Le Mans, 16-17 June, 2018

The 86th running of the famous “24 Heures du Mans” took place over the weekend of 16-17 June, and, as is traditional, was preceded by a week of build-up both at the track and in the town centre. In addition to the main race there were a trio of support races, one featuring “Aston Martin Racing Lemans Festival” and a pair for the “Road to Le Mans” part of the Michelin Cup series for LMP3 and GT3 cars. As is normal for the gathering there were an abundance of peripheral activities, some official and some not, both at the track and in the surrounding “banlieu”. These included the fairground, music concerts, children’s play areas, autograph session, pit walk, driver’s parade in the town, the wide variety of vendors and manufacturer displays in the village, opulent hospitality centres for invited guests and bars for those without the right “ticket”, plus a number of cars shows and other impromptu entertainment outside the track. There was a 60 car entry, with 10 cars in the LMP1 class, 20 in the LMP2 class, 17 in the LMGTE Pro class and 13 in the LMGTE AM class. Fine weather was the order of the weekend, and the official attendance figure was over 256,000 people.

Apart from all the well known prototype and GT drivers taking part in the race, a further attraction for race fans this year was the participation of McLaren F1 driver and 2005 and 2006 World Champion driver, Fernando Alonso, who was making his Le Mans debut in a Toyota TS050-Hybrid. Competing against him in the LMP1 class was another former World Champion driver, this time from 2009, Jenson Button, who was in a SMP Racing entered BR Engineering BR1-AER, whilst another popular figure previously from the world of F1 was Juan Pablo Montoya, running in LMP2 class. The stars weren’t only in the cars, as the official race starter was tennis star Rafael Nadal, the Grand Marshal was six times Le Mans winner Jacky Ickx, the original “Mr Le Mans”, the guest of honour was the renowned actor Michael Fassbender, whilst another American actor, Patrick Dempsey, was there with his Dempsey-Proton racing team. The star billing continued through to the concert stage, with performances from Jamiroquai, Texas, Arcadian and Dr Feelgood.

Prior to the race there was a free practice and a qualifying session on the Wednesday evening, followed by a further two qualifying sessions on the Thursday evening. The net result was predictable, with the pair of works Toyotas occupying the front row of the grid, in the order of the # 8 example of Buemi / Nakajima / Alonso, followed by the # 7 car of Conway / Kobayashi / Lopez, with a pole sitting time of 3mins 15.377secs for the # 8 car. The # 8 Toyota had found nearly 4secs a lap over its time at the test day two weeks earlier! The best of the rest was the # 1 Rebellion Racing entered Rebellion R13-Gibson of Lotterer / Jani / Senna, but it was some 4secs off the pole position time. In the LMP2 class the qualifying honours went to the # 48 Idec Sport Oreca 07-Gibson of Lafargue / Chatin / Rojas, a scant 0.041sec quicker than the # 31 Dragonspeed entered example of Gonzalez / Maldonado / Berthon. Which had topped the test day times. In the LMGTE Pro category the qualifying times were headed by the # 91 “Rothmans” retro liveried Porsche 911 RSR driven by Gianmaria Bruni, who was a full 1.5secs quicker than anybody else in the class. Next up was the sister retro 911 RSR, the # 92 “Pink Pig”, which was a fraction under 0.1sec quicker than the # 66 Ford GT. In the GLMGTE AM division pole position in the class was taken by the # 88 Dempsey-Proton Racing entered Porsche 911 RSR of Cairoli / Al Qubaisi / Roda, which was quicker than both Aston Martins, one of the Ferraris and one of the Corvettes running in the Pro class, and nearly 1.5secs quicker than the nearest AM class car. Virtually right through the field, the times were quicker than had been posted on the test day, probably due to the cooler evening air. This made the true scenario difficult to read, apart from the fact that it was only Toyota’s race to lose, given their performance advantage over the rest of the field, but they have done that in the past!

Under bright blue skies, the pair of Toyotas led the field away as the clock struck 3.00pm on the Saturday afternoon, and at the head of the field that was the story of the race. They ran metronomically throughout, one or the other leading at every hour mark, the only slight scare to their virtuoso performance came on the Sunday afternoon, when the # 7 car driven by Kobayashi suddenly slowed, and everybody thought that Toyota’s Le Mans curse had struck again. It transpired that he has missed his pit stop and had to reduce his speed to 80kph to make sure that he could save enough fuel to make it back to the pits. This allowed the # 8 example to put another lap on it, and seal the race win for Buemi / Nakajima / Alonso. For Fernando Alonso it must have been a sweet moment to stand on the top step of the podium as a rookie at Le Mans, especially after his torrid time in the McLaren F1 car, which has only managed to scrape a few points this season, let alone a podium finish.

