The #50 made it back-to-back Hypercar win in FIA WEC Le Mans 24 Hours from #7 Toyota and the sister #51 Ferrari.
Hypercar –
No.50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P Hypercar of Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina take brilliantly well-judged victory in changeable conditions to win the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours. Nielsen drives brilliant final triple stint, surviving an issue with his door and an investigation for an unsafe pit stop release, to take Ferraris second victory in as many years at La Sarthe.
In hugely treacherous conditions in the final hours of the race Nielsen was able to forge to the front and is able to gain a gap over the chasing pack which was bunched up after morning safety cars for poor weather and accidents Toyota with the No.7 GR010 Hybrid Hypercar place second as super-sub Jose-Maria Lopez tries to chase down Nielsen in the final exchanges but is just unable to do so, meaning he and teammates Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries take second.
Lopez had a brief spin in his attempts but is still able to split the factory Ferrari 499Ps as the No.51 car of Antonio Giovinazzi, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado places third Pier Guidi was in contact with the other Toyota GR010 at Mulsanne Corner, driven by Brendon Hatley, in the penultimate hour and received a 5-second penalty for the contact.
But the Italian was also susceptible to a chasing Laurens Vanthoor in the final 20-minutes but was able to just hold off the flying Belgian who has to accept fourth place. Those points, however, are enough for Vanthoor and teammates Kevin Estre and Andre Lotterer to keep their WEC Hypercar championship points lead and keep their 100% podium record in 2024.
Completing the top six in Hypercar is 5th No.8 Toyota and 6th No.5 Porsche Penske 963; 7th No.2 Cadillac; 8th No.12 Hertz Team Jota; 9th No.38 Hertz Team Jota; 10th No.63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx. Hertz Team JOTA take a 1-2 in the FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams ahead of the other Porsche customer team Proton Competition. Peugeot TotalEnergies place 11th and 12th overall with No.94 9X8 heading the No.93 car.
LMP2 –
#22 United Autosports trio of Oliver Jarvis, Nolan Siegel and Bijoy Garg enjoyed a strong run to LMP2 victory to register the outfit’s second LMP2 class win after its maiden triumph in 2020. Inter Europol Competition Oreca-Gibson in the hands of Clement Novalak, Vlad Lomko and Kuba Smiechowski took the runners-up position, a year on from the Polish team winning LMP2.
Novalak applied late-race pressure on Jarvis but the experienced British driver was able to resist and bring the car home to secure the victory. Rounding out the podium in LMP2 was the IDEC Sport Oreca-Gibson entry of Job van Uitert, Paul Lafargue and Reshad de Gerus.
LMGT3 –
Manthey EMA Porsche 911 RSR 911 LMGT3 of Morris Schuring, Yasser Shahin and Richard Lietz triumph and become the first trio to ever win an LMGT3 category race at Le Mans. Schuring also becomes the youngest ever category winner at 19 years of age! They follow up their Spa success last month after a faultless display which saw a smooth run throughout the entire 24 hours.
Lietz, the most experienced driver among the 186 drivers present at Le Mans with 18 previous starts, crosses the finish line ahead of the No.31 Team WRT BMW of Darren Leung, Augusto Farfus and Sean Gelael. Completing the podium at Le Mans is the No.88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3 entry driven by Dennis Olsen, Giorgio Roda and Mikkel Pedersen. They take the first ever podium position for a Mustang at La Sarthe.
Rounding out the top six in LMGT3 is 4th No.44 Proton Ford Mustang; 5th No.85 Iron Dames Lamborghini; 6th No.55 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari. Heartbreak for the GR Racing Ferrari 296 LMGT3 of Daniel Serra, Riccardo Pera and Michael Wainwright as the car stops at pit exit with just 33 minutes remaining. They had been placed sixth at the time.
Results: http://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com/index.php
[Note: The story is as per press release]
More to come