Garcia, Pilet to run tribute helmets at Le Mans

Antonio Garcia and Patrick Pilet have both unveiled special helmet designs for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Garcia, who will be driving the #63 Corvette C8.R in GTE Pro alongside Jordan Taylor and Nick Catsburg, will run a one-off design honouring the late Adrian Campos.

The Spanish racer spent some of his early single seater career racing for Campos Motorsport before transitioning to touring cars and ultimately sportscars, where he would go on to take three class victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

For Le Mans, Garcia has worked together with Campos’ son to craft a tribute helmet design, merging Garcia’s traditional design with the one Campos ran in his one and only appearance at the race in 1997.

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Garcia’s Le Mans tribute helmet (left) versus the design he regularly used in IMSA competition

Meanwhile, French ace Patrick Pilet has unveiled a tribute helmet design of his own.

Pilet, normally a Porsche factory driver, joins Paul Lafargue and Paul-Loup Chatin aboard IDEC Sport’s #48 ORECA 07-Gibson.

The Frenchman first joined the team as a late substitute during last year’s race when Dwight Merriman suffered an injury in practice.

For the 89th running of the French endurance classic, Pilet will be competing with a special livery honouring his father.

The helmet has been painted in a bright blue with a white stripe, closely resembling the helmet that Gérard Pilet used. The elder Pilet’s name has also been added to one side of the helmet as an added toych.

“This year for the 24 Hours of Le Mans I will be wearing my father’s colors,” Pilet wrote. “He never got the chance to run here and I wanted to honor him by wearing his colors.

“I love you daddy and I will give everything so that in front of your TV you can see me winning the race with this helmet.”