24 Hours of Le Mans – Race: Five out of five for Toyota

Nothing or almost nothing could worry them. Besides a fierce battle against time against Alpine during the hyperpole, Toyota had no competition during the 24 hours. Leading from start to finish, the Japanese team was hardly bothered by mechanical issues and race uncertainties. Apart from a minor scare, quickly resolved on car number 7 early Sunday morning, both cars demonstrated unwavering reliability.

Behind them, the Glickenhaus team was discreet during the race. The American team is stepping onto the podium in Le Mans for the first time, thanks to the #709 car driven by the trio Briscoe-Westbrook-Mailleux. The twin car crosses the finish line in 4th position.

Finally, Alpine missed out on its race. Penalized by a modification of the Balance of Performance (BoP) before the race, the French team paid for this change throughout the entire 24-hour race. The pace was below that of its competitors. Furthermore, reliability was a second issue, as car number 36 had some alerts, particularly with the gearbox. It ultimately finished in 23rd place overall.

The unlucky Corvette

In LMP2, car number 38 from Team JOTA controlled the race and won with a lead of over two minutes ahead of Prema, driven notably by Robert Kubica. It’s worth noting the incredible comeback of United Autosport 22, finishing in a very impressive 11th place after their first lap crash.

The Sophia Flörsch APR 47 crew did not have the same success, as the Portuguese team’s car finished in 20th place in the LMP2 (25th overall) after completing the 24-hour race. Without the incident at the beginning of the race, the trio could have finished around 10th place.

In the GTE PRO category, Corvette lost everything after the successive abandonment of its two cars. This benefited Porsche 91, which narrowly leads Ferrari AF Corse number 51. During the race, the Italian cars had a resurgence of performance, as they were left behind in the hyperpole and at the start of the 24 hours.

Finally, in LMGTE AM, the victory goes to TF Sport, ahead of WeatherTech Racing number 79. The all-female crew of Iron Dames finishes the biggest endurance race in the world in 7th place in their category (40th overall).

In this 90th edition, 9 cars did not finish the race: the 47 and 19 of Team Project 1, the 777 of D’Station Racing, the 71 of Spirit of Race, the 59 of Inception Racing, the 63 and 64 from Corvette, the 60 from Iron Lynx, and the 31 from WRT.

Rankings

Hypercar

LMP2 translates to “Le Mans Prototype 2” in English.

LMGTE PRO translates to “LMGTE PRO” in English. It is an acronym for Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance PRO, a class in sports car racing, specifically for professional drivers in the GT category.

LMGTE AM stands for Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Amateur.