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Porsche wins 24 Hours of Le Mans for 19th time

  • Arnau Viñals

    • The 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans – third round of the FIA World Endurance Championship – was full of emotion, joy and disappointment, heat and drama, and it was Porsche LMP Team’s No.2 919 Hybrid which finally conquered all those sensations to take its 19th win at the world’s greatest endurance race.

    Timo Bernhard and Earl Bamber both secured their second win at Le Mans, and Brendon Hartley his first, and the double points gained for the race win see the trio move into the lead of the FIA World Endurance Drivers’ Championship by 11 points over the No.8 Toyota crew (see points HERE).

    Porsche’s win was remarkable as the No.2 lost 65 minutes in the pits for repairs in the first quarter of the race after losing front axle drive – a problem with its front motor generator unit/hybrid system.  Once back on track, the trio of drivers set about hunting down the lead and finally moved into first place at 15h53.

    The No.8 Toyota TS050 HYBRID was the only other LMP1 car to finish the race, after Sébastien Buemi-Anthony Davidson-Kazuki Nakajima also staged a fight back after a similar front motor problem which occurred just before the 8-hour mark.

    They came from almost two hours behind to finish 9th overall and 7th in the WEC points standings, setting a new fastest lap of the race (3:18.604) along the way although this was little reward for losing its previously dominant position at the head of the field.

    Toyota’s suffered a disastrous night, losing both the No.7 and No.9 TS050 HYBRIDS within 20 minutes of each other – the first with a clutch problem and the latter following a collision with an LMP2 car.

    Porsche’s No.1 919 was holding a strong lead over all the other competitors when André Lotterer was forced to pull over at the side of the track in the 21st hour with an engine problem.  It joined the two Porsches and the No.4 ByKolles Racing (engine, in the first few laps of the race) in retirement.

    Aston Martin Racing’s Jonny Adam, Darren Turner and Daniel Serra took a dramatic LMGTE Pro class victory, in a repeat of the classic battles for GT1 honours with Corvette Racing from 10 years ago, claiming maximum WEC points and moving the trio into second place in the GT FIA World Endurance Drivers’ Championship.

    The deciding move for victory came on the penultimate lap as Adam’s No.97 Aston Martin Vantage GTE passed the No.63 Corvette at the Ford Chicane, following a lock-up on the Mulsanne Straight that resulted in a left-front puncture for the Corvette driver.

    It was Darren Turner’s 3rd class victory at Le Mans, and a first for both Adam and Brazilian driver Serra who was making his first appearance in the race.

    The American car managed to limp across the line but not before also losing second place to the No.67 Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK GT of Harry Tincknell, Andy Priaulx and Pipo Derani.  The resulting points keep the trio at the head of the points standing in the GT Drivers Championship.

    Five different manufacturers filled the top-five positions in a race that saw at least 5 or 6 cars on the same lap for nearly the whole of the 24 hours.

    Daniel Serra in the No.97 set a new race lap record for the class at Le Mans with a time of 3:50.950.

    A late splash-and-dash dropped the No.91 Porsche 911 RSR of Frédéric Makowiecki, Richard Lietz and Patrick Pilet to 4th on the mid-engined car’s first outing at Le Mans, with the No.71 AF Corse 488 GTE shared by Sam Bird, Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina finishing 5th.

    Nicki Thiim, Marco Sorensen and Richie Stanaway fought back from a left-rear puncture in the early stages to the lead by the early morning, before Stanaway made a mistake and crashed at Mulsanne Corner, dropping the car to 9th.

    The major beneficiary of this appeared to be the No.51 Ferrari of James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Michele Rugolo, but they lost over an hour in the pits with radiator damage following a clash between Calado and a LMGTE Am Aston Martin.

    It was a tough race in LMGTE for the WEC runners, with the first four places going to non-championship cars. The ELMS’ JMW Motorsport took the victory, with the No.61 Clearwater Racing Ferrari of Mok Weng Sun, Keita Sawa and Matt Griffin taking 4th on the track but enough points to take them to the top of the LMGTE Am drivers’ championship.

