One hour before the finish of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Sunday, nine Hypercars were on the same lap, and four were within 1’30, with obviously a hope of success for each of the drivers, Nicklas Nielsen (Ferrari n°50), Jose Maria Lopez (Toyota n°7), Alessandro Pier Guidi (Ferrari n°51) and Laurens Vanthoor (Porsche n°63). But there could only be one winner in this legendary race. And the winner is the trio of the 499P n°50, Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen, who beat that of the GR010 n°7 (Lopez – Kobayashi – De Vries) by 14 seconds and that of the Ferrari n°51 (Pier Guidi – Calado – Giovinazzi).
The rain did not spare this 92nd edition. It fell at 6 p.m., for only ten minutes, provoking different strategies depending on the protagonists. This notably allowed Toyota to move up the hierarchy, because the No. 8 was 11th at the start, and the No. 7 was down to 23rd after Kamui Kobayashi went off the track during qualifying. We saw her again later in the evening, then during the night, where heavy showers caused the safety car to come out for more than four hours, blocking the ranking.
Successful strategic move for n°50
It was again the rain which reignited the suspense, two hours from the finish, forcing the leaders to put on rain tires. A crucial moment for the victory where the Porsche n°6 (Estre – Lotterer – Vanthoor) undoubtedly missed the opportunity to finish better than 4th by pitting a little too late. The No. 7 Toyota may have missed the perfect hold-up when Jose Maria Lopez spun an hour from the finish. In delicate conditions, attacking for the win, the drivers played a balancing act. And their engineers played strategists to try to lose as little time as possible in the pit, while making sure not to have a breakdown on the track.
The #50 Ferrari took risks by making its last stop 50 minutes from the finish, but in the rain and an obviously wet track, it was able to reduce its consumption enough to go to the end, crossing the line with only 2% energy.
Grim outlook in the French camps
The two French clans were not really at the party and very far from this three-way fight. At Peugeot, it was a lively race, but at the back of the peloton, whether for the No. 93 (Vergne – Jensen – Müller) or the No. 94 (Vandorne – Di Resta – Duval). With a few penalties, notably for non-compliance with the slow zone, or a few track exits, the 9X8s were never able to hang on to the leaders, and after 2h45 of racing, they were already one lap behind, which they did not never caught up, due to lack of sufficient pace. They finished 11th (94) and 12th (93).
It was even worse for Alpine, which for the debut of the A424 at Le Mans, saw none of its prototypes finish. The Hypercars with the A arrow did not even reach the quarter of the race, the n°35 (Chatin – Habsburg – Milesi) stopping after 75 laps, and the n°36 (Lapierre – Schumacher – Vaxivière) returning to the pits shortly after, without being able to get out. The cause each time is the Mecachrome engine.
In the LMP2 category, the American team United Autosports, with the No. 22 Oreca 07 of Oliver Jarvis, Nolan Siegel and Bijoy Garg, won. And Porsche can (slightly) console itself with the victory of the No. 91 911 from the Manthey Racing team, driven by the trio Richard Lietz – Morris Schuring – Yasser Shahin.