Glickenhaus's underdog Le Mans challenge: 'We won't make it easy for Toyota'

A combination of Le Mans-winning expertise, a car designed for the track and a true indy spirit could take Glickenhaus all the way, says Ryan Briscoe

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709 Briscoe Ryan (nzl), Westbrook Richard (gbr), Dumas Romain (fra), Glickenhaus Racing, Glickenhaus 007 LMH, action during the Le Mans test day prior the 4th round of the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship, FIA WEC, on the Circuit de la Sarthe, on August 15, 2021 in Le Mans, France - Photo Frédéric Le Floc'h / DPPI

They might be underdogs, but Briscoe feels Glickenhaus has a fighting chance

Frédéric Le Floc'h / DPPI

There have been a fair few tales of the underdog winning at Le Mans down the years.

The McLaren F1 besting faster classes to win in ’95; Mazda coming from four laps down to beat Mercedes, Jaguar and Peugeot in 1991; Jean Rondeau’s quirky design taking advantage of a rules transition to win in ’81.

This year though, perhaps the most unlikely win of all could occur – and it’s a story straight out of Hollywood.

“Being part of development from the first day up to now – it’s been an experience” Ryan Briscoe

Sometime movie producer and boutique sports car maker Jim Glickenhaus has taken the plunge in the new Hypercar era to try and claim Le Mans glory before any other manufacturer finds its footing in the new class. He’s brought in several partners to compose the resultant Glickenhaus 007 – Podium Technologies to produce the chassis, Sauber to work on the aerodynamics, Pipo Moteurs to build the 3.5-litre twin turbo V8 whilst legendary sports car squad Joest are helping to run the race team.

Some have ridiculed this modern day indy effort but its drivers, which include two-time overall winner Romain Dumas and Sebring 12 Hours champion Ryan Briscoe, view this as unique opportunity and approach to taking on the manufacturer might of Toyota as “something special that you don’t see so often in motorsport anymore”.

Glickenhaus Jim (usa), Owner of Glickenhaus Racing, portrait during the free practice and qualifying sessions of 24 Hours of Le Mans 2021, 4th round of the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship, FIA WEC, on the Circuit de la Sarthe, from August 18 to 22, 2021 in Le Mans, France - Photo Joao Filipe / DPPI

Quirky film producer-turned boutique car builder Jim Glickenhaus aims to beat Ferrari to the overall win

Joao Filipe / DPPI

Briscoe, who came into the team to drive its No709 car along with Dumas and Richard Westbrook (with Olivier Pla, Franck Mailleux and Luis Felipe Derani in the 708) has a career’s worth of achievement in sports cars (not to mention a hatful of IndyCar wins) already, but has never won Le Mans overall. Now is his chance.

“Coming to Le Mans and trying to win here is always an incredible feeling,” the 2020 Daytona winner told Motor Sport. “But for me, coming in and being a part of development from the first day that we put the car on track up to now, it’s just been so much fun.

“Helping to develop a brand new car that’s literally been built from scratch – everything, the chassis, the engine, specifically been built for this car – it’s been such an experience.”

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As well as winning Florida’s enduro classic, Briscoe has also won the Petit Le Mans and come first in the LMP2 class at Sebring in 2013, but he says the emotion of being involved with Glickenhaus has compared with little else in his career.

“There’s just so much passion on the team,” he says. “Everyone is just so proud of what this small group has been able to put together.

“One of the great memories I have is at Monza during the first test I went to. I just remember rolling out the car in the morning, starting it up, Romain driving out the garage, and feeling just so much pride in all the team, the engineers, the deign engineers, everyone there just watching it roll out.

“There was an applause – we weren’t even concerned about performance that day. That’s something special that you don’t see so often in motor sport anymore. I think that’s what makes this programme so different, it’s close to the heart of a lot of people.”

Briscoe was speaking to Motor Sport after a successful test day at Le Mans in preparation for the big race. The 007 understandably had a race that was more troubleshooting than headline-grabbing debut at the WEC season-opening 8 Hours of Portimão, whilst the next round at Monza saw a marked improvement, with one car leading before having to stop for a precautionary brake change. Now, at the particularly low-downforce Le Mans circuit, the car looks to be within striking distance of the Toyota and LMP1-running Alpine team.

