As someone said a few years ago “prognoses only at the end of the game”. And just like football (pardon the comparison), the 24 Hours of Le Mans are not prognosticated either.
Toyota started as a great favorite for this edition of the most emblematic endurance race in the world, but the performance of the TS050 was marked by mechanical problems – problems that, incidentally, were transversal to all cars in the LMP1 category.
Night fell and problems fell on Toyota as well. And when the sun shone again, it shone brighter on the white, black, and red paintwork of Stuttgart cars. The faces in Toyota's pits were one of dismay. On track, it was the Porsche 919 Hybrid #1 that led the 85th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
But not even a cautious pace taken by the drivers of the Porsche 919 Hybrid #1, managed to avoid the mechanical problems of the V4 engine, which seems not to have been tailored to withstand the high temperatures that were felt at the circuit of La Sarthe. With four hours to go before the end of the race, Porsche's #1 car retired with a problem with its heat engine.
The story of the hare and the tortoise
Faced with the problems that affected all (!) cars in the LMP1 category, it was a “turtle” in the LMP2 category that took over the expenses of the race. We're talking about Jackie Chan DC Racing Team Oreca #38 — yes, that's the Jackie Chan you're thinking about… — piloted by Ho-Pin Tung, Thomas Laurent and Oliver Jarvis. The Oreca #38 led the race until just over an hour before the end of the race.
Undoubtedly, one of the sensation teams of these 24 Hours of Le Mans, as in addition to the triumph in the LMP2 category they also reached absolute second place, assuming a position that was initially reserved for the «monsters» of the LMP1 category. But in Le Mans, victory cannot be taken for granted, nor defeat…
knowing how to suffer
There was a team that knew how to suffer. We're talking about the mechanics and drivers (Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber) of the Porsche 919 Hybrid #2. A car that came to be in last place, after having suffered a damage in the front electric motor in the first part of the race.Apparently all was lost. Apparently. But with the withdrawal of the 919 Hybrid #1 the last Porsche on the track saw an opportunity to attack the lead, and launched an attack on the 1st place of the Jackie Chan DC Racing team. A little over an hour from the end of the race, a Porsche was once again leading the race. The first losers in this edition were those who triumphed in the end. And this one?
Drivers Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber can thank their mechanics for this victory.
Although it may seem, it was not a victory fallen from the sky, by demerit of the remaining LMP1. It was a victory of resistance and persistence. A victory achieved on and off the track. Drivers Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber can thank their mechanics for this victory, who in just over an hour managed to replace the electric motor of the 919 Hybrid after the initial breakdown. Faced with the same problem, the only Toyota that finished the race took two hours to carry out the same repair.
GTE PRO and GTE Am
In the GTE PRO category there was also drama. The race was decided only on the final lap, when a puncture knocked Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor's Corvette C7 R #63 out of the fight for victory. The victory would end up smiling to the Aston Martin of Jonathan Adam, Darren Turner and Daniel Serra.
In the GTE Am category, the victory went to the Ferraria of JMW Motorsport by Dries Vanthoor, Will Stevens and Robert Simth. The class podium was completed by Marco Cioci, Aaron Scott and Duncan Camero in Spirit of Race's Ferrari 488 #55, and by Cooper McNeil, William Sweedler and Towsend Bell in Scuderia Corsa's Ferrari 488 #62.
For the year there's more!
