Метка: 24 Hours of Le Mans

Ferrari’s WEC title hopes «back on track» after Le Mans win

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Ferrari believes it is back in the hunt for the 2024 World Endurance Championship after claiming its first win of the season at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

This had left the #50 crew a distant fifth in the drivers’ standings, 34 points off the championship-leading Porsche trio of Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Andre Lotterer, while Ferrari itself trailed both Porsche and Toyota in the manufacturers’ table.
However, the Italian marque managed to strike back in the most prestigious round of the year, with Fuoco, Molina and Nielsen claiming an impressive win from fourth on the grid and Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi joining them on the podium in third in the #51 car.

The result has elevated the #50 trio to second in the drivers’ championship and just nine points off the #6 crew, with Ferrari now trailing Porsche by the same margin in the manufacturers’ battle.

Antonello Coletta, Ferrari’s sportscar racing chief, described the victory in the double-points WEC round in France as a turning point for its championship challenge.

«Honestly, we lost a lot of points in Imola and Spa because today we could come here [after Le Mans] with three victories on our table. Unfortunately [we have] just one, but probably the most important one,» he said.

#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen

#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen

Photo by: Emanuele Clivati | AG Photo

«It’s normal that we are at the turnaround [point] of the championship and we have a chance to make all our best efforts to win the championship. At the end, the world championship is a maximum result — the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the World Championship. 

«We won a lot of world championships with the GT class and why not with the prototype.»

The WEC heads to Sao Paulo and then Austin in the coming months as part of the American leg of the championship, with both venues returning to the calendar after long absences. Six and eight-hour fixtures in Fuji and Bahrain will bring the season to a close.

Ferrari’s technical director for sportscar racing Ferdinando Cannizzo was equally upbeat about the Prancing Horse’s prospects for the title, but is uncertain just how competitive the 499P will be in the second half of the campaign.

«For sure we recovered a bit and we are probably back on track to win the championship,» he said.

«About the next races [it] will be difficult. It will be difficult because we need to digest the victory quickly, we need to focus on Brazil. Brazil is very close so we need to rest, keep the focus on the new races [which are] completely different. Interlagos is a difficult track. 

«What I can answer is we need to [repeat] the job that we did for Le Mans or for Spa or for Imola.

Podium: Race winner #50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen

Podium: Race winner #50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

«There is work on the simulation and to understand how we exploit it for the race. I don’t know at the moment if we will be competitive or not but of course, we will work very hard in all the last races of the season so we can say hello to the championship. 

«Our target is always to close the season with the title and we will work hard to bring it home.»

Ferrari threw away a near-certain victory at Imola due to two strategic errors in rainy conditions, while another potential win was lost at Spa when the red flag left its cars in an unfavourable position for the restart. It protested against the results of the Belgian round in the immediate aftermath of the race, but it was rejected by the stewards. It has since appealed the decision.

Speaking after its win at Le Mans, Ferrari revealed the extent it went to to ensure it doesn’t face a similar breakdown in communication during crucial pitstop calls. 

The Italian manufacturer split the strategy when rain arrived for the first time in the third hour at La Sarthe, and the #50 factory entry and the #83 satellite car emerged with a major lead by staying out on a rapidly drying track.

«I organised a lot of meetings after Imola, with the mechanics, with the engineering, with the drivers,» revealed Coletta. «I spoke with all of them because I would understand exactly the problem that we had and why we had the misunderstanding. 

«And now I believe that we demonstrate we work very very well. I think that all the choices we took in the race have been correct. 

«No misunderstanding, no error with the call of the car on the box. And probably the race of Imola has been a big help for this 24-hour.

«But I’m very, very happy about the answer of the team after the problem on the Italian GP (sic) because frankly for me it has been a disaster to lose in front of our [home] fans.» 

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The «unorthodox» approach taken by Manthey in Le Mans LMGT3-winning strategy

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«Unorthodox» strategic calls made by the Manthey EMA Porsche team proved crucial in setting up its Le Mans 24 Hours LMGT3 class victory, driver Yasser Shahin has explained.

