About 300 people, including sponsors, fans and media gathered at the One-fifth bar in Wan Chai to wish racing drivers Matthew Marsh and Darryl O'Young of Noble Group-GruppeM Racing good luck in Hong Kong's first Le Mans bid.

A Porsche GT3 RSR with a large Bauhinia flag on its roof was parked outside the bar, where fans downed beer and watched the 1971 movie Le Mans, starring Steve McQueen.

Marsh mingled with friends and sponsors and described how he'd spent the past year putting together corporate sponsorship to make it all happen. Seen around the Porsche were Tanja Kaleck, Wolfgang Bern, Joe Sevack, Raghu Raghunath, William Catley and Rosemary Vandenbroucke.