Photo Credit: FIA-ACO
They were not the fastest car this weekend in France, but Porsche’s trademark reliability worked out late as the LMP1-Hybrid factory runners claimed its second consecutive victory Sunday in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The event however in the annals of time, may be more remembered for the heartbreaking loss suffered by Toyota, who appeared to be on the verge of finally claiming their first Le Mans victory after several near misses dating back to the 1990s decade. Gazoo Racing’s pair of TS050 Hybrid coupes were flawless for the first 21 hours of the event, running 1-2 at several times during the event with only Team Porsche managing a challenge.
However, the dreaded Toyota luck began to manifest itself when the team’s No. 6 entry was forced to the garage to repair accident damage with under three hours to go, eliminating it from victory contention. And then the climatic final bitter pill was digested with under five minutes to go, when Kazuki Nakajima’s No. 5 Toyota ground to a halt on the front straightaway with just five minutes left to run. Nakajima was able to re-fire the car in order to finish the race, but his final lap was not completed soon enough to merit final classification, costing him and his teammates the runner-up finish.
The defeat is perhaps the more dreadful near miss for the Japanese marque, who also fell short of certain triumphs in both 1998 and 1999 with the dominant Toyota GT-One prototype. While the sister No. 6 entry managed to secure runner-up honors behind the eventual winning Porsche, it was little consolation for a team that will have to wait another year before getting a chance to win this event.
For Team Porsche, the Neel Jani, Romain Dumas, and Mark Lieb driven entry gains a bit of redemption of its own after suffering through a tumultuous 24-hour event a year ago. Although another Porsche entry still claimed the win in 2015, the aforementioned trio suffered through multiple off course excursions and mechanical problems, denying them a chance to claim the win for themselves. 2016 will certainly be viewed in a different format. The win Sunday is the 18th overall win for Porsche at Circuit de la Sarthe, more than any other manufacturer has been able to secure.
While Toyota salvaged runner-up honors for the weekend, the demise of the lead Toyota entry promoted Audi Sport Team Joest onto the podium, a far-cry after the German recent stalwarts at Le Mans suffered through a weekend of lacking pace and mechanical woes from start to finish.
In LMP2, ORECA’s dominant 05 coupe model claimed a second straight win in the Grand Prix of Endurance with Signatech Alpine’s re-badged entry taking the top step of the podium. The victory is the second straight in LMP2 for lead driver Nicolas Lapierre, who was part of the winning KC Motorsport Group entry last year at La Sarthe. This time around, his teammates Gustavo Menezes and Stephane Richelmi provided solid support, as the No. 36 Nissan-powered machine was both fast and reliable from start to finish. G-Drive Racing’s own ORECA coupe would claim runner-up honors in the lower prototype class, while a strong surge in the race’s second half propelled Russia’s SMP Racing squad to the final step on the class podium, following an exciting final duel with the Strakka Racing’s Gibson open top entry.
The GTE-Pro category in the 84th 24 Hours of Le Mans marked a successful return to La Sarthe for Ford Motor Company as the new Ford GT challenger claimed three of the first four spots on Sunday, marking an impressive first-time Le Mans outing for multi-time Rolex 24 at Daytona winning entrant Chip Ganassi Racing. The entry of Joey Hand, Dirk Mueller, and Sebastien Bourdais would secure the win for the American manufacturer, a win long awaited triumph at Le Mans for the Frenchman who had come extremely close to overall wins for Peugeot as recently as 2011.
After coming up on the short end of the result, Risi Competizione’s Ferrari 488 GTE finished second on Sunday in GTE-Pro. However, the result could be taken away from them after Giancarlo Fisichella ignored a consultation flag from FIA-ACO officials ordering the machine to the pit lane to fix a problem with the position indicating Leader Lights system on its car. The runner-up finish is currently under review and could result in possible relegation or even worse, disqualification from the final official results.
Ford has protested the on course action taken by Risi Ferrari for ignoring the pit lane order, while Ferrari and Aston Martin have reportedly counter-protested against Ford for violation the so-called “seven percent rule.” The rule states a requirement of pace difference of at least seven percent between varying classes, in this case between GTE-Pro and LMP2, and reportedly both Risi and Prodrive believe the Ganassi Fords violated the spirit of the rule. A similar situation occurred earlier this year at the Rolex 24 at Daytona involving the new Lamborghini Huracans in the GT Daytona class running very close to the times of the GT Le Mans division runners. Lamborghini was fined and stripped of manufacturer points as a result, although it is unknown if the stewards will react to Ford in a similar fashion. OnPitRoad.com will update the situation if further developments arise.
Finally in GTE-Amateur, a less controversial ending resulted as Scuderia Corsa improved two places from 2015 to score the win in its final effort in a Ferrari 458 Italia. The team of Townsend Bell, Jeff Segal, and Bill Sweedler took over the class lead just prior to the midway point of the event and held on despite constant pressure from both AF Corse and Abu Dhabi-Proton Porsche, who finished second and third respectively.
