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The 86th 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 86
e 24 Heures du Mans) was an 24-hour
automobile endurance race for
Le Mans Prototype
A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were create ...
and
Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars held from 16 to 17 June 2018 at the
Circuit de la Sarthe
The Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, also known as Circuit de la Sarthe (after the 1906 French Grand Prix triangle circuit) located in Le Mans, Sarthe, France, is a semi-permanent motorsport race course, chiefly known as the venue for the 24 Hou ...
, close to
Le Mans, France
Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le ...
. It was the 86th running of the event, as organised by the automotive group, the
Automobile Club de l'Ouest
The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (English: Automobile Club of the West), sometimes abbreviated to ACO, is the largest automotive group in France. It was founded in 1906 by car building and racing enthusiasts, and is most famous for being the organ ...
(ACO), since . The race was the second round of the
2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship, with 36 of the race's 60 entries contesting the series. Approximately 256,900 people attended the race. A test day was held two weeks prior to the race on 3 June.
A
Toyota TS050 Hybrid
The Toyota TS050 Hybrid is a sports prototype racing car developed for the 2016 Le Mans Prototype rules in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The car is the direct successor of the Toyota TS040 Hybrid, which competed in both the 2014 and 201 ...
car shared by
Sébastien Buemi
Sébastien Olivier Buemi (born 31 October 1988) is a Swiss professional racing driver, who competes in the FIA Formula E Championship for Envision Racing. He competed for Scuderia Toro Rosso in Formula One from 2009 to 2011. After leaving Formula ...
,
Kazuki Nakajima
is a retired Japanese professional racing driver who drove in Formula One for the Williams-Toyota team from to . In 2012 and 2014, he won the Super Formula Championship driving for TOM'S. Racing for Toyota Gazoo Racing, he won the 2018, 2019 a ...
and
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver currently competing for Alpine in Formula One. He won the series' World Drivers' Championship in and with Renault, and has also driven for McLaren, Ferrari, and Mi ...
began from
pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...
after Nakajima recorded the fastest lap time in the third qualifying session. It and the sister Toyota of
Mike Conway
Mike Conway (born 19 August 1983) is a British professional racing driver. He lives in Sevenoaks, Kent and is currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Toyota Gazoo Racing.
Biography
Conway who was born in Bromley, Lo ...
,
Kamui Kobayashi
is a Japanese professional racing driver who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing (GR) and in the Super Formula Championship for KCMG . He previously competed in Formula One, Formula E, the GP2 Series, and the ...
and
José María López
José María "Pechito" López (born 26 April 1983) is an Argentine race car driver who is currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Toyota Gazoo Racing and 2014–2016 World Touring Car Champion. He raced in the 2006 GP2 ...
exchanged the lead for most of the first half of the race until Buemi took a one-minute stop-and-go penalty for speeding in a slow zone that was enforced for an accident during the night. Alonso and Nakajima retook the lead from their teammates in the 16th hour and maintained it for the rest of the race to win. It was Alonso, Buemi and Nakajima's first Le Mans win and Toyota's first in its 20th try. The sister Toyota of Conway, Kobayashi and López finished two laps behind in second, and a
Rebellion R13
The Rebellion R13 is a sports prototype racing car built by French constructor Oreca on behalf of Swiss-based team Rebellion Racing. It is a variation of the Oreca 07, created to compete in the LMP1 class. It would later be renamed by Alpine to A ...
vehicle driven by
Thomas Laurent
Thomas Laurent (born 5 April 1998) is a French racing driver who currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for French team Signatech Alpine Matmut and in the European Le Mans Series with Graff Racing. He finished second in the 2 ...
,
Gustavo Menezes
Gustavo Menezes (born 19 September 1994) is an American racing driver, currently racing for Peugeot Sport in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Career
Karting
Menezes began karting in 2002, but took his first championship in 2005 in the IKF ...
and
Mathias Beche
Mathias Beche (born 28 June 1986 in Geneva) is a Swiss professional racing driver. He finished eighth overall and second in the LMP2 class of the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans and is the reigning champion of the European Le Mans Series in the LMP2 clas ...
completed the
podium
A podium (plural podiums or podia) is a platform used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings. It derives from the Greek ''πόδι'' (foot). In architecture a building can rest on a large podium. Podiums can also be used ...
in third.
The Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class was led for 360 consecutive laps by the
G-Drive Racing Oreca 07
The Oreca 07 is a Le Mans Prototype built by French manufacturer Oreca to meet the 2017 FIA and ACO LMP2 regulations. It made its official race debut in the opening round of the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the 24 Hours of Dayto ...
car of
Roman Rusinov
Roman Aleksandrovich Rusinov ( rus, Рома́н Алекса́ндрович Ру́синов, p=rɐˈman ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈrusʲɪnəv, born 21 October 1981 in Moscow) is a Russian auto racing driver who competed in the FIA World Endu ...
,
Andrea Pizzitola
Andrea Pizzitola (born 19 June 1992) is a professional French racing driver. He is best known for finishing as the runner-up in the 2011 French F4 Championship season.
Career
Karting
Born in Montpellier, Pizzitola entered karting in 2008, raci ...
and
Jean-Éric Vergne
Jean-Éric Vergne (born 25 April 1990), also known as JEV, is a French racing driver who competes in the FIA Formula E Championship with Dragon Racing. He became the 2017–18 ABB Formula E Champion, after clinching fifth in the New York ePrix ...
and was the first team to finish the race. It was later disqualified for running an illegal refuelling component and G-Drive lost an appeal. The class victory was taken by the
Signatech Alpine team of
Nicolas Lapierre
Nicolas Lapierre (born 2 April 1984) is a French professional racing driver. He raced with Toyota and with Alpine Racing in the past seasons of the FIA World Endurance Championship. He is a two-time winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring, with overa ...
,
Pierre Thiriet
Pierre Thiriet (born 20 April 1989 in Épinal) is a French racing driver. He finished eighth overall and second in the LMP2 class of the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans and won the European Le Mans Series in the LMP2 class in 2012.
Career
After competin ...
and
André Negrão
André Negrão (born 17 June 1992, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil) is a Brazilian driver in the World Endurance Championship (WEC), world champion in the WEC's superseason 2018/2019 and twice winner in the 24 Hours of Le Mans (2018 and 2019) in t ...
. A
Graff-SO24 team of Vincent Capillaire,
Jonathan Hirschi
Jonathan Hirschi (born 2 February 1986 in St. Imier, Switzerland) is a Swiss racing and rally driver who currently competes in the European Le Mans Series
The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing ...
and
Tristan Gommendy
Tristan Gommendy (born 4 January 1979) is a French professional racing driver who currently competes in the European Le Mans Series with Duqueine Engineering.
Racing career
Early career
Born in Le Chesnay, Yvelines, Gommendy began his profess ...
was second and a
United Autosports
United Autosports is a sports car racing team, founded by American businessman and entrepreneur Zak Brown and former British racing driver Richard Dean.
In 2020, United Autosports became the first ever team to win the prestigious 24 Hours of ...
Ligier JS P217
The Ligier JS P217 is a Le Mans Prototype built by Onroak Automotive and named in a partnership with French racing driver Guy Ligier. The Ligier JS P217 was built to meet the 2017 FIA and ACO regulations for 2017 for the LMP2 category in the F ...
car driven by
Hugo de Sadeleer
Hugo de Sadeleer (born 16 July 1997) is a professional racing driver from Switzerland, formerly competing in the LMP2 category of the European Le Mans Series.
Career
Karting
Born in Lausanne, Sadeleer began karting in 2009 at the age of twelve ...
,
Will Owen and
Juan Pablo Montoya
Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán (; born September 20, 1975) is a Colombian racing driver.
He won the International F3000 championship in 1998, the CART FedEx Championship Series in 1999 in his debut year in the series, and the IMSA WeatherTech S ...
finished third. On its 70th anniversary
Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...
won both of the
Le Mans Grand Touring Professional (LMGTE) categories with
Michael Christensen,
Kévin Estre
Kévin Estre (born 28 October 1988) is a French professional racing driver. He is currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Porsche in the GTE PRO class.
Career
Karting
Born in Lyon, Estre began his racing career in kart ...
and
Laurens Vanthoor
Laurens Vanthoor (; born 8 May 1991) is a Belgian professional racing driver currently racing for Porsche Motorsport as a factory driver in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. He currently resides in Waiblingen outside of Stuttgart.
...
's No. 92 car ahead of the No. 91
911 RSR car of
Richard Lietz
Richard Lietz (born 17 December 1983 in Waidhofen an der Ybbs) is an Austrian professional racing driver and a Porsche Factory driver. He has competed in such series as American Le Mans Series, Formula 3 Euro Series and the Rolex Sports Car Seri ...
