WEC
Johnny Mowlem race report
MOWLEM, RISI LE MANS EFFORT ENDS IN DISAPPOINTMENT LE MANS, France (June 17, 2007) -- Johnny Mowlem's dream of winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans went up in steam when an accident well after the halfway mark in the race severely damaged the car ...
Published: Jun 22, 2007, 5:50 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
MOWLEM, RISI LE MANS EFFORT ENDS IN DISAPPOINTMENT
LE MANS, France (June 17, 2007) -- Johnny Mowlem's dream of winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans went up in steam when an accident well after the halfway mark in the race severely damaged the car and eventually forced retirement from the event.
Mowlem and his Risi Competizione teammates Mika Salo and Jaime Melo had a three-lap lead in the GT2 class at the time of the incident and had led the class for 10 hours and 59 minutes.
"The Risi Competizione car was running like a dream" said Mowlem. "Jaime, Mika and myself all double-stinted from the start, and by the time I got out of the car around 8 hours into the race, we had over a one lap lead over the rest of the GT2 field".
This lead was to grow and grow as the race progressed, with the #97 Risi Ferrari 430 being consistently the fastest car in the GT2 field.
Melo was driving at about 6:10 a.m. when he encountered radiator fluid on the track at the Mulsanne corner. The car lost traction, slid off the racing surface and struck a retaining barrier. Melo was able to limp the car back to the pits, where a series of repairs were made. The car did return to the track briefly, but the retirement decision eventually became obvious.
Mowlem, a winner in the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring earlier this year in the same chassis that was competing at Le Mans, said that the team had done a phenomenal preparation job on the car, as before the accident the car felt like a winner.
Mowlem's next race will be the next Le Mans Series round held at the Nurburgring Grand Prix circuit in Germany.
-credit: www.johnnymowlem.com
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Next article Toyota Le Mans prototype has support from ORECA for 2012
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Mika Salo
Which modern Formula 1 driver raced for the most teams?
Formula 1
Formula 1
Which modern Formula 1 driver raced for the most teams?
Salo to race alongside son Max in Fuji 24 Hours
Super Taikyu
Super Taikyu
Salo to race alongside son Max in Fuji 24 Hours
F1 career in numbers: Mika Salo
Formula 1
Formula 1
F1 career in numbers: Mika Salo
More from
Risi Competizione
Risi Competizione ready for return to Rolex 24 after one-year hiatus
IMSA
IMSA
Rolex 24 Hours
Risi Competizione ready for return to Rolex 24 after one-year hiatus
BMW, Ferrari fined and docked GTD Pro, GTD Manufacturers’ points
IMSA
IMSA
Daytona 24 Hours
BMW, Ferrari fined and docked GTD Pro, GTD Manufacturers’ points
Casagrande joins Risi Ferrari line-up for Sebring 12 Hours
IMSA
IMSA
Sebring 12 Hours
Casagrande joins Risi Ferrari line-up for Sebring 12 Hours
Latest news
What's behind Oscar Piastri's split with Mark Webber – and what it means for his F1 career
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
10 min
What's behind Oscar Piastri's split with Mark Webber – and what it means for his F1 career
Shane van Gisbergen gets new crew chief for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
17 min
Shane van Gisbergen gets new crew chief for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
Conquest Racing locks in 2027 IMSA GTD lineup with Manny Franco full-time return
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 36 min
Conquest Racing locks in 2027 IMSA GTD lineup with Manny Franco full-time return
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe