Following the historic and world renowned 24 hour race around the infamous race track of Le Mans, it was Porsche who ultimately secured victory after a long and gruelling race. This victory marked Porsche’s 18th overall win at the race, marking further success in the WEC.
Victory For Porsche At Le Mans
After 24 hours of solid racing, it was Porsche who were victorious at this year’s 24 hours of Le Man, winning in unexpected terms very late in the race. This victory came about due to the falter and eventual failure of Toyota, with the Japanese team coming to a halt with only three minutes and thirty seconds to go until the end of the race with ex F1 driver, Kazuki Nakajima at the helm.
Despite leading for much of the race, it was not driver error that cost the team its maiden victory at what is possibly the most famous and the most glamorous race in the world, but was in fact mechanical failure. Due to this late retirement, this promoted the #9 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Neel Jani, Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas to to take victory and also promote the #6 Toyota to second place.
Despite dominating the race in recent years, Audi struggled in this year’s running of the event, finishing third and fourth for their #8 and #7 entries after the early end of the #5 Audi. Defending WEC Champions Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley finished in fifth place, being 38 laps down from the front after a long span in the garage following a water leak.
Signatech Alpine Win In LMP2
In the LMP2 category, it was the #36 Signatech Alpine 460 0f Nicholas Lapierre, Gustavo Menezes, and Stephane Richelmi who took victory for the second successive year after taking the lead in the night stage of the race. Finishing second in the LMP2 was the #26 G-Drive Oreca, following fist place home 2 minutes and 40 seconds behind. The #37 BR01 finished in third place four laps down from the leader, being driven by Vitaly Petrov, Viktor Shaitar and Kirill Ladygin.
Ford Find Glory In GTE Pro
It was Ford who were victorious in the GTE Pro category at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Man, securing the win under the #68 Chip Ganassi Team USA car, with the sister machine finishing in third place in this category. Splitting the two Fords was the #82 Ferrari 488 of Giancarlo Fisichella, Toni Vilander and Matteo Malucelli.
In the GTE-Am category, it was the #62 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 who were victorious, with Townsend Bell, Jeff Segal and Bill Sweedler driving their machine to a simple victory at Le Man, finishing nearly a lap ahead of their nearest competitors of the #83 AF Corse car.
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