The Australian’s win in the double points round of the World Endurance Championship, together with team-mates Richard Lietz and Morris Schuring, puts his #91 Porsche 911 GT3 R into the joint lead of the pro-am category that replaced GTE Am for this year.

Speaking to Motorsport.com, bronze-graded racer Shahin explained that «there are a lot of things that were unconventional about Manthey’s approach» that yielded victory by a lap over the #31 WRT BMW M4 on his first attempt at the French endurance classic.

After taking the race start, one of just four cars to deploy their bronzes from the outset, Shahin completed a double stint when the first of many showers that blighted the race prompted Manthey to insert 19-year-old silver driver Schuring, a fellow event rookie.

«It started to rain and we thought we really wanted an early advantage in mixed conditions, and so we put Morris in with fresh tyres and that paid off,» Shahin explained.

«But it meant that I didn’t do the planned triple stint and I only did a double. And then when I got in the car two hours later, we knew it was going to be a struggle to make up my [minimum six-hour driving] time.

«So three stints in, the engineer and I had a chat and he said ‘Look, can you do a fourth?’

«So I did a quadruple stint, and that’s not particularly orthodox on one set of tyres! I’ve never done a quad before.»

#91 Manthey Ema Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3: Yasser Shahin, Morris Schuring, Richard Lietz

#91 Manthey Ema Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3: Yasser Shahin, Morris Schuring, Richard Lietz

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Shahin later returned to the car during the lengthy safety car during the early hours of Sunday morning and stayed in once his mandatory time had concluded to give Lietz and Schuring a longer break.

«Me staying in the car longer not only made them fresher,» he pointed out.

«It meant that if we could defer my pit stop to as late as possible, to the track going green, whoever got in would have the freshest set of tyres.»

Factory driver Lietz duly took over for the race restart and had just overtaken the sister #92 Manthey car Klaus Bachler, shared with Joel Sturm and Alexander Malykhin, before it was forced into a 24-minute pitstop to resolve gearbox problems.

Now a five-time Le Mans class winner since he too won on his event debut in 2007, Lietz acknowledged that Manthey’s strategy had been significant in ensuring «we have done the race without any major wrong decisions», but revealed he was not always in agreement with the calls that were taken.

«I asked for several things and nothing happened,» he told Motorsport.com. «But it’s OK, we won, so forget about this!»

The delays for the #92 car, which was classified tenth of the regular WEC entrants at Le Mans, combined with a second maximum score in as many rounds has brought the #91 crew back into the title fight after taking no points from the first two races in Qatar and Imola due to mechanical problems and accident damage respectively.

Shahin admitted the turnaround in the team’s fortunes had come as a surprise, as he «thought we had no chance» of contending for the championship after its early setbacks before winning last time out at Spa with Lietz’s final lap pass on Bachler.

«We had a throttle body failure in race one, completely unlucky,» he said.

«Race two was just a debacle, and genuinely, none of our fault; a 200 km/h race start, followed by people hitting the brakes after it went green.

«We threw away the first two, and so we had no prospect of being back in the championship.

«This has just reversed all that with two consecutive wins.

«Morris and Richie were just saying, ‘Look, I can feel we’re good enough, we just need some momentum’. And so it’s been nice.»

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Peugeot defends new car after ‘never being in the game’ at Le Mans

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Peugeot defended the new version of its 9X8 LMH car after it was “never really in the game” in the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours.

Stoffel Vandoorne, Paul di Resta and Loic Duval finished 11th in the best of the two 9X8s, two laps down on the winning Ferrari, with the sister car crewed by Nico Muller, Mikkel Jensen and Jean-Eric Vergne ending up 12th.

Ex-Formula 1 driver Vandoorne was very clear in his assessment of the race, telling Autosport that “we were simply lacking speed during the whole race.

He added: “We got dragged back from the start and then the conditions were very difficult. We were never really in the game.”

