Leap in time - 100 years of Le Mans
06/27/2023
A huge leap in time is captured here in one picture: The BugattiType 51 from 1936 with the brand-new Le Mans winner in the LMP2 class Fabio Scherer (born on June 13, 1999).
Bugatti won the legendary 24-hour race exactly twice: in 1937 with the Type 57G with Jean-Pierre Wimille and Robert Benoist at the wheel and in 1939 with the 57C, when Wimille shared the car with Pierre Veyron, the namesake of later Bugatti models.
Fabio Scherer from Lucerne, who lives in Engelberg, did not miss the opportunity to take part in the parade of 70 Bugattis at the 4th International Bugatti Meeting despite his foot injury. Despite his camouflage with dark sunglasses, he was of course immediately recognized everywhere and could hardly save himself from congratulations.
His victory in Le Mans was not at all a foregone conclusion, as a foot injury, a broken metatarsal, almost forced him out of the race during the first driver change. A competitor had run over his foot in the pit lane. If he had received immediate medical treatment, he would have been excluded from the race. And as the regulations stipulate at least three drivers per car, the whole team would have been excluded from the race. So he gritted his teeth and finished the race with his two colleagues, Jakob Smiechowski (31, Pol) and Albert Costa (33, Sp), despite the pain.
Because Scherer was flawless and extremely fast during the somewhat chaotic and at times really wet night, he remained on schedule, fully supported by the team. He even drove the "Inter Europol Competition" LMP2 car to the finish line for the last hour and a half and then commented: "I'm probably the first racing driver to win Le Mans with a broken foot."
It wasn't just any Le Mans race, but an anniversary race for his 100th birthday and the zwischengas team congratulates him wholeheartedly on his class victory.
