2017 24 Hours Of Le Mans

The 85th 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 85^e 24 Heures du Mans) was a 24-hour automobile endurance event held for Le Mans Prototype (LMP) and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE) cars from 17 to 18 June 2017 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, near Le Mans before 258,500 spectators. The race's 85th running, organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, was the third of nine rounds in the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship.

It was won by a Porsche 919 Hybrid driven by Earl Bamber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley, which took the lead in the final two hours. The race was Bamber and Bernhard's second Le Mans victory, Hartley's first, and Porsche's 19th. Toyota's Sébastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima finished eighth in a TS050 Hybrid after starting second, and were the only other competitors in the Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) field to complete the event. The Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) category was won by Oliver Jarvis, Thomas Laurent and Ho-Pin Tung in Jackie Chan DC Racing's Oreca 07-Gibson; they led the race for almost two hours in the closing stages of the event before finishing second overall. The second DC Racing entry of David Cheng, Tristan Gommendy and Alex Brundle were three laps behind in third place overall, followed by the Signatech Alpine of André Negrão, Nelson Panciatici.

Aston Martin won the Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Professional (LMGTE Pro) category after the Aston Martin Vantage shared by Jonathan Adam, Daniel Serra and Darren Turner overtook the stricken Chevrolet Corvette C7.R driven by Antonio García, Jan Magnussen and Jordan Taylor in the final two laps. A Ford GT also passed the Corvette on the final lap to take second place for Pipo Derani, Andy Priaulx, and Harry Tincknell. The Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Amateur (LMGTE Am) was won by a JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 GTE driven by Robert Smith, Will Stevens and Dries Vanthoor. Ferraris also finished second and third, with Spirit of Race's Marco Cioci, Duncan Cameron and Aaron Scott second and Scuderia Corsa's Townsend Bell, Cooper MacNeil and Bill Sweedler in third place.

The result moved Bamber, Bernhard and Hartley to the World Endurance Drivers' Championship lead with 83 points, ahead of previous leaders Buemi, Nakajima and Davidson. Jarvis, Laurent and Tung moved to third after their LMP2-class victory. Derani, Priaulx and Tincknell remained atop the GT World Endurance Drivers' Championship with Adam, Serra and Turner's category win moving them to second. Porsche overtook Toyota to lead the World Manufacturers' Championship by 28.5 points, as Ford passed Ferrari for the GT World Endurance Manufacturers' Championship lead with six races left in the season.

Background

The date for the 2017 race was confirmed by the FIA World Motor Sport Council at a press conference held by race organiser Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) at the Musée des 24 Heures du Mans on 16 June 2016. It was the 85th running of the event, held at the Circuit de la Sarthe from 17 to 18 June 2017, and the third of nine scheduled rounds of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC). The race was scheduled to avoid conflicts with other major motorsport events, as was the case in (when it was held the same day as the ).

Before the race, Toyota drivers Anthony Davidson, Kazuki Nakajima and Sébastien Buemi led the World Endurance Drivers' Championship with 50 points17 more than second-place Timo Bernhard, Earl Bamber and Brendon Hartley, and another five more than Neel Jani, Nick Tandy and André Lotterer in third. Toyota led the World Manufacturers' Championship with 69.5 points, seven-and-a-half ahead of second-place Porsche. Ford Chip Ganassi Racing's Pipo Derani, Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell led the GT World Endurance Drivers' Championship by two points over AF Corse's Sam Bird and Davide Rigon, and Ferrari led Ford by seven points in the GT World Endurance Manufacturers' Championship.

Regulation and circuit changes

After the 2016 race, when the lead car failed on its final lap and was eventually not classified in the final results, the standards by which a car is classified were changed. Instead of the mandatory six minutes for the race's final lap, penalties were assessed for any lap over six minutes on a graduated scale. Failure to complete the last lap of the race under fifteen minutes no longer led a car to be classified.

The slow-zone system used at Le Mans was also revised, with nine dedicated slow zones laid out around the circuit. Previously, individual marshal posts were used to mark the beginning and end of slow zones. The dedicated zones were located so the beginning of is in a slow section of the circuit; previous slow zones could begin in areas of the track where cars were required to slow down from high speeds, causing accidents.

Modifications were made to the circuit from the Porsche Curves to the Ford Chicane. The run-off area where the last right-hand turn goes into the left-hand corner which begins the Corvette corner was widened, with the barrier at the Porsche Curves moved further back. The angle of the wall at the left-hand entry to the short straight before the Ford Chicane was also altered. The Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) category was revamped with the introduction of a single specification engine from Gibson, with increased power output compared to 2016 LMP2 cars. Cockpit and chassis designs mimicked the Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) regulations for safety. The four approved chassis manufacturers were Dallara, Ligier, Oreca and Riley.