,
Gianmaria Bruni
Gianmaria "Gimmi" Bruni (born 30 May 1981) is an Italian Porsche factory auto racing driver who drove in the 2004 Formula One World Championship for Minardi. He is a GP2 Series race winner and is now racing in the FIA World Endurance Champion ...
and
Frédéric Makowiecki
Frédéric Makowiecki (born 22 November 1980) is a French professional racing driver, currently competing as a factory driver for Porsche Motorsport in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTLM class.
Career
After competing in karting, Arra ...
in Le Mans Grand Touring Professional (LMGTE Pro) and
Dempsey
Dempsey is a surname of Irish origin.
Background
Dempsey is an anglicised form of Ó Díomasaigh, 'descendant of Díomasach'; this personal name is the Irish adjective ''díomasach'' 'proud'. The family originated in the Kingdom of Uí Failghe ...
-
Proton
A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' elementary charge. Its mass is slightly less than that of a neutron and 1,836 times the mass of an electron (the proton–electron mass ...
's trio of
Matt Campbell,
Christian Ried
Christian Ried (born 24 February 1979) is a German racing driver who currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Career
Ried's father Gerold founded Proton Competition in 1996, the team which Christian has spent most of his caree ...
and
Julien Andlauer
Julien Andlauer (born 5 July 1999 in Lyon) is a racing driver from France. He is a Porsche contracted driver who competes in a range of championships having won both French and German Carrera Cup Championships. He currently competes in the ADAC ...
winning in Le Mans Grand Touring Amateur (LMGTE Am).
The result increased Alonso, Buemi and Nakajima's lead in the
LMP Drivers' Championship to 20 points over their teammates Conway, Kobayashi and López. Beche, Laurent and Menezes retained third place and Lapierre, Thiriet and Negrão's victory in LMP2 moved them to fourth. In the
GTE Drivers' Championship Christensen and Estre took the lead from
Billy Johnson,
Stefan Mücke
Stefan Mücke (born 22 November 1981) is a German professional racing driver.
Racing career
Born in Berlin, Mücke started his racing career in 1998, when he won the Formula BMW ADAC series, with his father's Mücke Motorsport team, also making ...
and
Olivier Pla
Olivier Pla (born 22 October 1981) is a French racing driver currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Glickenhaus Racing. His younger brother Jim is also a racing driver
Career
French Formula Campus and Formula Three
Bor ...
.
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
further extended their lead over
Rebellion Racing
Rebellion Racing is a Swiss racing team that competes in endurance racing. The team competed in the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup season and won the LMP1 teams' title in the 2011 Le Mans Series season. The team started as an association ...
in the
LMP1 Teams' Championship to 27 points as Porsche went further ahead of
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
in the
GTE Manufacturers' Championship with six races remaining in the season.
Background
![Virages du raccordement-circuit des 24 heures du Mans](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Virages_du_raccordement-circuit_des_24_heures_du_Mans.jpg)
The dates for the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans were confirmed at a meeting of the
FIA World Motor Sport Council
The World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) is a major organ within the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's governance structure. Its primary role is amending current regulations and drafting new regulations for all of international motor spor ...
in its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland on 19 June 2017.
It was the 86th edition of the event,
[ and the second of eight automobile endurance races of the 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).
Before the race ]Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
drivers Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver currently competing for Alpine in Formula One. He won the series' World Drivers' Championship in and with Renault, and has also driven for McLaren, Ferrari, and Mi ...
, Sébastien Buemi
Sébastien Olivier Buemi (born 31 October 1988) is a Swiss professional racing driver, who competes in the FIA Formula E Championship for Envision Racing. He competed for Scuderia Toro Rosso in Formula One from 2009 to 2011. After leaving Formula ...
and Kazuki Nakajima
is a retired Japanese professional racing driver who drove in Formula One for the Williams-Toyota team from to . In 2012 and 2014, he won the Super Formula Championship driving for TOM'S. Racing for Toyota Gazoo Racing, he won the 2018, 2019 a ...
led the LMP Drivers' Championship with 26 points, eight ahead of their teammates Mike Conway
Mike Conway (born 19 August 1983) is a British professional racing driver. He lives in Sevenoaks, Kent and is currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Toyota Gazoo Racing.
Biography
Conway who was born in Bromley, Lo ...
, Kamui Kobayashi
is a Japanese professional racing driver who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing (GR) and in the Super Formula Championship for KCMG . He previously competed in Formula One, Formula E, the GP2 Series, and the ...
and José María López
José María "Pechito" López (born 26 April 1983) is an Argentine race car driver who is currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Toyota Gazoo Racing and 2014–2016 World Touring Car Champion. He raced in the 2006 GP2 ...
and a further three in front of Mathias Beche
Mathias Beche (born 28 June 1986 in Geneva) is a Swiss professional racing driver. He finished eighth overall and second in the LMP2 class of the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans and is the reigning champion of the European Le Mans Series in the LMP2 clas ...
, Thomas Laurent
Thomas Laurent (born 5 April 1998) is a French racing driver who currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for French team Signatech Alpine Matmut and in the European Le Mans Series with Graff Racing. He finished second in the 2 ...
and Gustavo Menezes
Gustavo Menezes (born 19 September 1994) is an American racing driver, currently racing for Peugeot Sport in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Career
Karting
Menezes began karting in 2002, but took his first championship in 2005 in the IKF ...
of the Rebellion
Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority.
A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...
team. The ByKolles trio of Tom Dillmann
Tom Dillmann (born 6 April 1989 in Mulhouse) is a French racing driver, formerly competing for Nio Formula E Team, in Formula E. He is probably best known for winning the German Formula Three Championship in the 2010 season and the Formula V8 ...
, Dominik Kraihamer
Dominik Kraihamer (born 29 November 1989 in Oberndorf) is an Austrian racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for ByKolles Racing Team.
Career
Kraihamer's racing career began in 2004 in karting, where he found succe ...
and Oliver Webb
Oliver "Oli" James Webb (born 20 March 1991 in Manchester) is a British auto racing driver. He is a 2004 Karting Champion, 2007 Formula BMW Scholarship winner, 2010 Formula 3 competitor, 2014 European Le Mans series Champion, 2015 Dubai 24 Hour ...
were fourth with 12 points and SMP Racing's Mikhail Aleshin
Mikhail Petrovich Aleshin ( rus, Михаи́л Петро́вич Алёшин, p=mʲɪxɐˈil pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ɐˈlʲɵʂɨn, born 22 May 1987 in Moscow, Soviet Union) is a Russian professional racing driver and the 2010 champion of the Fo ...
and Vitaly Petrov
Vitaly Aleksandrovich Petrov ( rus, Вита́лий Алекса́ндрович Петро́в, p=vʲɪˈtalʲɪj ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ pʲɪˈtrof; born 8 September 1984) is a Russian racing driver who drove in Formula One for Renault F1 ...
were fifth with 10 points. In the GTE Drivers' Championship Billy Johnson, Stefan Mücke
Stefan Mücke (born 22 November 1981) is a German professional racing driver.
Racing career
Born in Berlin, Mücke started his racing career in 1998, when he won the Formula BMW ADAC series, with his father's Mücke Motorsport team, also making ...
and Olivier Pla
Olivier Pla (born 22 October 1981) is a French racing driver currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Glickenhaus Racing. His younger brother Jim is also a racing driver
Career
French Formula Campus and Formula Three
Bor ...
of Ford Chip Ganassi Racing
Chip Ganassi Racing, LLC (CGR), also sometimes branded as Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, is an American auto racing organization with teams competing in the NTT IndyCar Series, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, FIA World Endurance Championshi ...
led with 25 points, ahead of the Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...
duo of Michael Christensen and Kévin Estre
Kévin Estre (born 28 October 1988) is a French professional racing driver. He is currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Porsche in the GTE PRO class.
Career
Karting
Born in Lyon, Estre began his racing career in kart ...
in second and AF Corse
AF Corse is an Italian auto racing team founded by former racing driver Amato Ferrari in 1995 in Piacenza. Strongly linked to the Maserati and Ferrari brands, AF Corse currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship, GT World Chal ...
's Davide Rigon
Davide Rigon (born 26 August 1986) is an Italian professional racing driver who is currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship and other selected GT races for AF Corse. He is also currently part of the Scuderia Ferrari Formula ...
and Sam Bird
Sam Jamie Bird (born 9 January 1987) is a British professional racing driver who currently drives for Jaguar TCS Racing in the FIA Formula E World Championship.
Career
Formula BMW
Bird made his name in single seater racing in the Formula B ...
third.[ Toyota (26 points) led the LMP1 Teams' Championship by 11 points over Rebellion in second. The ByKolles team was a further three points behind in third as Porsche led Ford by four points in the GTE Manufacturers' Championship.][
]
Circuit changes
After the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 85th 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 85e 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 Sart ...