Peugeot’s 2024 Le Mans outing was in stark contrast to its previous appearance at Le Mans with the original version of the 9X8.

On that occasion, the Stellantis brand led the race at no less than four stages and showed genuine pace to fight at the front, with only a combination of incidents and reliability issues dropping it down the order.

However, despite showing a lack of speed in 2024, Peugeot is convinced that it made the right decision to develop a new version of the 9X8 with a rear wing and 31cm wide tyres, with technical director Olivier Jansonnie citing the bulletproof reliability as evidence that it has made a step forward with the car.

“I think it was definitely the right choice to make this car,” he said. “It’s for sure a bit new and we suffered in terms of set-up and pace, performance, just learning this new car which is fundamentally very different from the old one.

#94 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Stoffel Vandoorne, Paul Di Resta, Loic Duval

#94 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Stoffel Vandoorne, Paul Di Resta, Loic Duval

Photo by: Marc Fleury

“So that was kind of set from the test day and free practice. We knew from there we would not be at the right level of performance. And then at the end we did everything to deliver the best possible race.

“Really the most positive thing for us is the reliability, we never had any issue at all in the car, normally for the race but also for the test day. Now we can spend a lot more time working on performance and come stronger next year.”

Peugeot had previously justified the development of the 9X8 2024, as it is officially called, by a desire to be equally competitive in a wide variety of tracks and not relying on Balance of Performance to fight with the established runners.

The wingless 9X8 was rapid on certain types of circuits, including Le Mans, but was miles off the pace on other venues that didn’t suit the inherent traits of the car.

One of the key strengths of last year’s 9X8 was its pace in mixed conditions at Le Mans, which allowed it to gain time over its rivals during the crucial crossover phase between a dry and a wet track.

Peugeot admitted that it needs to analyse why it lacked in this area in 2024 with the new iteration of the hybrid-powered hypercar.

“That is the part of things that we have to work on,” said Jansonnie. “For sure when we arrived here finally with last year’s car we had a much better understanding of the car than we have from this one.

“And obviously all the crossover points, how and when to change tyres, these kind of things. It’s something we have to learn a bit.”

#93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Jean-Eric Vergne, Mikkel Jensen, Nico Muller

#93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Jean-Eric Vergne, Mikkel Jensen, Nico Muller

Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt

Peugeot lost out to first-year manufacturer Lamborghini in the closing stages of Le Mans, as the #63 SC63 LMDh of Mirko Bortolotti, Daniil Kvyat and Edoardo Mortara snatched 10th position from the #94 9X8 in the final hour.

Peugeot motorsport boss Jean-Marc Finot revealed that Peugeot was unlucky with a timing of a slow zone, as it allowed Lamborghini to get a cheap pitstop and rejoin the track ahead of the #94 9X8.

“At the end of the race we had good pace compared with the Lamborghini. It was easy to catch up with the Lamborghini,” said Finot.

“Unfortunately we got a slow zone when Lamborghini was pitting so we lost 40 seconds [in comparison].

“There were slow zones from start line to the Dunlop bridge. He was at a low speed. He had pitted the lap before.

“When Lamborghini pitted, Stoffel had arrived in the slow zone. Stoffel was 12s up on the Lamborghini before. He was quite a bit ahead. When he started again, he was 32s down because he was in slow zone.”

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BMW won’t accept Ferrari’s «very unfair» penalty for Vanthoor/Kubica crash

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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 BMW’s retirement from the race.

The #83 Ferrari was given a 30-second stop-and-go penalty but managed to stay on the lead lap, which allowed it to remain in victory contention thanks to current safety car rules gathering all cars on the lead lap when the race is neutralised.

Vanthoor was furious with the stewards’ decision and took to X (formerly Twitter) to express his discontent: «Thanks for all your messages, I’m okay! Just a small concussion! Just a bad day for our sport, pushing someone off at 300km/h and getting a 30-sec penalty. Sorry @FIAWEC, losing trust here.»