Entries

Automatic invitations

Automatic entry invitations were earned by teams which won their class in the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans or won championships in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS), Asian Le Mans Series (ALMS) and GT3 Le Mans Cup (GT3 LMC). The second-place finisher in the ELMS Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE) championship received an automatic invitation. Two participants from the IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA) were selected by the series as automatic entries by the ACO, regardless of their performance or category. As invitations were issued to teams, they could change their cars (but not their category) from the previous year. The LMGTE-class invitations from the ELMS and ALMS allowed a choice between the Pro and Am categories. ELMS' Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) champion was required to field an entry in LMP2, and the ALMS LMP3 champion could choose between LMP2 or LMGTE Am. The GT3 LMC champions were limited to the LMGTE Am category. The ACO issued its initial list of automatic entries on 23 January 2017.

Entry list and reserves

In conjunction with the announcement of entries for the 2017 FIA WEC and the ELMS seasons, the ACO announced the full 60-car entry list for Le Mans and two reserves. In addition to the 28 guaranteed entries from the WEC, 13 entries came from the ELMS, six from IMSA and eleven from the ALMS; the rest of the field was filled with one-off entries only competing at Le Mans. Two cars were initially named to the reserve list; RLR Msport later withdrew their LMP2 Ligier, and a fourth entry (from Proton Competition) was not promoted to the race. With the withdrawal of Audi Sport Team Joest from LMP1, the class was reduced to six entries for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Garage 56

The ACO intended to continue the Garage 56 concept, which began in 2012. Garage 56 allows a 56th entry to test new technology at the race. Welter Racing intended to enter a three-cylinder prototype vehicle powered by biomethane fuel, stored in cryogenic tanks which could withstand very low temperatures, to concentrate and maximise fuel volume. The car was not entered in the race, due to the team's funding problems.

Pre-race balance of performance changes

The ACO and the FIA altered the balance of performance (BoP) in the two LMGTE categories in an attempt to eliminate sandbagging. The Ford GT received a minimum weight increase and reduced turbocharger boost across all RPM levels to lower its performance. The Aston Martin Vantage was made heavier with an air restrictor elongated by , and the Chevrolet Corvette C7.R had less fuel capacity and its air restrictor lengthened by . Porsche's 911 RSR received a minimum weight increase of , and its air restrictor was lengthened by . The LMGTE Am-class Porsche 911 RSR's ballast was increased by ; the Ferrari 488 GTE and Aston Martin Vantage's ballasts were decreased by and , respectively. All three cars had minor power and restrictor adjustments.

Testing

A pre-Le Mans testing day was held at the circuit on 4 June. All race entrants were required to spend eight hours of track time, divided into two sessions. The morning session, held on a dirty track with lap times improving throughout, was led by pre-race favourite Toyota; Nakajima's 8 car lapped at 3 minutes 20.778 seconds. The second Toyota of Kamui Kobayashi was almost seven-tenths of a second slower, and José María López was third in the No. 9 car. Porsche were off Toyota's pace by more than two seconds, and completed the LMP1 field with Bernhard fourth and Lotterer fifth. Oreca 07s led LMP2 with 13 cars leading the time sheets, led by the No. 36 Signatech Alpine of André Negrãothe sole driver to lap below 3 minutes 30 seconds with a 3-minutes 29.809-second time, ahead of Rebellion and Graff. LMGTE Pro was topped by Corvette with Jan Magnussen's lap of 3 minutes 55.726 seconds, followed by Patrick Pilet's No. 91 Porsche and the second Corvette of Oliver Gavin. Matteo Cairoli's No. 77 Porsche led LMGTE Am from Andrea Bertolini's DH Racing Ferrari.

The second session saw Toyota again leading with Kobayashi's 3-minute 18.132-second lap, followed by Buemi and López. Porsche were still off Toyota's pace with their best lap coming from Bamber's No. 2 car, followed by Jani's No. 1 entry. Nelson Panciatici (the No. 4 ByKolles Racing ENSO CLM P1/01 of Dominik Kraihamer) for sixth overall, going faster than Jean-Éric Vergne's No. 24 Manor and Alex Brundle's No. 37 Jackie Chan DC Racing entries. Gavin missed 91 minutes due to a mid-session engine change but set the day's best LMGTE Pro lap (3 minutes 54.701 seconds) towards the end of the test, beating Frédéric Makowiecki's No. 92 Porsche. Aston Martin led LMGTE Am with Pedro Lamy's 3-minutes 58.250-second lap from Fernando Rees' Larbre Compétition Corvette. Erik Maris' No. 33 Eurasia Motorsport Ligier JS P217 stopped the session by becoming stranded in the Dunlop Curves gravel trap. Paul-Loup Chatin's No. 17 IDEC Sport Ligier and Jan Lammers's Racing Team Nederland Dallara collided at the second Mulsanne Chicane, but both continued without major damage. The session ended less than fifteen minutes early, when Roberto González's No. 25 Manor laid oil on the track and stopped.

