This time next month we will be deep into the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans and one man who will have had a better view than most of the start will be NASCAR Vice-Chairman, Jim France.
The Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) yesterday announced that the GRAND-AM Road Racing founder and an integral part of the new-for-2014 United Sportscar Racing will give the start to the event on Saturday, 22nd June.
This event is timely as sports car racing in North America is about to undergo a new phase of expansion in 2014 under the leadership of France with the contribution of the ACO and its partner, Don Panoz, the founder of the American Le Mans Series. The FIA World Endurance Championship will join with the ALMS at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas the weekend of the 21st and 22nd September for a festival of racing, the highlight of which will be the 6 Hours of Circuit of The Americas, the fifth round of the 2013 FIA WEC.
Thirty-seven years after his brother, Bill France Jr. carried out the same task, Jim France (68) will be lowering the French flag to unleash the 56 cars in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Frances are the sons of Bill France Sr., founder of the prestigious NASCAR stock car racing organization in North America.
The creation of United SportsCar Racing ensures that this form of motor sports started by the ACO with the first running of the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1923 will be in the best possible hands in North America.
The French flag with which France will give the start to the 2013 event will be handed to him symbolically on June 20 by Don Panoz in the presence of ACO President Pierre Fillon.
It is the first time in the 90-years’ history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans that the start of the race will have been given by two members of the same family.
Pierre Fillon, President of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest: “We are particularly honored that Jim France has accepted to give the start to the Le Mans 24 Hours in this very symbolic year, in which we’re celebrating the 90th anniversary of the greatest endurance race in the world. It proves just how close are the links between the club that created endurance racing and the authorities of North American motor sports."
Jim France, Grand-Am Founder and NASCAR Vice-chairman: “I will be waving the flag to start next month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans on behalf of the entire North American sports car community. It demonstrates the universal interest in the consolidation of America’s two leading road racing organizations. The world-wide racing community is already anticipating the debut of United SportsCar Racing at the 2014 Rolex 24 At Daytona, with its close association to the ACO and link to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. On a personal note, it’s gratifying to serve in a role that my brother Bill performed in 1976. My dad Bill Sr. always appreciated the international appeal of sports car racing, which he felt was epitomized in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.”
Fiona Miller (from ACO press release)
Photo: CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES (LE MANS, FRANCE), 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, 16-17TH JUNE 2012. Start of the 2012 edition.
