Everyone loves a local hero. Not just a driver hailing from the same country; someone who grew up on or near the very streets where they are now racing. Just think of Charles Leclerc, the passion that surrounds him at every Monaco Grand Prix, and the cheers when he finally won his home Formula 1 race after years of hardship.
At the Le Mans 24 Hours, that’s Sebastien Bourdais. The Frenchman was born at the aptly named Clinique du Tertre-Rouge, metres away from the eponymous corner, and grew up in Laigne-en-Belin, near Mulsanne corner. As a teenager, he watched his father Patrick compete at Circuit de la Sarthe, before joining him on the legendary track.
Bourdais could have won this year. Halfway through the race, the #38 Cadillac he shared with Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber was one of four clear contenders for victory, alongside the sister #12 car, the #8 Toyota and the #20 BMW.
Alas, the American challenger was struck by a power steering failure shortly after 4am, which ruled it out of contention. The issue couldn’t be fixed swiftly, and Bourdais had lost substantial time nursing the car back to the pits anyway.
“The power steering failed at pit end, so I was already through,” he explained. “So I was going to have to do the lap back to the pits, bleeding lap time and trying not to crash because the steering wheel is just a rod. It’s quite spicy to turn. And this race, if you make it in the garage and you don’t get out of the garage within a minute, it’s game over.”
Bourdais was speaking eight hours after the terminal problem occurred; although he wasn’t as distraught anymore, he remained visibly emotional.
Both Cadillacs were victory contenders at Le Mans, but the podium eluded them, with the #12 car narrowly missing out
Photo by: Emanuele Clivati | AG Photo
Asked if there were any positives to take away, the 47-year-old replied: “Other than the retirement and that insignificant failure that unfortunately is the dagger in the heart, there’s only positives.
“We obviously had an amazing car, it was fighting at the front the entire time. My team-mates did an amazing job, the team in general executed exactly the way we had to and we gave ourselves a chance, and that’s all you can ask for at Le Mans.
“This race has got its ways to humble everything and everyone. For maybe a two-dollar piece, it just came to a crushing end.
“When the gods of racing decide that it’s not your day, it’s just not your day. We didn’t stuff the car in the fence or anything like that. It’s just a stupid failure that ruins everybody’s efforts. It is what it is.”
The reason why this defeat was so hard to swallow for Bourdais is simple: he’s previously come so close to triumphing on his turf. He first raced at Circuit de la Sarthe back in 1999, then a fresh-faced 20-year-old on his way to the French Formula 3 title. He was part of Peugeot’s golden era, taking three second-place finishes in 2007, 2009 and 2011 – the latter with a mere 14-second deficit on the race-winning Audi.
A GTE Pro class win in 2016 with Ford was something of a consolation prize, and Cadillac’s foray into Hypercar threw Bourdais a lifeline in 2023 despite his age, but this adventure is yet to yield even a podium finish for the 47-hear-old.
Bourdais was consoled by his father Patrick after encountering the terminal power steering issue
Photo by: Marc Fleury
“Some races just decide to turn their back on some guys and smile at others,” he contemplated. “You win much fewer than you lose in a racing career, and it doesn’t make you a better or worse driver, it’s just part of the journey. Sometimes it’s incredibly cruel.
“Five years ago, I didn’t even think I’d have a chance to come back and fight for [outright] victory at Le Mans. You see years passing by, you’re in your 40s; you know that those opportunities with constructors, there aren’t 50 of them. Every time, you get a bit closer to the use-by date after which the opportunity just won’t be there. That’s how it is. Then, you can feel sorry for yourself or you can just appreciate the fact that you’ve been there, you’ve knocked on the door a number of times.
“I’m already kind of the dinosaur on the grid. I’ve been reminded often enough this week that I was the only one who’s done the 24 Hours in the 90s,” he chuckled, echoing what Le Mans legend Romain Dumas, who’s from the same generation, told Autosport earlier in the week.
“But if someone wants to give me a drive next year, I’ll be there. Will that be Cadillac? I hope so.”
In the end, this writer felt like this was a cathartic moment for Bourdais. It is not typical for early race retirees to hold press conferences. Here, his first answer lasted nearly two minutes, reaching far beyond the wording of the opening question. And when the anglophone session eventually ended, he insisted on taking French questions too – even though he arguably didn’t have much more to say.
Perhaps the cruel scenario was weighing on his heart, and the press conference was the ideal way for him to express everything he was feeling – in a calm, exhaustive, uninterrupted way, addressing an audience which would listen to every word and engage thoughtfully.
Bourdais will regroup, and fight again next time – if he gets the chance to prove to himself that no, Le Mans hasn’t turned its back on its golden boy.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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