, modifications were made to the Porsche Curves section of the Circuit de la Sarthe to increase safety. Barriers on the inside of the final right-hand corner were dismantled and relocated further away from the circuit, allowing for the construction of paved run-off area
A run-off area is an area on a motorsport race track used for racer safety. Run-off areas are usually located along a road racing circuit where racers are most likely to unintentionally depart from the prescribed course. There are different type ...
and escape roads. This same alteration had been done on the barriers outside the corner in 2017. This modification re-profiled the corner slightly, shortening the lap distance by . The ACO also constructed a new starting line gantry further up the main straight to increase the capacity for cars at the start of the race. The finish line and all timing beacons remained at the previous starting line at the exit of the Ford Chicane.
Entries
Automatic entries
Automatic entry invitations were earned by teams that won their class in the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans. Invitations were also sent to teams who had won championships in the European Le Mans Series
The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...
(ELMS), Asian Le Mans Series
The Asian Le Mans Series is an Asian sports car racing endurance series created by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and based in Asia. It is the successor to the defunct Japan Le Mans Challenge which folded in 2007 after its second season. ...
(ALMS), and the Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup. The second-place finisher in the ELMS Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE) championship earned an automatic invitation as well. Finally, the ACO choose two participants from the IMSA SportsCar Championship
The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...
(IMSA) to be automatic entries regardless of their performance or category. As invitations were granted to teams, they were allowed to change their cars from the previous year to the next but not their category. The LMGTE class invitations from the European and ALMS were allowed to choose between the Pro and Am categories. European Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) champion was required to field an entry in Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) while the ALMS LMP3 champion could choose between LMP2 or LMGTE Amateur (LMGTE Am). The Michelin Le Mans Cup
The Le Mans Cup, previously the GT3 Le Mans Cup and currently known as the Michelin Le Mans Cup under sponsorship, is an international sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club ...
LMP3 champion did not receive an automatic entry and the Grand Touring 3 (GT3) champion was limited to the LMGTE Am category.
The ACO announced its initial list of automatic entries on 5 February 2018.[ The Porsche LMP Team did not continue in the WEC after the 2017 season while the FIST-Team AAI squad opted to concentrate on their GT3 entries.][ The JDC-Miller Motorsports team, which was invited via driver ]Misha Goikhberg
Mikhail "Misha" Goikhberg (born 24 November 1986), is a Russian-born Canadian race car driver who is best known for competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
Early career
Goikhberg's first foray into driving happened in 2003 at the Russia ...
winning the Jim Trueman Award as "the top sportsman" in the Daytona Prototype International
A Daytona Prototype International (DPi) was a type of sports prototype racing car developed specifically for the International Motor Sports Association's WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, as their top class of car, acting as a direct replaceme ...
(DPi) category of the 2017 IMSA, told ACO officials on 9 February that it would forgo its automatic invitation due to financial trouble concerning its entry.
Entry list
In conjunction with the announcement of entries for the 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship and the 2018 European Le Mans Series, the ACO announced the full 60 car entry list, plus nine reserves during a press conference at the Rétromobile Show in Paris on 9 February. In addition to the 36 guaranteed entries from the WEC, 13 came from the ELMS, seven from IMSA, three from the ALMS and a single one-off entry only competing at Le Mans. The field was split evenly with 30 cars in each of the combined LMP and LMGTE categories.
Garage 56
The ACO intended to continue the Garage 56 concept, started in 2012. Garage 56 allows a 56th entry to test new technologies at the race. Panoz
Panoz is an American manufacturer of sports automobiles founded in 1989 as Panoz Auto Development by Dan Panoz, son of Don Panoz. Panoz products have included the Panoz Roadster and AIV Roadster, the Panoz Esperante, and the Panoz Avezzano.
Pan ...
and Green4U Technologies announced during the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans weekend they intended to enter its Green4U Panoz Racing GT-EV car in the 2018 race. The all-wheel drive
An all-wheel drive vehicle (AWD vehicle) is one with a powertrain capable of providing power to all its wheels, whether full-time or on-demand.
The most common forms of all-wheel drive are:
;1x1 : All unicycles Reflecting one axle with one w ...
car intended to utilise two electric motor
An electric motor is an Electric machine, electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a Electromagneti ...
s on each of its axle
An axle or axletree is a central shaft for a rotating wheel or gear. On wheeled vehicles, the axle may be fixed to the wheels, rotating with them, or fixed to the vehicle, with the wheels rotating around the axle. In the former case, bearing ...
s with a swappable battery
Battery most often refers to:
* Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power
* Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact
Battery may also refer to:
Energy source
*Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...
lasting between within a tandem style LMP body. On 8 February, the ACO confirmed the Garage 56 concept would not be continued for 2018 due to a lack of feasible options.
Reserves
Nine reserves were initially nominated by the ACO, limited to the LMP2 (six cars) and LMGTE Am (three cars) categories.[ ARC Bratislava announced the termination of its ELMS LMP2 programme on 11 February after its ]Ligier JS P217
The Ligier JS P217 is a Le Mans Prototype built by Onroak Automotive and named in a partnership with French racing driver Guy Ligier. The Ligier JS P217 was built to meet the 2017 FIA and ACO regulations for 2017 for the LMP2 category in the F ...
car was placed eighth in the reserves list and leaving the team unlikely to be promoted to the race entry. Six days later, IDEC Sport withdrew its reserve JS P217 entry so that the team could concentrate on improving the performance of its entered No. 28 car. By the test day, two reserves remained on the list after five of the seven entries withdrew: KCMG KCMG may refer to
* KC Motorgroup, based in Hong Kong, China
* Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, British honour
* KCMG-LP, radio station in New Mexico, USA
* KCMG, callsign 1997-2001 of Los Angeles radio station KKLQ (FM) ...
's Dallara P217
The Dallara P217 is a sportscar prototype built by Dallara Automobili to the 2017 FIA/ACO regulations for the Le Mans Prototype LMP2 class. The car also meets the regulations for the Le Mans Prototype 2 Class of the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar C ...
entry and a Racing Engineering
Racing Engineering is a Spanish racing team founded in 1999 by Alfonso de Orléans-Borbón that currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. The team's headquarters are located in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, near Jerez, where all car prepar ...
Oreca 07
The Oreca 07 is a Le Mans Prototype built by French manufacturer Oreca to meet the 2017 FIA and ACO LMP2 regulations. It made its official race debut in the opening round of the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the 24 Hours of Dayto ...
car.
Pre-race balance of performance changes
The FIA Endurance Committee altered the equivalence of technology in the LMP classes and the balance of performance
In sports car racing, balance of performance (BoP) is a regulation and mechanism that maintains parity between competing vehicles by adjusting limits on a car's parameters, such as horsepower, weight, engine management, and aerodynamics to preven ...
in the LMGTE categories to try and create parity within them. All non-hybrid LMP vehicles had their fuel flow of petrol per hour reduced from to . The Toyota TS050 Hybrid
The Toyota TS050 Hybrid is a sports prototype racing car developed for the 2016 Le Mans Prototype rules in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The car is the direct successor of the Toyota TS040 Hybrid, which competed in both the 2014 and 201 ...
cars had no performance alterations.
For the LMGTE categories the Aston Martin Vantage GTE vehicles received an extra of weight and a minor reduction in turbocharger boost pressure as The BMW M8 GTE
The BMW M8 GTE is an endurance grand tourer (GT) car constructed by the German automobile manufacturer BMW. It was developed in late 2016 and made its competitive début in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and FIA WEC for the 2018 season, ...
had of weight added and a reduction of power to lower their performances. The Porsche 911 RSR
The Porsche 911 RSR and its predecessor GT3 RSR, GT3 RS and GT3 R are a line of GT racing cars produced by Porsche that are used in motorsport for endurance races. They are based on the currently highest class in GT racing worldwide, the GTE cla ...
received a reduction in performance with a smaller air restrictor
A restrictor plate or air restrictor is a device installed at the intake of an engine to limit its power. This kind of system is occasionally used in road vehicles (e.g., motorcycles) for insurance purposes, but mainly in automobile racing, to l ...
on the intake of its engine, the Ferrari 488 GTE
The Ferrari 488 GTE is a grand tourer racing car built by Ferrari's in-house Competizioni GT unit, for competition in endurance racing. It is a replacement for the Ferrari 458 GT2 racing car, using the Ferrari 488 as a base. The car is built in a ...
vehicles had an extra of weight added to it and the Ford GT
The Ford GT is a mid-engine two-seater sports car manufactured and marketed by American automobile manufacturer Ford for the 2005 model year in conjunction with the company's 2003 centenary. The second generation Ford GT became available for th ...
was made heavier and an increase in turbocharger boost pressure. In the LMGTE Am class the Aston Martin and Porsche vehicles had their top speeds lowered with a smaller air restrictor and the Ferrari had its turbocharger boost pressure reduced.
