LM24 Hour 6: First safety car

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emailBy Stephen Kilbey | 9 hours ago

The quarter mark of the Le Mans 24 Hours has been reached and we are under safety car for the first time as the hour ticks over. This is because the No. 52 AF Corse Ferrari of Alex West had a big off at the Porsche Curves, the Swede side-swiping the barriers mid-spin. This caused severe damage to the 488 GTE, which was crabbing as it moved behind the wall, it looks to be a certain retirement.


We don’t yet know how this safety car will change the order in each class, as many teams are opting to pit as the race is neutralized. Thus it’s more notable to discuss incidents.

Earlier in the hour another Ferrari 488 GTE was in the wars, Duncan Cameron having an off in the climb up to the Dunlop Bridge after he was allegedly tagged by another car in the No. 55 Spirit of Race example. Cameron’s teammate Matt Griffin believed it was a prototype that tagged him, but was unable to confirm this when interviewed by WEC TV.

Either way, the car suffered rear-left and left-hand-side damage and a broken rear wing and requires a lot of work. “It’s destroyed our race,” Griffin said in reaction to seeing the car after Cameron limped back into the pits.

The No. 8 Toyota is also known to be suffering from a minor issue, a brake duct fault which the team cannot repair easily. It hasn’t affected the car’s race too much; in fact, before the safety car the gap between the two leading Toyotas had actually shrunk to just a few seconds from over half a minute after a slow zone cost the leading No. 7 Toyota time.


At Porsche, after the No. 92’s woes in the previous hour, the team managed to get the car back out after fixing the power steering issue.

More Le Mans/WEC!

LM24 Hour 15: No.8 Toyota holding station at the front

LM24 Hour 14: 'Slow Zone' triggers flurry of stops

LM24 Hour 13: Turbo trouble costly for lead Toyota

As the race enters its seventh hour the classes look like this:

The No. 7 Toyota leads the No. 8 Toyota in LMP1, the No. 37 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA leads LMP2 ahead of the No. 26 G-Drive Aurus and the pair of United Autosports ORECAs.

It is a 1-2 for AF Corse in GTE Pro, with both Aston Martins sitting third and fourth. GTE Am is all change, yet again, the order looking more like it did in the opening hours with the No. 98 Aston Martin leading the TF Sport Aston Martin. The No. 75 Iron Lynx Ferrari is now third, an impressive run so far for the ELMS team.

HOUR 6 STANDINGS

Le Mans/WEC

 

LM24 Hour 5: Porsche under pressure

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emailBy Stephen Kilbey | 11 hours ago

The headline from the fifth hour of the Le Mans 24 Hours came in GTE Pro. Porsche now effectively has one bullet left in its gun. The No. 92 911 RSR 19 had to come into the pits for repairs after Laurens Vanthoor complained of a power steering issue. The car remains in the garage into the sixth hour, the front end completely stripped down and being worked on.

With the car now falling out of the running, multiple laps down, the chances of Porsche winning rest solely on the No. 91 (pictured above), which currently sixth in the class.

Up front in GTE Pro the titanic battle between Aston Martin Racing and AF Corse continues. It’s clearly advantage AF Corse now, the No. 71 leading the No. 51 with Davide Rigon and Daniel Serra aboard respectively.

Harry Tincknell after the most recent round of stops did everything he could to retain the lead he held after leaving the pits, but he couldn’t keep Rigon and later Serra at bay for long, Rigon making a bold move down the Mulsanne straight. The Astons now sit third and fourth. But there’s a long way to go.

More Le Mans/WEC!

LM24 Hour 15: No.8 Toyota holding station at the front

LM24 Hour 14: 'Slow Zone' triggers flurry of stops

LM24 Hour 13: Turbo trouble costly for lead Toyota

In LMP2 the order still hasn’t settled down. Ho Pin Tung’s Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA leads the G-Drive Racing Aurus of Mikkel Jensen. The No. 32 United Autosports ORECA is now up to third, ahead of the sister car now being steered by pole-winner Paul Di Resta in fourth.

Riccardo Gonzalez has lost a chunk of time and is now down to fifth in the JOTA ORECA.


Up front there are just four LMP1s left at the top of the timing screens. The ByKolles CLM is still running but has lost almost 10 laps due to a gearbox issue that forced the car into the garage.

It’s a Toyota 1-2, both cars settled in and pushing on. Both Rebellion R-13s are off the lead lap now. Gustavo Menezes told RACER prior to the race that the team was hoping it stayed dry as they are not confident in the performance levels of the R-13 compared to the four-wheel-drive TS050s in the wet, as evident at Spa. But, right now, maybe the disruption and unpredictability that rain brings with it, is their only chance of clawing their way back into this one?

GTE Am’s order as we approach the quarter-distance mark features HubAuto Racing, with Tom Blomqvist steering its Ferrari, in front by just 2.7 seconds over the TF Sport Aston Martin of Jonny Adam. Rino Mastronardi meanwhile, has managed to climb the order in the No. 75 Iron Lynx Ferrari and currently sits third. The No. 98 Aston Martin is fourth, Augusto Farfus now in for his first stint.

The biggest incident of the hour hit one of the contenders in Am. The No. 56 Project 1 Porsche, which had yet to make a big impression on the field, had a collision with a spinning Ryan Cullen in the No. 16 G-Drive Racing Aurus at Indianapolis. The crashed caused significant front-end damage to the 911 and force it into the pits for repairs.

The sister No. 56 Project 1 Porsche, meanwhile, has dropped to seventh after fighting for the lead over the past few hours. The car was handed a stop-and-go penalty for speeding in a slow zone. Not a good hour for the German team.

HOUR 5 STANDINGS

Le Mans, Porsche, Le Mans/WEC

 

LM24 Hour 4: Ferraris to the fore in GTE Pro

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emailBy Stephen Kilbey | 12 hours ago

Four hours down now in the Le Mans 24 Hours. Toyota still leads overall and very little has changed in LMP1 over the past 60 minutes. It is notable, however, that after four hours of racing that the lead Rebellion is still on the lead lap, although the No.1 continues to fade away slowly, almost three minutes back from the No. 7 TS050 HYBRID that leads.

In LMP2, the top contenders are beginning to emerge. The No. 37 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA was up front until pitting just before the end of the hour — as previously noted, the car is out of sync. The No. 32 United Autosports ORECA leads following that stop, Will Owen now behind the wheel after a rapid run from Job van Uitert.

More Le Mans/WEC!

LM24 Hour 15: No.8 Toyota holding station at the front

LM24 Hour 14: 'Slow Zone' triggers flurry of stops

LM24 Hour 13: Turbo trouble costly for lead Toyota

The No. 38 JOTA ORECA is second, Roberto Gonzalez giving his all to keep pace with those around him and hand over the car in a top-three spot. Konstantin Tereschenko is third driving the Duqueine ORECA, pushing hard to keep Phil Hanson in the No. 22 United ORECA at bay.


One contender hit trouble during the hour, that being the GRAFF ORECA. Vincent Capillaire, who took over from the hard-charging James Allen who had the first stint, had an off at the Porsche Curves into the gravel while running fifth. Thankfully he was able to reverse out and back onto the track but he lost valuable time, the car now down to eighth.

In GTE Pro, the balance of power is shifting. The current conditions are favoring the AF Corse Ferraris. Sam Bird in the No. 71 (pictured, top) has taken charge now, while Harry Tincknell fights tooth and nail to hold off Daniel Serra in the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari who is looking to make it a 1-2 for the Italian marque.


Fourth is Richard Westbrook in the No. 95 Aston Martin. The former Ford factory man in his first race start aboard a Vantage AMR is now 30 seconds off.

The Porsches continue to struggle in fifth and sixth, although one does have to wonder whether their crews are sitting back and waiting for the predicted rain to arrive later in the race before mounting an attack?

With a cycle of many amateur drivers taking the wheel in the GTE Am cars now over, the border has changed once again. The No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari of Manu Collard now leads the No. 72 HubAuto Ferrari of Tom Blomqvist. The No. 56 Team Project 1 Porsche has dropped to third since Egidio Perfetti has taken over from Larry Ten Voorde, who starred during his stint and took the lead.

The TF Sport Aston which once led is down to fourth, while the No. 98 Aston which led in Hour 1 is down to sixth. But it is so tight, with everyone still on the same lap and within a couple of minutes of each other.

