There was so much water on the track that the slide was predictable — but it was the save that impressed the world’s best racing drivers.

This weekend is the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a storied racing spectacle that attracts hundreds of thousands of racing faithful to the French countryside to watch the sport’s best battle it out under the stars.

But, because this is Europe in the summer, rain is a fact of life. So much rain that yesterday, during the final qualifying session, the on-track action was stopped because it was too dangerous to continue. But even with qualifying red-flagged, the Audi R8 safety car — what in America we’d call a pace car — continued to fly around the circuit as the eyes and ears of race control to see if it was safe to resume racing.

At the helm was four-time Le Mans winner Yannick Dalmas who saved what looked like a for-sure spin after hydroplaning at the Dunlop Chicane and gave the crowd, and those watching at home, something to cheer about. Even reigning World Endurance Champion and Porsche LMP1 driver Mark Webber, a veteran racer in his own right, was impressed. There’s more rain in the forecast for the weekend, so this may not be the last we see of the sliding safety car.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans runs from 3PM Saturday to 3PM Sunday local time, 10AM to 10AM Eastern. You can watch the race in the US on Fox Sports 1 and 2, and the Fox Sports GO app.