Testing
A test day was held on 3 June and required all race entrants to participate in eight hours of track time divided into two sessions. Toyota led the morning session with a 3 minutes, 21.468 seconds lap from Alonso's No. 8 TS050 car. The fastest non-hybrid car was Laurent in the No. 3 Rebellion R13
The Rebellion R13 is a sports prototype racing car built by French constructor Oreca on behalf of Swiss-based team Rebellion Racing. It is a variation of the Oreca 07, created to compete in the LMP1 class. It would later be renamed by Alpine to A ...
vehicle, ahead of Conway's Toyota, the sister Rebellion team of Bruno Senna
Bruno Senna Lalli (, born 15 October 1983) is a Brazilian professional racing driver. He is the nephew of the late Ayrton Senna, three-time Formula One world champion. He is also the first man to win a race in every WEC class, and was the 2017 W ...
,[ and the No. 17 SMP BR Engineering BR1 car driven by ]Stéphane Sarrazin
Stéphane Jean-Marc Sarrazin (born 2 November 1975) is a French professional racing driver. He has won races across a number of single-seater, sportscar and rallying disciplines and competitions, was French Formula Renault champion in 1994, and ...
. Oreca
ORECA (Organisation Exploitation Compétition Automobiles) is a French racing team and race car constructor, founded in 1973 and run by Hugues de Chaunac, former team manager of F1 team AGS. Oreca has had success in many areas of motorsport. ...
vehicles led the LMP2 category with seven cars at the top of the timing charts, with the No. 26 G-Drive entry driven by the team's reserve driver Alexandre Imperatori
Alexandre Emmanuel Imperatori (born 19 April 1987 in Châtel-Saint-Denis) is a Swiss racing driver who lives in Shanghai, China.
Career
Karting
Imperatori started kart racing at the age of four in Spain. He raced karting in Spain and Germany a ...
seven-tenths of a second ahead of the No. 48 IDEC Sport car of Paul-Loup Chatin
Paul-Loup Chatin (born 19 October 1991) is a professional racing driver from France who currently competes in the European Le Mans Series with IDEC Sport. He won the European Le Mans Series LMP2 class title in 2014 and 2019.
Career
Karting
Bor ...
.[ Ford took the first four positions in the LMGTE Pro class, the No. 67 car of ]Andy Priaulx
Andrew Graham Priaulx, MBE ( born 8 August 1974) is a British professional racing driver from Guernsey. In 2019 he raced for Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK in the FIA World Endurance Championship, and Cyan Racing Lynk & Co in the FIA World Tou ...
leading Mücke's No. 66 entry with a 3 minutes, 53.008 seconds lap.[ Late in the session, the No. 95 Aston Martin of Marco Sørensen and ]Harrison Newey
Harrison Newey (born 25 July 1998) is a British racing driver and the son of Formula One engineer Adrian Newey. He made his ADAC Formula 4 debut in 2015 with Van Amersfoort Racing. He also competed in the BRDC Formula 4 Championship
The GB ...
's No. 35 SMP Dallara vehicle made contact in traffic between Mulsanne and Indianapolis corners, causing Sørensen to crash heavily against a barrier beside the circuit and prematurely end the session with 51 minutes to go.[ Sørensen was unhurt; he was transported to the circuit's medical centre for a precautionary check before being released and Aston Martin switched to a spare chassis. The Clearwater Racing Ferrari car was fastest in the LMGTE Am category with a lap of 3 minutes, 58.967 seconds from driver Keita Sawa.][
The second test session started half an hour earlier than scheduled to give teams more time on the circuit.] Toyota again led from the start with a lap from Kobayashi in the No. 7, followed by Alonso's 3 minutes, 19.066 seconds time to top the session. Beche improved the No. 3 Rebellion's lap to duplicate its first session result in second place. The second Rebellion car of André Lotterer
André Lotterer (born 19 November 1981) is a German professional racing driver currently racing for Avalanche Andretti Formula E in the FIA Formula E Championship. He is best known for his success in endurance racing with the works Audi team, ...
set a lap late on to go fourth, ahead of Vitaly Petrov
Vitaly Aleksandrovich Petrov ( rus, Вита́лий Алекса́ндрович Петро́в, p=vʲɪˈtalʲɪj ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ pʲɪˈtrof; born 8 September 1984) is a Russian racing driver who drove in Formula One for Renault F1 ...
's No. 11 SMP car. Nathanaël Berthon
Nathanaël Berthon (born 1 July 1989 in Romagnat) is a professional racing driver from France.
Career
Karting
Berthon began his international karting career in 2006, with the highlights being a third-place finish in the Copa Campeones Trophy I ...
improved the fastest lap in LMP2, moving the DragonSpeed
DragonSpeed Racing is an American racing team that competes in the European Le Mans Series, FIA World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2019, the team entered the NTT IndyCar Series with a five race schedule, including t ...
team ahead of Chatin and G-Drive's Jean-Éric Vergne
Jean-Éric Vergne (born 25 April 1990), also known as JEV, is a French racing driver who competes in the FIA Formula E Championship with Dragon Racing. He became the 2017–18 ABB Formula E Champion, after clinching fifth in the New York ePrix ...
and Matthieu Vaxivière
Matthieu Vaxivière (born 3 December 1994) is a French racing driver from Limoges, France. He was the 2011 French F4 champion. In 2012 he raced in the V de V Endurance Cup, French GT, and 2e Grand Prix Èlectrique. In addition, he was 14th in t ...
. Patrick Pilet
Patrick Pilet (born October 8, 1981) is a French professional racing driver. He has competed in major sports car endurance races like the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Daytona, 24 Hours of Spa, 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans.
Born in ...
in the No. 93 Porsche and Gianmaria Bruni
Gianmaria "Gimmi" Bruni (born 30 May 1981) is an Italian Porsche factory auto racing driver who drove in the 2004 Formula One World Championship for Minardi. He is a GP2 Series race winner and is now racing in the FIA World Endurance Champion ...
's No. 91 car passed Priaulx's No. 66 and Olivier Pla
Olivier Pla (born 22 October 1981) is a French racing driver currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Glickenhaus Racing. His younger brother Jim is also a racing driver
Career
French Formula Campus and Formula Three
Bor ...
's No. 67 Ford cars in LMGTE Pro. Another Porsche in LMGTE Am, driven by Julien Andlauer
Julien Andlauer (born 5 July 1999 in Lyon) is a racing driver from France. He is a Porsche contracted driver who competes in a range of championships having won both French and German Carrera Cup Championships. He currently competes in the ADAC ...
for the Dempsey
Dempsey is a surname of Irish origin.
Background
Dempsey is an anglicised form of Ó Díomasaigh, 'descendant of Díomasach'; this personal name is the Irish adjective ''díomasach'' 'proud'. The family originated in the Kingdom of Uí Failghe ...
-Proton
A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' elementary charge. Its mass is slightly less than that of a neutron and 1,836 times the mass of an electron (the proton–electron mass ...
team, overtook Sawa's fastest time from the morning session to be ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella
Giancarlo Fisichella (; born 14 January 1973), also known as Fisico, Giano or Fisi, is an Italian professional racing driver, also captain of the official ''Nazionale Piloti'' association football team (composed of the racing drivers). He has d ...
's Spirit of Race Ferrari.[ Two safety car periods were required after separate crashes by ]Alessandro Pier Guidi
Alessandro Pier Guidi (born December 18, 1983) is a racing driver from Italy. He drove two races for the Italian A1 Team. A Ferrari factory driver since 2017, he won LMGTE-PRO 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship and 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans, a ...
's No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari at Tetre Rouge corner and António Félix da Costa
António Maria de Mello Breyner Félix da Costa (born 31 August 1991) is a Portuguese professional racing driver for the Porsche Formula E Team and the 2019–20 Formula E Drivers' Champion.
He won the Macau Grand Prix invitational Formula Thre ...
's No. 82 BMW in the Porsche Curves.[
]
Post-testing balance of performance changes
Following testing the ACO altered the balance of performance for a second time in the LMGTE Pro and Am categories. The Aston Martin Vantage GTE received an increase in performance with its turbocharger boost pressure raised and a increase in maximum fuel volume. BMW and Ford had their car's performance raised with a minor increase in turbocharger boost ratio; the Ford's fuel allocation was lowered to . The Chevrolet Corvette C7.R
The Chevrolet Corvette C7.R is a grand tourer racing car built by Pratt & Miller and Chevrolet for competition in endurance racing between 2014 and 2019. It is a replacement for the Corvette C6.R racing car, using the C7 generation Chevrolet C ...
, BMW and Ford vehicles received weight increases. Porsche had no performance changes. In LMGTE Am the Aston Martin Vantage was given an increase of . Porsche and Ferrari had no performance alterations.
