The 82nd 24 Hours of Le Mans kept fans on the edge of their seats from the moment that Fernando Alonso waved the French Tricoleur to the chequered flag at the finish, with elation and despair being experienced in equal measure.
Deserving and joyful winners of the world’s most famous – and challenging – endurance race were André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler in the No.2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro. Making it an Audi 1-2 was the Tom Kristensen, Lucas di Grassi and Marc Gené crew of the No.1 Audi but it was a bitter-sweet podium place as that car had been in a strong position for victory until a turbo problem delayed it in the pits. Recovering from accident damage in the first of two heavy rain showers in the first quarter of the race, and finishing in the final overall podium place was the No.8 Toyota TS040 Hybrid of Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi and Nicolas Lapierre, the result allowing them to keep their lead in the World Endurance Drivers Championship.
The Rebellion Racing R-One achieved its goal of finishing the 24 Hours of Le Mans at its first attempt, and the No.12 LMP1-L of Nicolas Prost, Nick Heidfeld and Mathias Beche crossed the line 4th overall. Its sister car retired after 8 hours of racing with an engine problem.
LMP2 was a triumph for ELMS entrants and a disappointment for its FIA WEC runners, and the result was too close to call until the very end. The Ligier JS P2 entries performed beyond expectations for a new car, but it was the No.38 JOTA Sport Zytek Z11SN of Simon Dolan, Harry Tincknell and late replacement Oliver Turvey who lifted the winner’s trophy. They finished ahead of the No.46 Thiriet by TDS Racing Ligier and the No.36 Signatech Alpine A450b Nissan. The action was closely fought, exciting to watch and perfectly demonstrated the high level of competition within the European Le Mans Series.
World GTE Champion driver Gianmaria Bruni, his team mates Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella were in a class of their own in the LMGTE Pro class, bringing the No.51 Ferrari 458 Italia home for their second class win in three years. The victory wasn’t achieved however without a huge battle for supremacy throughout the race, with the second-placed No.73 Corvette of Garcia-Magnussen-Taylor and the No.92 Porsche Team Manthey 911 RSR of Frédéric Makowiecki, Richard Lietz and Marco Holzer in third being among the contenders to push the Italian team hard.
Well down the order, but scoring valuable double championship points is the No.97 Aston Martin and the No.91 Porsche Team Manthey 911. Of special note is the finish of the No.79 Prospeed Competition Porsche 911 GT3 RSR which was crashed in qualifying injuring one of its drivers, and it competed with just two drivers in the LMGTE Pro category instead of its planned crew of three in the LMGTE Am class.
Also with hearts in mouths were the front runners from the LMGTE Am class. It was undoubtedly a very emotional victory for the No.95 Danish-crewed Aston Martin Vantage V8 of Kristian Poulsen, David Heinemeier Hansson and Nicki Thiim –their lost team mate from last year, Allan Simonsen, in everyone’s minds. Second was the No.88 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR of Klaus Bachler, Christian Ried and Khaled Al Qubaisi, followed home by the No.61 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia of Marco Cioci, Luis Perez Companc and Mirko Venturi.
A full race report and more details to come, and classifications can be found HERE.
Fiona Miller