Team boss Vosse told Motorsport.com that it was intolerable that the Ferrari which had caused the crash was able to find its way back to the front of the pack, and said he would have advocated for a three-minute or five-minute penalty – which would have dropped the #83 car a lap down.

«At the end, it is something that we will not accept,» the Belgian said. «For me, the penalty was very unfair. You take the race away from someone. You deserve to be somehow slowed down much more than being able to fight for the podium again three hours later.»

Vincent Vosse, Team principal WRT

Vincent Vosse, Team principal WRT

Photo by: Marc Fleury

However, Vosse has no hard feelings for Kubica, a former Team WRT driver who won the ELMS and WEC championships in the LMP2 class with the Belgian outfit in 2021 and 2023 respectively, while coming second at the Le Mans 24 Hours last year with team-mates Rui Andrade and Louis Deletraz.

«I’m close to Robert – he drove for us for a few years,» Vosse pointed out. «We won the championship with him last year, and he’s someone that I respect a lot.

«I will say that I did not expect something like that from him, but I will not judge him. First, I will cool down and speak to him probably next week about the incident.

«From a sportsman of his level – and he’s really a sportsman, because I see him like that – I have to say, unfortunately, I’ve been disappointed about the situation.»

The Le Mans 24 Hours has been disappointing overall for the BMW factory Hypercar squad, with Marco Wittmann spinning the same #15 car on lap 6, while Robin Frijns crashed the #20 machine after bouncing off a kerb at the Ford chicane at 6:23pm. The car limped to the pits and went back on track only 21 hours later to see the chequered flag, without being classified.

Andreas Roos, head of BMW M Motorsport, explained to Motorsport.com that the car could have been back on track earlier but the German constructor didn’t want to risk further damage ahead of the Sao Paulo WEC round on 14 July.

«Le Mans can always be quite brutal,» Roos added. «First thing is you shouldn’t do any mistakes, which we didn’t manage. Too many mistakes happening.»

«That’s how you try to win races today,» Vosse analysed. «Unfortunately, we saw that we were quick at some stage, but maybe a little bit too quick, or trying too hard.

«We did not learn as much as we had hoped to about our cars, because at the end, we could not go through the night with our cars. Let’s say that we have learned what not to do next year.»

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Addtional reporting by Heiko Stritzke and Rachit Thukral



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Toyota says it had pace for 2024 Le Mans win without various issues

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The Japanese manufacturer’s two driver crews pointed to multiple incidents and issues as the reason they failed to reverse last year’s defeat to Ferrari in the French enduro.

Jose Maria Lopez, who crossed the line in the #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar he shared with Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries, 14s behind the winning Ferrari, explained that two punctures and two engine issues proved crucial in its defeat.

“I don’t like ifs and buts, but we had the pace to win,” he told Motorsport.com.

“Kamui had an engine problem and then I had one in the last stint, and then we had the two punctures [which resulted in unscheduled stops].”

Lopez described the Le Mans race in which he returned to the Hypercar class in place of the injured Mike Conway as “the hardest one I have ever experienced”.

“It wasn’t the smoothest race for us, for sure,” he added.

He insisted that the his spin at the Dunlop Chicane with an hour to go as he attempted to close down Nicklas Nielsen in the winning Ferrari 499P did not decide the race.

The time loss was approximately the same amount as he lost out at the end, but he believes that he wouldn’t have caught Nielsen because “the Ferrari was cruising at the end”.

#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 - Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa

#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 — Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa

Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt

Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa, who took fifth in the sister #8 Toyota, believed that the defining moment for them came after the rain resumed and the car was nudged into a spin at Mulsanne Corner by Alessandro Pier Guidi in the second of the factory Ferraris with two hours to go.

“I guess without that spin after that little touch, we would have won the race,” he told Motorsport.com.

“That was one that got away.

“We lost something like 40s and we were some way ahead of #7 at the time.”