Post-testing balance of performance changes

After testing, the FIA re-adjusted the BoP. The LMGTE Pro-category Corvettes had their performance reduced with an air-restrictor reduction. The Aston Martins, Ferraris, Fords, and Porsches received fuel-capacity increases to equalise refuelling times and stint lengths. The LMGTE Am-class Aston Martin and Ferraris increased their fuel capacity, with the Ferraris receiving turbocharger boost pressure increases.

Practice

Practice was held on 14 June, with the full 60-car field on the track for four hours in hot and sunny weather. Toyota led from the start once again, with Nicolas Lapierre setting the early pace and leading for most of the session until Bamber went faster. Kobayashi went quicker, until Jani's lap of 3 minutes 20.362 seconds in the final five minutes led the session. Alex Lynn's No. 26 G-Drive Racing car led LMP2 with less than forty minutes left, with a 3-minute 30.363-second lap from Nelson Piquet Jr.'s No. 13 Rebellion. Bruno Senna's sister No. 31 Rebellion was third. Aston Martins and Corvettes led LMGTE Pro from the start, until Bird's No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari lapped fastest at 3 minutes 54.832 seconds. The fastest Aston Martin was Darren Turner's No. 97 entry in second, and the second AF Corse car of James Calado was third. The quickest LMGTE Am vehicle was Lamy's No. 98 Aston Martin, over a trio of Ferraris led by DH Racing. The safety cars were required for one hour and fifteen minutes, after Christian Philippon's Larbre Compétition Corvette went off the track leaving the Porsche Curves and damaged the car's bodywork against the tyre barrier. Stephane Lemeret's No. 88 Proton Porsche scraped a barrier through the Porsche Curves, but continued to the pit lane for repairs. Roberto Lacorte slid the Cetilar Villorba Corse Dallara into the Mulsanne corner gravel trap, and abandoned the car.

Qualifying

The first of three qualifying sessions began late Wednesday night under clear conditions. The start was delayed due to an incident during practice for the first Road to Le Mans race: a major crash necessitated barrier repairs to the Porsche Curves, and the session was shortened by twenty minutes. Slow zones and yellow flags limited the amount of quick running, and the rapidly-cooling track meant that the best chance to set the fastest lap times was missed. The session's first timed laps saw Porsche lead early on with a benchmark effort from Jani, followed by Bernhard's 3-minute 19.710-second lap. Fifteen minutes later, Kobayashi had no slower traffic impeding him and took provisional pole position with a 3-minute 18.793-second lap. Nakajima was six-tenths of a second behind in second, and Bernhard was a provisional third. Lapierre was the slowest of the three Toyotas in fourth, and Jani was fifth. Rounding out the LMP1 field was Kraihamer, whose fastest time was ten seconds off Kobayashi's pace but clear of the LMP2 field.

Matthieu Vaxivière carried TDS Racing's Oreca to the provisional pole in LMP2 with a 3-minute 29.333-second lap late in the session. He was half-a-second clear of Senna, who held the class pole until Vaxivière's lap. Vitaly Petrov's No. 25 Manor was third-fastest, with teammate Vergne fourth. Eric Trouillet, in the No. 39 Graff Oreca, caused the session's first yellow flag when he struck the barriers leaving the second Mulsanne Chicane. The No. 27 SMP Racing Dallara caused further disruption when it hit the barriers and had a quickly-extinguished fire. Aston Martin led the LMGTE categories, with Nicki Thiim's No. 95 car quickest at 3 minutes, 52.117 seconds; Mathias Lauda was the fastest Amateur-class entry with a 3-minute 55.134-second lap. Risi Competizione's No. 82 Ferrari 488 was eleventh amongst the LMGTEs before ACO officials disallowed their fastest laps for disobeying ''parc fermé'' regulations by handling the tyres after the session.

