24h Le Mans
24 Hours of Le Mans team members are a mixed bunch, but amateurs and team managers alike have all worked their way up the endurance racing ladder to reach the classic French race. Today, the spotlight is on High Class Racing's Mark Patterson.
Team: High Class Racing
Class: LMP2
Car and Drivers:
A native of South Africa living in the U.S., Mark Patterson began his journey as a gentleman-driver on the cusp of turning 50 and had made a career in finance: "Back in the mid-late 1990s, I was a senior person at Credit Suisse. Some younger people mentioned they were escaping NY's winter weather by going to Laguna Seca (California, Ed.) in late January to complete the three-day Skip Barber Racing School experience. They said I was crazy enough to try that too, so I went along. With racing, like white water kayaking, boxing or skiing, you know in a matter of minutes if the sport is for you. I liked all these sports and loved racing immediately, progressed through their regional and national championships in little Formula cars, then the Pro Mazda series, then Ferrari Challenge and ultimately Grand Am (now the IMSA, Ed.) in a Daytona Prototype. At each stage the cars got quicker as I got older. After racing in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, the pull of international racing got my attention, so the Bathurst 12 Hours in Australia, Shanghai's first F1 race where I competed in the Formula BMW pre-race, Dubai, England, France, Italy, Holland, Belgium etc. all became inevitable venues for racing. Once I had done the British GT Championship and the European Blancpain Series, the raw magnetic force of Le Mans became irresistible. I've raced at 70 tracks worldwide now in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Middle East. Of the million (who knows the right number) race drivers in the world, all yearn to be able to compete at Le Mans, the ultimate racing shrine. So far I have done six Le Mans races in LMP2 and GTE cars, realizing a racer's ultimate dream. Each trip to Le Mans creates a wonderful treasure trove of memories and drops you into some of the most competitive athletic experiences available in the world."
In six participations in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Patterson has driven two generations of LMP2 prototypes, rear-engine GTs (Ferrari 458 Italia) and front-engine GTs (Corvette). He achieved his best result in LMP2 with the Murphy Prototypes team, fifth place in 2015 along with Karun Chandhok and Nathanaël Berthon. He also finished twice in a class top 10: seventh in LMP2 for his first start in 2013 with Murphy Prototypes and ninth in LMGTE Am in 2016 at the wheel of Tawainese team Team AAI's Corvette. Patterson was only forced to retire once, in 2018, his last appearance to date, driving Algarve Pro Racing's Ligier JS P217. His favourite memories of the 24 Hours: "This is a very difficult question to answer because the roller coaster ride every year creates magnificent memories of the mechanics and engineers, the drivers, the parade through the town, the fans, the organisers and of course the results. Like my first of nine Daytona 24 Hour races, the first Le Mans experience always sticks in your mind, but I would say the year I got to drive with two outstanding drivers with F1 reputations, Brendon Hartley and Karun Chandhok, sticks out as very memorable. Not just the thrill of driving with really competent quick drivers, but their patient coaching is invaluable. I am told our LMP2 cars complete Le Mans laps today more quickly than the great Audi and Porsche LMP1 cars of about 10 years ago driven by Kristensen and McNish etc., drivers who regularly won Le Mans outright. That says a lot. So getting the chance to drive a very powerful car is thrilling."
This year, for his seventh participation, Patterson will take the wheel of an LMP2 prototype for the fifth time. After Murphy Prototypes (in 2013 and 2015) and Algarve Pro Racing (in 2017 and 2018), he has now joined Danish team High Class Racing and drivers Anders Fjordbach and Kenta Yamashita (a younge Japanese talent and Toyota protégé). The team has always figured in the top 10 in LMP2 in the FIA World Endurance Championship, with as best result fourth place at the 6 Hours of Fuji for the trio composed of one Gold, one Silver and one Bronze driver. "I have studied the layout of 24 competitors among the LMP2 entrants this year. There are only 11 Bronze drivers out of 72 in the LMP2 line-up and half the field has no Bronze driver in their line-up. Yet anyone who has competed at mighty and famous Le Mans well knows, not every entrant manages to finish, or finish flawlessly without a visit to the garage that eats valuable time. So Yamashita-san, Anders and I hope first for a finish to this epic 24-hour adventure, but deep down inside we definitely are aiming at a top 10 finish - damn those statistical odds!"
PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, DRIVER AUTOGRAPH SESSION, 12 JUNE 2018. Sexagenarian gentleman-driver Mark Patterson thrills fans by drawing their portraits!