HOUR 4 STANDINGS

Ferrari, Le Mans, Toyota, Le Mans/WEC

 

LM24 Hour 3: Toyota stretches the lead

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emailBy Stephen Kilbey | 13 hours ago

The race is beginning to settle down at Le Mans now after a rather frantic opening 120 minutes.

In the third hour the Toyotas continued to control proceedings, sitting 1-2, the No. 7 still the true leader ahead of the puncture-delayed No. 8 TS050 HYBRID.

Rebellion’s R-13s continue to fall away, although the No. 1 remains on the lead lap, now with Gustavo Menezes aboard. Meanwhile, driver changes for Toyota have seen Kamui Kobayashi taken over in the No. 7 and Brendon Hartley climb into the No. 8.


LMP2 is all change again, as the JOTA ORECA has continued its ascent up the order and now sits in the lead with Antonio Felix da Costa aboard. He’s currently the fastest man in the class, interestingly on Goodyear tires.

Behind, United Autosports’ No. 32 ORECA leads the British-flagged team’s charge after Job van Uitert got past the sister No. 22 ORECA of Phil Hanson and now sits second.

Hanson is now fourth and fighting for third in the class with Vincent Capillaire in the GRAFF ORECA as the fourth hour begins. GRAFF has been the real surprise package of the race so far, James Allen and Capillaire both running extremely well to put the French team in and around the top three in these early stages.

GTE Pro is now controlled once again by Aston Martin’s No. 97 Vantage AMR, Maxime Martin getting past Miguel Molina in the No. 71 Ferrari at the first Mulsanne chicane midway through the hour.


The No. 71 is now third after Sam Bird was installed at the latest round of stops. The No. 95 Aston remains fourth.

In Am, TF Sport now leads with Salih Yoluc at the wheel, but Larry Ten Voorde was the star of the hour. The Dutchman eliminated a 25-second deficit to Paul Dalla Lana, who led in the No. 98 Aston at the start of the hour. Ten Voorde in the No. 56 Project 1 Porsche took the lead after getting past Dalla Lana and Yoluc, but a tire change at the car’s third stop dropped the No. 56 back to second behind the TF Sport Vantage.

More Le Mans/WEC!

LM24 Hour 15: No.8 Toyota holding station at the front

LM24 Hour 14: 'Slow Zone' triggers flurry of stops

LM24 Hour 13: Turbo trouble costly for lead Toyota

Dalla Lana is now third, currently being reeled in by Tom Blomqvist’s HubAuto Racing Ferrari. The No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari completes the top five.

At the bottom of the timing screens, there has now been a confirmed retirement: The Eurointernational Ligier is out, after Erik Maris pulled off to the side of the road earlier in the race due to a flat battery and was unable to continue. That is not the Le Mans debut the American-flagged team had hoped for.

The No. 88 Proton Porsche, which had its off into the tires at Turn 1 in avoidance of the spinning Luzich Ferrari eight laps into the race, was believed to be a retirement. But just before the end of the third hour it was spotted limping back to the pits! It lives!

HOUR 3 STANDINGS

Le Mans, Toyota, Le Mans/WEC

 

LM24 Hour 2: Tactics, troubles shuffle the order

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emailBy Stephen Kilbey | 14 hours ago

The No. 7 Toyota continues to lead the Le Mans 24 Hours, with Mike Conway still at the wheel having had a faultless run thus far.

The sister No. 8 Toyota did take the lead briefly, after the team opted to just fuel the car and take no tires in its third stop. The No. 8 is out of sync after its puncture in the opening hour, though, so its stint at the front was brief. Sebastien Buemi emerged from the pits right behind Conway and breezed past through Porsche Curves before pitting once again and dropping back to second.

The No. 7’s lead is now almost a minute as the No. 3 Rebellion continues to lose time in the pits and is now third with Bruno Senna still aboard. The No. 3 Rebellion, like the No. 8 Toyota, has also been delayed, Nathanael Berthon having to pit for an engine cover change, which has dropped it off the lead lap.


In LMP2, varying tire strategies through the opening three stints have caused a big shuffle in the order.

The Goodyear-shod Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA (pictured, top) took the lead right after the hour, Will Stevens finding real pace. James Allen in the No. 39 GRAFF ORECA is still second, 18 seconds off the No. 38 JOTA ORECA.

