Voices, emotions and reactions from Le Mans

19:29

Peugeot misses the top 10: “Unfortunately for us that …”

For Peugeot, this time in its second Le Mans appearance in the Hypercar class, it was eleventh and twelfth place in the final result. Both 9X8s – starting number 94 with Vandoorne/di Resta/Duval and starting number 93 with Vergne/Jensen/Müller – were two laps behind the leaders after the 24 hours.

Jean-Marc Finot from Peugeot’s parent company Stellantis explains: “The competition is very tough. It’s unfortunate for us that so many cars finished on the lead lap this time. A few years ago we would probably have made it onto the podium with just two laps behind. But nowadays, if you’re two laps behind, you end up way down the rankings. We still need to pick up the pace, but it’s very good to have the basis in the form of a very reliable car.”

19:05

BMW: One P2, one out of competition, two DNFs

For BMW, the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans was a race with ups and downs. The second place of the WRT-BMW #31 (Leung/Gelael/Farfus) in the LMGT3 class is a little consolation for the fact that two of the other three cars did not even finish and one was not classified due to being too far behind.

The non-classified car is the art car, the BMW #20 (S. van der Linde/Frijns/Rast) from the Hypercar class. With Robin Frijns at the wheel, there was an accident on Saturday that cost a lot of laps. The sister car, the BMW #15 (D. Vanthoor/Marciello/Wittmann), fared even worse, being sent into a crash by the AF Corse Ferrari #83 late on Saturday evening. And the WRT BMW #46 (Al Harthy/Rossi/Martin) from the LMGT3 class also did not finish due to a crash.

BMW Motorsport Director Andreas Roos summarises in an interview with Motorsport-Total.com summed up: “On the Hypercar side, the disappointment is definitely great. Especially after the good results in the training sessions and also in qualifying with the fastest lap time from Dries [Vanthoor] Of course, expectations were higher. But we also knew that the competition was very, very tough. It was a shame to lose two cars very early in the race.”

“The #46, the car with Valentino Rossi, Ahmad Al Harthy and Maxime Martin, unfortunately crashed during the night under difficult conditions. That can happen. The track conditions were difficult and the car was on slicks. Unfortunately, the impact was too severe to continue driving,” said Roos.

Maxime Martin WRT-Audi Team WRT WTCR ~Maxime Martin ~

18:26

Callum Ilott praises Jota crew for rebuilt 963

With the Penske factory team, Porsche may not have achieved what it did at the end of January at the 24 Hours of Daytona in Le Mans, namely winning. Nevertheless, there are also happy faces in the Porsche camp. They can be found not least in the pit of the customer team Jota.

As a reminder: The Jota Porsche #12 (Stevens/Ilott/Nato) crashed on Wednesday. The car was then rebuilt in record time. And after a shakedown at the nearby airfield (Friday evening), the car ran without any problems in the 24-hour race! Result: P8 for Will Stevens, Callum Ilott and Norman Nato.

After the race, Ilott is in conversation with Motorsport-Total.com full of praise for the Jota crew: “They did an incredible job letting us take part in the race at all, not to mention that we were competitive. The car was really very reliable. Eighth place is definitely anything but bad. Of course we had hoped for more because before the crash on Wednesday we had a bit more pace. But the people in the pits should be really proud of what they did. They are the ones who gave us the chance to do a great job.”

Callum Ilott Norman Nato ~Callum Ilott and Norman Nato ~

18:04

Toyota: Handling #8 vs. #51 in Mulsanne “was crap!”

Toyota brought its two GR010 Hybrids home in second and fifth place. The Toyota #7 (Kobayashi/Lopez/de Vries) ultimately finished second, although the Toyota #8 (Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa) was the better placed car for much of the race.

During the long safety car phase at night, Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa were in the lead. But with two and a half hours to go, Hartley was sent spinning in the Mulsanne corner by Alessandro Pier Guidi in the Ferrari #51. And an hour before the end, Jose Maria Lopez also spun in the sister car.

Rob Leupen, Managing Director of Toyota’s long-distance program, summarises in an interview with Motorsport-Total.com together:

“Lots of circumstances, lots of changing circumstances, lots of bad luck. We spun while lying down very well and lost 35 seconds. And the person who spun got a five-second penalty. That was crap! That annoyed us. Apart from that, there were lots of little things. Ultimately, it wasn’t enough. We were 30 seconds short. We are sad about that. It was a great time, very intense. In the end, it was second place, the first loser.”

17:50

First reaction from Porsche: “You don’t necessarily want to finish fourth”

Le Mans record winner Porsche missed a podium finish at this year’s event by just 1.167 seconds. After P4 for the Porsche #6 (Estre/Lotterer/L. Vanthoor), which started from pole, Urs Kuratle, head of the LMDh program, said in an interview with Motorsport-Total.com:

“If so, then I would still rather miss the podium with a small gap than with a big one. But of course you don’t want to finish fourth either, especially not at Le Mans. But it is what it is now. We weren’t good enough. Period.”

When asked if he meant the race as a whole or the speed of the car, Kuratle replied: “Speed. The team worked well and I’m really happy about that. I’m not just saying that, I’ve said several times that we’ve improved.”

Kevin Estre Laurens Vanthoor ~Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor ~

17:35

New ringtone for all Ferrari fans

17:08

Some statistics about the race

Of the 62 vehicles that started, 47 cars made it to the finish line: There were six retirements in the Hypercars, as well as in the LMGT3 class. In the LMP2 cars, there were only three retirements.

In total, there were three safety car phases with a total duration of 6 hours 54 minutes, supplemented by five FCY phases with a duration of around 15 minutes. The effective race time under the green flag at the 92nd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is therefore 16 hours 51 minutes.

With 311 laps completed, it was the shortest distance covered by a winning car since 1995. Back then, Dalmas/Lehto/Sekiya in the McLaren F1 GTR only managed 298 laps to win overall.

16:46

Ferrari celebrates at the award ceremony

16:45

Toyota has “done everything we could”

Toyota is beaten again and takes second place! “This race is always difficult,” says Kamui Kobayashi. “We did everything we could. We are the last [der Klasse] and we had some problems too. But I’m very proud. The whole team did everything we could.”

“Of course it’s a shame for the number 8 car. I think they also had the opportunity to win,” believes the Japanese. “They were in a duel with car #50, but contact with car #51 dropped them to fifth place. It’s pretty tough for us, but that’s racing.”

“We took all the risks,” said Kobabyashi about Jose-Maria Lopez’s final phase, in which the Argentinian even spun off the track at one point. “It was a challenge, but without a challenge we never win! We always do our best, that is the philosophy of Toyota Gazoo Racing. We never give up and we try until the end.”

16:37

Final driver Nielsen: “We did it!”

Final rider Nicklas Nielsen reports on the final phase. “The worst thing for me was when I was asked to slow down. That’s where mistakes usually happen,” warns the Dane, who despite difficult conditions did not make any major faux pas.

“I was informed of the gap throughout the last stint, so it was basically just about managing the gap to the second-placed car,” reveals Nielsen. “But the last stint and especially the last lap were so long! We did it!”

“We knew we had a good chance and have been looking forward to returning to this place since last year,” adds teammate Miguel Molina. “Now I’m just speechless!”

“Incredible! We’ve been waiting for this moment for a whole year,” Antonio Fuoco rejoiced. “Now we’ve won and we’re just over the moon! It was a flawless job from the start of the race. Now is the moment to enjoy it all!”