BMW won’t accept Ferrari’s «very unfair» penalty for Vanthoor/Kubica crash
Six hours and 35 minutes into the World Endurance Championship’s most prestigious race, the #83 Ferrari 499P driven by Kubica swerved into Vanthoor’s #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 as they lapped the #92 Manthey Pure Rxcing GT3 entry on the approach to Mulsanne corner, which sent the Belgian driver into the wall and caused the […]
Porsche drivers claim rivals were sandbagging before Le Mans 24 Hours
Porsche was deemed by many as the favourites to take victory in the 92nd edition of the French endurance classic, having won two of the three previous World Endurance Championship rounds at Qatar and Spa, and also looked rapid in testing and qualifying at La Sarthe. Toyota’s technical director David Floury was even quoted as […]
Ferrari thought repeat Le Mans victory in 2024 was «impossible»
Ferrari’s sportscar racing boss Antonello Coletta made the comment after the factory #50 Ferrari 499P of Nicklas Nielsen, Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina won the 92nd running of the French endurance classic, a race in which a number of manufacturers enjoyed stints at the front and nine cars finished on the lead lap. Key figures […]
Porsche surges ahead of Toyota as safety car returns
The factory #6 Porsche Penske 963 of Laurens Vanthoor was circulating a few seconds clear of the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID driven by Ryo Hirakawa after 18 hours of racing at Le Mans, with marshals still replacing the barriers at Indianapolis under the caution period. Heart of Racing driver Daniel Mancinelli was being lapped by […]
Heavy rain neutralises race behind safety car
As the race entered its second half, incessant rainfall meant that the race director kept the safety car out for an extended period. Each of the three safety cars being used had to be refuelled, and were swapped out with fresh ones on the start/finish straight. The #2 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R – which […]
Toyota leads Porsche after Kubica penalty for causing crash
After nine hours of frantic action, Toyota’s Ryo Hirakawa led in its #8 car after erstwhile leader Kubica was given a 30s stop/go penalty for causing a huge crash on the Mulsanne Straight. Hour seven began with a brief but hard rain shower as darkness fell, with Kubica’s #83 AF Corse Ferrari leading the #5 […]
Le Mans-leading Ferrari slapped with big penalty for Kubica’s BMW clash
AF Corse driver Robert Kubica was trying to put a lap on Dries Vanthoor in the seventh hour of the race when he side-swiped the BMW at the end of the Mulsanne straight, sending the car head-on into the barriers. The contact with the armco sent Vanthoor spinning to the other side of the track, […]
Estre’s «exceptional» pole lap «not 100% representative» of Porsche Le Mans pace
The Porsche Penske factory team barely got one 963 into Hyperpole with an initial eighth time in the first qualifying session for Estre, before the #7 Toyota lost its laps due to causing a red flag, promoting Jota’s #12 Porsche into the top eight. Driving the #6 car, Estre went on to snatch pole position […]
Jota completes Le Mans airfield shakedown of rebuilt Porsche
The #12 Jota entry was put through its paces on the Le Mans-Arnage Airport adjacent to the track on Friday evening by Callum Ilott, who crashed the car in second free practice for the centrepiece World Endurance Championship round on Wednesday night. It followed a record-breaking build of a 963 by the British Jota squad: […]