The No. 22 United Autosports ORECA, which pulled away in the opening hour is now down to fourth with Phil Hanson now installed, having dropped down the order due to a lengthier stop for a driver change. The sister No. 32 United ORECA is fifth, with Alex Brundle out and Job Van Uitert in for the first time. Both United 07 Gibsons are over a minute off the leader, but expect that gap to shrink when more driver changes occur.

GTE Pro has also seen a change of lead, Miguel Molina now ahead of Maxime Martin, the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari leading the No. 97 Aston Martin which led at the end of the first hour.

Alessandro Pier Guidi in the sister No. 51 AF Ferrari was also on the move in the hour. The Italian climbed into the top three after getting past Marco Sorensen in the No. 95 Aston Martin shortly after he took over from Nicki Thiim.


It continues to be a frustrating race for Porsche. The No. 92 is fifth, but out of sync after a puncture which caused an additional stop, so it will fall further back after its next stop. The No. 91 sits seventh. The pace simply isn’t there so far. But has Porsche got something up its sleeve?

GTE Am has been mainly static since Hour 1. Paul Dalla Lana has taken over from Ross Gunn for his first stint in the race. Will he hold the lead in the Not 98 Aston Martin? Can he hold off Salih Yoluc in the No. 90 TF Sport Aston? We’re about to find out. The margin is currently 17 seconds.

Third is still the No. 56 Project 1 Porsche, Larry Ten Voorde in after Porsche junior Matteo Cairoli started the race.

The No. 99 Proton Porsche sits fourth ahead of the No. 55 AF Corse Ferrari which has slowly risen up the order and now sits fifth.

HOUR 2 STANDINGS

Le Mans, Le Mans/WEC

 

LM24 Hour 1: Toyota leads Rebellion

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emailBy Stephen Kilbey | 15 hours ago

After an hour of racing, all four classes have already produced plenty of drama at the 88th Le Mans 24 Hours.

Toyota’s No. 7 TS050 HYBRID leads from pole position, Mike Conway having a steady opening stint after being briefly challenged for the lead by Bruno Senna in the No. 1 Rebellion into the first corner. He was able to hold station and ended up with a 41-second advantage over the No. 1 by the end of the hour.


Encouragingly, the No. 1 Rebellion is not losing chunks of time each lap; instead it dropped back during the first pit cycle due to Toyota opting to short fill its two cars.

That decision briefly promoted the No. 8 sister TS050 HYBRID to second, but Sebastien Buemi had to pit again a second time after only a few laps due to a left-rear slow puncture. That dropped the car down to fourth behind both Rebellions, the No. 3 R-13 now up to third after a quiet 60 minutes for Nathanael Berthon.

In LMP2, the No, 22 United Autosports ORECA led from pole, Filipe Albuquerque untouchable thus far. Some nine seconds is the margin back to the High Class Racing ORECA, in second. The No. 24 GRAFF ORECA is now third after an astonishing move by James Allen to get past the hard-charging Alex Brundle, who has been on the limit in the No. 32 United ORECA thus far and sits fourth.

The No. 26 G-Drive Racing Aurus is fifth, ahead of the first Goodyear runner, the No. 38 JOTA ORECA driven by Anthony Davidson from the start.

LMP2, unusually, has seen multiple mechanical dramas already. The Racing Team Nederland ORECA went backwards after the opening laps, Giedo van der Garde unable to take the lead for the Dutch team, instead bring the car in for repairs in the garage. It was a huge disappointment for the WEC full-season team, which is looking to pick up valuable WEC points as well as a big result at Le Mans this weekend. Its ORECA is now three laps down.

Reigning LMP2 Le Mans winner Signatech Alpine has also lost multiple laps, a water pressure issue causing Andre Negrao to pit the A470 after just 15 minutes of racing for a check-up. The issue is now fixed but the the team will spend the rest of this race fighting back — not what it wanted after a week which saw it commit to the WEC’s top class for next year!

More Le Mans/WEC!

LM24 Hour 15: No.8 Toyota holding station at the front

LM24 Hour 14: 'Slow Zone' triggers flurry of stops

LM24 Hour 13: Turbo trouble costly for lead Toyota

The IDEC Sport ORECAs, which had incidents early in the week, had to start from pit lane so they are delayed and off the lead lap. Eurasia Motorsport’s Ligier, too, has dropped off the lead lap after a frightening off from Nobuya Yamanaka, the Bronze-rated Japanese driver flying off the circuit at the kink in the run up to the Dunlop Bridge, which sent the car off into the gravel. Luckily it made no contact with any other cars or barriers.

