Chassis Replacements for Tower, D’station After FP1 Accident

Setbacks for two teams at Le Mans with replacement cars arriving after FP1 accident…

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D'station Racing and Tower Motorsports are sourcing replacement chassis after an accident involving both teams during opening practice for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The No. 777 D'station Aston Martin Vantage GTE spun in the hands of Casper Stevenson at the right-hander before Tertre Rouge and was then struck by the Oreca 07 Gibson of Steven Thomas.

Both drivers were OK after the heavy contact, however the team principals from both entries confirmed to Sportscar365 that each chassis will need to be replaced.

Tom Ferrier, whose TF Sport team runs the Japanese D'station program, said that plans are being made to transport a replacement Aston Martin from its U.K. base.

This is understood to already be in GTE specification instead of being a GT3 car that requires conversion.

"The first accident would have been easy to repair but the second one damaged the shell," Ferrier said.

Tower Motorsports, meanwhile, has access to a spare ORECA chassis at the Circuit de la Sarthe, according to TDS team principal Xavier Combet who said that it would take around eight to ten hours to equip it for track action.

Both teams are set to miss qualifying this evening, meaning they will need to start the race from the back of the overall grid according to the event regulations.

Thomas Penalized for Causing Collision, Speeding

In addition to starting from the rear of the field, Tower Motorsports will need to observe a three-minute stop and hold penalty during the race after Thomas was deemed at fault for the accident.

A stewards’ report said that Thomas "failed to slow sufficiently" before colliding with Stevenson's car.

The report added: "The Stewards considered it a mitigating factor that the yellow flag prior to Turn 6 was not where the driver would normally be looking.

"However, the Stewards compared via telemetrie [sic] the point at which the preceding cars lifted off the throttle and braked, and in each case it was prior to the point at which car No. 13 took these actions and the Stewards considered that this contributed to the accident."

This story was updated at 8:50 p.m. CEST to include the penalty for the No. 13 Tower Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson

Daniel Lloyd is a UK-based reporter for Sportscar365, covering the FIA World Endurance Championship, Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, among other series.

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