Practice
A single four-hour free practice session on 13 June was available to the teams before the three qualifying sessions.[ Rain forecast for 14 June prompted several teams to set laps at full racing speed in anticipation of the first qualifying session determining the race's starting order. Toyota led from the start once again, with Kobayashi going fastest in the final 20 minutes at 3 minutes, 18.718 seconds, half a second faster than Buemi in second. Laurent and ]Ben Hanley
Benjamin Michael Hanley is a British racing driver who was a part of Renault F1 Team's Renault Driver Development Program from 2006 to 2008. He raced two seasons part time in the NTT IndyCar Series. Currently he is racing in the FIA World Endu ...
of the DragonSpeed team were third and fourth and Jenson Button
Jenson Alexander Lyons Button (born 19 January 1980) is a British racing driver. He won the 2009 Formula One World Championship when he drove for the Brawn GP team. After his F1 career, he became champion of the 2018 season of the Super GT ...
for the SMP squad completed the top five. Oreca cars took the first five positions in the LMP2 category with a lap of 3 minutes, 26.529 seconds from Vergne, followed by Chatin, Loïc Duval
Loïc Duval (; born 12 June 1982) is a French professional racing driver racing for Audi Sport as a factory driver in DTM and driving for Dragon Racing in Formula E. He won the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans with Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen dri ...
of the TDS Racing team, Berthon and Tristan Gommendy
Tristan Gommendy (born 4 January 1979) is a French professional racing driver who currently competes in the European Le Mans Series with Duqueine Engineering.
Racing career
Early career
Born in Le Chesnay, Yvelines, Gommendy began his profess ...
for the Graff squad.
The No. 37 Jackie Chan car of Nabil Jeffri sustained right-front corner damage in a crash at Indianapolis corner mid-way through the session and the car did not return to the circuit. Porsches led the first three positions in LMGTE Pro with a lap of 3 minutes, 50.819 seconds from Laurens Vanthoor
Laurens Vanthoor (; born 8 May 1991) is a Belgian professional racing driver currently racing for Porsche Motorsport as a factory driver in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. He currently resides in Waiblingen outside of Stuttgart.
...
's No. 92 RSR leading the class until his teammate Pilet overtook him with 20 minutes to go. Pla was the fastest non-Porsche in fourth and Miguel Molina's No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari was fifth. Matteo Cairoli
Matteo Cairoli (born 1 June 1996) is an Italian racing driver who currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Career Junior formula
Cairoli began his single-seater racing career in 2012, competing in the Italian Formula Renault C ...
helped Porsche to be fastest in LMGTE Am, ahead of Ben Barker's Gulf car and Fisichella. Pilet had an accident at the exit to the first Mulsanne Chicane, damaging the No. 93 car against a tyre wall and scattering debris on the circuit. A local slow zone was required after Michael Wainwright beached the No. 86 Gulf Porsche in a gravel trap at the Dunlop Curve.
Qualifying
The first qualifying session began late Wednesday night under dry conditions, as Toyota again led the time sheets early on with a lap from López, followed by Nakajima's 3 minutes, 17.270 seconds time after eight minutes to go fastest. Neither improved their lap times over the rest of the session, giving the No. 8 car provisional pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...
. The fastest non-hybrid car was Sarrazin's SMP entry in third, following the Rebellion cars of Senna and Menezes. The fastest LMP2 lap was a 3 minutes, 24.956 seconds time from Chatin and early category pace setter Duval was second. Vergne, DragonSpeed's Pastor Maldonado
Pastor Rafael Maldonado Motta (; born 9 March 1985) is a Venezuelan professional racing driver, who competed in Formula One for the Williams (2011–2013) and Lotus (2014–2015) teams and as a Pirelli test driver until 2017. Before entering ...
and Nicolas Lapierre
Nicolas Lapierre (born 2 April 1984) is a French professional racing driver. He raced with Toyota and with Alpine Racing in the past seasons of the FIA World Endurance Championship. He is a two-time winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring, with overa ...
of the Signatech Alpine team were third to fifth in class. Porsche took the first two positions in the LMGTE Pro class with a lap of 3 minutes, 47.504 seconds from Bruni to reset the category lap record at his first attempt. Bruni lost control of the rear of the No. 92 car into the Dunlop Curves and spun through 180 degrees into a gravel trap soon after. Christensen in second was a tenth of a second faster than the Ford cars of Pla and Mücke. The fastest Ferrari was fifth after a lap by Per Guidi. Cairoli led the LMGTE Am class with a 3 minutes, 50.669 seconds lap, followed by his Dempsey-Proton teammate Matt Campbell and Barker.[
]
Thursday's first qualifying session was stopped three times for crashes. Sven Müller caused rear damage to the No. 94 Porsche against a tyre wall at Indianapolis corner. Priaulx spun at the entry to Tetre Rouge corner with his left-rear wheel on the grass and damaged his car's rear in a collision with a tyre barrier. He was able to restart the car but the damage to the barriers caused a red flag. This was followed by the right-rear suspension
Suspension or suspended may refer to:
Science and engineering
* Suspension (topology), in mathematics
* Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics
* Suspension of a ring, in mathematics
* Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspend ...
on Lapierre's car failing on a kerb
A curb (North American English), or kerb (Commonwealth English except Canada; see spelling differences), is the edge where a raised sidewalk or road median/central reservation meets a street or other roadway.
History
Although curbs have ...
and sending him into a gravel trap. He continued to the pit lane
In motorsports, a pit stop is a pause for refuelling, new tyres, repairs, mechanical adjustments, a driver change, as a penalty, or any combination of the above. These stops occur in an area called the pits, most commonly accessed via a pit lan ...
and the session was stopped for nine minutes to allow track marshals to clear gravel strewn on the circuit. The session ended with 38 minutes to go after Giorgio Sernagiotto crashed the No. 47 Cetilar Vilorba Corse Dallara car against a tyre barrier opposite the first Mulsanne chicane after a front-left puncture. Sernagiotto was unhurt and was transported to the medical centre for a mandatory check-up. Alonso led the session with a lap of 3 minutes and 18.021 seconds; he did not improve on co-driver Nakajima's lap from the first session. The two LMP1 entries to improve their lap times was the CEFC TRSM Ginetta G60-LT-P1
The Ginetta G60-LT-P1 is a non-hybrid Le Mans Prototype built by Ginetta for use in the LMP1 category for the FIA World Endurance Championship, as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The G60-LT-P1 had its competition debut at the 2018 24 Hours Of L ...
cars of Alex Brundle and Charlie Robertson. The IDEC team maintained its advantage in LMP2 as Porsche continued to lead in LMGTE Pro and Am. Fisichella's Spirit of Race Ferrari overtook the Gulf squad for third in LMGTE Am.[
With the multiple stoppages in qualifying, the third session was expanded by half an hour in order to give teams more time on the circuit.] Early in the session Nakajima reset the fastest time to a 3 minutes, 15.377 seconds without slower traffic impeding him. He took Toyota's fourth pole position at Le Mans and Alonso's, Buemi's and Nakajima's first. The No. 7 Toyota team could not improve the car's fastest lap and began from second. The Rebellion team were third and fifth with Senna ahead of Laurent after officials invalidated the latter's fastest time for failing to stop at a red light instructing him to enter the scrutineer
A scrutineer (also called a poll-watcher or a challenger in the United States) is a person who observes any process which requires rigorous oversight. Scrutineers have the tasks of preventing the occurrence of corruption and of detecting genuine ...
ing bay.[ Sarrazin's SMP car separated the duo in fourth. In LMP2, Duval took the category pole position from Chatin until his fastest time was deleted for missing a red light to enter the scrutineering bay. Berthon took second and Vergne was third. Porsche secured pole position in both of the LMGTE classes with Bruni securing it in Pro and Cairoli in Am courtesy of their laps from the first session. Per Guidi led the session to move the No. 51 Ferrari to fourth in LMGTE Pro as Barker improved the Gulf team's lap to be six-tenths of a second behind the Dempsey-Proton squad. A slow zone procedure was used after Matt Griffin beached the Clearwater Ferrari in a gravel trap at Indianapolis corner and track marshals extricated it.
]
Post-qualifying
Following qualifying, the ACO altered the balance of performance in the LMGTE categories for the third time. of ballast was removed from the BMW M8 and the Aston Martin Vantage while the Corvette C7.R car was made lighter. The Porsche 911 car had its weight increased by and the Ford GT vehicles were lightened by . The Ferrari 488 received an increase in fuel capacity. In LMGTE Am, Aston Martin received a decrease of weight and Porsche had added to their cars. Ferrari had no performance changes. The world governing body of motor racing, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; en, International Automobile Federation) is an association established on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users. It is the governing body for ...
(FIA), restricted all LMGTE Pro cars to a maximum of 14 laps per stint.
Qualifying results
Pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...
winners in each class are indicated in bold. The fastest time set by each entry is denoted in gray.