Buemi also suggested that a slow zone, a 80km/h temporary speed limit under yellow flag conditions, in the closing hours was also pivotal in the outcome of the race.

Hartley added that the spin “basically put us out of the fight for the win in the last couple of hours”.

“It feels like the victory just slipped away from us,” he said.

Kobayashi ran into engine problems on Sunday morning, which Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe technical director David Floury explained was caused by a sensor issue that the team managed to resolve.

The second problem with the powertrain came in the final hour as Lopez tried to catch the Ferrari was caused by a communication error, the team said.

One of the settings was in the wrong position, which meant Lopez had to be talked down to correct it as he was chasing Nielsen.

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Porsche drivers claim rivals were sandbagging before Le Mans 24 Hours

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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 saying that Porsche would have done a “pretty bad job” if it didn’t end up winning the race, so impressed was he with the pace of the 963 in testing.

And although the expanded three-car factory Penske-run squad enjoyed a number of stints at the front in the race, including in the afternoon on Sunday, there seemed a clear disparity in performance to LMH cars from Ferrari and Toyota.

In the end, fourth was the best result Porsche could manage on its second appearance at Le Mans in the Hypercar class, as Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer narrowly missed out on a podium finish in the #6 963 LMDh machine.

Speaking after the finish, Estre hit back at the comments made earlier in the week by Toyota, claiming that it was the Japanese manufacturer who had underachieved by losing the victory fight to Ferrari.

“It makes me laugh, the Toyotas saying after the Test Day that if we don’t win this race, it’s because we’ve messed up. Today, they’re the ones who messed up,” Estre told Motorsport.com.

“In the end, we were flat out from the first day, and I don’t think they were. We didn’t have false hopes, we were hoping for a good race and we had it. We gave everything we had, but it wasn’t enough.”

#4 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Mathieu Jaminet, Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy

#4 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Mathieu Jaminet, Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy

Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt

Christensen also suggested that Toyota and Ferrari turned up the wick during the business part of the race week, allowing them to overhaul Porsche and engage in a straight duel for the win.

“I think the others turned up the pace,” Christensen, who came home in sixth in the #5 Porsche he shared with Frederic Makowiecki and Matt Campbell, told Motorsport.com.

“The others turned up the pace when it mattered and we gave everything from the start.”

Porsche motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach wouldn’t be drawn on other manufacturers hiding their true pace prior to the race. However, he did concur that the pecking order was very different to what was seen in practice.

“I can only say we went through our programme in practice,” he told Motorsport.com. “We did everything. We thought it was the right thing to do and we showed we can do. If other competitors didn’t want to show everything in the practice that’s of no meaning to me.

“We do what we consider to be right and that’s our programme. Yes, in the race it did look a bit different to the practice but that’s not a problem to me.”

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Straightline speed deficit holds back Porsche

The Porsche Penske squad, like other teams, did make some costly strategic mistakes as the weather remained unpredictable for much of the enduro. However, it also lacked the pace to consistently challenge Ferrari and Toyota, particularly in the final two hours as rain returned at La Sarthe.

Porsche’s LMDh director Urs Kuratle revealed that the 963 LMDh suffered from a mysterious lack of top speed, a problem that is compounded at Le Mans by its long straights and rapid acceleration zones.

“We were lacking speed on the straight,” Kuratle explained in an interview with Motorsport.com. “That’s something we need to understand where it’s coming from, from acceleration, from aero efficiency, I don’t know.

“We are not talking much, we are 2 or 3km/h [down], so that’s not really a lot. But these gaps or these differences at Le Mans are even worse. The straights are bigger than on normal race tracks. It’s something that we will analyse.”

Kuratle said he was proud of the effort put in by Porsche Penske Motorsport on its second appearance in the Hypercar class at Le Mans but conceded that the squad was “simply not good enough” to take the win.

“Not the result we wanted,” he said. «I’m proud of the team and that includes all the drivers, engineers, mechanics, everybody involved.