    The Singapore entry was just in front of the No.77 Dempsey Proton Porsche 911 RSR of Christian Ried, Matteo Cairoli and Marvin Dienst which finished 6th in class.

    Results:

    Pos CLASS Team DRIVER_1 DRIVER_2 DRIVER_3 Gap
    1 LMP1-H Porsche LMP Team Timo BERNHARD Earl BAMBER Brendon HARTLEY 367 Laps
    2 LMP2 Jackie Chan DC Racing Ho-Pin TUNG Thomas LAURENT Oliver JARVIS 1 Laps
    3 LMP2 Vaillante Rebellion Nelson PIQUET JR David HEINEMEIER Mathias BECHE 3 Laps
    4 LMP2 Jackie Chan DC Racing David CHENG Tristan GOMMENDY Alex BRUNDLE 4 Laps
    5 LMP2 Signatech Alpine Matmut Nelson PANCIATICI Pierre RAGUES André NEGRÃO 5 Laps
    6 LMP2 United Autosports Will OWEN Hugo DE SADELEER Filipe ALBUQUERQUE 5 Laps
    7 LMP2 Graff James ALLEN Franck MATELLI Richard BRADLEY 6 Laps
    8 LMP2 CEFC Manor TRS Racing Tor GRAVES Jonathan HIRSCHI Jean-Eric VERGNE 7 Laps
    9 LMP1-H Toyota Gazoo Racing Sébastien BUEMI Anthony DAVIDSON Kazuki NAKAJIMA 9 Laps
    10 LMP2 Cetilar Villorba Corse Roberto LACORTE Giorgio SERNAGIOTTO Andrea BELICCHI 14 Laps
    11 LMP2 Signatech Alpine Matmut Romain DUMAS Gustavo MENEZES Matthew RAO 16 Laps
    12 LMP2 Tockwith Motorsports Nigel MOORE Philip HANSON Karun CHANDHOK 16 Laps
    13 LMP2 Idec Sport Racing Patrice LAFARGUE Paul LAFARGUE David ZOLLINGER 23 Laps
    14 LMP2 Racing Team Nederland Jan LAMMERS Frits VAN EERD Rubens BARRICHELLO 23 Laps
    15 LMP2 Dragonspeed – 10 Star Henrik HEDMAN Ben HANLEY Felix ROSENQVIST 24 Laps
    16 LMP2 Eurasia Motorsport Jacques NICOLET Pierre NICOLET Erik MARIS 26 Laps
    17 LMP2 Vaillante Rebellion Nicolas PROST Julien CANAL Bruno SENNA 27 Laps
    18 LMGTE Pro Aston Martin Racing Darren TURNER Jonathan ADAM Daniel SERRA 27 Laps
    19 LMGTE Pro Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Andy PRIAULX Harry TINCKNELL Luis Felipe DERANI 27 Laps
    20 LMGTE Pro Corvette Racing – GM Jan MAGNUSSEN Antonio GARCIA Jordan TAYLOR 27 Laps
    21 LMGTE Pro Porsche GT Team Richard LIETZ Frédéric MAKOWIECKI Patrick PILET 28 Laps
    22 LMGTE Pro AF Corse Davide RIGON Sam BIRD Miguel MOLINA 28 Laps
    23 LMGTE Pro Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA Joey HAND Dirk MÜLLER Tony KANAAN 28 Laps
    24 LMGTE Pro Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA Ryan BRISCOE Richard WESTBROOK Scott DIXON 30 Laps
    25 LMGTE Pro Corvette Racing – GM Oliver GAVIN Tommy MILNER Marcel FÄSSLER 32 Laps
    26 LMGTE Pro Aston Martin Racing Nicki THIIM Marco SØRENSEN Richie STANAWAY 33 Laps
    27 LMGTE Am JMW Motorsport Robert SMITH Will STEVENS Dries VANTHOOR 34 Laps
    28 LMGTE Pro Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Stefan MÜCKE Olivier PLA Billy JOHNSON 35 Laps