Notes
Warm-up
A 45-minute warm-up session was held on Saturday morning and took place in dry and sunny weather. Kobayashi set the fastest lap of 3 minutes, 18.687 seconds in Toyota's No. 7 car, ahead of his teammate Buemi in second. Hanley's DragonSpeed BR1 was third and the fastest non-hybrid LMP1 car. The No. 17 SMP car and the No. 1 Rebellion vehicle were fourth and fifth. The fastest LMP2 lap was recorded by Ricky Taylor
Ricky Taylor (born August 3, 1989) is an American racing driver, most notably in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. His career highlights include an IMSA Series Championship in 2017, as well as marquee wins at the Daytona 24, 12 Hours o ...
in Jackie Chan's No. 34 Ligier car at 3 minutes, 29.466 seconds to demote Vergne from the lead of the class. Lapierre was second for the Signatech Alpine team. Scott Dixon
Scott Ronald Dixon (born 22 July 1980) is a professional racing driver from New Zealand, who competes in the NTT IndyCar Series for Chip Ganassi Racing. Dixon has won the IndyCar championship six times: in 2003, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018 and 202 ...
, driving the No. 69 Ford GT car, was the quickest driver in LMGTE Pro with Jeroen Bleekemolen
Jeroen Bleekemolen (born 23 October 1981 in Heemstede) is a Dutch professional racing driver. In the Chrysler Viper GTS-R he drove in the FIA GT Championship, with great success. He competed in the very competitive German Formula Three Champion ...
in Keating Motorsport's Ferrari fastest in LMGTE Am.
Race
Start and first hours
The conditions on the grid were dry and sunny before the race; the air temperature was between and the track temperature ranged from . Approximately 256,900 people attended the event. The French tricolour
The national flag of France (french: link=no, drapeau français) is a tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured blue ( hoist side), white, and red. It is known to English speakers as the ''Tricolour'' (), although the flag of Ireland ...
was waved at 15:00 Central European Summer Time
Central European Summer Time (CEST), sometimes referred to as Central European Daylight Time (CEDT), is the standard clock time observed during the period of summer daylight-saving in those European countries which observe Central European Time ...
( UTC+02:00),[ by multiple Grand Slam tennis champion ]Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis ...
to start the race, led by starting pole sitter Buemi. At the start of the parade lap
A parade lap, also known as a pace lap, formation lap or warm-up lap, is a lap before a motorsport race begins, in which the drivers go around the track at a slow speed (usually between ), and, in some cases, behind the safety car.
Purpose
The ...
, a misfiring engine and a subsequent spin on cold tyres at the Dunlop Curve dropped Tom Dillmann
Tom Dillmann (born 6 April 1989 in Mulhouse) is a French racing driver, formerly competing for Nio Formula E Team, in Formula E. He is probably best known for winning the German Formula Three Championship in the 2010 season and the Formula V8 ...
's No. 4 ByKolles car to the rear of the field. A mounting failure detached the front bodywork on Lotterer's No. 1 Rebellion vehicle and removed downforce
Downforce is a downwards lift force created by the aerodynamic features of a vehicle. If the vehicle is a car, the purpose of downforce is to allow the car to travel faster by increasing the vertical force on the tires, thus creating more grip. ...
from the car entering the Dunlop Curve. It struck the rear of Hanley's DragonSpeed BR1 car. Both cars dropped down the race order. Conway passed Buemi to lead the first four laps until Buemi passed him on the fifth lap. Rain fell during this period though it was not heavy enough to affect the race. Laurent passed Sarrazin's No. 17 BR1 car for third on the Mulsanne Straight before Sarrazin returned to third place by slipstreaming
Drafting or slipstreaming is an aerodynamic technique where two vehicles or other moving objects are caused to align in a close group, reducing the overall effect of drag due to exploiting the lead object's slipstream. Especially when high spee ...
past Laurent into Mulsanne corner. The first hour ended with Vergne passing Duval for the lead of LMP2 and Chatin fell to third. The Porsches of Bruni and Estre duelled for first place in LMGTE Pro as Barker overtook Carioli for the top of LMGTE Am.
Buemi relinquished the lead to his teammate Conway after the No. 8 Toyota made an unscheduled pit stop to have its rear crash structure replaced and the car rejoined the race in second position. Berthon ceded fourth place in LMP2 after a front-right wheel detached on the approach to Arnage corner and lost three laps as a new wheel hub assembly
A wheel hub assembly (WHA), also referred to as wikt:hub, hub assembly, wheel hub unit, wheel hub Bearing (mechanical), bearing, etc., is an automotive part used in most cars, passenger vehicles, and light and heavy trucks.
Operation
The WHA is l ...
was installed onto the car. 1 hour and 40 minutes in, Wainwright's No. 86 Gulf Porsche lost control under braking and crashed into an Armco steel barrier on the outside at Indianapolis turn with its left-hand corner, requiring a slow zone between Mulsanne and Arnage corners to recover the car and to repair the barrier. Conway used the slow zone and a routine pit stop from his teammate Buemi to return to the lead on lap 32. As the second hour ended, Sébastien Bourdais
Sébastien Olivier Bourdais (born 28 February 1979) is a French professional racing driver. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, having won 37 races. He won four successive championships ...
's No. 68 Ford, which moved to second place in LMGTE Pro after a pit stop sequence, was passed by Frédéric Makowiecki
Frédéric Makowiecki (born 22 November 1980) is a French professional racing driver, currently competing as a factory driver for Porsche Motorsport in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTLM class.
Career
After competing in karting, Arra ...
's No. 92 Porsche entering the Mulsanne corner and the No. 77 Dempsey-Proton led in LMGTE Am.[ He continued to advance through the order and overtook his Porsche teammate Vanthoor for the lead of LMGTE Pro with the two cars running nose-to-tail. During a pit stop to relieve Buemi, television footage appeared to show Alonso reversing in the pit lane to pass a LMGTE vehicle parked ahead of him. Footage released later confirmed Alonso had not reversed but was moved back by mechanics, preventing the car from being disqualified.
In the fourth hour, Alonso overtook his teammate López in the Porsche Curves to retake the lead in the No. 8 Toyota. Bourdais used a battle between the Porsche duo of Vanthoor and Makowiecki on the Mulsanne Straight to take the lead of LMGTE Pro. Not long after the left-rear tyre on ]Gabriel Aubry
Gabriel Aubry (born August 30, 1976)Date of birth formerly given as January 4, 1976. is a Canadian model.
Early life
Born in Montreal, Quebec, to French-Canadian parents, Aubry is one of nine siblings.
Modeling career
He has modeled for Tommy ...
's No. 38 Jackie Chan Oreca failed on the Mulsanne Straight, littering the track with debris and removing the car's front-left fender. Aubry retained control of the vehicle to allow him to return to the pit lane and the incident required the deployment of the safety cars to slow the race. The safety cars were withdrawn after 15 minutes and racing resumed. The safety cars had separated the LMGTE Pro field, the No. 92 Porsche led by more than a minute from the sister No. 91 due to Richard Lietz
Richard Lietz (born 17 December 1983 in Waidhofen an der Ybbs) is an Austrian professional racing driver and a Porsche Factory driver. He has competed in such series as American Le Mans Series, Formula 3 Euro Series and the Rolex Sports Car Seri ...
being required to remain in the pit lane. Although López made an unscheduled pit stop to replace a left-rear puncture, he took the lead from his teammate Alonso and led by 4 seconds. Antonio Giovinazzi
Antonio Maria Giovinazzi (; born 14 December 1993) is an Italian racing driver who currently serves as the reserve driver for Scuderia Ferrari, Haas and Alfa Romeo Racing. He was the 2015 FIA Formula 3 European Championship runner-up and race ...
in the No. 52 AF Corse Ferrari overtook Dixon on the outside for second in LMGTE Pro. Soon after Dominik Kraihamer
Dominik Kraihamer (born 29 November 1989 in Oberndorf) is an Austrian racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for ByKolles Racing Team.
Career
Kraihamer's racing career began in 2004 in karting, where he found succe ...
was lapping slower LMGTE cars in the Porsche Curves when the rear of the No. 4 ByKolles car and the front of the No. 80 Ebimotors Porsche made contact. Kraihamer's rear wing was removed sending him into a collision against a concrete wall at Corvette corner. Kraihamer was unhurt; the crash caused the deployment of the safety cars for half an hour as marshals repaired the barrier and cleared the track of debris.
Early evening to night
As the safety car period ended the Toyota cars of López and Alonso scythed their way through heavy traffic. Toyota then invoked team orders
In motor racing, team orders is the practice of teams issuing instructions to drivers to deviate from the normal practice of racing against each other as they would against other teams' drivers. This can be accomplished either in advance, simply ...
on López to return the lead to Alonso entering Arnage turn one lap later.[ The safety cars had divided the field in LMGTE Pro, leaving ]Nicky Catsburg
Nicky Catsburg (born 15 February 1988 in Amersfoort) is a Dutch professional racing driver, for BMW and General Motors works driver for Corvette Racing
Corvette Racing is an American auto racing team established in 1999 by General Motors and ...
's No. 81 BMW in second place and the two class Porsches of Earl Bamber
Earl Anderson Bamber (born 9 July 1990) is a professional racing driver from New Zealand, currently competing as a factory driver for Porsche Motorsport in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTLM class.
