The Le Mans 24 Hours is a race that punishes cars and drivers like no other road race. From the time the race gets underway at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the adrenaline kicks in and the opening hours are a blur. Dusk comes on slowly, but then the night falls, the adrenaline wears off, and the greatest endurance race silently claims its victims. With dawn comes the harsh reality of Le Mans: cars stopped around the circuit suddenly become visible for the first time.
With the breaking of the morning light comes another revelation: 10 hours of racing still remain!
The #69 Schiller Racing Porsche 934, wearing very handsome HCC Skiwear livery, held 14th position overall as the sun rose over the Circuit de la Sarthe. The Schiller Racing team had good reason to feel hopeful. But gremlins strike without prejudice. Swiss drivers Claude Haldi, amongst the best Porsche drivers at the time, and Florian Vetsch were lying second in Group 4 when a valve failure, sadly, caused irreparable engine damage, resulting in their premature retirement.