24h Le Mans
After 100 races with Audi, Howden Haynes is hanging up his hat. The race engineer became the Technical Director for Audi Sport Team Joest in June, 2013. He will be dedicating himself to his company, Progressive Engineering, and has been named Head of Motorsport Activities at Veloqx...back to the basics.
Photo : Copyright Audi Sport
With 33 victories in LM P1, Howden "H" Haynes has an exceptional record. He was noticed by Ralf Jüttner, Joest's Technical Director, at a Bentley program for which "H" served as an assistant race engineer. Bentley, then Veloqx, Champion and finally Joest: the Brit has known every type of Audi prototype - from the R8 to the R18, but the vocation of race engineer, which for many is a free-lance situation, did not satisfy him.
So he created the Progressive Engineering company to recruit and train engineers. As an example, he hired the famous Leena Gade who is now an Audi employee and a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer. These are the heros of Truth in 24, the film made by Audi in Le Mans in 2011.
It is also thanks to this movie that race engineers have emerged from anonymity: one recalls the conversation between Haynes and Tom Kristensen, newly retired nine-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, about tyres. It had been decided less than 30 minutes before the start to "mike up" the British engineer throughout the duration of the race.
Though Haynes got free at the same time as Tom "Mister Le Mans" Kristensen, he isn't exactly retired since he will manage the Motorsport Activities for Veloqx, which may compel his return to the paddock. We shall see...
Cécile Bonardel / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO
PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, THURSDAY 12 JUNE 2014, QUALIFYING SESSION. Howden Haynes and Leena Gade follow the qualifying session.