He is the 2014 Porsche Supercup an ...
and Lietz in third and fourth.[ ]Juan Pablo Montoya
Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán (; born September 20, 1975) is a Colombian racing driver.
He won the International F3000 championship in 1998, the CART FedEx Championship Series in 1999 in his debut year in the series, and the IMSA WeatherTech S ...
, driving the No. 23 United Autosports
United Autosports is a sports car racing team, founded by American businessman and entrepreneur Zak Brown and former British racing driver Richard Dean.
In 2020, United Autosports became the first ever team to win the prestigious 24 Hours of ...
car, crashed into a tyre barrier at Indianapolis corner and activated a local slow zone. Marshals extricated the car from the gravel and Montoya continued. Pierre Thiriet
Pierre Thiriet (born 20 April 1989 in Épinal) is a French racing driver. He finished eighth overall and second in the LMP2 class of the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans and won the European Le Mans Series in the LMP2 class in 2012.
Career
After competin ...
was caught out by the exit of the slow zone. He lost control of the rear of the Signatech car at Mulsanne turn and fell to fourth in LMP2. In the seventh hour, Pilet and Bruni overtook Martin Tomczyk
Martin Tomczyk (born 7 December 1981) is a German professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver.
He was the DTM champion in 2011, third in 2007, fourth in 2006 and fifth in 2004, having won eight races.
Racing career
After a karti ...
's BMW car for second and third in LMGTE Pro as Romain Dumas
Romain Dumas (born 14 December 1977) is a French racing driver and a Porsche factory driver. He first started out in karting and single-seater before becoming an expert driver in endurance racing, GT and sport-prototype. He has won the greatest r ...
' No. 94 vehicle slowed in the Porsche Curves and retired with a front-right suspension bracket failure. Not long after Paul Dalla Lana
Paul Dalla Lana is a Canadian entrepreneur, philanthropist, and former amateur racing driver who recently drove for Northwest AMR in the World Endurance Championship. He is featured in the documentary "The gentleman driver", about non professiona ...
was en route to the pit lane when he lost control of the No. 98 Aston Martin and crashed against a tyre barrier at the entrance to the Porsche Curves. The damage to the car caused its retirement and required a local slow zone. Vergne used the slow zone to increase his lead over the LMP2 field to almost two minutes and Kobayashi closed to within less than a second of Nakajima.
As night fell, Kobayashi passed Buemi to return to the lead of the race. The No. 91 Porsche of Makowiecki was elevated to second in LMGTE Pro ahead of the No. 93 of Nick Tandy
Nick Tandy (born 5 November 1984) is a professional British racing driver currently racing for Corvette Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship in the 64 Corvette C8.R. His major victories include the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 2015 ...
after a routine sequence of pit stops. Matevos Isaakyan
Matevos "Matos" Isaakyan (russian: Матевос "Матос" Исаакян; born 17 April 1998) is a Russian racing driver. He is a current member of the SMP Racing driver programme.
Career
Karting
Born in Moscow, Isaakyan began karting in h ...
had an anxious moment with a rear suspension failure on the No. 17 SMP car at the entrance to the Porsche Curves. The car speared backwards into a tyre barrier to the outside of the track and sustained damage. Isaakyan could not get the car moving and contacted his team for advice on how it could be made mobile. Marshals pushed the car behind a barrier and repairs were made to its rear. Isaakyan retired after an engine bay fire. The retirement of the SMP vehicle elevated the Rebellion cars of Laurent and the recovering Lotterer to third and fourth and Vergne's LMP2-leading G-Drive car to fifth overall. Porsche's control on the first three positions in LMGTE Pro was broken after Tandy's No. 93 car was forced into the garage with an electrical problem.[ Early in the tenth hour, the No. 8 Toyota of Buemi incurred a one-minute stop-and-go penalty for speeding in a slow zone, dropping the car two minutes, ten seconds behind Conway's No. 7 car. ]Philipp Eng
Philipp Eng (born 28 February 1990 in Salzburg) is an Austrian professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver.
Career
Karting
Eng started karting in 2003, by competing in KF2, Intercontinental A Junior karts, competing in the Andrea ...
's No. 81 BMW relinquished its hold on third place in LMGTE Pro due to a broken damper
A damper is a device that deadens, restrains, or depresses. It may refer to:
Music
* Damper pedal, a device that mutes musical tones, particularly in stringed instruments
* A mute for various brass instruments
Structure
* Damper (flow), a mechan ...
losing him 11 minutes in the garage.
As the race approached its midway point, Alonso lowered the deficit to the race-leading No. 7 Toyota to 1 minute and 16 seconds and Roman Rusinov
Roman Aleksandrovich Rusinov ( rus, Рома́н Алекса́ндрович Ру́синов, p=rɐˈman ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈrusʲɪnəv, born 21 October 1981 in Moscow) is a Russian auto racing driver who competed in the FIA World Endu ...
's G-Drive car led by one lap over Lapierre in LMP2. Christensen in the No. 92 Porsche was 1 minute, 53 seconds ahead of his teammate Bruni in LMGTE Pro and Andlauer's No. 77 Dempsey-Proton held sway over Bleekemolen's Keating Ferrari in LMGTE Am. During the 13th hour, Menezes drove the No. 3 Rebellion car to the garage for a nine-minute repair to its underfloor. He ceded third place to Jani's No. 1 car. José Gutiérrez crashed the No. 40 G-Drive car at the exit to the Porsche Curves and ricocheted onto the circuit facing oncoming traffic. Gutiérrez was unhurt; the damage to the car caused its retirement and a local slow zone was enforced. The slow zone increased López's lead over Alonso to two minutes. Soon after Jani came to the pit lane to repair his car's underbody and emerged after a nine-minute pit stop in fourth place, behind his teammate Menezes. Fisichella brought the Spirit of Race Ferrari into third in LMGTE Am drivers and drew closer to Bleekemolen in second.[
]
Morning to early afternoon
In the early morning Kobayashi led his teammate Nakajima by around ten to twelve seconds. Nakajima eliminated the time deficit to retake the lead from Kobayashi at the Mulsanne corner and a series of fast lap times put Buemi ahead by more than half a minute. BMW lost one of their two LMGTE Pro entries when Alexander Sims slid on oil laid on the track in the Porsche Curves and damaged the rear of the No. 82 car in a collision against a barrier.[ At the conclusion of the 16th hour, Cairoli was in fifth in LMGTE Am when he lost control of the No. 88 Dempsey-Proton Porsche car due to a suspension failure and crashed into a tyre barrier at the Ford Chicane.][ The car was retired due to the heavy damage sustained to it and a slow zone was enforced in the area.] Both of the Toyota cars were observed speeding in the area and incurred separate one-minute stop-and-go penalties; their multi-lap lead over the Rebellion team kept them in first and second positions. Further down the order, the No. 10 DragonSpeed BR1 had an accident when Hanley lost control of the car in the Porsche Curves and retired. Fifth place in the LMGTE Pro became a battle between the No. 63 Corvette of Mike Rockenfeller
Mike Rockenfeller (born 31 October 1983), nicknamed "Rocky", is a German professional racing driver and was an Audi factory driver competing in the DTM and the FIA World Endurance Championship. He won his first DTM title in 2013, driving for ...
and Dixon's No. 69 Ford with the two exchanging position before Dixon claimed it.[
Several LMGTE cars took the opportunity to change brake discs at this point in the morning to ensure that cars would finish the race, including the leading car in LMGTE Pro, the No. 92 Porsche.] Antonio García drove the No. 63 Corvette car past Ryan Briscoe
Ryan Briscoe (born 24 September 1981) is an Australian-American professional racing driver from Sydney who has predominantly raced open-wheel and sports cars in Europe and America.
In IndyCar he collected 8 wins and 28 podiums, finishing third ...
's No. 69 Ford and gradually drew closer to the No. 68 Ford. Traffic loosened a drain cover built into a kerb at the outside of the Tertre Rouge corner and its metal casting was launched onto a verge. It required the deployment of the safety cars to allow workers to refit the grill and make it safe to drive over. As the safety cars were recalled after half an hour, Alonso fell behind Conway until he overtook him for the lead in slower traffic on the Mulsanne Straight. The LMGTE Pro field closed up with Bruni's No. 92 Porsche car and Müller's No. 68 car close by for second place in class.[ Not long after ]Paul di Resta
Paul di Resta (born 16 April 1986) is a British racing driver from Scotland, competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Peugeot Sport in their LMH entry. He drove in Formula One for Force India from to , and became a reserve driver ...
lost control of the No. 23 United Autosports Ligier in the Porsche Curves and the car's front-left corner struck an unprotected concrete barrier. The car slid onto the grass and stopped. Di Resta vacated the car unhurt and was transported to the medical centre for a precautionary check-up as the car was retired. The accident required the intervention of a fourth safety car period. When racing resumed the Dempsey-Proton team's lead in LMGTE Am was lowered to less than half a minute and Makowiecki fell behind Bourdais and Priaulx to fourth place in LMGTE Pro. The No. 39 Graff vehicle of Vincent Capillaire overtook François Perrodo
François Perrodo (born 14 February 1977) is a French billionaire businessman, racing driver, and car collector. He is the chairman of Perenco, an oil and gas company with operations in 16 countries, which was founded by his father. In December 20 ...
