24 Hours of Le Mans: ‘You can’t do that!’ – Ferrari controversially cuts corner of chicane gaining advantage

There was a cheeky bit of driving that the Eurosport commentators took exception to with hours remaining at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Ferrari 51, driven at the time by Alessandro Pier Guidi, zipped over the Dunlop chicane, cutting the corner completely to gain a clear advantage over the cars behind.

It was an astonishing piece of driving and immediately stood out to TV viewers and the commentators as being both unnecessary and unfair in comparison to the other cars having to negotiate the tricky turns.

The Ferrari 51 very obviously gained an advantage with the gap between it and the cars behind growing as a result of the move, which saw it zoom off the track completely.

As Martin Haven, on commentary for Eurosport at the time, explained, it was a cheeky piece of driving.

“Oh, a dive!” he exclaimed. “That is the Ferrari, Alessandro Pier Guidi, going straight on at the Dunlop chicane.

Further context was added on commentary: “No, really he should back out of that and give back that space that he has gained there.

“That was leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage, by the book.

“Look at the gap there [before leaving the track] and look at the gap there [rejoining the track further ahead]. You can’t do that!”

Earlier, a nightmare situation was resolved in a very heartwarming fashion as Francois Perrodo made a big point of apologising to the Corvette 61 team after causing a crash.

The unfortunate incident occurred at the famous race when Perrodo instinctively reacted to a slight move towards him from a car to his right. As he moved slightly to his left without thinking, he shunted the Corvette 64.

What was not a major contact ended up being pretty disastrous for the Corvette team as the car, driven by Britain’s Alexander Sims, flew out of control into the barrier before again striking it further down the track.

It was a nightmare moment for Corvette with the car’s race immediately over in shocking fashion. Fortunately, Sims was okay, but the car was not able to resume.

Perrodo took the tough decision to then walk a long way through the paddock to find the Corvette team and express his sincere apologies in emotional footage captured by Eurosport.

Thankfully, Perrodo’s gesture was warmly received by Corvette and it made for a very touching moment of racing reaction as they discussed the incident and attempted to make amends.

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Live coverage started on Wednesday afternoon with practice sessions and qualifying for Hyperpole. There was more live action on Thursday evening followed by continuous coverage of the main race, which started at 2pm BST on Saturday, June 11.