Manufacturing facility Ferrari defended its victory within the 24 Hours of Le Mans after a yr and on the similar time gained the primary triumph of the FIA WEC season. This time, the crew of hypercar 499P #50 within the composition of Nicklas Nielsen, Miguel Molina, Antonio Fuoco is rejoicing on the first place. In a particularly balanced and moist yr, a complete of 9 automobiles of the very best LMH class completed in the identical lap because the winner.
The wild race, which for a very long time was dampened by the vagaries of the climate led by heavy rain, was selected the La Sarthe observe solely through the last tens of minutes on Sunday afternoon. Because the sixteenth hour approached, Ferrari, Toyota, Porsche and Cadillac hypercars nonetheless remained within the recreation for podium positions and victories. The highest 9 automobiles completed the race tied on the 311th lap with simply seconds distinction, making this yr’s Le Mans the tightest in historical past. Till now, solely automobiles in first and second place have reached the end line in a single lap.
After Saturday’s begin, Porsche #6 held first place within the opening laps, however regularly the Ferrari automobiles started to take the initiative. Each manufacturing unit machines 499P #50 and #51 had been quick, nonetheless the yellow Ferrari #83 of the AF Corse secure, with which Robert Kubica was very quick, finally took the lead as night time fell.
Saturday’s early night, night, nightfall and night time introduced large issues to different manufacturers beginning within the highest class of LMH. The brand new Alpine A424 automobiles, which have been racing within the WEC since this yr, each needed to retire resulting from energy unit failure. The Austrian Ferdinand Habsburg even needed to flee the burning automobile straight onto the observe. Even Mick Schumacher, who’s presently representing the French workforce, didn’t see the end line throughout his first participation within the 24-hour race at La Sarthe. It was an enormous disappointment for Alpine after a promising end in qualifying.
After that, each BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh prototypes regularly bumped into severe issues. On observe within the double chicane, Ford first crashed the #20 “artwork automobile” of Robin Frijns. The Dutchman then needed to head to the pits, the place his BMW subsequently returned a number of extra instances. Ultimately, resulting from unspecified issues, it sat within the storage till Sunday afternoon. Throughout the night time hours, the Bavarian workforce was left with solely prototype #15, which Dries Vanthoor drove on the observe not lengthy earlier than the rain began. At one level, Kubica in Ferrari #83 needed to overhaul the Belgian by a full lap, however the Pole misjudged the state of affairs and despatched Vanthoor into the barrier at a pace of round 300 kilometers per hour. That was the tip for BMW #15.
One other blow to the WRT secure, which gives BWM’s manufacturing unit program within the WEC, was the crash of Ahmad Al Harthy behind the wheel of the #46 BMW M4 GT3 of the LMGT3 class. The Omani racer crashed behind the Dunlop curve, the automobile started to leak working fluids, and the automobile by which the nine-time world champion of highway bikes, Valentino Rossi, additionally took turns, fell out of the race. It was little comfort for BMW that Kubica dropped out of the race resulting from a thirty-second stop-and-go penalty for taking down Vanthoor and the following full retirement of the #83 Ferrari resulting from energy unit failure. This occurred when the Pole’s team-mate Robert Švarcman left the smoking Ferrari within the pit lane in disappointment.
Ferrari #83’s retirement didn’t occur till Sunday morning after greater than 4 hours behind the protection automobile, which was attributable to intense rain and really poor visibility. At that second, each manufacturing unit Ferraris, each Toyotas, Porsche #6 and Cadillac #2, with which star IndyCar driver Alex Palou made his Le Mans debut this yr, remained within the struggle on the entrance. The protection automobile then returned to the observe after Italo Mancinelli’s wild-looking crash with the #27 Aston Martin GT3 on the method to Indianapolis. Even after the restart, 9 automobiles in a single lap nonetheless remained within the battle for the lead. Each non-public JOTA Sport Porsche groups additionally belonged to the group of leaders.
The ultimate chapter of the race started to be written two hours earlier than the twenty-four-hour restrict expired, when the rain returned once more. The hypercars regularly began pitting for moist tires and Nicklas Nielsen in Ferrari #50 was nervous that his parallel drive with the LMP 2 prototype within the pit lane could be judged by the marshals as a harmful launch. The Danish pilot finally escaped unpunished, however Alessandro Pier Guidi within the sister hypercar 499P #51 was not so fortunate. The Italian spun Brendon Hartley within the #8 Toyota on observe and was given a five-second penalty on the subsequent pit cease. The devastation was caught on tv within the face of Hartley’s team-mate from the “eight” crew, Sebastien Buemi, who knew full properly that the incident had price his Toyota an opportunity to struggle for victory.
Nevertheless, the drama was not over. The main Ferrari #50 with Nielsen behind the wheel needed to pit once more unscheduled early resulting from an open door, which the Dane was unable to shut on the observe whereas driving. This mess may nonetheless open an opportunity for Toyota #7. Jose Maria Lopez, who changed the injured Mike Conway in her crew on the final minute earlier than Le Mans, completed in that one. However the Argentinian pilot first made a mistake and spun below the Dunlop curve, and subsequently his Toyota misplaced energy for a number of laps. As well as, Ferrari’s economical ways labored and Nielsen didn’t have a pit cease for additional gasoline over the past two hours in comparison with the competitors. The Dane deliberately drove laps as much as 5 seconds slower, however none of his rivals had time to catch up.
Ferrari thus gained the 24 Hours of Le Mans once more after a yr. After final yr’s triumph of crew #51 (Pier Guidi, Calado, Giovinazzi), this yr the trio from hypercar 499P #50 within the composition of Nicklas Nielsen, Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina is rejoicing. Jose Maria Lopez, Kamuj Kobajaši and Nyck de Vries of the Toyota #7 completed second, and due to the third place of the #51 crew, Ferrari celebrated a double podium. After ranging from pole place, manufacturing unit Porsche #6 (Vanthoor, Lotterer, Estre) was in sixth place, and Toyota #8 (Buemi, Hartley, Hirakawa) completed fifth. The perfect 9 automobiles completed on the 311th lap. Ninth-placed Jenson Button in Porsche #38 completed 3 minutes and 36 seconds behind Nielsen.
After fourth place in Le Mans, Porsche drivers Estre, Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor stay on the prime of the WEC championship with 99 factors, however this yr’s winners from La Sarthe Fuoco, Molina and Nielsen are actually solely 9 factors behind them after an allocation of fifty factors. The World Endurance Championship is midway by, persevering with with the six-hour race in Sao Paulo on July 14.
Within the LMP 2 class, this yr’s Le Mans was gained by the United Autosports workforce with the prototype Oreca 07 Gibson #22 and crew Bijoy Garg, Oliver Jarvis, Nolan Siegel. The LMP 2 Professional-Am subcategory was additionally gained by the AF Corse workforce with Oreca 07 and the motive force trio Ben Barnicoat, Francois Perrodo, Nicolas Varrone. The LMGT3 class was gained by Richard Lietz, Morris Schuring and Yasser Shahin within the Manthey Crew Porsche 911 GT3 R #91.