GTE Pro has seen a major change up front since the start. Gianmaria Bruni in the No. 91 Porsche which started from pole, has gone backwards and dropped down to sixth. The Italian, has been unable to extract enough performance from the 911 RSR 19 thus far, the Aston Martins and Ferraris breezing past early on. The No. 92 sister Porsche was also unable to keep up and is seventh at the hands of Michael Christensen, ahead of only the privateer WeatherTech Racing Ferrari.

Up front is now the No. 97 Aston Martin Vantage. Alex Lynn has proven to be the quickest man in the class, taking the lead from James Calado in the No. 51 Ferrari at Mulsanne Corner.


After the first round of stops the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE is now second, with the No. 95 Aston of Nicki This third. At the first stops, Calado dropped to fourth.

Aston Martin also controls GTE Am, the No. 98 Vantage clearly the quickest car in the category at this early stage, Ross Gunn hasn’t put a foot wrong thus far, and leads the No. 90 TF Sport Aston Martin by eight seconds. The No. 56 Team Project 1 Porsche is now third, Matteo Cairoli leading early but unable to hold on after Gunn caught up and made a pass.

The pole-sitting Luzich Racing Ferrari is now 14th, after Oz Negri got caught out at the same part of the track at Nobuya Yamanaka, flying backwards into the gravel trap at the top of the hill in front of the Dunlop Bridge. That incident caused the No. 88 Proton Porsche of Thomas Preining to take evasive action. The Porsche looks to be the first retirement of the race, it was sent flying into off the circuit, hitting the tires backwards. It wasn’t a huge impact, but the car still hasn’t rejoined.

HOUR 1 STANDINGS

Le Mans, Toyota, Le Mans/WEC

 

Three in a row for Toyota at Le Mans

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emailBy Stephen Kilbey | September 20, 2020 6:38 AM

There were times when it looked doubtful the Le Mans 24 Hours would take place at all in 2020 but after an admirable showcase of perseverance from the ACO, the delayed September edition went ahead this weekend and produced an entertaining, memorable race, and not just because of the lack of fans trackside.

Up front in the LMP1 class, Toyota Gazoo Racing made it three overall wins in a row. Another incredible run by its No. 8 TS050 HYBRID secured the win at Le Mans for the Japanese marque, after a valiant effort from Rebellion Racing ended with a second-place finish for its No. 1 R-13 Gibson.

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Aston Martin triumphs over AF Corse in GTE Pro at Le Mans

United Autosports wins LMP2 race of attrition at Le Mans

TF Sport victorious in incident-filled GTE Am battle at Le Mans

Kazuki Nakajima, Sebastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley were pretty much faultless for the entire 24 hours. They suffered early bad luck, with a slow puncture and a brake duct issue which cost them time and dropped the car off the lead lap, but through grit and determination they stayed out of trouble for the final 18 hours and took a big win.


“Just incredible, what luck we had. ” Nakajima said after the race. “I am very happy for the team that at least one of us won the race, that was something we had to make sure of. We started with a lot of problems in the beginning, and the 7 had a bigger issue later in the race. The car was good in the race though — I am happy with what we have done, I’m happy with the team.”

“It’s incredible,” Buemi agreed. “When you look at the start, we had a puncture, a slow zone not going our way and a brake issue. You think it was lost, but at Le Mans it is never the case. It’s sad with what happened to the sister car and the Rebellions, but we were there. I am so happy we are made it.

“When you win three times you get to keep the trophy. That was the main target.”




With this win, Toyota Gazoo Racing takes the LMP1 FIA World Endurance Championship title.

As well as a third win for Toyota, it’s a third Le Mans 24 hours victory for Buemi and Nakajima. They join the select group of eight other drivers to have won three times in a row: Woolf Barnato, Frank Biela, Olivier Gendebien, Phil Hill, Jacky Ickx, Tom Kristensen, Henri Pescarolo and this year’s Grand Marshal, Emanuele Pirro.