“It’s the highlight of the year for us in the WEC and if you come fourth that’s not what you want. Maybe you ask why [we finished only fourth], we were simply not good enough that’s what it was.

“One or the other [strategic] decision we would have made differently but that is the same for all the teams. And at the end of the day 40s or however many seconds were missing to the victory, which is amazing after 24 hours.

“At the end of the day it wasn’t enough.”

Additional reporting by Ben Vinel

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Ferrari thought repeat Le Mans victory in 2024 was «impossible»

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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 within the Italian marque had downplayed its prospects ahead of the race, citing the pace of the hybrid-powered 499P LMH across the test day, practice and qualifying.

Indeed, the best of the three cars from its stable only qualified third, half a second behind the polesitting #6 Porsche and the #3 Cadillac, and was lagging behind on long runs as well.

However, the story was very different when the race kicked off on Saturday evening, with the three Ferraris charging to the front in the opening hour and consistently remaining in the hunt for the victory as the conditions repeatedly switched between wet and dry.

There was late drama for both cars, including the winning #50 entry, with Nielsen unable to shut the right-hand side door of the car. But although it forced the AF Corse-run squad into making an unscheduled pitstop, the #50 crew was able to stay ahead and take the chequered flag by 14s over the #7 Toyota of Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez and Nyck de Vries.

“We arrived [here] like not the favourites,» said Coletta. «I remember after the first test on Sunday and the FP1, FP2 and FP3 my idea was that without a special race with the problem of the weather, with the change of the weather or the other problem it was impossible for us to win.

“After the start of the race we were competitive but as you know very well the 24 Hours of Le Mans [can] change each part of the day. If you are competitive at the start, [you] can not [be] sure you will be competitive at the end.

#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen

#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen

Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt

“In fact during the 24 hours, a lot of cars were in the first position during the race. And for us it has been very complicated because we started with two penalties for the #83 and the #51 [carried over from qualifying].

“After that I don’t remember how many penalties we received but [it was] a lot. We [also] had a problem with the door. [But] we won for the second year and we are very, very happy.”

Although a number of manufacturers were in contention for victory, the race eventually came down to a straight fight between Ferrari and Toyota as Porsche’s challenge subsided.

Ferrari technical director for sportscar racing Ferdinando Cannizzo admitted that Toyota had the edge over the competition in dry conditions, but the Italian marque was able to fight back when the track was wet.

“I was not really that optimistic before the race,” Cannizzo admitted. “But we knew that we were missing something Toyota specifically.

“I also stressed that we knew our strength so our job was the one of trying to exploit our strength and trying to minimise our weakness especially against the competitors.

“The importance was we knew before what our weakness was and we worked all week to minimise the gap.

“In the middle part there are two different phases in the wet where the Toyota was definitely the fastest car, no doubt. Clearly had a lot of downforce. They did an excellent job.

“Our package in the dry was probably better than the Toyota especially with the medium tyres, which we were trying to use at the start of the race because of the ambient conditions.

“At the end of the race we also decided to take a risk because we said if you want to create or close the gap we need to play this card, even though the weather was not suggesting medium tyres.”

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«Killing tyres» on damp track cost Cadillac chance at Le Mans victory

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Although it was down in 17th position three hours into the World Endurance Championship’s most famous race after qualifying second at the hands of Alex Lynn, the #2 V-Series.R achieved a solid race thereafter.

Despite very unstable weather conditions, there was little trouble to report for the blue Chip Ganassi-run car besides a nose change in the night.

It thus rose to the lead, which it occupied at the 21st hour of the contest – although its strategy was out of sync with its rivals, meaning it often tumbled down the order at pitstops.

However, the #2 Cadillac struggled in the last part of the race, as several showers damped an otherwise slowly drying track, and it finished just seventh, 49 seconds off the race-winning #50 Ferrari.

«Obviously sad that I couldn’t fight for the win,» Palou told Motorsport.com after his maiden Le Mans 24 Hours race. «We were looking really good, I would say, from ten hours to go. Then even the last two hours.

