Everything is done with so much time in hand in the build-up to the start of the Le Mans 24 Hours. Having pushed the cars out onto the track in what the French call an “ear of corn” formation, and the British might equally describe as “herringbone”, they stand there for the best part of three hours, surrounded by a mill of team members, photographers, dignitaries and heaven-alone knows who else. The time never seems to drag, however. The minutes pass quickly amid the noise and spectacle of the parade of drivers, the enthusiasm of Bruno Vandestick (the official commentator), and the distant glamour of the Hawaiian Tropic girls. Almost ignored is the playing of the competitor's national anthems, although British fans weren't slow to show their dismay this year when the thirty-seven UK drivers were hailed by the Stars & Stripes. A “technical difficulty” was the proffered excuse.

With the best part of forty minutes still remaining before the anticipated start the cars were moved out for the parade lap that would bring them round into their grid positions.

David Warnock, who had quite casually arrived only a few moments beforehand, pushed in his radio earplugs, pulled on his Nomex balaclava, zipped up his race suit, donned his helmet, and then twisted his tall frame in through the Porsche's low doorway.

Strapped into the contoured Recaro driving seat, and with coolsuit and radio leads connected, David steered away from the pit wall to join the queue of cars heading away towards the Dunlop Chicane. Several of the leading cars, significantly, most of them prototypes, elected to complete a brief pitstop for a top-up of fuel and, in some cases, a change of tyres.

With the forecast suggesting a 30% chance of rain and track temperatures officially just 28 degrees, Saturday was shaping up to be the coolest day of the week so far, and some manufacturers were recommending a change of compounds.

David completed the lap and manoeuvred through the marshals and boy scouts, the latter holding the marker cards designating the grid positions of each car, to take up his slot alongside the Morgan Aero 8, to be started by New Zealander Neil Cunningham. Directly behind David was the Panoz Elan LMP1, sent there because, like the #36 WR LMP2 alongside it, and the #24 WR behind, not all the prototype's drivers had completed their required qualifying laps. A fourth car, the #10 diesel-engined Taurus Lola, would have received the same penalty, but team owner Ian Dawson elected instead to start the car's race from the pitlane, where the JMB Ferrari 360 team were battling to get their car ready. With a final word of encouragement from Mike Pickup, the track was cleared and David Warnock was on his own.

At exactly three fifty two the brand new Audi A6 pace car, one of 18 such cars supplied to the ACO for this year's Le Mans , moved away at the head of a field of 48 cars – two short on expectations. The ACO have had enough practice over the years to know how best to judge this critical lap; the one that ensures that the race starts on the dot of four-o'clock. This year, with some 40 seconds still to go, the pace car appeared tentatively around the end of the wall that marks the beginning of the Ford Chicanes. It was early, and slowed to a crawl. Then, juggling the remaining seconds, it suddenly picked up speed over the final two turns. This opened up just enough of a gap for McNish and Davies to increase pace themselves, and they closed rapidly on the departing A6. It was a close shave, the pace car leaning heavily in its efforts to clear the track, nut nowhere near as close as the tussle between the two front row pace-setters. If the Audi R8 had wing mirrors in the conventional position, neither car would have escaped this wheel-banging with a full complement. Sam Li, the boss at Veloqx, had announced before the race that there would be no team orders this weekend, and here was perfect proof. These team-mates weren't about to give an inch to the other, and they powered out of the Ford Chicane locked tightly side-by-side. Even before they crossed the line a significant gap had opened out between them and Andy Wallace, third in the #22 Zytek.

Further back down the grid – almost as far back as you can go – David Warnock must have been experiencing some very unfamiliar emotions. Imagine some of the thoughts going through his mind as he prepared to take his first ever rolling start at Le Mans , knowing that by the time he arrived at the line Jamie Davies and the leaders would be half way to the Mulsanne. “I had a bad night. I kept breaking out in clammy sweats, and hardly slept at all. Once I got onto the grid I felt fine. That's when the adrenalin kicks in.” As David made the twitch through the final element of the Ford Chicane, Neil Cunningham in his slipstream was already under pressure from the Panoz, while the two WRs wouldn't take long to pass them either.

By the end of the opening lap David had already been overtaken by all three, but was pulling comfortably clear of Cunningham. He was also maintaining close formation on the cars directly in front. Over the next few laps the gap back to Cunningham grew steadily, but David was hanging on well to the battle ahead between the Cirtek Ferrari 360, the Luc Alphand Porsche, and the #81 Racer's Group 911 GT3-RSR. These early laps were looking comfortable for David, and after initially losing a few seconds to the #81, he began to recover the gap. Watching from the Ford Chicane, where a combination of four quick changes of direction is compressed into a couple of hundred yards, the PK car looked by far the smoothest of the Porsches. While his adversaries ahead snatched and fought their way between the kerbs, David's progress appeared serene and unhurried. Checking the timing screen confirmed that such apparent ease can be deceptive, and his best of 4:20.612 was a good match for his immediate rivals. “That was the plan of action,” explained David. “Don't race it! Mike told me to do laps of around 4:20 , so I did. I could have gone for The Racer's Group Porsche on the first lap. He had a bad exit on the first Mulsanne Chicane. I think he went too deep on his brakes, but I decided to hold station. There was a ding-dong battle going on between the Cirtek Ferrrari and the Yukos Porsche and I didn't want to get involved.”

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