For Hartley, it’s a second triumph. He won the 2017 24 Hours with Porsche in the final year of the 919 program.

It also brings the TS050 HYBRID’s tenure at Le Mans to a close in style. It must not be forgotten how impressive the 050 is, a Le Mans-winning machine which delivered Toyota arguably its most significant achievements in motorsport.

The victory for the No. 8 of course, came at the expense of the sister No. 7 crew, which in recent years has suffered rotten luck at Le Mans.

The 8’s early issues looked to set up the No. 7 trio for a famous first Le Mans win, but a turbocharger issue caused by an issue with the exhaust manifold system would cost Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez dearly. Overnight the No. 7 lost multiple laps and dropped outside the top three.

This left the two Rebellions on Sunday morning to take the fight to the No. 8. The Swiss-flagged team, in its final Le Mans start, put up a valiant effort to keep some pressure on, but ultimately neither R-13 could consistently keep tabs with the lead Toyota over the course of the race, despite the cars being quicker over a single lap. The No. 1 finished with the race’s fastest lap, a 3:19.264, but that was unsustainable if the team was to ensure both cars made the finish.
Rebellion did all it could to take the fight to Toyota, but its R-13s simply couldn’t match the pace. JEP/Motorsport Images

All Rebellion’s drivers were told throughout by the crew on the pit wall to preserve the cars in the hope they could pick up the pieces should the lead Toyota suffer any mechanical issues or fall foul to an incident. But the No. 8 had a steady run to the finish, and won by a margin of six laps.

To add to the disappointment, Rebellion couldn’t make it a double podium either, as late drama for the No. 3 R-13 promoted the No. 7 Toyota to the final podium spot in the penultimate hour. Louis Deletraz had a costly off at Indianapolis, brushing the barriers, forcing the car in for an unscheduled stop. It undid a heroic effort from Romain Dumas on Saturday morning, in which the Frenchman fought tooth and nail to vault the No. 3 into second before a recurring issue getting the car fired up after pit stops cost the car vital seconds.

The team had to replace the nose and rear after Deletraz’s incident, before again battling to get the car fired up after the stop. It would limp home fourth.

As for ByKolles, it was yet another Le Mans to forget. The CLM suffered mechanical issues early, before its race was brought to a premature end when Bruno Spengler had a big off through the Esses when the rear wing blew off on Saturday night. The car managed just 97 laps. The team will hope for better results when it returns in 2021 with a brand-new Le Mans Hypercar.

“It was very emotional to see the checkered flag being waved to end this 88th 24 Hours of Le Mans, and an important moment for the Automobile Club de l’Ouest,” said Pierre Fillon, president of the ACO. Despite the current pandemic, we managed to hold one of the world’s greatest sports events here in France, a victory for all our competitors and partners.

“The 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans will leave an indelible mark on the race’s history. Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima have added their name to the winner’s list. Sincere congratulations to them! And to Toyota for their third and final 24 Hours victory with the TS050 Hybrid. Their car will remain a landmark in the hybrid era.

“I’d also like to address a special message to all our fans, who were unable to attend the race here in Le Mans this year. In 2021, the 24 Hours of Le Mans will be held on 12-13 June. All being well, we look forward to seeing you then.”

RESULTS

Brendon Hartley, Kazuki Nakajima, Le Mans, LMP1, Sebastien Buemi, Toyota, Le Mans/WEC

 

Aston Martin triumphs over AF Corse in GTE Pro at Le Mans

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emailBy Stephen Kilbey | September 20, 2020 7:36 AM

GTE Pro was down on numbers but certainly not excitement this year. A sublime performance from Aston Martin Racing’s No. 97 crew scored an emphatic first Le Mans 24 Hours win for the Vantage AMR, after the winning trio of Alex Lynn, Maxime Martin and Harry Tincknell outlasted a race-long challenge from the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari.

This one was an Aston vs Ferrari battle for the entire race, as Porsche’s pair of 911 RSR 19s lacked pace in their Le Mans debut. Porsche not featuring in this one, having scored pole position on Friday, is almost as big of a story as Aston taking the win.

Neither 911 RSR 19 could keep up with the front-runner. Both dropped like stones to the back of the pack early in the race and wouldn’t make any sort of challenge for the remainder of the 24 Hours. The No. 92 suffered the worst after a power steering issue made the race an extended test session after the opening hours. It would finish 15 laps back in sixth, four laps off the sister car which finished a lowly fifth.

