Karim Ajlani
Yann Clairay
Marino Franchitti
Patrick Long
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Karim Ajlani
Karim Ajlani became the first Syrian driver to compete in the world famous Le Mans
24 Hours last weekend, although becoming the first to finish will have to wait until 2010.

The OAK Racing driver, who had lined up eighth after LMP2 class qualifying, was handed the honour of starting the epic race. As the 33 year-old took his place amongst the 55-car strong grid, so he became a part of one of the most evocative sights in motorsport.

"The start was extraordinary with the concentration level required much higher than at the beginning of any other race," said Ajlani. "This event is massive and the start is something incredible. I was very concentrated and focused. It went well and there were no dramas during the opening laps."

Karim ran strongly during his opening stint and remained at the wheel of the Pescarolo-Mazda prototype for the second after pitting for fuel.

"My first stint was good and at the end we decided to double stint the tyres. It's the first time I have ever done that, I haven't even done it in the LMS before, so I made sure I was more careful under braking and all went well.

"In my second stint I found a rhythm pretty quickly and made some progress setting my best lap time as I continued to build my confidence in the car and on the circuit."

Having enjoyed another trouble-free run, Karim made his second scheduled stop of the afternoon to hand over to co-driver Matthieu Lahaye. Fellow #35 car driver Guillaume Moreau would also have time in the car before Ajlani returned for his next stint that night.

It would prove to be anything less than trouble-free however. Towards the end of his stint while running fourth, the gearbox alarm inside the cockpit lit up. On returning to the pits several laps shy of a scheduled stop, his engineers discovered that the engine had developed a problem. With it sealed, team mate Lahaye returned to the fray, only for the car to start billowing smoke. Further checks prompted a 90 minute delay while the entire turbo charger was replaced. Optimistically, Lahaye again headed out, only to complete a further 30 minutes of running before, at 8.30am, the car was retired with engine-related problems.

"Obviously we were all disappointed. The car had been running well up until then but I guess that's what Le Mans is all about. It's 24 hours, not 18, although we can be proud to have come that far with an all new package. It was a shame, but at least the sister car proved the potential by finishing on the podium.

"Our mechanics did an exceptional job to try and help us finish the race and I am very thankful to them. Le Mans is a real challenge of both man and machine and I learned a lot. We have done a lot of kilometres this week and this will be beneficial to us for the remainder of the season."

Ajlani will be back in sportscar action at the upcoming Le Mans Series round in Portimao, Portugal this August.
Yann Clairay
Yann Clairay and his team-mates drove to perfection in the Le Mans 24 Hours and got the best result they could possibly hope for. They took their privately-entered Corvette C6.R into 2nd place in the GT1 category, with only the works Corvette ahead of them. Since he started racing GTs for Luc Alphand Aventures, the man from Mayenne has a 100% record when it comes to podium places!

The crew of Corvette No. 73 had two things in common: their tender tears (average age 26) and their significant experience at high level of single- seater racing. On the other hand, Yann was the only one to have already taken part in the 24-hour race - in 2006 at the wheel of a Courage. That year his race ended when a puncture going into Indianapolis turn sent him into the crash barrier. Like Yann, Dutchman Xavier Maassen knew the Corvette well after racing one to victory at Monza last season. For Julien Jousse, however, it was to be a totally new experience - his first Le Mans, first GT drive and first endurance race. As it turned out, the crew proved to be a perfectly-balanced unit. Everyone stuck to their role, executing team instructions to perfection in order to achieve a magnificent result.

Getting the result was no mean task, with obstacles to be overcome and traps to be avoided in what is the world's greatest endurance race. The Corvette gave the crew plenty of problems during qualifying, as Yann explained. "A clutch part had been fitted the wrong way round and the petrol pump wasn't working properly during free practice. It was my job the next day to set up the car and obtain qualification but we had problems with engine mapping. After the first two segments of my hot lap during the first qualifying session I was only a tenth of a second behind the official works Corvette driven by Jan Magnussen, (editor's note: the former MacLaren F1 driver). Unfortunately I couldn't complete the lap because the team picked up a fault on the telemetry screen and called me straight back in."

