What has changed?

The new regulations concern refuelling and tyre changes as pit marshal Alain Tannier explains. “Now it’s fuel and tyres at the same time! There used to be two separate steps: first the fuel, then the tyres. Now both operations can be done simultaneously, the pit stop will be shorter. As refuelling takes longer than the tyre change, the pit crew will be able to work on the car while it is refilled. The four mechanics will be able to do all sorts of jobs: change a hood, stick adhesive tape to the car, carry out repairs, and so on.”

So why have the pit stops been changed? Tannier is in no doubt: “It’s for the fans mainly. It was felt that the pit stops were a bit too long and not ‘TV friendly’ enough. They’ll now be a lot quicker and just as safe! I attended the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps [the opening round of the World Endurance Championship] and saw for myself. It’s a really smart move!”

Find out more about pit stop regulations.

What impact has it had on the teams?

Of course, pit crews have had to adapt – or even completely change – their refuelling method. Fabrice Roussel, race engineer for Rebellion Racing (LMP1) tells us more. “These new regulations imply many alterations. The tyre change routine is different as there are more people around the car. The car is raised and lowered and all of that has an impact on the time. We are now allowed two wheel guns in the work area, which wasn’t the case before. However, tyre changes won’t be any quicker than before – around 16 or 17 seconds for the best teams.”

The LMP2 teams view the changes in a similar light. Jacques Morello, joint owner of TDS Racing (#28 Oreca 07-Gibson), in charge of strategy and technical matters, says: “Before, you had to try and save time which involved a certain amount of risk. Now it’s more like ‘zero risk’ because it doesn’t matter if we lose two or three seconds on changing the tyres as refuelling takes longer anyway. We’ll just have to watch out as there are now more people working on the car at the same time, so we’ll have to avoid interfering with the driver changeover.”

How have the pit crews been practising?

The pit crews have therefore reviewed their routine and brought it right up to date. Morello explains how he contemplated the changes required. “We examined the regulations point by point to find out what we were entitled to do or not do. We then worked in race conditions at the 4 Hours of Le Castellet, the opening round of the European Le Mans Series. I have to say that it’s relatively simple compared with previous years. We filmed the pit stops and have had quite a few debriefing sessions. We tested several different methods based on films and time analyses. We picked a solution based on the results and worked on it endlessly to be as efficient as possible. I am confident we have chosen the right method.”   

Roussel proceeded in more or less the same way. “We’ve practised a lot last winter with plenty of testing, measurements and video analyses. There’s still work to do because there’s room for improvement as we saw at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. There are four cameras around the gantry [above the car when it stops] which film all sides. We record and then dissect the mechanics’ movements frame by frame to see what can be ironed out. We can see exactly where the mechanics, wheel guns and wheels are positioned. We analyse these little details that all go towards helping the operation run more smoothly.”

Photos: MPS Agency