's TDS car for fourth in LMP2.
The No. 23 Panis Barthez Ligier car of Will Stevens
William Stevens (born 28 June 1991) is a British racing driver, who formerly competed in Formula One, Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, Toyota Racing Series and the British Formula Renault Championships. In Formula One, he made his debut at the 2 ...
, which had held second place in the LMP2 category, entered the pit lane to undergo repairs to its clutch
A clutch is a mechanical device that engages and disengages power transmission, especially from a drive shaft to a driven shaft. In the simplest application, clutches connect and disconnect two rotating shafts (drive shafts or line shafts). ...
and promoted the Signatech Alpine team to the position. López lost control of the No. 7 Toyota at the exit to the Dunlop Curve and lost 16 seconds to the race-leader Alonso.[ The IDEC car forfeited second place in LMP2 to Capillaire due to a cracked gearbox casing forcing its retirement,] as Makowiecki and Bourdais exchanged second in LMGTE Pro; Makowiecki avoided punishment from the stewards for defensive driving preventing Bourdais from overtaking him. Ben Keating
Ben Keating (born August 18, 1971) is an American amateur racing driver and business owner operating out of Victoria, Texas. Keating is the owner of 28 car auto dealerships across Texas, The Keating Auto Group. Since starting auto racing in 2006, ...
, whose No. 85 Keating Ferrari was second in LMGTE Am, lost control of the rear of the car under braking and was beached in a gravel trap at Mulsanne corner. The car relinquished its hold on second place to the Spirit of Race team and fell one lap behind the class leading No. 77 Dempsey-Proton car. Kobayashi, in second and within 80 minutes of the finish, missed the entry to the pit lane and Toyota required him to slow to by engaging the full course yellow flag limiter to conserve fuel. The No. 7 car lost one lap to the No. 8 entry; it incurred two ten-second stop-and-go penalties for exceeding the number of laps permitted for a single stint by a LMP1 hybrid car and fuel allowance.
Finish
Unhindered in the final hours of the race, Nakajima achieved victory for the No. 8 Toyota team, which completed 388 laps and was two laps ahead of Kobayashi's No. 7 Toyota. Rebellion, unable to match the pace of the Toyota cars, finished third and fourth with the No. 3 R13 ahead of the No. 1 car.[ It was Alonso, Buemi and Nakajima's first Le Mans victory,] and Toyota's first on its 20th try.[ Toyota became the first Japanese manufacturer to win at Le Mans since ]Mazda
, commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan.
In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...
in and Alonso completed a second leg of the Triple Crown of Motorsport
The Triple Crown of Motorsport is an unofficial motorsport achievement, often regarded as winning three of the most prestigious motor races in the world in one's career:
* the Indianapolis 500 (first held in 1911 Indianapolis 500, 1911)
* the 24 H ...
(the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...
and the Monaco Grand Prix
The Monaco Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de Monaco) is a Formula One motor racing event held annually on the Circuit de Monaco, in late May or early June. Run since 1929, it is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigiou ...
). The G-Drive team led the final 360 laps with the No. 26 Oreca to be the first car to finish the race in LMP2, provisionally earning the team and its drivers Andrea Pizzitola
Andrea Pizzitola (born 19 June 1992) is a professional French racing driver. He is best known for finishing as the runner-up in the 2011 French F4 Championship season.
Career
Karting
Born in Montpellier, Pizzitola entered karting in 2008, raci ...
, Rusinov and Vergne their first class victories.[ Signatech Alpine were the highest-placed full-season WEC team in second and the Graff Racing squad completed the class podium.][ On its 70th anniversary Porsche took its first win in the LMGTE Pro category since with the No. 92 car ahead of the No. 91 entry, and the German marque won in LMGTE Am with the No. 77 Dempsey-Proton car winning by 1 minute, 39 seconds over the No. 54 Spirit of Race Ferrari. There were 25 lead changes amongst two cars during the race. The No. 7 Toyota's 205 laps led was the most of any car with the race-winning No. 8 leading 13 times for a total of 183 laps.][
]
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 in a later press conference. Alonso said he was worried about his car having a mechanical issue preventing him from winning the race, "Right now I'm maybe still in a little bit fshock because we were so focused on the race and so stressed at the end watching the television. I'm not used to watching my car racing, I'm normally in it." Nakajima said he believed Toyota was calmer than in previous years, "To win this race has been a dream of Toyota's since 1985, and there are so many guys still here that have been involved in the project so long, I'm so proud to be here to represent them." Buemi said the one-minute stop-and-go penalty he took made his team uncertain whether they would win, "All the preparation that goes behind that day, all of us, all six drivers, we've been driving for many days, in the nights, and finally when you win it, it's something really big."
After all of the non-hybrid cars were unable to challenge the Toyota team, Jani called the race "a procession" and said the Rebellion R13 car lost more than ten seconds per lap to the TS050 Hybrid, "Our spread between our quickest lap and our average is huge, their spread is a lot smaller because they can be flexible with how they overtake cars in a straight line." Lotterer reiterated his teammate's view and said he believed the FIA and the ACO would address the issue, "We didn't stand a chance. Let's face it, it was one of the boring editions of the Le Mans 24 Hours. I have to admit that it was difficult to get the most out of every lap. How do you stay motivated?" Oliver Webb agreed with Lotterer and said he felt the following 6 Hours of Silverstone
The 4 Hours of Silverstone (formerly the 1000 km of Silverstone and 6 Hours of Silverstone) is an endurance sports car race held at Silverstone Circuit near the Northamptonshire villages of Silverstone and Whittlebury. First run in 1976 a ...
would suit the car's high-downforce configuration.[ Frank-Steffen Walliser, the head of Porsche Motorsport, said he felt comments from Bourdais over a perceived view that Makowiecki had inadequate driving standards during a battle for second in LMGTE Pro were invalid, "Firstly, this is not a pony farm; secondly, in my view, it was hard but fair at all times. The scenes when Fred himself was pushed into the grass were not shown on TV. Apart from that – what do you expect when two Frenchmen fight for second place in the biggest French race? Is that supposed to be peace, joy, pancakes? I don't think so!"
During post-race scrutineering, the technical delegates discovered that the LMP2-winning No. 26 G-Drive and the No. 28 TDS cars had modified refuelling rigs in their fuel system assemblies extending to the dead man valve and inside the cone of the fuel restrictor to lessen the time spent in the pit lane, causing the stewards to disqualify the cars.] Both teams filed an appeal to the penalties with the FIA International Court of Appeal. The tribunal met on 18 September and delayed giving a verdict because the judges on the panel wanted extra time to review the appeal and informed the team's lawyers of this. On 2 October, the tribunal heard the G-Drive and TDS team's appeal. G-Drive argued the modified component was a "commendable technical innovation" with no specific regulation about modifications between the fuel flow restr IPictor and the dead man's valve established. The court upheld the stewards' decision by deeming the introduction of an additional component protruding the fuel flow restrictor a regulation transgression. The Signatech Alpine team took the win in LMP2, the No. 39 Graff car was second and the No. 32 United Autosports vehicle completed the class podium in third.
The result increased Alonso, Buemi and Nakajima's lead in the LMP Drivers' Championship to 20 points over their teammates Conway, Kobayashi and López in second. Beche, Laurent and Menezes remained in third place. Lapierre, André Negrão
André Negrão (born 17 June 1992, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil) is a Brazilian driver in the World Endurance Championship (WEC), world champion in the WEC's superseason 2018/2019 and twice winner in the 24 Hours of Le Mans (2018 and 2019) in t ...
and Thiriet's victory in LMP2 moved them from seventh to fourth and Jani, Lotterer and Senna were fifth.[ Christensen and Estre took the lead of the GTE Drivers Championship from Johnson, Mücke and Pla. Bruni and Lietz were in third position.][ Toyota increased their lead over the Rebellion squad in the LMP1 Teams' Championship to 27 points. The ByKolles and SMP Racing teams retained third and fourth.][ Porsche moved further away from Ford by 44 points in the GTE Manufacturers' Championship and Ferrari maintained third place with six races remaining in the season.][
]
Race classification
The minimum number of laps for classification (70 per cent of the overall winning car's race distance) was 272 laps. Class winners are in bold.
Notes
Championship standings after the race
* Note: Only the top five positions are included for Drivers' Championship standings.
* Note: Only the top five positions are included for the Drivers' Championship standings.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:24 Hours of Le Mans, 2018
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
Le Man
Le Mans
Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...
Le Mans
Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...