Thursday's first qualifying session began with a stoppage for a crash. Maris spun and crashed his No. 33 car against the outside barriers leaving the first Mulsanne Chicane seventeen minutes in. He was unhurt, but was transported to the medical centre for a precautionary check-up; this meant that the organisers rescheduled the second qualifying to end at 21:30 Central European Summer Time (CEST) ( UTC+02:00). When it restarted, Kobayashi exited the pit lane early; aided by tailwinds on the Mulsanne Straight and headwinds through the Porsche Curves, he reset the track lap record to 3 minutes 14.791 seconds. The No. 8 Toyota stopped leaving the second Mulsanne Chicane with an oil-supply problem which required an engine change. The Toyota returned to the track with ten minutes remaining, but fell to fourth as Buemi could not better its best time. Jani and Bernhard in the two Porsches lapped quicker, and moved to second and third. Yuji Kunimoto also improved the No. 9 Toyota's best lap, but fell to fifth.

Petrov's Manor set a new LMP2 class lap record of 3 minutes 25.549 seconds, more than a second faster than rookie Thomas Laurent in DC's No. 38 entry and Vergne's second Manor; Petrov demoted the ByKolles car to seventh overall. The LMGTE categories had some changes, with Aston Martin remaining the Pro leader; Jonathan Adam bettered Thiim's first session lap, with Calado improving to second. Euan Hankey became the provisional LMGTE Am pole-sitter before Will Stevens went faster to take the class pole. At the premature end of qualifying, with a half-hour left, Timothé Buret lost control of the No. 23 Panis Barthez Competition Ligier on the grass and was stranded in a gravel trap going into Tertre Rouge corner after striking the barrier.

As temperatures cooled for the final session, more than half the field improved their fastest laps but Kobayashi's time was not bettered. He took Toyota's third pole position at Le Mans and their first since 2014. Nakajima lapped more than two seconds quicker to put the No. 8 car alongside the sister No. 7 Toyota on the grid's front row. Porsche did not improve from the second session, and were third and fourth. Hartley slowed and stopped the No. 2 Porsche at Indianapolis corner due to a rising oil temperature. He failed to return to the pit lane on hybrid power, and abandoned the car. Lapierre improved early on, and was fifth. Oliver Webb used clear air to return the ByKolles car to sixth overall. Lynn reset the LMP2 lap record early on by 11.3 seconds over the 2016 time, demoting the No. 25 Manor Oreca to second. Ho-Pin Tung's No. 38 DC car took third, battling with Senna for the position. The Oreca chassis, as well as the variant Alpine chassis, secured the first nine positions in LMP2; the Dallara of SMP Racing was the fastest of the other chassis, in tenth place.

Aston Martin led LMGTE Pro, with Richie Stanaway setting a new class record before Turner improved with a 3-minute 50.837-second lap for Aston Martin's first class pole since 2015. Calado separated the two cars in the closing minutes, and Bird came within 0.048 seconds of Stanaway. All five manufacturers in LMGTE Pro were within a second of Turner's lap, with the fastest Ford in fifth courtesy of Ryan Briscoe; Antonio García sixth for Corvette, and Porsche seventh courtesy of Michael Christensen. The lead in LMGTE Am changed with Rees earning Larbre Compétition's first class pole in ten years with a 3-minute 52.843-second lap, almost four-tenths of a second clear of Lamy's No. 98 Aston Martin and Townsend Bell's No. 62 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari.

Post-qualifying

After qualifying, the FIA imposed an BoP ballast decrease on the LMGTE Am-category Porsches after they were slower on the straight; Porsche had requested a longer air restrictor for better performance.

Qualifying results

Provisional pole positions in each class are denoted in bold. The fastest time set by each entry is denoted with a gray background.

Warm-up

A 45-minute warm-up session was held on Saturday morning. The No. 8 Toyota, driven by Nakajima, set the fastest lap at 3 minutes 18.308 seconds; Kobayashi's sister Toyota was three-tenths of a second slower in second. The best-placed Porsche was Tandy's No. 1 car in third, having led for most of the session. Kunimoto was fourth-fastest, and Hartley was fifth. Lynn set the fastest LMP2 lap at 3 minutes 27.096 seconds. Briscoe (driving the No. 69 Ford) was the quickest driver in LMGTE Pro, with the No. 83 DH Racing Ferrari driven by Bertolini the fastest of the LMGTE Am drivers by over a second. Paul Lafargue oversteered the No. 17 IDEC car in the Porsche Curves, made contact with the barriers before stopping in the gravel trap, and returned to the pit lane for repairs.