The “best of the rest” were the pair of Rebellion R13-Gibsons which finished 3rd and 4th in the order of the # 3 car in the hands of Laurent / Beche / Menezes and the # 1 car driven by Lotterer / Jani / Senna. They were 12 and 13 laps respectively behind the winning Toyota, after the # 1 example lost its complete nose cone in the Dunlop chicane on the first lap, and both cars suffered from a series of problems. However they were the only LMP1 team in any sort of contention, should Toyota have dropped the ball, as only one of the other six LMP1 runners made it to the flag, and that was in last place 105 laps in arrears. The ByKolles Racing Team’s ENSOCLM-Nissan P1/01 even managed to spin on the installation lap, and then became the race’s first retirement when it crashed out after 65 laps.

In the LMP2 class, the third quickest qualifier, the # 26 G-Drive Racing entered Oreca 07-Gibson of Vergne / Rusinov / Pizzitola, had a trouble-free run to take the class win by two laps. However, at post race scrutineering the car was disqualified, along with the # 28 TDS Racing example of Duval / Perodo / Vaxivierre which had finished 4th in class due to an alleged technical infringement. The stewards found that there had been a modification to the refuelling system on both cars, which they believed helped to speed-up the refuelling process. The teams have appealed against the decision, so the class and subsequent overall results are provisional pending the outcome of the appeal.

The LMGTE Pro class race battle was between the pair of retro Porsches and the Ford GTs, joined occasionally by the BMW M8GTEs, but come the chequered flag at 3.00pm on the Sunday afternoon, it was the pair of Porsches in the order of the # 92 “Pink Pig” driven by Estre / Christensen / Vanthoor, followed by the # 91 “Rothmans” of Bruni / Lietz / Makowiecki that led the class home, the latter a lap down, with the # 68 Ford GT of Muller/Hand/Bourdais taking the final podium position on the same lap as the 2nd place Porsche. The AF Corse trio of Ferraris were never really in the hunt for overall class honours, with the # 52 example of Vilander / Giovinazzi / Derani being the highest placed finisher in the class in 5th place. In the LMGTE AM class the victory also went to a Porsche 911 RSR, the # 77 Dempsey-Proton example of Campbell / Ried / Andlaue, which led the class for most of the race. The sister class pole sitting # 88 car crashed out, so it was bitter-sweet for Dempsey-Proton Racing. The Ferraris fared much better in this class, and once again, as in the LMGTE Pro class, all that started made it to the finish, which is more than could be said for many other marques. The # 54 Spirit of Race entered Ferrari 488 GTE driven by Flohr / Castellacchi / Fisichella finished a fighting 2nd in class, closing down on the # 77 Porsche in the closing stages, to finish only 1min 39secs behind after 24 hours of racing. The # 85 Keating Racing 488 GTE had been running 2nd for a lengthy period, but team owner Ben Keating beached it in the gravel in the latter stages of the race, relegating it to a 3rd place finish. The JMW entered 488 GTE, which had won the class last year, also showed well, but that was another victim of a “gravel trap experience”, resulting in a 5th in class finish.

Overall & LMP1 Class Podium
1st – # 8, Toyota Gazoo Racing, S. Buemi/K. Nakajima/F. Alonso, Toyota TS050-Hybrid
2nd – # 7, Toyota Gazoo Racing, M. Conway/K. Kobayashi/J. Lopez, Toyota TS050-Hybrid
3rd - # 3, Rebellion Racing, T. Laurent/M. Beche/G. Menezes, Rebellion R13-Gibson

LMP2 Class Podium (Provisional pending disqualification appeal by cars # 26 & # 28)
1st - # 36, Signatech Alpine Matmut, N. Lapierre/A. Negrao/P. Thiriet, Alpine A470-Gibson
2nd - # 39, Graff-SO24, V. Capillaire/J. Hirschi/T. Gommendy, Oreca 07-Gibson
3rd - # 32, United Autosports, H. De Sadeleer/W. Owen/J. Montoya, Ligier JSP217-Gibson

LMGTE Pro Class
1st - # 92, Porsche GT Team, M. Christensen/K. Estre /L. Vanthoor, Porsche 911 RSR
2nd - # 91, Porsche GT Team, R. Lietz/G. Bruni/F. Makowiecki, Porsche 911 RSR
3rd - # 68, Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA, J. Hand/D. Muller/S. Bourdais, Ford GT

LMGTE AM
1st - # 77, Dempsey-Proton Racing, M. Campbell/C. Ried/J. Andlaue, Porsche 911 RSR
2nd - # 54, Spirit of Race. T. Flohr /F. Castellacci/G. Fisichella, Ferrari 488 GTE
3rd - # 85, Keating Motorsports, B. Keating/J. Bleekemolen/L. Stolz, Ferrari 488 GTE


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