Dumas, Dumez… It’s all the same. Good thing for Romain Dumas

Romain Dumas owed his first drive in the Le Mans 24 Hours to a misunderstanding. Team boss Manfred Freisinger was under the impression he had secured the services of Sebastian Dumez. Dumas jumped at the opportunity, and laid the foundations for a Le Mans career that would see him score two overall wins.

The LM GT category was one of two road-based classes featured in the 2001 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The entry list of this specific class was dominated by Porsche’s period GT racer, the 996 GT3 RS. In fact, the only non-GT3 RS in LM GT was a… Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Freisinger

One of the teams utilising this immensely capable 911 was a team greatly associated with Porsche GT racing of the period, Freisinger Motorsport. The German team had entered a Porsche complete with an aggressive livery of blue and pink lightning streaks and sharp teeth lining the front end. In addition to this truculent aesthetic scheme, the Freisinger squadron had a diverse field of drivers that included the experienced Philippe Haezebrouck (known to some as Steve Brooks), the young American Gunnar Jeanette, and a mysterious third French driver…

Yokohama

Team boss, founder and namesake Manfred Freisinger had assumed that he had hired a French driver by the name of Sebastian Dumez. It was to his great surprise when a different Frenchman named Romain Dumas showed up at La Sarthe. It might be asked how Dumas was called up to drive the Porsche at that year’s Le Mans when the driving role had been seemingly given to Dumez.

According to Romain Dumas, he was driving for Toyota SARD, a team equipped with Yokohama tyres, in the GT500 category of the JGTC championship in Japan. Dumas was suddenly notified by Yokohama that a Porsche with their tyres was going to race at Le Mans and that they would be interested in him driving for this entry. Dumas, a Porsche fanatic who spent four years of his childhood in residence at Le Mans, keenly accepted his first drive at one of motorsport’s triple crown.

Crash for Jeannette

You don’t have to worry about Dumez, who would also be at the start. Dumez was part of the three-men-crew in a Larbre run Porsche 996 GT3 RS that would finish in 10^th place in the end. Young Romain Dumas’ start to the Le Mans week could not exactly be described as excellent. A shunt in qualifying withh his American teammate Gunnar Jeannette behind the wheel, saw the GT3 make a dramatic exit from the session.

It was with great fortune that Jeannette was not injured. The same fortune, however, could not be applied to the car. From 11 at night on Thursday to the start of the race on Saturday, the Freisinger team had set about repairing the twisted shell of the 911. The heavily mended Porsche would commence its 24-hour-race from pit lane, not even joining its sportscar peers on the formation lap. This would prove to not be a great inconvenience for the starting driver, Dumas, who had total confidence in his car and led the class by the end of the first hour.

No radio

Dumas believed the rain-soaked start to the race from the pits was advantageous as he could simply spectate all of the crashes in front of him. There were still some slight snags to his immense progress at the beginning of the race, “The problem was the radio was not working. So I stayed out on slicks because I did not know what to do!”

Just one lap down

Dumas’ crew kept the lead in LM GT right until Sunday morning when another one of the Fresinger drivers crashed into the gravel at Dunlop corner, ending their hopes for class victory. Nevertheless, once out of the sand trap, they managed to secure second position in the LM GT class, just one lap behind the winners Rosa – Babini – Drudi. Rather an impressive result from a squadron of which two drivers were making their first appearances at La Sarthe during an edition with conditions described by Dumas as “the worst 24 hours I drove in 23 years.”

There was an upside. “There was so much rain, but this also gave you the opportunity to show what you were capable of as a young driver.” The Porsche factory noticed, and a works drive came his way. It would be the start of a very prolific career. Romain Dumas won Le Mans overall in 2010 with the Audi R15 TDI Plus and in 2016 with the Porsche 919 Hybrid. Next to that, he has a World Endurance Championship title and overall lap records at the Nürburgring, Pikes Peak and Goodwood under his belt. And all because of an accidental appearance in a privateer Porsche…

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