Race

Start to evening

The weather was hot, with an air temperature of ; the track temperature ranged from . The race began with a rolling start before 258,500 spectators at 15:00 local time, with the chairman and chief executive of the Formula One Group Chase Carey waving the French tricolour. Mike Conway maintained the No. 7 Toyota's pole-position advantage for most of the opening 60 minutes, before Buemi overtook him on the outside into Indianapolis turn for the lead after Conway made a braking error at the Dunlop Esses. The first hour saw the first retirement, when Webb had a front-left puncture at Tetre Rouge corner which made him crash the No. 4 ByKolles car against the wall and damage its front bodywork and engine. At the close of the hour, Thiim put the No. 95 Aston Martin in the LMGTE Pro lead after Alessandro Pier Guidi moved the No. 95 AF Corse Ferrari to the category lead for the opening two laps before falling to third in class.

Rees briefly overtook Hand's No. 68 LMGTE Pro-class Ford, and Rees continued to pace the LMGTE Am field until a faster pit stop for Bell's No. 62 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari promoted it to the category lead. The LMP2 lead became a multi-team battle between the No. 38 DC car and the No. 13 and 31 Rebellion Racing teams, with the lead changing frequently during pit-stop cycles after the class pole-sitting No. 26 G-Drive Oreca of Roman Rusinov fell to 14th at the start. Khaled Al Qubaisi's No. 88 Proton Porsche was caught by Rusinov, who lapped him on the inside in the centre of the Porsche Curves; both drivers crashed into the SAFER barrier at high speed. Although both cars could be driven to the pit lane, they had severe damage and were retired. The accident triggered the race's first localised slow-zone procedure to enable repairs to the barrier. On the Mulsanne Straight, Conway retook the overall lead in the No. 7 Toyota when his teammate (Buemi, in the sister No. 8 car) went wide at Mulsanne turn.

Laurent's No. 38 DC car was gaining on the two LMP2-leading Rebellion cars when its rear snapped out and he crashed lightly against the barrier at Indianapolis corner. Laurent entered the pit lane for new front bodywork, but the car lost two-and-a-half-minutes and fell to sixth place. After Marco Sørensen relieved Thiim in the No. 95 Aston Martin, he was slowed by a left-rear puncture from debris at Tertre Rouge corner. Sørensen relinquished the LMGTE Pro lead to Daniel Serra's sister No. 97 Aston Martin, with the No. 67 Ford in second. After three-and-a-half hours, Bamber's No. 2 Porsche was forced to the garage for 65 minutesand 18 lapsto fix a failed front-axle hybrid harvesting motor which required multiple components (including the motor generator unit). Tandy's No. 1 Porsche overtook Davidson's No. 8 Toyota for second overall after a pit-stop cycle, challenging the No. 7 Toyota for the lead.

Vaxivière unsettled the front of his TDS Racing Oreca car braking for the first Mulsanne chicane and moved left towards the unseen No. 82 Risi Ferrari of Pierre Kaffer which he was lapping in traffic. In the resulting contact, Kaffer struck the Armco barrier at high speed and forced the retirement of the No. 82 car stopped in the run-off area. Kaffer was unhurt, but a lengthy slow zone was imposed to enable repairs to the damaged barriers; Vaxivière received a seven-minute stop-and-go penalty for the accident. The slow-zone coverage zone was extended past the Dunlop chicane to the Tetre Rouge turn after a succession of incidents which had deposited gravel on the circuit. The slowdown brought the leading cars together and enabled Senna to extend the lead of the No. 31 LMP2 Rebellion Oreca car to over 90 seconds over his teammate, Piquet, in the second-place No. 13 entry. Tung's recovering No. 38 DC car was third in class, passing Pierre Ragues' No. 35 Signatech Alpine. Although Kunimoto had to make an unscheduled pit stop to repair a loose right-side door, the No. 9 Toyota remained fourth.

Night to dawn

As dusk fell, Nakajima's No. 8 Toyota was lapping faster than Lotterer's No. 1 Porsche and overtook it exiting the Arnage corner for second overall midway through the seventh hour. Nakajima immediately began to pull clear of Lotterer and gain on the race-leading No. 7 Toyota of Sarrazin. The No. 98 Aston Martin relinquished its lead in the LMGTE Am category to the No. 84 JMW Ferrari of Stevens when Lamy had a front-right puncture from debris. This removed the bodywork from the car's front-right corner, and Lamy dropped to the rear of the category when he made an unscheduled 18-minute pit stop for repairs. The No. 31 Rebellion car of Senna was given a drive-through penalty for overtaking another vehicle under slow-zone conditions. He was demoted from the lead of LMP2 to third in the category and his teammate, Piquet in the No. 13 Rebellion entry, became the new class leader.