Yann made another attempt at the end of the night session, soon after 11.30PM. "As I was coming out of the Hunaudières straight the brake pedal fell off and I nearly ended up in the wall! It was a good job I was able to push down on the pedal arm." In days gone by, before they installed a roundabout at this point, you could have ploughed straight on at 300kpm until you got to Tours! "I came back in and the team repaired the pedal but then there was only time left for one lap. I attacked like crazy, but driving at night I could have done with two or three laps to get my bearings." With a damage-limiting 3'58''564 lap, Yann qualified 37th overall and 5th in his category.

The race itself was rather less eventful for Corvette No. 73. Yann (who took care of the start), Julien and Xavier relayed their stints at the wheel with no problem and made no mistake. For a while they alternated 3rd place in the category with their sister car, No. 72, the position changing hands at each fuel stop, until an unfortunate Patrice Goueslard got shunted violently off the track by a Lola-Aston Martin. So by 10.30PM car No. 73 was left to carry the Luc Alphand Aventures banner by itself, behind the two works Corvettes. "I took it easy during my first stint. Then we picked up the pace a bit until No. 72 dropped out, after which there was not much point in attacking. Whatever happened we weren't going to catch the works Corvettes. But lapping at an easy 4 minutes we were not too far behind them." Two hours and 17 minutes from the end one of the leading Corvettes suffered a broken gearbox, which let No. 73 through to take the chequered flag in 2nd place. "As soon as you step on the podium the place goes wild, there are people everywhere! There's a fantastic atmosphere at Le Mans, the place is truly magical! I hope I can come back here often, I can't describe the buzz it gives you! I'm so grateful to all my sponsors. Thanks to everyone who turned out to support me. See you next year!"

The next round of the LMS season will be in Portimao, Portugal, next August 1st.

Marino Franchitti
The build-up to the 24 Hours of Le Mans is almost as demanding, if not more so, than the race itself. Marino arrived into a rain soaked Le Mans on the evening of Sunday 7th June, which gave him just one day to prepare before the downtown spectacle of scrutineering on the morning of Tuesday. Wednesday saw all the teams out on track for a six hour non-stop practice session from 6.00pm until midnight, giving all three of the Drayson Racing drivers, Paul Drayson, Jonny Cocker and Marino the opportunity to get used to their Aston Martin Vantage GT2 car and get the compulsory 10 laps under each of their belts and unfortunately all completed in very wet conditions as the bad weather had thus far been unrelenting.

Because of the ACO's decision to abandon the Pre-test this year, and with the Wednesday session being given over to practice, unlike previous years Thursday became the only qualifying opportunity, split into two 2-hour sessions. Finally the teams had a dry track to run on, and all were trying to find their optimum set-up for the race as well as trying to set their best times. Jonny Cocker, Paul Drayson's regular co-driver in the LMS Series, was selected to set the qualifying time in the #87 Drayson Racing Vantage and he managed a 4:06.482 around the 13.629km track, placing the team 9th in the 17 strong GT2 class.

Friday, without any track action, one might think could be classed as a day of rest for the drivers, but far from it. Their day is completely filled with appearances, interviews and various other PR commitments, all of which is rounded off by the famous Driver Parade through the streets of a very crowded downtown Le Mans. Marino was particularly pleased to have members of his family amongst the crowd cheering him and his co-drivers on.

It's a long wait from Warm-Up at 8.30am to the start of the race at 3.00pm on race day, and Jonny Cocker was behind the wheel for the opening stint in the #87 car. The driver rotation was Jonny, followed by Paul and then Marino, and each driver single stinting until darkness fell meant that the 13-lap, approximately 55 minute stints came round very quickly indeed. The car was running consistently until a stop just after 3.00am to fix an alternator problem lost the team some track time. However, nearly 10 hours later and just two hours from the end of the race, it was to be another alternator problem that left Jonny Cocker stranded beside the track with total loss of power and a final abandonment just over half an hour later and the race so close to its finish.

