already possible – I did it in 2009 with the [Citroën] C4 Hybrid. All of our manufacturers can do the same today. It’s too early to discuss if the FIA wants to organize something around that.”
With the early development of fog lights, disc brakes and the use of diesel in motorsport credited to competition at Le Mans, the Garage 56 class was introduced in the spirit of that innovation. As single-car class, Garage 56 cars don’t need to run to the same technical regulations as the rest of the field in the French marathon race – but they must still meet stringent safety rules and run through the scrutineering process ahead of the race.