In the current issue of Motor Sport, a bullish Jim Glickenhaus said he believed a car built with Le Mans in mind could give anyone a run for their money.

708 Derani Pipo (bra), Mailleux Franck (fra), Pla Olivier (fra), Glickenhaus Racing, Glickenhaus 007 LMH, action during the free practice and qualifying sessions of 24 Hours of Le Mans 2021, 4th round of the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship, FIA WEC, on the Circuit de la Sarthe, from August 18 to 22, 2021 in Le Mans, France - Photo Germain Hazard / DPPI

The Glickenhaus team aim to be there when night recedes and the sun comes up

Germain Hazard / DPPI

“We’re gonna try to win this year, and I think it’s possible,” he said. “We’ve built a low-downforce car on purpose with Le Mans in mind. We are absolutely as fast as Toyota on [maximum speed]; the only time they were quicker than us at Portimão was when they were slipstreaming each other.

“We weren’t disappointed by the lap-time differential. We know we are going to be better at Monza and better again at Le Mans. So why can’t we beat Toyota?”

Briscoe is similarly optimistic, saying the car is feeling better than ever and following the development path the team expected.

“The downforce package is homologated and the same wherever you run,” he explains. “When we did our first race at Portugal,which is a very busy circuit with lots of corners and not a lot of straights, it was quite a challenging circuit for us, because the 007 is designed with low downforce in mind for Le Mans.

“As we come here, it’s definitely more suited to this track. I had a blast yesterday – I thought the car was great to drive. We had to work on the set up because on the green circuit, we were a bit loose. But then we really started to dial it in and the car was fantastic. The braking was really good, the high speed balance was really strong.”

Briscoe has driven F1, IndyCars, DPi, LMP2 and GT machines, to name a few. He feels this adaptability has helped him settle into a rhythm with the 007.

708 Derani Pipo (bra), Mailleux Franck (fra), Pla Olivier (fra), Glickenhaus Racing, Glickenhaus 007 LMH, action during the Le Mans test day prior the 4th round of the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship, FIA WEC, on the Circuit de la Sarthe, on August 15, 2021 in Le Mans, France - Photo Joao Filipe / DPPI

Briscoe: “We’re right with Toyota”

Joao Filipe / DPPI

“The LMH class  car is quite heavy now,” he says. “An LMP1 car is very agile, stuck to the ground, this one moves around a little bit more, some characteristics might resemble a GT car at higher speed. But of course it drives more like a prototype than a GT car. I’ve driven lots of different cars, and that helps.”

After the emergency pitstop to change pads at the Cathedral of Speed, can the 007’s stoppers handle those heavy braking zones at on the Mulsanne?

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“Monza is a very hard track on brakes, harder than Le Mans is,” Briscoe says. “But the problem in Monza is overheating front brakes. What we had in in Italy isn’t an issue here. If anything it was too cold. Once we got them into the right operating window in the test, the consumption was absolutely minimal.

“We were planning a brake change, but we might not need to. What happened in Monza was unfortunate, but I think we’re close to not changing brakes during the Le Mans race.”

With a car that’s on song down the Mulsanne then, can Briscoe and co really push Toyota all the way?

“You can’t just roll around and be conservative,” he says without hesitation. “We’re gonna run hard and be fighting for it at the finish. The engine is built to run a lot more power than what we’re restricted to at the moment. We could run several Le Mans 24 Hours no problem.

“We’re still learning so much about the car and we’ve got our own challenges but we proved in Monza that we’re right there with them.

Briscoe Ryan (nzl), Glickenhaus Racing, Glickenhaus 007 LMH, portrait during the Le Mans test day prior the 4th round of the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship, FIA WEC, on the Circuit de la Sarthe, on August 15, 2021 in Le Mans , France - Photo Julien Delfosse / DPPI

Briscoe looks upon the whole effort Glickenhaus as “special – something that doesn’t happen in motor sport anymore”

Julien Delfosse / DPPI

“The fact we’re here in Le Mans, competing for the overall win, it’s given everyone that little push to do everything it takes to make sure we’re there.

“So far on lap time, we’re right with Toyota. We’re not gonna make it easy for them.”

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