Related

United Autosports wins LMP2 race of attrition at Le Mans

TF Sport victorious in incident-filled GTE Am battle at Le Mans

Three in a row for Toyota at Le Mans

The lack of a Porsche in contention didn’t make for a dull affair, though, as the pendulum swung between the two leading marques throughout the race. As the conditions changed so did the balance of power, before the Vantage carried the advantage through Sunday morning to the end of the race.

Ultimately it was the Lynn/Martin/Tincknell team’s day — all three pushed hard, had a clean run and didn’t even need to undergo a brake change en route to victory, finishing a lap ahead of the No. 51 Ferrari.

Yet the winning margin was just 93 seconds by the end of the race, showing just how tight it was. Any small issue and James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Daniel Serra would have been ready to pounce and make it two straight wins in a row at Le Mans for AF Corse.

“I won’t lie — that was emotional. I had a few tears on the last lap,” admitted Lynn. “I have drjven this exact car for the last three years and so much hard work and sweat has gone into it.”

Tincknell added: “I feel incredibly lucky to be part of this team and experience. It’s fantastic to be a winner in an Aston Martin at Le Mans. The history that the brand has here and the emotion of the British fans, who couldn’t be with us but are still watching at home… it’s really something special. I have to pinch myself that I’m going to be a small part of Aston Martin’s history forever.”

Behind, the No. 95 Aston Martin of Nicki Thiim, Marco Sorensen and Richard Westbrook made it a double podium for the British marque with a third-place finish. It wasn’t a clean race for the No. 95, which fell away as the race wore on, but nevertheless secured an important set of points for the title race, which will see the top three crews in this race head to Bahrain before the end of the year with a shot at the crown.

One title was settled, though, as with a 1-3 finish Aston Martin was crowned the 2019/20 FIA WEC GTE Manufacturers World Champion with a race to spare. It’s a remarkable achievement against stiff competition from AF Corse and Porsche throughout this elongated season.


The No. 71 AF Corse 488 GTE was due to finish fourth after Sam Bird, Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina persevered in the second half of the race following a puncture and trip to the garage that set them back. But the car ground to a halt on the final lap, believed to have run out of fuel.

This cruel twist of fate promoted Risi Competitzione’s Ferrari 488 GTE to fourth place. It was a strong, well deserved outcome for Risi, which surely would have challenged for a podium had Sebastien Bourdais not had an off into the gravel at the Porsche Curves after a damper failure. A brake change, damper change and door replacement were required after the incident, which dropped the car seven laps behind the winner.

RESULTS

Aston Martin, GTE-Pro, Le Mans, Le Mans/WEC

 

After 24 hours of racing?

No. 37 Jackie Chan DC Racing entry disqualified from Le Mans

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emailBy Mark Glendenning | September 19, 2020 9:23 PM

So did they wait until he had raced for 24 hours, and then kicked him out?

The No. 37 Jackie Chan DC Racing LMP2 entry has been disqualified from the 24 Hours of Le Mans after driver Gabriel Aubry was determined to have received outside help to repair the car after it stopped with an electrical problem.

The ORECA stopped seven hours into the race, but Aubry was able to return to the pits after being talked through an on-track repair by the team. However, it later transpired that a team member had met Aubry and supplied a component to assist with the repair, which contravenes the regulations against drivers receiving anything other than verbal assistance.

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“The car stopped on track, the driver exited the car and phone called his team,” read the stewards’ decision. “A member of the team met the driver and supplied a component which the driver fitted to the car. The car was then able to continue.

“During the hearing the team representative admitted to these facts. He also stated that the car would not have been able to continue without this fix.

“This is a breach of Art. 12.3.9 of 24 Hours of Le Mans Supplementary Regulations. The penalty in the Regulations is disqualification.”

The car, which Aubry shared with Will Stevens and Ho-Pin Tung, had earlier led the LMP2 class, which has since had its numbers pared further by a string of retirements. Jackie Chan DC Racing has the right to appeal its disqualification in accordance with the event and FIA sporting codes.