Buemi was holding off Jani's No. 1 Porsche when the No. 8 Toyota began to leak oil, but telemetry did not indicate an issue. He went to the garage with smoke coming front the car's front right wheel arch due to a battery-damaging axle hybrid motor failure, losing 29 laps and almost two hours while components were changed. The left rear of Tommy Milner's No. 64 Corvette was damaged in a spin towards the barrier at the exit of the Porsche Curves due to an incorrectly-fitted left rear wheel nut when Milner, struggling to control the car, spun into the pit lane entry gravel. The car was beached on a kerb and was extricated by a recovery vehicle, but lost second in the LMGTE Pro (and four laps) to Tincknell's No. 67 Ford. Piquet ceded the No. 13 Rebellion car's lead in LMP2 to Senna's sister No. 31 vehicle when it spent a minute in the pit lane to repair a failed left rear tail light. Early in the tenth hour, Olivier Pla beached the No. 66 Ford in the gravel run-off area at the left-hand turn after Indianapolis corner; it was recovered, leaving gravel on the racing line. The incident led to the race's first safety car intervention, a half-hour for debris removal.

During the slow period, Jani spun the No. 1 Porsche at the pit-lane entry but did not lose position. When Kobayashi brought the race-leading No. 7 Toyota to the pit-lane exit, Algarve Pro Racing driver Vincent Capillare ran up to the car and gave Kobayashi the thumbs-up signal. Kobayashi interpreted this as a marshal's signal to exit the lane, but further confusion was created when Toyota radioed Kobayashi to stop the car because he had passed a red light. When racing resumed, Kobayashi had worn out the clutch enough to brake it and slowed; the clutch, not designed for starting, was stressed by the engine's power and torque. Kobayashi lost drive in the engine and attempted to return to the pit lane on hybrid power, but got as far as the pit lane entry straight before retiring the No. 7 car because of a low battery charge. The No. 7 Toyota's retirement promoted Tandy's No. 1 Porsche to the race lead, Lapierre's No. 9 Toyota to second and Rebellion's No. 31 LMP2-class-leading entry to third overall.

Soon afterwards, the left rear corner of Lapierre's No. 9 Toyota and the right corner of Simon Trummer's No. 25 Manor Oreca made contact in the Dunlop Chicane. Trummer was beached in the gravel and was forced to retire the No. 25 car with major damage, but was unhurt; Lapierre continued with a left-rear puncture which caused the bodywork to fail. Lapierre drove too quickly, and chunks of rubber from the rim of the disintegrating tyre damaged the gearbox hydraulics and an oil line. This caused the car to briefly catch fire, and Lapierre drove on hybrid power before being asked by his team to stop at the exit near the pit-lane entry and abandon the car at the side of the circuit. Safety cars were required again for 32 minutes as debris from the two stricken cars were removed from the track. The No. 9 Toyota's retirement moved the No. 31 and No. 13 Rebellion cars to second and third overall. When racing resumed, Tandy slowed the race-leading No. 1 Porsche because he had a nine-lap lead over the LMP2 order. Hankey's No. 90 TF Sport Aston Martin fended off Marvin Dienst's No. 77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche for third in LMGTE Am, with second to fourth in class covered by ten seconds.

After the race's halfway point, the No. 31 Rebellion Oreca car of Nicolas Prost entered the garage for an inspection because Prost reported a gearbox problem. The inspection took five minutes, and the car lost one lap to fall to fourth in LMP2 (ceding the category lead to Tung's No. 38 DC). Christensen lost control of the No. 92 Porsche on the Ford Chicane kerb, heavily damaging the car's rear on the tyre barrier before stopping in the gravel. Although the Porsche was extricated and moved behind a barrier for an attempted restart, damage forced its retirement. Almost an hour later, Emmanuel Collard crashed the No. 28 TDS Oreca into the tyre wall exiting the Porsche Curves at high speed after a driver error and retired; the safety cars came out for the third and final time (for 24 minutes) to enable repairs to the barrier and extrication of the stricken car. Collard sustained bruising and exited the car unaided; he was transported to the medical centre and then Le Mans Hospital for checks. AF Corse were caught out by the safety car's timing and brought both their cars into the pit lane, moving the No. 63 Corvette to fourth in LMGTE Pro.