«Unfortunately, didn’t really have the pace we needed at the end. Just struggled a lot with overall grip on the rain and in mixed conditions. A lot of fun, some really good stints, but at the end we didn’t really have the pace we needed.»

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Alex Palou

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Alex Palou

Photo by: Shameem Fahath

Asked if there were things that he and Cadillac could improve based on their performance at Circuit de la Sarthe, Palou replied: «Always! There are always things you can improve on small races, imagine on a 24-hour race! I think everybody feels the same way.

«Just struggled a lot on the mixed conditions. I think we were good on fully wet, good on fully dry, but not great on mixed conditions. We need to see if it was the car set-up, if it was the driving, if it was the BoP that didn’t help, so I don’t know at the moment, but for sure it wasn’t ideal.»

Subsequently asked to expand on his feeling in mixed conditions, Palou added: «Just a lack of pace. We couldn’t go fast. When we tried and pushed, we were killing the tyres. Normal lack of pace, the car felt okay until we tried too match everybody else’s pace, and then we just lost a ton of grip.»

Team-mate Earl Bamber, an outright Le Mans winner with Porsche in 2015 and 2017, concurred: «We had a great pace in the dry, but ultimately not the pace in the wet. That’s what sort of killed our race at the end there. We were definitely in contention, that’s another step closer to the goal.»

The other two Cadillacs had a much tougher race, with the #3 car shared by Sebastien Bourdais, Scott Dixon and Renger van der Zande affected by a terminal oil leak after 18 hours.

It had previously got a drive-through penalty for speeding under full course yellow, and had a trip through the gravel at the hands of Bourdais at Indianapolis corner as well as suffering a whack against the wall by Van der Zande.

Meanwhile, the #311 car entered under the Whelen Cadillac Racing banner had a massive impact against the tyre barrier when Pipo Derani lost control at Indianapolis, all but putting an end to its race.

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Le Mans 2024 LMP2 win the «hardest race I’ve ever done»

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


The United Autosports driver added a second LMP2 triumph at Le Mans, having previously been victorious in 2017, in the ORECA-Gibson 07 he shared with race rookies, IndyCar driver Nolan Siegel and IMSA SportsCar Championship competitor Bijoy Garg.

Their #22 machine was one of six main LMP2 crews that was in contention during the contest, which featured treacherous conditions for much of the 24 hours, including a four-hour period during the night when torrential rain forced the drivers to run behind a safety car.

«The track was just changing every lap,» Jarvis told Motorsport.com. «It was dry and then it would rain and you were on slicks. It was cold and you can’t get tyre temperature.

«I must’ve nearly crashed the car 10 times — you’re literally hanging on to it.»

#22 United Autosports Oreca 07: Gibson: Oliver Jarvis, Bijoy Garg, Nolan Siegel

#22 United Autosports Oreca 07: Gibson: Oliver Jarvis, Bijoy Garg, Nolan Siegel

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Jarvis — who has also finished on the overall Le Mans podium three times with Audi — tackled some of the hardest conditions of the race, including a nerve-wracking final stint in which he had started to build a lead but still had a moment at the chicane.

«You are always a small mistake away from putting it in the wall so I was relieved to see the chequered flag,» he added, having eventually triumphed by just under 20 seconds over the #34 Inter Europol ORECA.

«There were times where I wasn’t sure if we were going to win in it or stick it in the wall.»

Jarvis also paid tribute to his United Autosports squad for its strategy during the race and his inexperienced team-mates, saying: «They came out here as rookies and they’re leaving as winners.»

Siegel also admitted to being «so happy» that Jarvis — contesting his 13th Le Mans — took over from him for the final two hours and preferred «stressing out on the sidelines than stressing out in the car».

Garg added that Saturday night’s wet weather was the first time he had driven in the rain in the dark.

«I was definitely thinking, ‘why do I have to learn it here?'» he said.

«But glad to have done it, stayed on track and maintained good track position throughout.»

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