Jackie Chan DC Racing, Le Mans/WEC

 

United Autosports wins LMP2 race of attrition at Le Mans

JEP/Motorsport Images
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emailBy Stephen Kilbey | September 20, 2020 7:01 AM

Zak Brown and Richard Dean’s LMP2 team, United Autosports, delivered yet again today, continuing their dominance in World Endurance Championship (and European Le Mans Series) competition in 2020 by winning the hotly contested LMP2 class at the 88th 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The category was dominated by the team’s No. 22 ORECA. Arguably the favorites going in, Paul di Resta, Phil Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque showed just what they are capable of during this race. The No. 22 spent the entire second half of this one in the lead, edging away as the other contenders either faltered or struggled to stay consistent. With the victory, United Autosports has won the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams while Hanson and Albuquerque have clinched the Drivers’ Trophy.

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It looked at times like it might be a 1-2 finish for the team as the sister No. 32 ORECA of Alex Brundle, Job van Uitert and Will Owen also showed race-winning pace and consistency early in the race, before a fractured solid engine oil line required a 45-minute fix in the garage.

It was, unusually for the current generation of LMP2 cars, a race of attrition. So many contending cars hit trouble, with either faults or incidents. The list of casualties was added to all the way to the end of the race, with even the final hour including further incidents.

Racing Team Nederland’s ORECA, the Signatech Alpine, United’s No. 32 ORECA, both DragonSpeed’s ORECAs, the High Class Racing 07, both of the G-Drive Racing Aurus entries, Eurointernational and Inter Europol’s Ligier, Nielsen’s ORECA, the Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA and the Cool Racing ORECA all suffered notable failures. There were so many issues that no lead or strong position felt safe.


Despite the No. 22 making it to the end without any major dramas, a late safety car period in the final hour bunched up the field, and a late splash of fuel for the Hanson meant JOTA’s Goodyear-shod ORECA looked in with a shout at snatching the victory. There were just a few seconds between Hanson and Davidson after he took fuel, but the young Asian Le Mans champion stayed calm and called JOTA’s bluff. JOTA too needed a splash, Davidson unable to save enough fuel during the safety car, relieving the pressure on Hanson with five minutes to go.

“I was nervous, because I wasn’t in control,” Albuquerque said after the race. “But I knew Phil could pull it off. We kept him posted on what was going on, but we didn’t know whether JOTA needed to pit or not. But in the end Phil did a mega job — Phil was flawless.”


“It feels like such a relief as I thought we had thrown it away in the last 30 minutes with everything kicking off with the safety car and the slow zones,” said Hanson, “so it’s so rewarding to get it done and to win the championship as well. These are the two goals we set out to achieve at the start of the year and you are never 100% confident that you can achieve them as the grid is so competitive and anything can go wrong at Le Mans, especially in the style we did it in too — pitting right at the end and not knowing if we would make it out in the lead again of if the other car had to pit. It makes it even more of a rewarding feeling.”

JOTA would have to settle for second, after a really strong run for both it and Goodyear in its return to La Sarthe as a tire supplier. Antonio Felix da Costa, Roberto Gonzalez and Anthony Davidson earned their trophies in this one.

The same can’t be said for JOTA’s other car, the Jackie Chan DC 07, which underwent a loom change after Gabriel Aubry suffered an electrical issue which caused the car to stop on track for an extended period. After lengthy repairs the car was then disqualified shortly after returning to the action for using “outside assistance” to repair the car.

Panis Racing, meanwhile, may well be the big surprise podium finisher of the race, its No. 31 ORECA taking a surprise third place after G-Drive Racing’s No. 26 Aurus suffered a suspension failure in the penultimate hour.

Jean-Eric Vergne looked on course for third, having spent hours along with his teammates Mikkel Jensen and Roman Rusinov fighting back from an electrical issue overnight which caused the No. 26 Aurus to grind to a halt and require multiple resets to get back to the pits.

But the Frenchman would go straight on at Indianapolis and had to limp back to the pits. The failure cost the team two places, and it finished fifth behind the Signatech Alpine, which fought back after water pressure issues on the opening lap that dropped the defending double Le Mans champions off the lead lap.

It all meant Panis Racing would make it two Goodyear runners on the podium, and saw Matthieu Vaxiviere, Julien Canal and Nicolas Jamin rewarded for their efforts.

RESULTS

Le Mans, LMP2, United Autosports, Le Mans/WEC