Morning to finish

After green-flag racing resumed in the early morning, a slow zone was imposed when James Allen beached the No. 40 Graff entry in the gravel trap on the left-hand Indianapolis turn after contact with the barrier and was pushed back onto the circuit. The slow zone lowered the gap between Sørensen's LMGTE Pro-leading No. 95 Aston Martin and Pilet's second-placed No. 92 Porsche to less than 20 seconds. The Aston Martin and Porsche LMGTE Pro teams had different pit-stop strategies: the Aston Martins could do two stints on their tyres, and the Porsches could do three tyre stints because the manufacturers used different tyre brands. Tung used the slow zone to return the No. 38 DC car to the LMP2 lead when Piquet's No. 13 Rebellion entry lost a minute in the slow zone. Calado's No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari had to drop out of the LMGTE Pro lead battle when Calado and Rob Bell's No. 90 TF Aston Martin collided at the second Mulsanne chicane; they went to the garage to repair front bodywork damage and a rear diffuser replacement, respectively.

The No. 95 Aston Martin relinquished the LMGTE Pro lead to Jordan Taylor's No. 63 Corvette which cycled to Makowiecki's No. 92 Porsche on pit-stop rotation when driver Stanaway, on cold tyres after a scheduled pit stop, damaged the car's left front corner against the tyre wall at the Mulsanne hairpin. Stanaway drove to the pit lane for quick repairs, and was relieved by Thiim. The No. 31 Rebellion car bowed out of the LMP2 lead duel when it was garaged for more than an hour to replace gearbox internals; this promoted Panciatici's No. 35 Signatech Alpine to third in LMP2. Will Owen, driving United Autosports' No. 32 car, was fourth in LMP2 when he spun twice (at Indianapolis corner and the Porsche Curves) and was passed by David Cheng's No. 37 DC entry. JMW had an anxious moment when Dries Vanthoor lost control of the team's Ferrari at the pit-lane entry, but recovered without losing the LMGTE Am lead. The recovering No. 2 Porsche made its way to fifth overall with Hartley aboard by the 20th hour, and the LMGTE Pro lead battle was between three cars: the No. 97 Aston Martin, the No. 63 Corvette and the No. 91 Porsche.

After 21 hours 10 minutes, Lotterer's No. 1 Porsche slowed at the Dunlop Curves when the engine lost oil pressure. Lotterer tried to return to the pit lane on hybrid power, but was advised to stop and abandon the car at the side of the track on the Mulsanne Straight when Porsche thought that the problem could not fixed and did not want a slow zone or safety car to slow Hartley. The No. 1 Porsche's retirement promoted Laurent's LMP2-category-leading No. 38 DC Oreca car to the race lead, the first LMP2 overall leader in race history. Mathias Beche (in second overall) received a stop-and-go penalty when his mechanics committed an infraction while adjusting the brake duct and rear of the No. 13 Rebellion vehicle, and he fell behind Hartley's recovering No. 2 Porsche. Laurent lost a minute in the pit lane when the No. 38 DC car had its rear bodywork changed to repair faulty rear brake lights before Bernhard unlapped the Oreca entry to return the No. 2 Porsche to the lead lap, since he was lapping considerably quicker on average than the LMP2 entry.

Piquet's No. 13 Rebellion car battled Negrão's No. 35 Signatech Alpine for third overall in slower traffic before Piquet's pace unsettled his vehicle through the Porsche Curves and allowed Negrão to pull clear. The Rebellion entry received a ten-second time penalty for Piquet's collision with the No. 49 ARC Bratislava Ligier, and it fell back from the Alpine. Makowiecki's No. 91 Porsche bowed out of the battle for the LMGTE Pro victory when the car had a left-front puncture and made an unscheduled pit stop. Bernhard gained enough ground on Tung's No. 38 DC Oreca car to overtake it on the inside on the right-hand kink into Indianapolis turn for the race lead with just over one hour remaining. In the final hour, Negrão ceded the No. 35 Signatech Alpine's hold on third overall to Piquet's No. 13 Rebellion car when he slowly beached the Alpine in the gravel at Arnage corner while attempting to rejoin the circuit. Adam in the No. 97 Aston Martin gained on Taylor's No. 63 Corvette and attempted to pass him for the LMGTE Pro lead, but ran wide and hit the Corvette. He tried again after Taylor drove across the gravel trap at the second Mulsanne Straight chicane and took the category lead on the start-finish straight with two laps remaining, which he maintained to the finish.