"It was amazing to be back competing at Le Mans and although we came up just short of our ultimate goal, it was a very strong performance by the whole team and I was proud to be a part of it" said Marino after the race. "I have to thank everyone at Drayson racing for the fantastic welcome they gave me and also Dyson Racing and Mazda for giving their blessing to compete in this great race. I can't wait to come back next year!"
Patrick Long
Patrick Long, driving the #76 IMSA Performance MATMUT Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, ran in the lead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and in the top three for the bulk of this year's race, but ultimately retired with gearbox trouble in hour 21. After taking the lead in a thrilling first hour of the race, Long and his teammates Patrick Pilet (FR) and Raymond Narac (FR) ran with only minor issues through the majority of the race, staying comfortably in the top four until their retirement. In the race's opening stint, Long led a tightly bunched group of the GT2 contenders, including friends and fellow Porsche factory drivers Marc Lieb in the Felbermayr Porsche, regular ALMS teammate Jorg Bergmeister in the Flying Lizard Porsche, and Risi Ferrari's Jamie Melo.

Patrick said, "After the rainout of our practice on Wednesday, we used Thursday's qualifying sessions to simulate race conditions, tune the car and find our race setup, and get my Le Mans rookie teammate Patrick Pilet up to speed. The race went according to plan in the beginning - we were able to move into the lead in the first hour, and I had a fierce battle with my friends Marc Lieb and Jorg and the Risi Ferrari of Jamie Melo. I was able to lead through my double stint, and all three of us were extremely happy with the car. We then traded the lead and ran in the top three all the way until the final hours of the race, when we lost the gearbox and recorded a DNF."

He continued, "The whole Le Mans experience LM Helmet this year was very positive - every time I got out of the car I had a smile on my face. The wicked fight that the four of us had at the beginning of the race was just a lot of fun, and the IMSA Performance team hit every one of their marks. We had a couple of small issues which put us in the garage for a spell, but we managed to stay in the top three. My teammate Patrick got hit by Sebastien Bourdais in what was the overall lead Peugot which sent us in for a tire change, but that was about all the major drama. I've learned through my experience that in 24 hour races you rarely go trouble free, but the times that you do tend to be podium finishes and usually, wins."

"The RSR was the right car to have at Le Mans this year on pace, but unfortunately attrition got in Porsche's way. We were faster than the Ferraris though, which bodes well for the rest of the ALMS season - we've got a great car underneath us. The Lizards do great as a team, but getting in another team's RSR and immediately having good race pace shows me that overall, the RSR's pace is very strong in relation to the Ferraris."

Patrick kept a race blog during the 24 at his normal Porsche Club of America page, at: //pca.org/Panorama/PatrickLongonRacing.aspx

USA TODAY Feature

PL USA TODAY Patrick was the subject of a feature in USA TODAY just prior to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In part, it says: "Besides being one of the world' hottest sports-car racers (leading the GT2 class this season in the American Le Mans Series and a 24 Hours of Daytona winner this year), Long, 27, also is an auto racing renaissance man. He speaks four languages (English, French, Italian and German) and has raced in 15 countries."

After moving at 16 to Europe to pursue a go-karting career, Long lived in England, Germany and France, where he studied at the University of Le Mans a decade ago and became acclimated to the city that will draw a crowd of more than 200,000 fans this weekend. "It's opened their eyes to who I am," he says. "It's cool to carry the U.S. flag in a race with the most international following of any in the world." Read the full article here.

SPEEDTV SuperMoto Feature

SuperMoto YouTube During the Salt Lake City ALMS race broadcast, SPEEDTV showed a film of Patrick and Troy Lee Designs MX and SuperMoto team manager David Pingree riding SuperMoto bikes at Adams Motorsports Park in Riverside, CA, where ironically Patrick did some of his early karting racing nearly 20 years ago. Patrick fulfilled a dream by riding a professional-level SuperMoto bike, and received lessons from former SuperCross winner and X Games medalist Pingree. The experience, arranged by TLD, is part one of a two-part series where Patrick and Ping will trade lessons on each other's respective race rides. Next up: Patrick teaches Ping to race a Porsche. Click the image to watch the video.

Sponsors and Partners

Patrick Long is pleased to announce the return of all of his 2008 sponsors and partners. Marketing programs and promotions will be announced throughout the next months, but in the meantime, visit the following websites to learn more about Patrick's sponsors.