    29 LMGTE Am Spirit of Race Duncan CAMERON Aaron SCOTT Marco CIOCI 36 Laps
    30 LMGTE Am Scuderia Corsa Cooper MACNEIL William SWEEDLER Townsend BELL 36 Laps
    31 LMGTE Am Beechdean AMR Andrew HOWARD Ross GUNN Oliver BRYANT 36 Laps
    32 LMGTE Am Clearwater Racing Weng Sun MOK Keita SAWA Matt GRIFFIN 37 Laps
    33 LMP2 Algarve Pro Racing Mark PATTERSON Matthew MCMURRY Vincent CAPILLAIRE 37 Laps
    34 LMP2 SMP Racing Mikhail ALESHIN Sergey SIROTKIN Victor SHAITAR 37 Laps
    35 LMGTE Am Dempsey – Proton Racing Christian RIED Matteo CAIROLI Marvin DIENST 38 Laps
    36 LMGTE Am TF Sport Salih YOLUC Euan HANKEY Rob BELL 38 Laps
    37 LMGTE Am Aston Martin Racing Paul DALLA LANA Pedro LAMY Mathias LAUDA 38 Laps
    38 LMGTE Am Proton Competition Patrick LONG Abdulaziz AL FAISAL Michael HEDLUND 38 Laps
    39 LMGTE Am Gulf Racing UK Michael WAINWRIGHT Benjamin BARKER Nicholas FOSTER 39 Laps
    40 LMP2 G-Drive Racing Memo ROJAS Ryo HIRAKAWA Jose GUTIERREZ 40 Laps
    41 LMGTE Am Clearwater Racing Richard WEE Hiroki KATOH Alvaro PARENTE 40 Laps
    42 LMGTE Am Spirit of Race Thomas FLOHR Francesco CASTELLACCI Olivier BERETTA 41 Laps
    43 LMGTE Am DH Racing Tracy KROHN Niclas JÖNSSON Andrea BERTOLINI 47 Laps
    44 LMP2 Graff Enzo GUIBBERT Eric TROUILLET James WINSLOW 49 Laps
    45 LMGTE Am Scuderia Corsa Christina NIELSEN Alessandro BALZAN Bret CURTIS 53 Laps
    46 LMP2 Arc Bratislava Miroslav KONOPKA Konstantin CALKO Rik BREUKERS 53 Laps
    47 LMGTE Pro AF Corse James CALADO Alessandro PIER GUIDI Michele RUGOLO 55 Laps
    48 LMP2 Keating Motorsports Ben KEATING Jeroen BLEEKEMOLEN Ricky TAYLOR 55 Laps
    49 LMGTE Am Larbre Competition Fernando REES Romain BRANDELA Christian PHILIPPON 58 Laps
    50 LMP1-H Porsche LMP Team Neel JANI André LOTTERER Nick TANDY 49 Laps
    51 LMP2 Panis Barthez Competition Fabien BARTHEZ Timothé BURET Nathanaël BERTHON 71 Laps
    52 LMP2 TDS Racing François PERRODO Matthieu VAXIVIERE Emmanuel COLLARD 154 Laps
    53 LMGTE Pro Porsche GT Team Michael CHRISTENSEN Kevin ESTRE Dirk WERNER 188 Laps
    54 LMP1-H Toyota Gazoo Racing Nicolas LAPIERRE Yuji KUNIMOTO Jose Maria LOPEZ 207 Laps
    55 LMP1-H Toyota Gazoo Racing Mike CONWAY Kamui KOBAYASHI Stéphane SARRAZIN 213 Laps
    56 LMP2 CEFC Manor TRS Racing Roberto GONZALEZ Simon TRUMMER Vitaly PETROV 215 Laps
    57 LMGTE Pro Risi Competizione Toni VILANDER Giancarlo FISICHELLA Pierre KAFFER 295 Laps
    58 LMP2 G-Drive Racing Roman RUSINOV Pierre THIRIET Alex LYNN 347 Laps
    59 LMGTE Am Proton Competition Klaus BACHLER Stéphane LEMERET Khaled AL QUBAISI 349 Laps
    60 LMP1 Bykolles Racing Team Oliver WEBB Dominik KRAIHAMER Marco BONANOMI 360 Laps