The No. 2 Porsche team maintained the lead for the rest of the race to win after 367 laps, earning Bamber and Bernhard their second Le Mans victories, Hartley his first and Porsche's 19th. Toyota were able to repair the No. 8 car enough for it to finish nine laps behind the winning Porsche in eighth overall and the final LMP1 finisher. The No. 38 DC Oreca entry led the final 141 laps in LMP2 to win the category and finish a lap down in second overall. Rebellion's No. 13 car followed in provisional second and third overall, with the class podium completed by DC's No. 37 entry. Aston Martin secured their first LMGTE Pro Le Mans victory, with Turner taking his third category win and Adam and Serra their first. Tincknell's No. 67 Ford took second in class with a last-lap pass of Taylor's No. 63 Corvette, which had bodywork damage and a slow front-left puncture. JMW, unchallenged since the race's eighth hour, won the LMGTE Am class with the No. 84 Ferrari leading the last 234 laps. The Spirit of Race and Scuderia Corsa Ferraris completed the category podium, two laps behind in second and third.

Post-race

The top three teams in each of the four classes appeared on the podium to collect their trophies, and spoke to the media at a later press conference. Bamber called Porsche's victory "incredibly nerve-wracking", "a great fightback from us, and one of those fairytale Le Mans stories I think." Hartley added, "You can't write these stories. It's Le Mans. It's always unpredictable. Sometimes at the beginning of the race you don't believe that such a story exists. But it did." Oliver Jarvis said, "We can't be disappointed winning LMP2 and finishing second, but there was a moment when I saw the #1 Porsche at the side of the track and thought we could actually win! It would have been incredible." Tung called the LMP2 victory "extremely important. Not just to win here at Le Mans, it's so special, but also for the World Endurance Championship, it's a very important race." Jota Sport team director Sam Hignett said an LMP2 car winning overall might have been "legendary" with "a little bit more luck", but the team was delighted to achieve its objectives. Actor Jackie Chan equated his team's class victory to his winning an Academy Award. FIA president Jean Todt said that LMP2 cars driven by unknown drivers leading the race and finishing on the overall podium were "great for racing".

After the race, third-place-overall finisher No. 13 Rebellion Oreca was disqualified by race officials after it was found that the team had modified its rear bodywork by cutting a hole to allow them to access a faulty starter motor; it was declared an unnecessary modification of approved bodywork. The disqualification moved the second Jackie Chan DC Racing car to third place overall, and second in class. Rebellion Racing issued a statement admitting an "error of judgement". Rusinov was assessed a three-minute penalty at the following 6 Hours of Nürburgring, with three additional stop-and-go penalties suspended for the following three FIA WEC events, for his second-hour collision with Al-Qubaisi's Porsche. Rusinov called the penalty a "very harsh decision", saying that he had apologised to Al-Quabisi and his team; Al-Quabisi told Rusinov that he would have allowed him past at the next corner.

Toyota president Akio Toyoda suggested that hybrid technology may not yet have been developed enough to cope with the event's demands. Oreca president Hugues de Chaunac echoed Toyoda, suggesting that hybrid systems be less convoluted. Porsche team principal Andreas Seidl felt that the hybrid failures were a consequence of faster racing, and Porsche had not experienced such problems. Jarvis said that ACO rule changes attempting to slow the LMP1 hybrid cars were ineffective and impaired reliability. Capillaire issued an apology to Toyota (which was accepted) for indirectly causing the No. 7 car's retirement, saying that he ran across the pit lane to encourage Kobayashi. Kaffer accepted an apology from Vaxivière for the incident which took the Risi Ferrari out of the race, and for which Vaxivière was strongly criticised. Prodrive chairman David Richards praised the "extraordinary" team effort of his Aston Martin team to win LMGTE Pro; Adam called his pursuit of Taylor "the stint of my life", saying that his team's reaction to his race-winning overtake of Taylor "was quite emotional".

The result promoted Bamber, Bernhard and Hartley to the Drivers' Championship lead with 83 points; Buemi, Davidson and Nakajima fell to second with 66, and Jarvis, Laurent and Tung moved from sixth to third. Porsche overtook Toyota to lead the Manufacturers' Championship by 28.5 points. Derani, Priaulx and Tincknell remained the GT World Endurance Drivers' Championship leaders, with Adam, Serra and Turner second. Ford took the GT World Endurance Manufacturers' Championship lead from Ferrari with six races remaining in the season.

Race result

The minimum number of laps for classification (70 percent of the overall winning car's race distance) was 257 laps. Class winners are in bold.

Championship standings after the race

* Note: Only the top five positions are included for the Drivers' Championship standings.

* Note: Only the top five positions are included for the Drivers' Championship standings.

Footnotes

References

External links

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{{24 Hours of Le Mans

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